brokenwindow

Interesting -- who did you talk with at UPenn? They did interviews with candidates of interest ages ago. Then when I spoke with the DGS a week or two ago he told me that all offers and wait list offers had already been made.

Last year I got into two schools in January, then wait listed at a couple in February. If you look through the results page, most schools have already notified accepted students this year (Maryland being an exception).

Hey for Yale, who is the email from? I was thinking of emailing them directly, despite not hearing anything (which I am assuming is bad news). I am in a good program in a closely related field, but I didn't get into a single pure sociology program this year or last year. At least last year I got wait listed. Oh well.

If South Florida is funded, I would seriously consider taking it, because from what you wrote I don't think you sound competitive for a top tier program (although I could be wrong and in fact genuinely hope I'm wrong). An MA in Sociology focusing on qualitative methods and film theory is not an obvious path to any paid jobs that I personally am aware of. Sometimes people use Soc Masters to get jobs in market research, performing surveys and that sort of stuff, but that doesn't sound like your kind of thing. Whatever you do, don't take out any more loans! Only do a fully funded PhD program where you don't pay tuition and they give you a stipend in exchange for no more than 20 hours a week of work as a TA or RA. Good luck!

Look at the top soc journals and search Foucault in the last 5 years. Determine which articles grapple with his ideas more than in passing. Look at the CVs of the authors of those articles.

Err.... Only because you bumped an old thread. Look at the one labelled 2015.

First off, that's always nice to hear for those of us still in limbo. Also, I hope you're killing it at UC-I. Second, were you accepted late to programs that had weeks or months earlier sent out acceptances and wait lists? I was under the impression that that's really really unusual.

Yeah, in the beginning of my post I was writing from my memory from a year earlier. Then I paused, searched for the email, and realized that, all things considered, it was actually not that cruel. It's just that for various reasons (including what I thought was one very strong in with a professor) I had thought I had a real shot, so I was pretty disappointed that my app clearly didn't even ping on Whitford's radar. He was polite, but that could have been written to anybody. Then again, they get zillions of candidates for a few spots -- maybe it was luck of the draw, or maybe I was just a weak candidate or otherwise a bad fit for the program.

No funding?!? That is crazy, and I did not know that. I once looked at outcomes for Mason CSS PhDs, and many of them end up in Silicon Valley or similar highly paid companies -- now I'm wondering if it's just so they can pay off their $100K+ in student loans. I mean, that could climb to $200K. Not worth it in my book.

IIRC Cornell and Yale both have labs focused on this (very cool) stuff. Axton at George Mason is also doing awesome computational social science research -- he's almost an evangelist for these methods.

I think silence usually means rejection if and only if a program has already sent out acceptances and official wait lists. However, I did not apply to Columbia this year (not very nicely rejected last year and couldn't come up with any better argument for my candidacy this year, so decided to save the $100, despite the fact that in my heart of hearts I know that Sudhir Venkatesh and I would have a bromance for the ages). Below is what the DGS wrote me last March after I emailed him: "Dear [brokenwindow], The news is, as I think you have surmised, not good. We have notified all those accepted. We accepted 17 out of 300+, and were necessarily unable to accept many worthy candidates. I know that sound like boilerplate, and in a sense it is. I've written it to others as well. It is at least true. I do not know why the Graduate School has not sent out the bad news. That is their job not mine (which is not your fault, of course; you justly want to know). Best of luck in your endeavors. jdw" Ugh, searching for that email reminded me of how sad I was last year, after months of increasingly desperate limbo to end up getting that crappy (though at least personalized) decision. FWIW, this was my unsent draft email reply from moments after I received that body blow. It's probably for the best that I didn't send it. "Professor Whitford, Thank you very much for getting back to me. While this is not the news I wanted to hear, it is actually a genuine relief to have an official answer. Not hearing anything (after so many other people reported getting rejected) led to a lot of confusion, delusion, and compulsive refreshing of my online application status. I am very glad for that to be behind me. Have a great evening!" #dramaqueen lol. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (and I hope I'm wrong or they are doing it differently this year). Anyhow, silence as bad news not true for all schools. I know, for example, that Cornell does an unofficial wait list, so silence does not mean rejection in their case.

I *think* in sociology the top 20 or so are considered the first tier, but others who have more experience in the field should please correct me.

The USNWR rankings incorporate reputation, but imperfectly since the sample is small and skewed. But it does provide some rough info. As far as ranking in general, the hoary chestnut is that the vast majority of grads who get TT jobs land in programs one tier below their PhD program. If your goal is to teach in an R1, many probably wouldn't pick a third-tier school over a first-tier school, even if the fit at the third-tier school were somewhat better. But yes, if you're choosing between #5 and #13, and you'd thrive at #13 as the disciple of a professor who's a star in a sub-field, but you'd feel aimless and unsupported at #5, with no clear advisor, many would sensibly choose #13. A star advisor could trump a slightly lower overall rank. Having said that, I think most people would choose Princeton or Berkeley over UT. But that doesn't mean that's the right decision for you, after weighing the complex factors that are important to you personally. Basically, I don't think there's a formula or easy answer.

I would simply politely decline via email, explaining that you are still deciding between a couple other programs but wanted to open up this spot in their cohort.

I was about to suggest MAPSS, but the poster above discussed it far more knowledgably. If you have to stay in NYC, Columbia would also be a great option. Another possibility would be one of the prestigious UK one-year Masters programs. But I think MAPSS has the best overall track record.

Sorry to point out that Clueless91 said in January that they were accepted to Temple. :S

Bleurgh, no word from Cornell, which I'm interpreting as a no. Did anybody get waitlisted at Cornell sociology? I had heard they do an unofficial wait list, but I could be wrong... This site is super helpful for deducing rejections from lack of communication, since so many of the programs cruelly hold off on their rejections til March or April. Psychologically, I'd much rather know now.

Thanks for that info, very helpful. And congrats on your acceptances. I imagine it would be hard to say no to a program as awesome as UCLA's.

Hey, has anybody heard from Cornell Sociology? The past two years they have notified February 7th and 13th, so I was expecting some acceptances to have popped up by now... It's my last hope in Sociology...

Lol just don't burn bridges. It's a pretty small field and people have long memories.

Hi, I did do an interview at UPenn, and was told something similar. At least our (tiny, non-externally valid) sample indicates that they might just be a little behind schedule in general. And to the above poster, I was invited to do a John Jay interview but haven't done it yet.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has gotten final decision from University of Pennsylvania? I'm getting nervous about it.