high_hopes

If you are interested in quantitative research, I suggest taking courses on statistics, data science, and possibly programming. While we often think of these as being topics for computer scientists; there is an increasing demand for these skills in sociology and computational social science. It can make you look like a very attractive candidate for certain graduate schools.

From my understanding, what universities care about is your publication record, ability to continue to do research, and ability to teach and serve the university. These factors are much more important than whether you had specific fellowships. However, fellowships are often an early indicator of success in these areas. Best of luck to everyone waiting for results!

Also.... if SSHRC can use twitter why can't they just use some online portal to release the results or email them to us? #BecauseIts2018

SSHRC confirmed on Twitter that the results are out:

Does anyone know whether the following is possible: If you don't get the Vanier, but you get a sshrc/cihr/nserc doctoral fellowship one year, can you decline or defer the sshrc/cihr/nserc award to be eligible to re-apply to the Vanier in the following year? (Background: The Vanier eligibility states that you: Must not hold, or have held, a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC to undertake or complete a doctoral degree. (Source: http://www.vanier.gc.ca/en/eligibility-admissibilite.html) I'm wondering if you can defer/decline the scholarship/fellowship to apply again to the Vanier.)

No. They are completely separate processes. I know someone who won a Vanier a few years ago (through the SSHRC stream) but she was not even forwarded to the national competition for the SSHRC doctoral fellowship by her university in the same year.

Congratulations to everyone who got it! I didn't make the cut. Hopefully the result for the SSHRC will be different!

I thought that once I got into a PhD program and the craziness of waiting for admissions decisions was over, I wouldn't have to anxiously wait for results from competitions anymore. However I guess it just continues throughout our academic careers! My advisor was telling me about how he was eagerly waiting for the results of his own SSHRC grant application lately.

Same. I'll just tell myself I'll find out on Friday the 13th -- an unfortunately inauspicious date!

SSHRC sends its results out by regular mail, and they are expected sometime in April, though in past years it has been late and results only released in May or later. The Vanier GCS has a SSHRC stream and these applications are announced online. For the Vanier results were originally going to be released by the end of March, but now the Vanier website says the results will be released in early April. So hopefully the Vanier is announced in the next week and the SSHRC comes by the end of the month, but until the results are released there may be further delays.

I'm a SSHRC candidate for the Vanier who also wishes the results had come out this week. Oh well...

I got my rejection email two hours ago. "We regret to inform you that your file was not among those retained to advance further through the selection process." Best of luck to everyone who is at the semi-finalist stage!

Go to the beach without your phone, or somewhere else on a vacation where you will only be able to check your email at night. That's what I did last week, but I was fortunate to have the week off of work.

I received a rejection from Harvard's Social Policy & Sociology program today. However I also applied to the Sociology (stand-alone) program and haven't heard back yet.

What are your career goals? Look at jobs that you want to have and figure out what education requirements they have. Talk to the faculty in the program you are currently in about what graduates do. Ask University of South Florida (if you were accepted there) what their graduates do for work when/if they finish the program. Then pick the path that will get you to your goal. And, like "brokenwindow" said - don't go in debt anymore.

I don't think you need to give reasons, but I know that when I decided not to attend a school they appreciated knowing why and how I made my decision. A simple "I was accepted to another program that was a better fit" or "I decided to pursue a different opportunity of program of study this year" is sufficient to add to sentence you wrote and indicates a professional response.

It's not easy. Check out these websites for a while and you'll see way too many people fighting for too few jobs and getting upset when they don't end up with the position of their dreams. http://www.socjobrumors.com/ http://socjobs.proboards.com/

There are some. Reading the profiles of students who got in helps to understand what top 10 programs are looking for. For example, look at http://sociology.princeton.edu/graduate-program/graduate-students http://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/grad-students http://sociology.berkeley.edu/graduate_students For Harvard or Berkeley it is more tricky as you have to click on the names of people to read their profile (if there is one), but it shows the academic and professional backgrounds of applicants.

What type of program are you in that you have to complete comprehensive exams when you are not intending to do a PhD?

Hi Ron, I think that you should look at organizations who do research in areas that interest you, see what academic backgrounds their staff have, and then aim for that type of career path. You might also want to look into doing an internship with one of these organizations as well if that is possible for you. I hope that is helpful.

I am aiming high because I think that I will have better chances on the job market if my PhD is from a high-ranking institution.

Some Canadian programs are funded, if you're interested in looking across the border. Maybe Toronto, McGill, UBC, or York?

So, a thread on another forum I read has an interesting discussion as to whether there are too many PhD programs in sociology and what the implications are for people hoping to get jobs in academia. http://www.socjobrumors.com/topic/too-many-phd-students What do you all think? It certainly makes me think that I should be very wary of getting my PhD at a lower-ranked institution particularly if they don't have a good placement rate for graduates into academic jobs.

I only know what I've read online, so I don't have any Berkeley-insider knowledge. However, is the joint program actually more competitive? It seems that they have similar acceptance rates: less people apply to the joint program but less people are admitted. A minor benefit of the joint program is an extra week to apply. Also, it seems that the vast majority of Demography coursework is finished within the first year of the program. (See the final example listed on this webpage.)

Sure, it's doable. You might need to repeat some MA courses before you can go into a PhD. However, you would be in good company -- here's a McGill BA(PoliSci) who went on to a MA and PhD in Sociology: http://sociology.berkeley.edu/faculty/irene-bloemraad.