brokenwindow

Impressive resume! Yeah I think that seems like such a cool program. It's definitely on my radar of great ways to transition into a social science PhD. My friend finished Lehigh a year or two before you started...

Yeah that's a great point.

Those two programs are super super different. Like in a weird way i would think the decision wouldn't be toooo hard, since you must either be an Irvine person or a Rutgers person.

I am probably getting details wrong, but I remember thinking you made a smart choice of a fully funded masters at Lehigh. It stuck in my memory because i have a friend who did the same program (and is now in a good phd program). Anyhow, congrats again. All that stuff about top tens etc was really tailored to someone who's gunning for a job at Princeton or some place like that. As you well know, there's a great big world of fulfilling jobs outside of top 10 R1s.

Yeah, *that* is when fit matters. Like if you're choosing between Brown and CUNY, it could be, can you imagine yourself becoming Alba's favorite student of the year, or would you rather do social demography of Chinese laborers at Brown . Btw you're the Lehigh masters, right? I remember lurking your posts last year. That's so great that your second round worked out! Congratulations!

Hm I don't know what your choices are between. My very extreme reaction is to the person who is choosing Brown over two top 10 programs. If her goal is to become a professor at a research university, there is simply no way to justify such a decision. Fit comes into play when you're choosing between two places of approximately similar rank. Or, I guess, if your goal is not to become a professor. If they admitted you, you're probably a good or at least good enough fit. What types of places are you choosing between?

I think she rejected the top 10 offers. Which is just so, so crazy and self destructive. I guess maybe she can reapply next year.

Even if they have no relevant experience in the current sociology job market? I can see why the negative advice from current sociology professors would be a bitter pill to swallow, since it contradicts your short term desires. But after your initial anger subsides, I hope that your rational side takes over and you realize that these experts are very familiar with the current sociology job market and how the market compares for graduates of, say, Wisconsin versus Brown. In a nutshell, sociology is a caste system, and the vast majority of people move down one caste in their first job (*if* they're lucky enough to get a tenure track job, which most aren't). A few remain in the same caste. A tiny, tiny number of people move up a caste. So it's not impossible to succeed from the lower caste, but it's extremely, extremely hard (and incredibly much harder than if you had accepted your opportunity to become high caste).

It's very important that in your reply, you tell them that if you get the offer you will accept it because Delaware is your number one choice. Even if you already replied, if you didn't include a sentence like that I would send a second reply indicating that you would enthusiastically accept the offer if they made you an offer. Congratulations and good luck.

Whoever advised you to make this choice gave you terrible advice. If your goal is a tenure track job at an R1, being in a top 10 program will give you enormous advantages over anyone at Brown. It shouldn't be that way, but that is the way it is. There is actually a thread on a message board for sociology professors in which they are discussing how sorry they feel for you for making such a terrible choice. If there's any way for you to still accept those Top 10 offers, I highly encourage you to reconsider your choice. I don't think it's too dramatic to say that you are on the verge of ruining your career before it's even started.

I also didn't hear anything from Delaware one way or the other, then got in at the last minute in April (and chose not to attend), and what I remember is that they were very focused on figuring out whether I really wanted to go. I think a lot of people apply there as a backup school, so if it really is your first choice, it might actually make a difference if you emailed the admissions committee and told them that if you got an offer you would accept it. I liked Delaware because it was a combo of soc/crim, it had a couple professors I liked, and it's commutable to a couple big cities. However, I didn't like the stipend they offered. I can't remember it exactly, but it was something in the teens. For me, that was the dealbreaker (especially compared to a couple of my other offers).

Yeah, just trying to make a little joke, but I guess this is a sensitive subject. Good luck and have a good one.

Hm, I have never heard of someone getting the $45K+ in annual research grants that would be needed to compensate for a typical funding package. And I'm pretty sure that "no funding" means that there's also not a tuition waiver (which can be more than double most PhD students' stipends). If no funding actually means 'no stipend,' then that's not AS bad (but still pretty pretty bad). So as far as taking out $40K+ in loans every year for a PhD that would lead to a middling salary if you're lucky, I guess I just can't imagine a life circumstance that would justify such a bad investment.

Never ever ever even THINK about paying tuition for a PhD program. Furthermore, don't do a PhD unless tuition is free AND they give you a stipend you can at least minimally live off of. The rule is, don't take out any loans for a PhD, because it's a bad investment (and a signal that the department is not very interested in you).

I have a friend in this program, and I know that he got in off an unofficial wait list (and is thriving and loving it -- he chose it over Albany and is very happy with his decision). I think in mid/late February JJ invites a round of about 20 applicants for a March campus visit (kind of a cross between an interview and a recruitment visit), but keep 10 or so in their back pocket in case it doesn't work out with the first 20.