Tritonetelephone

Academia! I used to want to work for the census bureau or something, but I'm an educator and a researcher. There isn't an alternative for me. I've told this story elsewhere on the forums, but 2 semesters before I graduated, I went to one of my profs to talk about career options. I said that I want to do research and told her about the things I'm interested in, but I didn't think I could afford grad school (didn't know about funding). She explained how the sociology that I know and love simply does not exist outside of academia. The story she told keeps me motivated when I worry that I'm not "grad school material"... When she finished her master's, she was offered a job at a marketing company. During her interview, she noticed a book on the shelf that said "Consumer Trends of Mushroom Soup." That's what "sociology" is outside of academia - dull and depressing.

Aw, I was hoping that wasn't you. Waitlisting isn't a bad thing, though. Hang in there!

Yeah, it seems pretty sneaky of them to speak in 3rd person like that. I think it means they don't have anything for you immediately, so now is a good time to look into exterior funding, but it doesn't mean they won't have anything for you before you enroll... maybe?

You forgot scenario #3: it's the internet and people might be full of crap In all seriousness, scenario #1 is the most likely. But really, it's not that uncommon to catch people being dishonest on gradcafe. Hell, there's a whole thread about it: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14694

Exact same story for me too, except that my bf of 5 yrs and I aren't living together yet. No fun at all, I sympathize. Jim: I would only withdrawal your application if you've thought out the possibility of you and your wife not getting admission in the same city at all, and you're absolutely OK with having that mean you'll wait another year. Otherwise, it doesn't hurt to wait until hearing a decision and get some feedback on your application that way. They don't expect everyone offered admission to accept; in fact, the one time I know of this happening, the school was not pleased (not enough money). If it were me, I would not withdraw my app. Overall, I think the benefits of waiting for a decision and declining outweigh the benefits of withdrawing now. But I'm not in your shoes

Wow, that's fantastic! We have ALOT in common! I'm also getting really into adolescent development and educational achievement - that's a huge part of what I mean by 'cultural reproduction'. You've also given me a lot of confidence in the schools that I picked, since we have some of the same. Keep me posted on where you're going - maybe we'll get to work with each other someday soon!

The admins and academics are in very separate worlds. I know it's frustrating, but what you're going through has very little to do with what the majority of your experiences will be like at that school. I would advise you not to discount it too quickly.

As someone that comes from a really crappy UG, I hope that they help you if they're good but don't hurt you too much if they're bad. My UG is cheap, close to home, and a VERY good music school (which was my first major). But everything else is not exactly top-notch. It doesn't seem fair to me that I would be expected to know that I would eventually want a PhD in Sociology when I was picking out music schools my senior year of high school. What I've gathered from my profs is that UG prestige is most relevant to "weigh" your GPA - a low-ranked UG means your classes were probably much easier. That may be fair, so I was advised to take the most difficult class possible (doc stats) to combat it before applying. (And do well on the GRE of course.) We'll see if it worked. :|

True that! Once again, proof that satire is the best way to make a point. I've heard that psychology conferences sometimes have a "satire hour" for profs to present more creative writing. I wish there was something like that for us!

What do you mean by AP credit? I think I'm confusing it with the high school thing.

I can relate. I'm much more hateful towards the results board than I am to people on the forum. Of course, it's still early to judge since my field hasn't really started making offers yet. If I get into at least a few schools, I probably won't hate anybody. :wink:

Well said. Ironically, guess who else wants UCSB? Me! :twisted:

Yeah, that seems to be the simplest explanation. And we all know what Occam says about simple explanations... Now that I think about it, the only programs I know of that guarantee funding are very small (10 or less per cohort). Congratulations to all once again!

All I know of is this, but it's better than nothing: http://graduate-school.phds.org/ You can choose your field under "personalized graduate program rankings" and put all the weight on "Placement Rate". Data comes from the SED, 2000-2004 (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/) In Sociology, there isn't a clear relationship between job placement and overall rank. Wisconsin-Madison (#1) only has an 83% job placement rate, but Nebraska (#49) has 96%. That's part of what I'm talking about with fit being more important.

Seriously! I'm doing sex/gender and my profs told me that my timing is pretty good because a generation turnover is on the horizon and MANY sex/gender profs are going to be retiring in the next 10 years. I assume they're all from the 70's feminist movement. Might be worth looking into for other fields, too. I noticed that you didn't mention publications. That's a pretty huge factor in job placement, too. What's the old phrase?... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publish_or_perish

Dude, if I thought being an academic would make me famous, I would be way less interested.

I think it's a good idea, to make sure that applicants aren't the ones abusing the school's prestige and are serious enough about the program to try it w/o funding. Then again, you'd think a sociology department would understand that traditionally underrepresented students who can't afford a year w/o funding still deserve the best education possible?

I voted for not giving a fink(?) because my field is so damn broad that program fit is much, much more important.

No, you're not. I wasn't going to say it - and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings if I'm wrong - but I wouldn't be too surprised if the OP is not being truthful. Really, think about how much someone would have to go through to forge their LOR's and feel like they'd get away with it (fake email addresses, IP addresses, writing styles, signatures, etc.). That, combined with the department head not taking it seriously... it just doesn't seem very plausible to me. If I were considering forging my own LOR's, I might think it was a good idea to start a thread like this and hear everyone explain why it may or may not be a good idea. Fortunately, my own social phobia has nothing to do with my sense of right and wrong. Like I said, apologies all around if I'm wrong. If it is true, the OP did the right thing by reporting her. I'm just glad I'm in a field where the unethical a$$holes margin is pretty slim - definitely wouldn't want to work with some particular respondents to this thread.

Update: just this morning they added this text... I'm glad I didn't bug them. Sounds like a lot of other people did

One of my schools must have recently updated their admissions process... After I submitted my app, the confirmation text made a big deal of me having to wait 3 weeks for them to send my login information by postal mail before I could check my status online. THEN a few minutes later, I got an email with my login info. It hasn't been 3 weeks and I haven't received a letter in the post yet, but my online status shows that they've only received one of my LORs. No transcripts, no GRE scores, nothing. May I assume that they used to wait 3 weeks to send login info because that's how long it takes to update the status website? What do you guys think?

Many of my applications asked me to list the classes I was taking this Fall/Spring so they would know what else would be on my "final" transcript. But no, I definitely not send them an updated one unless they specifically require it... and I doubt they would expect 100+ applicants to follow through unless they require it very explicitly.

I'm doing gender/sexuality, specifically masculinity and GLBT studies. I'm also interested in cultural reproduction (elements of cognitive sociology, cultural sociology, and sociology of religion). In order of most to least favorite (if I had to choose), I'm applying to: UMass Amherst, Stony Brook, UCSB, UCSD, Indiana, USC, FSU, Delaware, UT, and Arizona.

Well said!

I'm starting to get freaked out myself. Then again, this explains the skewness in those GRE polls - many people around here are at the top of their applicant pools. How many peoples does Wisconsin accept? 1/26: Wow, I just noticed that I wrote "peoples". I need to stop judging other people for their grammar.