Zouzou

Hi Gabe, Thanks for that advice. I think regarding friends etc. in 5 years - I work for a non-profit and have been since getting the MA so I'm not making the big bucks by any means nor am I on the way to that. I think a PhD would actually help with being more competitive in the nonprofit, think tank world so part of my ambition toward a PhD is that. But you are right, I still need to come to terms about possibly still being in graduate school in 5 years. Thanks again, and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Hi Gabe, First - thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions! I'm applying to PhD programs in sociology (mostly) for Fall 2016, but feel very ambivalent about direction. I'm in my very early 30s, was a Political Science and an area studies double major in college with about a 3.6 GPA; I worked for a year in my area studies' department after graduation, and performed okay (I can't remember the scores) on the GRE. I have a masters in an interdisciplinary program from an international relations geared school, which within this subfield is ranked/seen as a very good school. Since the MA, I've been out of school for 6 years, but have lived and worked abroad in a conflict region, and have been back in the States working in the NGO sector. All of what I've done (work abroad, current work) since the MA have been not only related more or less to what I was interested in while in that program, but directly have guided what I'm interested in pursuing research work on in the near future. My dilemma is multi-fold: how do I determine sociology is the fit (I feel like it is after obsessive research into other fields including Anthro, Poli Sci, Economics, and even History)? am I now too old be pursuing a PhD? (I have hesitated for the last few years, because I didn't feel I knew what I wanted to work on, and felt it was disingenous to pursue a PhD just for the hell of it - like some sort of badge) I'm interested in current and historical geopolitics, gendered social movements, migrations, etc., and would like to be focused particularly on a specific part of central/western Asia - does this fit in the sociology discipline or should I be looking at Anthro, Poli Sci, IR, etc., after all? I'm having a hard time finding faculty in sociology departments with a focus remotely close to what I'm interested in. Again, thanks so much for reading and for your help with the questions!!