Maya

darn, me too!!! I figured by the end of next week they would likely have started notifying. I wonder why so late this year???

So I'm in my second round of applying, although last year I only applied to one school. (Yes, I know many of you might look at my signature and think, what is this girl doing applying to only 4 schools the second time around---did she not learn her lesson the first time??). Anyway, I noticed that there seem to be a lot fewer soc applicants on here this year, but maybe I'm wrong? For example, I remember last year when the University of Wisconsin-Madison admits rolled out, there seemed to be so many people who were accepted posting on the forum and posting on the results page. This year there seem to be far fewer who posted results (congratulations to those admitted by the way!) This year I feel like there are hardly any applying to NYU, whereas last year there seemed to be a lot more (or maybe it just felt that way because that was the only school I applied to). Anyway, I'm not sure how many second-rounders there are out there, but what do you all think? Is the sociology board being populated by a less representative sample this year? Happy waiting everyone!

Congratulations Astronautka!!!!

ya i see 2 people on there, how exciting! Congratulations to whoever you are!

So as we all wait for decisions to come in, I thought I would share my neurotic daily status-checking routine with you all. 6:30am (Eastern Standard Time): wake up to get ready for work, but first: -check every email account (even though I only used one email account for my applications). Check phone messages (because of course, if a call about being admitted is going to come in at all, it's going to happen before 6:30 in the morning, right?). -check my account on the NYU Supporting Materials Tracking System, even though all of my materials have been accounted for, and I know that this site is not used for relaying admissions decisions. But I check it anyway. -go to University of Michigan weblogin and check application status. After viewing 'application credentials, I go to "view financial aid document status" and then "view financial aid award notices". Then "accept or decline financial aid". I think deep down I'm hoping they have accepted me and have accidentally already posted my funding info before posting my admission status. I also click on "View I-20 or DS-2019 Status",with the same ridiculous idea in mind. -go to Northwestern University 'apply yourself' website and click on everything that can be clicked, looking for any kind of update at all. I look everywhere for admission status, even though I know exactly on what page and where on the page the admission decision will appear when it eventually does get posted. -check grad cafe forum results page, then sociology forum. 7:20 am: rush to get ready for work and try to catch my 7:30 bus. 8:10-20am: apologize for being late to work, and then repeat the above routine before actually starting my real work Rest of the day: repeat the status-checking routine at least 20x. Though the email-checking happens about every 30 seconds. Needless to say, the routine is about the same on the weekends, without the work part, and sometimes the routine gets a little mixed up if I come home intoxicated. And of course the first round of status checking happens a few hours later in the morning. Yikes. Seeing it in writing makes me realize just how ridiculous I am. But I'll still keep doing the same thing!

congratulations Rogue! I'm sure it will be the first of many

Both my BA and my MA are in political science. But I'd like to think I've always been a sociologist at heart

well, I'm not applying to Princeton or Harvard, that's for sure.....and my top choice is NYU!

oooh that's helpful Astronautka, thanks!

Ok so I guess it isn't just me! newday, I sent in three transcripts at the same time as well, and the wolverine site says the transcripts were received on January 1, 2 and 3rd lol. MissesENG, I also contacted the department secretary (for Soc though), and she had said not to worry, but this was in mid-December, and she had said to give it another few days. But clearly this is not something I need to worry about if others are having similar problems. Like you said, the confirmation from Embark that all the letters were received is what is important, so the applicant status page is obviously not very accurate (nor updated quickly). Well, Michigan gets to deal with one less anxious whiny phone call from an applicant today, thanks to gradcafe forum!

Hey Astronautka, When I got my confirmation from Michigan that they had received my application (not the one from Embark, but the one a week later from gradacknowledge@umich.edu which was titled "Rackham application received), the email contained my UM ID number and the instructions for logging into Wolverine access. Did get this email? If you did, and you already followed all the steps in the email then I guess it's something you have to call them about...sorry I can't be of more help

For those of you who applied to the University of Michigan, I'm wondering if anyone else has found the Wolverine website pretty slow in updating app info? I'm concerned because I submitted my application in early December, and according to the wolverine site my transcripts have only just been received (even though according to Fedex they were received at Michigan in the first week of December). Also, the wolverine site says that none of my letters of recommendation have been received, even though all three were submitted before (one barely made it) the deadline, and I have the confirmation from Embark for all three. I don't want to call the Soc department unless I really have to, as I know they are swamped with calls and questions right now, so if anyone can help me avoid this, I would be grateful to know if others are noticing similar discrepancies! Thanks and good luck to everyone

I used MLA style too, and I'm not worried about it. I too come from a non-sociology background, and like others on this board have said, unless the application instructions specifically stated that they required APA formatting for writing samples, I don't think it's an issue!

Oh no joro, I'm sorry you have to deal with this!!

Glad to hear about the good outcome for you joro!!!!! My LOR writer submitted today so I too get to sleep properly tonight, yay!!!!!!!

Thanks for your responses fancypants09 and LordNorth. I called the MIA letter writer today, no answer but left a voicemail. I also called the soc department at Umichigan and they said that they won't read my app if my application is incomplete tomorrow. Ugh.

So like a lot of you out there, I am getting nervous about one of my LORs, who hasn't responded to me since the first time, back in October, when he initially agreed to write a letter for me. Fortunately, I only need his letter for one of the schools, however, it's for the University of Michigan, and on their website they have this to say about their deadlines: What is the deadline for application submission? The application deadline is December 15th. All materials (including letters of recommendation and transcripts) must be in our office by December 15. No exceptions will be made. So, I'm wondering if all of the comments above, regarding the apparent leeway schools give for late LORs, doesn't apply to Michigan. I want to call tomorrow to ask about this, but I worry that whoever I speak to in the department will say something along the lines of "didn't you read our website, we make it very clear that you have to have everything in by December 15". Anyone here have any experiences with Michigan? I'm wondering particularly about sociology, since I looked around and other departments (eg. Poli Sci) don't sound as strict on their websites. Also, what is the etiquette when it comes to calling professors? I am in Canada, and this professor is at a U.S. school, so I would have to track his phone number down from the internet...it would feel weird calling him...I don't want to come across as a stalker. But I have emailed him several times, and have heard nothing!

Ya, but my word count box has "characters with spaces" and "characters without spaces" included. My SOP is under 5,000 only for the latter!

Thanks Ziz, that's a good point. The website asks you to upload it, so maybe (hopefully) that means that spaces aren't included!

This is nothing close to an exciting question, but I hope someone on here will be able to answer it since its Sunday and I certainly won't be able to ask anyone at Northwestern today. Their statement of purpose requirement states "maximum 5,000" characters: for those of you who have submitted, does that include spaces, or no?

I don't know what this adds to the discussion, but don't forget that in many other countries (including Canada, where I'm from), MA's are part of the normal education process. That is, most schools in Canada (and the UK) expect you to have a Masters before you apply for the Ph.D. So it's weird how different that is in the United States. I was pretty surprised when I saw this board, although some of these posts, especially the one by circumfession, do make sense. Still, it surprises and worries me that my MA might be seen as a negative thing by the American schools, even though I did the MA simply because it was the next logical step (in Canada), not because I failed to get into any Ph.D. programs.

If I get in, I will be 27 when I start, but if I let this application process keep stressing me out like this, by the time I turn 27 I will feel like I'm about 100.

I finally just submitted my first application (Michigan), and it only happened because my boyfriend literally had to come and push my hand down on the mouse...the cursor had been sitting on the submit button for so long that the Embark website had timed out twice lol. So, technically, if he hadn't pushed my hand down I still would not have submitted that application.

http://ls.berkeley.edu/soc/diversity/apply/tips.html that's where my fear all began....

Well, all I know is that apparently using the passive in one's SOP is a biiiiig no-no, and my first sentence is one big passively written sentence! Oh well, I like it the way it is, and I have made the rest of it 'active', so, hopefully they won't chuck my sop on the floor after reading the first sentence!