kris10mb

@EvelynD -- I've been struggling with my fair share of self-pity...Thankfully, I have a good support system in both my personal and professional life that hasn't really let me get too down. I've also found that trying to figure out why certain people get accepted and why others don't is just a painful, unproductive exercise. We weren't in the admission meetings and have no idea why they picked the people they picked. Trying to compare yourself to the accepted folks just brings more frustration, in my experience. But four schools is a pretty small pool of possibilities. Just think, maybe the people you want to study with can't take any more students right now, are leaving, or have already left and the school hasn't updated their website. Maybe research interests are changing at a particular school and while they once studied what you want to research, the department is trying to move away from that area. Also, one of the schools I got rejected from took a cohort of 7-ish people. That is a very small and very competitive group of people fighting for just a handful spots. We could have been rejected/waitlisted for any number of reasons that really have nothing to do with our abilities. I know that there are areas in my application that I can improve upon (such as a better tailored SOP and raising my quant GRE), but I know that I'm qualified to do this and I won't let a couple rejections get in the way of that.

I've been through B and C already (at a surprisingly fast pace) and have moved on to A. And I'm also trying to appreciate the gift of more time before I lose my life to academia again. @eloquentrivka - I would hardly take the small handful of rejections that we've seen (most of the folks I've seen on this forum that are already planning on the next cycle are those of us who only applied to 2-5 programs) as an indication that we aren't cut out for this route. I think, if anything, the drive to get back up and try again next time is an indication that we ARE made for this. Rejections come more often than acceptances for many things in academia - and life in general. Sure, if your GPA is low, your GRE scores aren't great, you don't have strong letters of recommendation, etc. you might want to consider looking at alternate paths...but I'm choosing to have faith in myself and my abilities. And I would encourage others to do the same.

@csot - Thanks for the good vibes. I've resigned myself to taking another year off between my M.A. and Ph.D...it's not ideal, but it is what it is. I'm not a big believer in religion or a higher power but I do think that the universe unfolds as it should. It just wasn't meant to be for me this time around. But I have to believe that there is something bigger and better waiting for me and I just can't see it yet. Next time around I'll try and cast a wider net than just four schools but as I paid for all of the applications/sending of GRE scores myself, I just couldn't afford to apply to more schools this time around on an adjunct salary.

I've been really struggling the past week or so. I got rejected from my top two choices and my best guess is that I've been waitlisted at my "safety" school. It's been rough but I'm trying to stay positive. However, now that I've reached this low, I find that my anxiety level has dropped significantly. I'm actually going a normal amount of time between checking emails and have actually been productive in my work. This seems like a super depressing post, but as I'm learning to deal with the rejections, I'm finding peace. Hope that the rest of you find a calm place within yourselves - hopefully through good news, but if not, then in spite of the bad.

I would suggest trying to get your paper published. If there is one thing that I've learned through this application process, it's that the majority of us applying for Ph.D. programs have good test scores, GPAs, LORs, SOPs, and writing samples. You want to stand out as an applicant and having a paper published or even submitted for publication can help you do that. I am in the process of getting a paper published (currently under R&R) but I definitely put it on my CV. Publishing a paper isn't easy - typically, you get rejected at least once, you go through revisions, etc. so going through the process can help demonstrate to an admissions committee that you are willing to go the extra miles to accomplish something. Everyone at this stage of the game has written a good paper, but not everyone has taken the time to work towards publication. Especially with a low overall GPA, you really need to demonstrate that you are up for the challenge of graduate school.

I can only speak for one of those schools, but I have a friend who received an acceptance from NCSU two weeks ago. I still haven't heard from them, but ETS had a problem sending my full GRE score to them so they just got all my paperwork in last Friday (!!!!). The good-ish news is that they didn't do an interview. My friend just woke up one day and had an acceptance email waiting.

@csot I've definitely had a couple nightmares about this process...which means I wake up in the middle of the night to check my email for the 247th time, only to find an empty inbox.

I'm still waiting to hear from UNC as well...in looking through the results page, they have sent out admission offers a couple days apart in previous years, so I'm trying to hold on to hope.

Saw that someone posted an acceptance from UNC! Congratulations! Anyone want to claim it?

I think I might lose my mind if I don't hear something this week. Everyone I know in real life who applied this round has heard something from at least one school they applied to, but I'm still waiting. It seems like the end of January/early February are popular times for admissions decisions to be sent out, so I'm crossing all of my fingers and toes that we hear something soon. It seems to me like this year is getting off to a late start...

???

One of my favorite sociology jokes: Why does Karl Marx hate Earl Grey tea? Because all proper tea is theft.

This has been my experience 100%. Even my professors keep assuring me that I'll get in, but until I receive an email/call proving them right, I'm filled with doubt. It's nice to have support, but at the same time, I just want to scream "BUT YOU DON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE!" It doesn't help that the whole process is somewhat arbitrary. I've heard of many people who didn't get in one year, then sent in an almost identical application the next year and get admitted...I just hate feeling like I have no real control over what happens.

Weekends are hard for me because I want to check my email every 5 seconds, but know that it's very unlikely to get any official communication from a school on a non-work day. I was excited that today is Monday, because that meant I might hear back from SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE -- and then I realized it's MLK day...

Take a look at American University's Justice, Law, and Criminology program. I spoke with their graduate director during ASC and while I'm not sure if they have someone looking at health within the CJS, their program focuses heavily on issues within the CJS. I really liked their program but it isn't a good fit for my particular research interests. As far as a list of sociology PhD programs, this book was really helpful for me: http://asa.enoah.com/Bookstore/Reference-Materials/BKctl/ViewDetails/SKU/ASAOE702G15?_ga=1.163806143.1853031658.1484416231 . Thankfully, my chair had a copy that I borrowed so I didn't have to purchase it, but $50 isn't terrible considering how important this decision is for the future. Good luck!

I'm not sure...maybe the person who posted it is in a different time zone. I spent some time in Europe this summer and when I posted things on Facebook my friends in the US would see a time stamp that said my pictures were posted "tomorrow."

The snow was definitely making it worse! Nothing to do but sit in the house all day and stress. Luckily(?), I got sick on day two of being snowed in, so I had a couple day respite from worrying about my applications...But today I found out someone from my M.A. cohort was accepted into a school that I applied to (and haven't heard anything from) so my anxiety levels have reached new highs. I know that I'm probably driving myself crazy, but does anyone know how programs feel about accepting multiple students from the same program? I haven't heard of many people who go to the same Ph.D. programs as folks from their previous institution, but I'm not sure if that's due to an unspoken rule of the admissions committees or just because of choice/fit/etc. Anyone know anything about this? Wise plan.

I'm enjoying a lovely $3 bottle of Merlot and watching the snow fall...and wondering if the snow will make it longer before I hear back from the schools impacted by this southern snow storm. Because that is what my life is like now.

I submitted the introduction, data/methods, and results section of my M.A. thesis. I figured showing them that I am good at "sociological math" might help the fact that might quantitative GRE score isn't as high as I would like it to be. Congrats, yo! Very happy for you

This is great advice. I've been doing this even though I have been studying sociology for years. I've tried to keep reading during my gap year and POI syllabi and comp reading lists are where most of my personal list has come from.

The working conditions are terrible compared to a tenure-track teaching job (which you can only get with a Ph.D.). The pay isn't great and it's per class, meaning you have to teach a heavy load to make a comparable salary. And you have to teach a certain number of courses to be offered health insurance. Plus, there is no job security. With the way many education budgets have been going, it's not a great time to be an adjunct. You're also not a part of departmental meetings (I'm sure there are some departments that operate differently but that has been my experience where I teach and other places I have looked into) and I don't even have an office on campus. There are all sorts of news articles about adjunct faculty protesting the way they are treated. There was even a national adjunct walkout day last February. I don't mean to sound terribly pessimistic about it - as I said, I've found it rewarding for the time being. Teaching has been a nice way for me to stay connected while taking a gap year and it's been great to introduce young minds to a subject that I love. It has its high and low moments, but I'm grateful for the opportunity. I just couldn't imagine trying to sustain this into a long-term career.

Having just completed a terminal M.A. program in Sociology, I suppose I have a few ideas about what you can do with an M.A. degree, but these are all people that I know coming out of the same department as me so I'm sure it's not representative of the field as a whole. Many of my classmates went on to pursue a Ph.D., but those who did not have ended up in a variety of workplaces. I know several who are now working with different law enforcement agencies (ATF, Secret Service, and FBI are the immediate ones that come to mind). My M.A. department has a criminology concentration, so many of our folks in this concentration who decided not to go further with their education followed a law enforcement track. I also know several graduates who do data analysis work for different companies and agencies. Most graduate programs require you to become familiar with statistical software (SPSS, STATA, SAS, R, etc.) and interpreting statistics, and this skill is translatable to many areas. Some of my classmates have gone on to entry-level research positions at large research firms, hoping to work their way up. Unfortunately, you will rarely be in charge of your own project at these types of companies without a Ph.D., but some folks are happy to continue to conduct research without the pressure of being in charge. I also know people working in vastly different fields from what they studied in our department, but they seem quite happy. Since completing my M.A. and waiting for the application season, I have been teaching introductory sociology courses at my previous university. You will only be hired as an adjunct/lecturer without a Ph.D. and I wouldn't advise this career track long term, however, I have found it rewarding for the time being. I'm not sure if I fully answered your question but feel free to ask anything else you want to know.

I thought that the most stressful part of submitting grad applications would be the preparation/writing. Turns out, now that I've hit submit on those bad boys, I'm STILL a stress ball. Seriously, all night last night I dreamed about getting in, not getting in, and interviewing with programs. Thought I'd start a thread where we could commiserate together if anyone is interested in joining in my pain!

Look into Dr. Walter DeKeseredy at West Virginia University

Hello! I am beginning the daunting task of narrowing down schools and finding places with the best fit that are preferably on the east coast. I have two research interests that are pretty unrelated, but I'm open to following either of them, depending on the department. I completed my M.A. last spring and my thesis was on collegiate sexual assault. My M.A. is in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology, so I'm passionate about crime, gender, and inequality. My other research interest is in labor. I've written extensively and done some research on a variety of workers, looking at how the overall structure of government and corporate policies influence the lives of lower level workers. Right now, I'm looking at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, Vanderbilt, UVA, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and a few others.