Keithkwok

@inooradd I contact UC Irvine's admin staff yesterday. They said they would send out some additional acceptances in the next four weeks, although they have already sent out quite a few offers in late Jan. Sounds like they have not waitlisted anybody. Do they just keep all applicants waiting?

mine is also pending

Has UCI sent out all acceptances?

Sorry to hear the sad stories of your friends. British masters are notorious for their lack of academic support, as they seem to be aimed at making money to fund their PhD students. Just out of curiosity: when he submitted his student's paper to a journal, did he list himself as the first author or single author, or the student's name as the first author? It seems that if the student was the first author, the student at least benefited from his conduct somehow.

Thank you! Your viewpoint indeed makes sense. It is very likely that the potential supervisor who only co-authors with a limited group of people (in the most recent five or seven years) might constrain your access to a wider range of resources. However, based on my observation of co-authorship in sociology, it seems that only very few scholars are able to co-author with collaborators from a variety of institutions. Such scholars are usually very famous.

BTW, how could anybody go to a mid 80s instead of a high 20s? Most people change their areas after they get into the program.

If funding is not a problem, I would do an MA first, in case you would severely regret if you went to the high 20s this year and found you did not like the program and people there at all

But you will have to wait, find a job, and reapply for the MA next year?

Hey, one year passed. How are you doing at Brown? Have you ever regretted your choice?

This question is also bothering me! I am struggling with whether to read introductory textbooks of theory, or to read those classics directly. I have tried to read the original texts of classics many times in the past few years, when doing my master's in sociology. None of those attempts worked, as I always found it very difficult to understand those original texts, especially Weber. However, I always feel an urgency to read them before this September. If we cannot manage to do it now, it is very likely that we will have a hard time in the first year, suffering from hundreds of pages of readings per week. Another issue is that from time to time I heard that 'it would be impossible to understand those classics without some knowledge of earlier authors such as Adam Smith, John Locke, etc'. The strategy I am going to adopt is: start from a textbook (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Classical+Sociological+Theory), then try to read some original texts, as much as I can. Meanwhile, always bear in mind that never aim to FULLY understand the whole text. Just try to get the main idea so that you get some fun and also become better prepared to pass the upcoming first year theory courses. A Coursera course on classical sociological theory: https://www.coursera.org/learn/classical-sociological-theory/home/welcome Not sure if it is a high-quality course.

Thank you! I remember you are admitted to UCI, which is my dream school. I love the climate of California! Irvine, in particular, is a very nice community to live. But I guess I have been rejected in spite of no formal notification yet. The visitation weekends of the two schools happen to be on the same day! Also, I am an international student. So I will probably not attend due to the expensive airfare. But I will definitely Skype with the Illinois professor, as you suggested.

Your guess is completely correct. Also thank you for your advice. You are right, decisions of this kind are hardly correct or incorrect, as our life outcome is never completely determined by the very first decision, but also what we do and how we live our life after the decision is made.

You are right. My current situation is that I am balancing between two PhD offers: one from a top 25 program, the other from a 40-50 program (US news ranking). Almost everyone told me to go to the former, as the program fits me much better, but I really like one professor in the lower-ranked school, who also helped me a lot in this application season. I like him because I believe he is the smartest scholar I have ever met so far. But I am also aware that the smartest scholar is not necessarily the best PhD mentor. I guess I will go to the top 25 program, because we cannot go to a program simply because of one advisor. But that is a hard decision to make.

Thank you!

I just discovered an old thread at http://www.socjobrumors.com/topic/red-flags-for-graduate-programs-and-advisors/page/2?replies=23 Someone said that it would be a red flag if your prospective "advisor only 'co-authors' with students (or former students)." I am confused why it should be seen as a red flag? Thank you! BTW, I have a list of factors that some senior students suggest me to take into consideration when deciding which program to join: 1. Never go to a school to do PhD simply because of one professor. There should be more than three faculty members that you want to work with. 2. Avoid programs that ask PhD students to TA too many courses.