qeta

In at Brown! What a lovely early Valentine's Day gift.

Congrats! 

In at Brown! What a lovely early Valentine's Day gift.

Updating folks since I’ve been gone for what feels like forever - still no word for me from Penn State or Utah. Hoping that I’ll advance off the Oregon waitlist but I’m excited about the prospect of NCSU because Tom Shriver offered to be my advisor, and he’s one of the greats in EJ, so that’s just really really exciting. 
Currently in North Carolina collecting thesis data - good vibes appreciated! 

Can confirm that Boston College acceptance is legit. It did feel crazy early, but nonetheless happened

@Want_PHD @cam_soc hey guys im sorry the open house finished last night and I had to go straight to New York to CUNY's open house -- havent had a chance to post. Once I get home I promise ill provide a detailed post about my experience with NE.

Thanks @qeta! I'm shocked, the grad coordinator's email made it sound like my rejection letter was in the post, but the chair of admissions just messaged me. So pleased. Even if I don't get in, I feel like at least someone (sorta) wants me  

holy s--- I got waitlisted at Emory!

One thing I've found extremely helpful to ask during interviews, and that I definitely plan to ask as many people as I can during my upcoming visit, is "what do you wish you had done in advance of starting the program?". I think it gives a really good insight for what daily life in the program feels like, it gets grad students and professors mentally picturing you in the program, and you get great advice out of it! (So far all of my answers have been "learn to code/get better at coding", which is more or less what I expected since I'm computational sociology, but that is almost always followed up with ideas on how to do that more effectively, with links to online resources and such).

Aww thanks so much qeta <3 

Best of luck to you, @KevinJHa! I am sure you will impress Northeastern folks with your knowledge and enthusiasm! Sending lots of good vibes.

I only have one acceptance, but if it comes down choosing between a couple of schools, I will first and foremost be looking at how supportive the department and my potential supervisor are. I did my MA at a horrible department with a horribly sexist and classist DGS. It made finishing coursework, getting funding (I could only apply to fellowships that didn't need a nomination from the department), and just carrying on with life incredibly difficult.
I also care about fellowship opportunities as I absolutely want extra money for language training, fieldwork, conference attendance, or methods training. I did quite a bit of these things, except for language training, for my MA. They were incredibly rewarding and the network of students and scholars I met through these have been invaluable.

I also only applied to places where I wouldn't be scared to live as a racialized woman with a Muslim last name. I am definitely going to prospective students' visits and plan to ask current students about this frankly.

Thanks, @qeta!  After reading what you posted about the benefits of being an overnight guest, I started to think that maybe I should do it. I really hope you find the program that not only fits you better but also supports you more than your previous MA. 

@MintChocoChip I think this is such an important decision and one that will impact you for such a long time that you can give yourself the permission to be a little bit selfish and put your own needs first. I would stay with the current grad student IMHO. It's really nice that you're so considerate though - I'd love to have someone like you in my cohort.

Congrats, @infovore! San Diego is an awesome city and UCSD a great program, from what I hear. I'm being put up with a soc. grad student at Cornell too and I plan to take full advantage of that. I was hosted by grad students when I presented at Cornell conferences in the past. It was a great way for me to get a feel for the school and the kind of people who are attracted to the dev. soc. department. I am a great believer in understanding the demographics, culture, and norms of a department. I firmly believe going to a place where I feel like I belong and  where I can be happy during the PhD marathon will help me produce better scholarship. I attended an MA program where my fit, academically, socially (in that almost everyone was way richer and younger than me), and normatively, was terrible, and it impacted my academic output and well-being enormously. Just my long-winded two cents.

Great advice, thank you! Will keep this in mind when I visit UCI. 

Congrats, @infovore! San Diego is an awesome city and UCSD a great program, from what I hear. I'm being put up with a soc. grad student at Cornell too and I plan to take full advantage of that. I was hosted by grad students when I presented at Cornell conferences in the past. It was a great way for me to get a feel for the school and the kind of people who are attracted to the dev. soc. department. I am a great believer in understanding the demographics, culture, and norms of a department. I firmly believe going to a place where I feel like I belong and  where I can be happy during the PhD marathon will help me produce better scholarship. I attended an MA program where my fit, academically, socially (in that almost everyone was way richer and younger than me), and normatively, was terrible, and it impacted my academic output and well-being enormously. Just my long-winded two cents.

This is really random, but I've gotten so good at typing "gradcafe" with one hand in my URL bar. It's like typing in my own phone number lol.

I heard from the graduate coordinator today. Reaching out to departments about admissions decisions was encouraged in my program. Another grad coordinator in a different program assured me the inquiry was not at all a bother. 

I follow the advice of a person that I know with low GRE scores. I had low GRE scores, I re-took the test several times and I could not get higher scores (I even got Magoosh reimbursement because I got even lower scores than ever after taking their course and doing everything following the crazy time consuming plan of study. It's not that the program does not work it's just that I am horrible taking tests and at one point I block myself, it happened to me too with the Toefl when I applied to my masters in the U.S.). After that, I realized the GRE makes me miserable. I do not have publications in the U.S either, and I did not have time to get something out there before submitting my application. I got rejected from 8 schools last year, and this year my best GRE score was the same I used in the previous application cycle. What this person recommended me was to contact POI, I contacted over 90-100 professors and applied to almost 15 schools and 18 programs (I had to save a lot and my credit card is totally collapsed). I wrote a standard e-mail introducing myself and attached my CV and a research proposal I wrote. The e-mail asked professors their advice and thoughts regarding my proposal and regarding the application. Most of them did not reply, others did. I apply to a conference (American Society of Criminology), and I contacted all the professors I was interested in working with that were attending to the conference with this strategy. I got meetings with them during the conference and talk with them about my proposal, my work, etc (it was like having the chance to have a pre-interview), I think if the know you you are not just a file, and the look you differently, beyond your test scores. I do not know if this helps, but I appreciated this advice when my friend gave it to me. She also got rejected from all schools she applied the first time (PhD in History). For me this new strategy worked, if you still want to apply it may work for you too. You can apply to fewer schools that I did (my friend applied only to 4-5 programs) and she still got positive results (she is at Princeton history department).

I'll send you a message as soon as I get home from work. I'm just mentally drained thinking of what else I'm doing wrong.  What I'm trying to ask is, how else can I stress the strengths and my experiences through those materials? I'm constantly updating my CV and I made sure that I highlighted the work experience and what I'm lacking through the SOP.
FML.
 
 

@abenz, @syza, and @latemeg, I called the department this morning. I was told that there is no additional information on my application, and the decisions will be out in the next 1-2 weeks.

I also want to echo a lot of what has been said about rejections from grad programs and self-worth. A lot of times admission depends on the ability to send the right signals to the adcomm and not much else. Not getting in therefore doesn't mean that you're lacking in analytical ability. I am rooting for all of you to enter into great programs that you're happy with. If anyone is reapplying next year and want to chat, feel free to send me a pm either now or closer to the beginning of the next cycle. I'll be happy to read over things or just chat.

I also want to echo a lot of what has been said about rejections from grad programs and self-worth. A lot of times admission depends on the ability to send the right signals to the adcomm and not much else. Not getting in therefore doesn't mean that you're lacking in analytical ability. I am rooting for all of you to enter into great programs that you're happy with. If anyone is reapplying next year and want to chat, feel free to send me a pm either now or closer to the beginning of the next cycle. I'll be happy to read over things or just chat.

CUNY just sent me an email and put me on the waitlist. They also invited me to the open house next week, which I will be attending. I have a full-time job and two open houses next week (Boston & NYC) so trying to make this work will be hard. Either way, kind of disappointed but better than a rejection! If any admits know they're not going, please let them know because CUNY is my dream school
 
Congrats on all the acceptances guys and keep your head up. Regardless of what happens we'll all emerge from this hell stronger, and we'll be exactly where were supposed to be. Much love