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sociologyguy12

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  1. My senior year of undergrad, my advisors told me I would get in anywhere (ok, maybe not, but they said I'd get into some really good programs). April came and went and I had little more than unfunded MAPPS offers from Chicago. I was extremelly sad and thought about giving up on grad school. I didn't think about it for months. August hit and I figured I'd try it again. I upped my GRE a few points and perfected my Statement. I don't feel I improved my application that much though. It was good enough to get me into some top schools. Lesson here: The application cycle is completley random and often unpredictable. Amazing students get rejected all the time. Don't take the email responses personally. These people are really busy and emails from undergrads wanting to study with them can often be seen as useless (unless you have a real reason to email them). Some professors, especially big names, have very strict spam filters and it's quite possible they'll never read your email or read it months later when looking for something in their spam. At this point, only worry about you. Improve on components of your application you can control. For what it's worth, the only program you applied to that I know anything about is UCSB. Don't let the mid-level ranking fool you. It is extremelly competitive to get in there. I currently attend a program with a MUCH higher ranking, but was rejected there both times I applied.
  2. Are you looking to stay within crim or focus on something crim related? If so, you may want to reevaluate your list of schools. Crim isn't really something the prestigious programs specialize in. Instead, it's the lower ranked programs that have crim-oriented departments. Places like Maryland are probably going to be the highest ranked crim programs you find within sociology. On the other hand, crim is where the jobs are. Those jobs just aren't at prestigious universities. To address your issues: 1. Try to get at least one letter from a sociologist. It won't kill your application if you don't, but it will be really beneficial. 2. Not really a problem, unless you're looking to do something international. 3. Can be an issue, especially with some of those schools on your list. Look at the grad student bios on some of those school's webpages. Unfortunately, many of them go from one ivy leage to the next. Let me not step onto the soap box. 4. A program not willing to fund you isn't a program worth going to. You will need some money though. Lower class people have a very hard time in academia unless they take out loans. 5. Take your GRE now. If you don't like your score, retake it. It's odd that a field such as sociology cares about a standardized test score, but that's the reality of it. Are top programs overrated? Certainly. But you're going to get a job if you go to Berkeley, even if it's not in academia. Can we say the same about lower ranked schools? Definitely not. Unless you consider adjuncting for a couple grand a course a job you'd be willing to take. If you want suggestions on what schools to apply to, I think we need to know a little more about your interests. Finally, you're going to get mixed-reviews on emailing facutly members. Don't think that emailing faculty members will get you into any schools though. Perhaps going to a conference and networking would be slightly more beneficial.
  3. ^ advising anyone to visit socjobrumors is a dumb idea. There's no discussion of actual sociology nor are there any "job rumors." Instead, it's just a bunch of graduate students moaning and groaning about dumb and sometimes racist stuff. It's extremelly unlikely that you're a facutly member at a top 20 university. Odds are you're a graduate student, especially given the way you articulated most of your points here. Also, it's unfortuanate that you look so poorly upon letters from people outside of sociology. If we want to add anecdotal experiences into the equation, I didn't major in sociology and only one of my letters was from a sociologist. I was fortunate gain admission into several top 30 programs and waitlisted at a few others. Prior to submitting my application, no faculty members at any institutions I applied to expressed concern over my letters. They all told me it would be fine. Other than that, I don't have a problem with your advice.
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