Tritonetelephone

It wasn't, but they haven't accepted me yet either. Sorry to hear it, whoever it was!

Wow, congrats ewurgler! UNC is a good school - you can start relaxing now (if you can help it!).

Here I am, trying to be so good about not freaking out. Then someone posts an emailed rejection to one of my schools. My thoughts: that school uses an online status check, which emails you when it's updated. The person said they were rejected by email. Did they mean the email told them to check the website? Or was it a personal email? If it was an email telling them to check the website, that means I will probably get one in the next couple hours. Because the graduate school handles the status website but the department makes the decisions. So the department wouldn't slowly filter in their decisions to the graduate school. It would all be one big batch. And now the graduate school is posting them one by one. Refresh email. Refresh email. Refresh email. I think I'm finally in the "impatient and neurotic" club for this year!

Here are the specific numbers I found for my apps: USC: 79% (31/39) remission UT: 92% of students receive support; 15 students - $19,000 fellowships, 35 - $17,000 RAs, 50 - $17,000 TAs UCSB: 91% remission (median grad school debt = $0) UCSD: 50-76% remission FSU: all fulltime students receive $14,000 - $17,700 Indiana: "virtually all" students receive remission + stipend for first 5 years Arizona: "vast majority" funded for 2 years; $14,734 + OS waiver UMAss Amherst: full funding 4-5 years (stipend, waiver, health benefits) Stony Brook: 83% remission Delaware: 92% remission; full tuition + stipend September - May; 38/56 students receive $14,600

What does "stickied" mean? :oops:

Exactly!

If I get an admit, I don't care what tier I was in. I think I'd be less enthusiastic about being the backup girlfriend (whatever that is... sure sounds degrading, though).

Ok, that exclamation mark symbol on the topics list is bugging me. What is that??

Assuming it wasn't a lie, I have heard that some schools notify their top-TOP applicants ASAP then spend the next few months debating over the rest of us. Last year, the two people that posted acceptances to UT didn't do so until February.

Yeah, me too. Still worth mentioning, I thought. Did everyone who listed "The Office" watch the new one after the Superbowl? It was SO good!! It sure needed to be, too - the episode before it really sucked (Hilary Swank: hot or not?).

Ooh another Sex/Gender person! You should reply to this thread: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=14792

Was the email from your potential adviser? I really didn't want to be one of those people who freaks out when someone else hears first, but Indiana is one of my favorites. I'm getting nervous now

Aw man I missed the original post. I'm super curious now.

I just wanted to say thanks for not applying this year. I wouldn't want to compete against you (that's a compliment aimed towards your stats, btw.) Also, more recent law profs would be best for LORs. Whoever knows best who you are now. And no, your legal scholarship stuff would not be a detriment if you're doing law and society. Silly...

I know it might not be in your best interests to attend such a low-ranked school, but I've heard that the University of North Texas has some kind of deal with the government in Turkey (or something) and they have many Turkish students there. Your undergraduate GPA might be less of a problem for them, I really don't know. Just might be something worth looking into for you.

Has no one mentioned Firefly yet? How could I have left Firefly off my list! Fox's biggest mistake ever: canceling that show.

The trick is to start out at a small (20-degrees or so) angle and be ready to click for combos!

LOL!

Glad I won't be the only grad student who still owns a TV. The Office Lost (haven't seen the new ones yet - no spoilers, please!!!) Strangers with Candy (long off the air, but will always be a favorite) Daily Show & Colbert Report Flight of the Conchords (haven't seen the new ones yet either)

Well yeah, of course email is going to be more prone to mistakes. Maybe that's why most schools only do "official" notification by post

Maybe "essay" meant your statement of purpose?

I'm sure that's very rare. I would think the other way around would be more common, if a mistake is made at all. There's only... maybe a maximum of 25 people that are meant to receive acceptance letters? They would notice a mistake just by the size of the pile if they accidentally merged acceptance letters for the other 90+ applicants.

I'm applying to two of the same schools that I applied to last year. One of them rejected me and one of them waitlisted me. I didn't mention anything in my SoP about applying last year to the school that rejected me - and although they were my top choice last year, I'm really going to enjoy rejecting them if I get another offer. I'm not going to lie, that was one of the major reasons I applied again (it's close to home but not a good fit for me). As for the school that waitlisted me, because I came close last year and because of the giant steps I've taken to improve my application (100 points higher on GRE verbal, research experience since summer, more community leadership experience, grad stats course, etc.), one of my profs said I should consider it a "safety school" this time around. Here's a thread about my SoP for the school that waitlisted me: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14652

The best people to ask about these questions are your current professors. If their advise contradicts anything we say, I would go with them (especially the ones who got their PhD fairly recently). Here are my answers, according to my own experience and advice I've received (this is my second year applying, btw)... Research methods. Very few UG programs let you graduate without it anyway, but if you can take extra as a post-bach, that's what you want to do. They don't expect you to have a lot of math/econ skills under your belt, but I've been told by profs at a few schools that it's a plus because most candidates only want to do qualitative methods. What I did was take a doctoral soc statistics class the semester after I graduated, and I'm really glad I did - I think it gave my apps some much-needed strength this time around. No, that won't be a detriment. I speak some French, but almost all of the apps I filled out were only interested in full fluency, so I didn't even list it. You can highlight your coursework in poli sci/history in your SoP and don't have to mention language at all... I doubt they'll even think about it. I don't know of many terminal master's programs (in the US at least) for sociology. Soc grad programs are typically designed for people wanting a PhD, and they'll give you a Master's along the way. The only schools I've found that have terminal master's programs are very low ranked and wouldn't look good for the PhD programs to which you'd later apply. The language thing really isn't a problem anyway (as far as I know - I'm not doing regional studies). Not all programs have funding, but it doesn't depend on rank. You just have to do your research and see. All the schools I applied to have funding, and there's a wide range of rankings in that mix. You can find out what percentage of students receive funding at a particular university's department on http://www.petersons.com/ or http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/sociology but there may be more accurate information on departmental websites. My favorite prof admitted to me that she thinks it's stupid to go to a school w/o funding, which is hilarious because they don't offer it in our department (she even asked me to keep that on the d/l). Research experience is a huge plus, but admission is not impossible without it. They know not all applicants have the opportunity, and it's still only ONE part of your application (not everyone with research experience will necessarily be accepted). If you can get some research experience before applying, go for it!! If not, spend your energy on improving other parts of your application. I didn't have any research experience last year, and I still got accepted at one school and waitlisted at my top choice. I got a research job in Fall, so we'll find out what kind of difference it makes this time. Words of advice: you're already way ahead. Chill out. There is plenty of time to do your research and find schools that will be a good fit. Read through these forums - there's a lot to learn from our experience. But stick with your soc professors' advice (more than one, if possible)! You'll need letters of recommendation when you're ready to apply, so now's a good time to get to know them better. Start by asking how they got to where they are. Start familiarizing yourself with the GRE. You'll be fine. Here's a link to a timetable that helped me: http://gradschool.about.com/cs/overview ... etable.htm

I also graduated in May of last year, but I chose "straight from undergrad" because this is my second year applying. Also, I took 1 grad class in summer and 1 grad class in fall so I haven't been in the mentality of a "break." I miss school already!