DDsoc

Definitely listen to the steps listed above. I did similar format and i got in. You don't need a hook. But you do need a solid intro. Also stay formal. You can bring in personal aspects, but write like you're applying to be a phd student, because you are. Explicitly listing faculty and fit are important. Your research interests can and likely will change, but you gotta sell yourself.

i really cannot emphasize this enough. There seems to be a notion that these institutions will ~forgive~ low gre/gpa and this may happen in exceptional cases but is not the norm. Mainly because they can't. Ultimately you need to be accepted by the graduate school at large and they care quite a bit about those gre scores.

I meant UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago!)

Has anyone heard from UIC?

Anyone hear about UIC?

Gender, work, and family

Got information about funding today!

I messaged you privately!

The Ohio State University! Sorry for the confusion.

Got into OSU! Woo! Feel free to message me with any questions! Has anyone who's gotten in anywhere heard anything about funding? You don't have to say what you got, just curious if your funding package was included in your letter. Mine wasn't, but I'm trying to call now to figure it out.

You may want to also check out Bowling Green State University! They have a funded Masters program and it's separate, I believe. App is due Jan 31.

I have heard from a professor that most universities don't care if your LORs are late.

For verbal, I made flash cards. I used the online words given by Magoosh (not the ones you have to pay for) and made about 15 flash cards a day. I would do all those words with 1-2 word definitions (the shorter the better) and then the next day, do 15 new ones on top of the 15 from the previous day. Going into the test, I had about 225 words memorized. Also, make sure you're reading academic articles for reading comprehension practice. The level of writing in those articles is what you'll see on the test, and improving your reading comprehension/time can be very helpful in shaving off just a few minutes. For math, buy a book, or Magoosh. There are just certain formulas that you need to know, and those books have them. I made flash cards for the formulas too, and that helped.

From what I've heard/seen, that score wouldn't keep you out of any program. Awesome verbal score!

@useless theory - From experience, my GRE scores did not change, but my %belows were a little higher than Magoosh's projected %belows. Also, it seems like all of your stats wouldn't exclude you from any program, so at that point it's going to be about framing yourself as a good fit for anyone's program. I personally think you've got a good shot! ~~ I'm applying! Nervous as hell. Had an 8 week episode of "I'll do anything but academia" this summer but now I'm back into it and I want to go. My research interests are gender and occupation, mainly the inequalities involved when intersecting the two. And my writing sample is about just those two things, so I feel good about that. I presented at NCSA this past March, but it never turned into a publication or anything in review. GPA at the university level, and in my soc major, are both around 3.9. Lastly, I feel good enough about the GRE where I won't retake it. [165V, 158Q, 4.5W] My top choice is Ohio State, based on location and a professor that I want to work with. I am trying to stay within the top 20, and as close to Cleveland as possible. I have been lazy looking into other schools because Ohio State just feels like a good fit, but I know that I need to do it. I kind of dropped the ball with getting in contact with potential advisors this summer, so I'm looking to do that starting Tuesday! Other choices are U of M, IU, and Penn State. Looking for quant-heavy programs. IU is pretty mixed though, so that's lower on my list. Okay so three things I'd like advice on, if anyone has experience: 1. Does anyone know if it's possible to work with professors at a satellite campus, or what that process looks like? The professor I'm interested in working with teaches at the Marion satellite about an hour north of OSU's main campus. But her research interests are directly aligned with mine. 2. Does anyone have advice for framing experience that isn't exactly relevant, but is? I'll elaborate. This summer, I worked as a research assistant for a graduate student in sociology, but we developed a qualitative research proposal and worked on her dissertation a bit (which is also qual.) The conundrum is that I'm not looking to go into qualitative research, but I want to show off that I have research experience. Any tips for how to write about this in my SOP would be greatly appreciated! 3. I'll throw in the typical ~what do you think my chances are?~ based on the stuff I've listed above. I like either positive reinforcement, or constructive criticism. So I'm happy to hear all of your opinions! Can't get too much feedback, really.

I also had an extra math section, nearly all of which was challenging and unfamiliar. I also scored about 8 points lower than expected in math! Twins, unfortunately, in this case.

Thanks! I plan on applying to Ohio State [top choice], U of Michigan, Indiana University and Penn State. Those are my top 4, anyway. I want to stay close to the Cleveland area and that seems to be the best bet in terms of top 20s. My interests are somewhere between gender and family. I like work, education, and media representations too. Not sure! It's hard to narrow down interests.

I did quite a few practice tests and was consistently scoring ~156 for verbal, and 165+ for quant. Probably studied 50-60 hours. On test day, I ended up with a 165V and 158Q. So! Anything can happen on test day. But I would definitely not recommend taking a multitude of practice tests to ensure you'll get a certain score. Take 1 or 2 a week at most, depending on how long you have before your exam and how much time you have to study, and otherwise... actually study! It's a lot more productive to take 2 hours to learn 20 words really well, and work on reviewing some math formulas, than to just do a practice test to see how you might preform on test day. At the end of the day you still gotta learn the stuff.

It depends what's best for you, really. I definitely recommend learning definitions/context, maybe doing 15-20 a day, and keeping a running stack. That's what I did, anyway!

Thanks you two!

I practiced exclusively from Kaplan, and expected to do much better on Math than Verbal. I ended up doing much better on verbal than math! So definitely look to outside sources for math problems... maybe take a few ETS practice tests to make sure your bases are covered?

Hello all! I'm new to this forum but I've been following it around for a bit now! You know, reading up on information about applying to Soc programs and getting advice for the GRE and whatnot. Very excited to finally be a member as we dive into application season! So, I took the GRE yesterday. Went pretty well! I got 165V/158Q. I actually was expecting to score much lower in verbal, and much higher in quant, but I'm overall satisfied. From what I've gathered, those scores are good enough for top10/20 Soc PhD programs. I know my math score is like maybe borderline too low? I really don't want to pay for the test again, nor sit through it again. Painful! If anyone could let me know if they think I'm good for top soc programs, that would be great! I'm looking at Indiana U, U of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State mostly.