strategicallyessential

@cheff, I think uselesstheory is right in that we can't know what each school is looking for. That said, some schools (U Wisconsin is the one that comes to mind--http://ssc.wisc.edu/soc/grad/Admission%20advice.pdf) specifically say they don't want t a research proposal. So maybe it's worth digging around each website and seeing if schools say anything? Obviously vagueness seems to be the most common thing, but it never hurts to check.

Thank you all for your very useful and prompt responses. For what it's worth, the faculty member I was speaking to is in anthro...thanks for clarifying the difference! It puts her urgency into perspective and reeeeaaally helps take the edge off the panic. Faculty, thank you for reiterating that again--that was always my sense, and it's useful to hear again. Anonymona and Applemiu, thank you for the specifics of what you've been doing! I'll probably email a few people this week to check in about the projects they're pursuing, but won't do more than that.

So I'm in a bit of a panic--I've talked to a few professors from my undergrad and scoured this forum on the topic (primarily this thread ) and decided I wasn't going to email POIs at my various schools. I didn't have any urgent questions that could only be answered by faculty, and from what I had managed to gather it wouldn't make a difference. BUT last week, I spoke to a junior faculty at the university I work at and she said I absolutely needed to email professors in advance and that should start doing so right now. So, three questions: 1. Do I need to?! 2. Is it going to look weird because it's so late? 3. What do I ask/write that will be both effective and respectful of professor's time? Help! Have you all been emailing professors? Why/why not?

Uselesstheory, I've also been erring on the more academic side. I've been thinking of it as a cover letter--so, it should be interesting, but I'm staying more professional instead of doing the whole "personal story hook" thing. I do spend some time talking about what I've been up to post graduation and how it's led me back to sociology, but all in a way that is about demonstrating qualifications. Not sure if that helps? I would also be down to switch SOPs if you think that could be useful!

I'm just applying now as well, so don't take my advice too seriously, but I would say go with 2 or 3. Given how competitive admissions are, I wouldn't want to submit anything other than my best work. If you think you can produce a really solid paper right now, go for it--if not, I think your undergraduate thesis is probably a solid choice. From what I've seen, your writing sample doesn't have to be in line with future projects; your statement of purpose will allow you to outline those and, if you think it's relevant, talk about the connection between your undergrad thesis and future work.

Thank you, lyrehc! The example is useful--and I do get the point of the statement of purpose, I've just been trying to figure out the most effective way to write one.

It's that time of year...and I'm totally panicking about my statement of purpose. I've read a number of threads on this forum and the SOP specific one, and while I certainly have a sense of what I should be doing, I also have yet to find any sociology-specific examples. Other GradCafe folks have posted their SOPs and admits after the admission cycles (see: ). Is that something current soc grad students would be willing to do? I honestly don't even need/want the level of info--really just an example or two of what a good soc SOP looks like. Alternatively--or additionally, I guess--are there any current grad students or other older and experienced folks on the forum who would be open to reading/critiquing my SOP? I have folks IRL who will, including some profs. However, I don't have any peers who are currently soc grad students and, because I went to a small LAC, I get the sense that my profs are not super up-to-date on the process. Mostly what I'm looking for is a discipline specific critique. Is that even necessary? Or are those poli sci examples and the thoughts of friends (including some current grad students in different fields) enough? Thanks in advance for your help! You all continually impress me with your usefulness and generosity. Thank you for taking the time to make this whole process a little less opaque and terrifying.

To add some more anecdotal evidence to this idea that there is no such thing as a safety school: I've watched a handful of people go through this process and I know multiple people who have been accepted at only one school out of the eight or nine they applied to--and the one school was ranked as one of the top schools in their field. That said, I do think it's a good idea to pay attention to acceptance rates, average stats (if they publish them), and--of course--fit. Just because this process often appears to defy logic doesn't mean you can't tailor your list. I just don't think you can use the framework of top and middle tier / safety. Maybe if you wrote a bit more about your interests some of the veterans floating around could direct you to relevant programs?

@cultsoc, that's a great idea. As I said before, I'm interested in social movements and resistance, cultural sociology, and the sociology of knowledge. I've only done a preliminary pass of looking at schools--I've identified lists of faculty members I'd potentially be interested in working with based on their listed research interests, but haven't read any of their work to see how relevant it is--but here is what I have so far: almost definitely applying to-- Michigan Wisconsin NYU Rutgers Northwestern maybe applying to-- Columbia Cornell University of Pittsburgh Any feed back would be much appreciated!

To clarify a bit--I know a good GRE score won't get me in anywhere and at best could only give a boost to an otherwise solid application, I was just curious about whether my mediocre quant score cancelled out any positive effects of a solid verbal score. Given how opaque this whole process is, I imagine it's not really a question that can be definitively answered. Just thought I'd crowd source a bit--so thanks for your responses, everyone!

Hey folks! I'm also applying this fall--took the GRE last week, am currently working on banging out a draft of my SOP as well as continuing to research schools and faculty members. Right now I have a list of 15ish schools, and am definitely applying to at least 7. What are you all interested in studying? I'm interested in social movements, the social construction of knowledge, and cultural soc.

So I took the GRE last week and was wondering if I could get some input on my scores. I did well in verbal, so combined I have a good score (328), but there's a pretty big difference between verbal and quant--V: 170, Q: 158. I'm interested in applying to some top programs (Michigan, Wisconsin) that list averages for both sections around the 80th percentile. Does my quantitative score put me out of the running? Or does my verbal score help balance it out at all? Not sure if either of these things matter, but I also did well on the analytical writing--5.5--and am primarily interested in qualitative methods. I can't really afford to retake, so that's not an option. Thanks in advance for any input!