newday123

Previous posters gave very good advice. I have two things to add: 1. Focus on writing an intellectual biography, not a personal biography. So none of those "I want to save the world," "My interest in economics stems from significant childhood experiences" crap - too cliche. Discuss your research interests and how you came to have them. 2. Address the question of "Why graduate school? Why now?" Why would you want to leave an awesome corporate job to become a poor graduate student? See tip #1.

Same problem here. Also, the website states that they've only received one of my transcripts, even though I submitted them all together in one package!

My turn - Background: Graduated from a well-known public university. Have many years of corporate experience under my belt. GPA: 4.0 in sociology (also took 1 grad course), lower overall GPA. Did not major in sociology when I was an undergraduate but recently went back to school part-time to strengthen my credentials. I feel lucky to be living close to another respected university. GRE: 1520 (750 V, 770 Q), 4.5(?!?) AWA. Thought about it for two days and decided to not re-take the exam. Teaching: Three years of experience. Also experience and training in public speaking. Research: Several research assistantships - some paid, some unpaid. Most are recent. Publications: Sociology conference presentation. Several non-sociology publications - some academic, some work-related. LOR's: I requested recommendations from my research methods professors. They were really on the ball about getting their letters out well before my first app deadline! I'm very grateful to them. I did well in their courses so I hope that my letters are good. Contact with potential advisors: I e-mailed professors at about half of my schools to express my interest. I think that I have good rapport with one of them. Research interests: Culture, social psychology, life course, work. Schools applied to: Several top 5's, top 10's, top 15's, top 35's, etc. A number of my schools have already been mentioned in posts on this thread. Twelve schools total. I look forward to hearing about people's successes, lessons learned, and experiences visiting schools. Good luck everyone!

Interesting. I wasn't aware of the fact that Chicago has faculty members working on gender and sexuality. I was chatting with a non-sociology Ph.D. about the issue of fit. I asked, which program would be a better fit for me: a school that doesn't have declared specializations in my areas of interest but a number of potential mentors versus a school with relevant specializations but fewer potential mentors. He said what really matters is the reputation of your advisor because you will be known as his/her student. So don't worry about the specializations of the school. Does anyone else have an opinion on the issue of fit?

I've completed 10 app's out of 12. I'm currently working on my 11th one. My last deadline is early March for a master's degree program. If I get any acceptance in February, I probably won't even submit this last application. I was physically worn out too during the week of the 15th. I had several app's due that week. A few days ago I read about another poster's experience of receiving 13 rejects last year and started to wonder whether I should apply to more schools! I'm not thrilled about my writing sample either even though I revised it somewhat. I'm a better writer now than I was eight months ago. I hope that my SOP demonstrates my writing ability adequately.

I was pretty specific about my research plans. In the first two paragraphs of my SOP, I summarized my career plans, what led me to consider graduate school, my preparation, etc. I wrote the rest of my SOP like a mini-research proposal: I broke down my topic into subtopics and then discussed each one in a separate paragraph, bringing in relevant details from my past research projects, ideas from current literature, and which faculty members I wish to learn from and why. Furthermore, I used informal citations (e.g. name of the author, quotations) wherever appropriate. In my conclusion I summarized my research interests, reiterated reasons why I was applying to that particular department, and re-affirmed my enthusiasm for grad school. I figured that my SOP would serve as my second writing sample. My feeling is that it's probably better to be specific than general. For instance, there might be dozens of people who are interested in finding treatments for drug addiction. You need to show what's unique about you, your background, your experiences, and your interests. If you find the right programs to apply to, then you shouldn't have much problem finding at least two faculty members who are conducting research in the area(s) of your interest. Once there was a thread on the Chronicle forums regarding the issue of generality versus specificity in one's SOP. A number of faculty members replied that they would prefer to see specifics. One of them even said something like: "Why would you want to attend a school where no one cares about your research interests?" That's my two cents. Hope my strategy works. Cross your fingers!

Hi. Has anyone else seen the early U. of Chicago acceptance posted on the results page? Must be exciting to have one acceptance in hand this early of the game. Congratulations to the poster! If you're reading this, I hope that you wouldn't mind sharing your stats and research interests. Me: Submitted 9 apps out of 12 so far.

I corresponded with Prof. Riesebrodt recently. He told me that he's retiring next year.

U Chicago seems to be quite quantitative. For one thing on the supplemental application it asks us to list math courses separately.

I'm also applying to Berkeley. Good luck to everyone here!

Eight is a good number. Ten was recommended to me. It will cost you even more money if you apply to too few schools, get in nowhere, and have to re-apply next year.

Another strategy is to imagine yourself working at soul-killing corporate jobs: mopping the bathroom floor at McDonald's, getting bored to death and paper cuts as a file clerk, doing data entry incessantly as a temp, etc.

Hi. I sometimes feel as you do, waivering between feeling excited about a certain program and feeling fearful about the whole application process. I invite you to step back and look at the big picture. You cannot turn off hope (unless you're a Vulcan, that is). Just remember that applying to graduate schools - as important as it is - is just one of all those worthy goals that you'll be tackling in your life. The attainment of any worthy goal will demand all of your resources - if not more. Expect lessons to accompany any future disappointments and rejections. Ask yourself whether you'd rather not do your best on those SOP's and risk ending up nowhere. You can't win if you don't play the game. Writing SOP's is a little bit like writing research papers for class, at least for me. I told myself that I will be writing many more papers and grant applications during grad school, and if I don't like doing it, then I have no business applying. "You like research," I would remind myself. I've found that once I get in the flow of researching programs and professors, I forget about my fears. It's exciting to find out how professors' research would fit with my interests (or vice versa). Come to think of it, I'm starting the preliminary work on my dissertation! Get over youself and focus on THE WORK. Stop getting in your own way!

A question for both current and past applicants to the school: Is it a good idea to apply to more than one program in the same division? The school website states that this practice is allowed. I am rather torn between two programs. Each department has faculty members that I would like to work with. From what I've heard, the University of Chicago welcomes its students to take courses outside the department, and some professors hold joint appointments. If I decide to apply to both programs, then I'd have to state this fact on the applications. Would the admissions committees view my decision unfavorably? I've looked at the sets of course requirements for both programs and determined that both would serve me well. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this issue. Thank you.

Thanks for starting this thread. Glad to see a few thirtysomething applicants here (I'm 33). Broadly speaking, my main interests are social psychology and life course, with a secondary interest in religion/spirituality. I am applying to a broad range of schools: some top ten's, a few top 20's, some top 30's, and two applied programs. Currently twelve schools are on my list; this is a daunting number since I know that we need to individually tailor our SOP for each school. A few schools have additional essay requirements as well. How competitive was last year's admissions process? I read on a fellow poster's signature that s/he applied to six schools and got into one (but s/he's reapplying this year). So I'm hoping that I can get into at least two schools out of twelve. Is twelve too many? My GRE scores and sociology GPA are competitive. The only thing that I am truly worried about is my UGPA (darn those premed courses!). My transcript is definitely not blemish-free and wonder whether admissions committees would put more weight on my recent scholarly achievements and my "maturity." By the way, Stanford has a few professors specializing in social networks so you may want to look into this school.