goofylemon

I can tell 148/143 will never get into UW unless the applicant's parent is donating a library to the school. That should be a trolling post. This is not being harsh, but I don't really believe an applicant shines elsewhere can score that low in GRE. Edit: A Math 143 is 18% percentile. A Verbal 148 is ~35% percentile. Both of the percentiles run far below the average. I know some sociology candidates score low on Math, which may be fine. However, low scores on both sections will never survive in any program with healthy reputation. The math is especially problematic, because UW is considered one of the most quantitative-leaned programs across the country. I don't think this should sound sting or inconsiderable to anyone. So far no one in this thread run 18/35 on GRE, and claim to applying Soc PhD. One should note out of fairness, a person with that kind of promise entering a highly-ranked program like UW is, in fact, truly devastating to many better-deserved applicants. Even some test takers are not good at standardized tests or multiple choice, the percentiles combined are still too significant as an evidence of ineligibility to be admitted to UW. Well, I think I may receive many downs for this answer, but this is just to be honest.

@HopefulSocPhD Don't worry too much, you are amazing!!! ****hugs ***** In fact, I am looking forward to the tacos you bringing to Brown when you enroll~~

Ok, I am assuming a new thread is needed. Anyone in this forum attending the PAA meeting this March? Here we could share about your area (or even topics if you do not mind). How to arrange a cheaper lodging? Great local foods to find, as well as many other stuff. I think the PAA official hotel is very, very expensive, especially for sole traveler. There are many other good (brand) lodging options in the area and D.C. metro system is convenient. A few times before in other conferences (AAG) I did not stay in the official hotel and found no disadvantage. Is it really important to stay in the official hotel? A great place to have authentic Chinese food is the Rockville on the Metro Red Line I visited there a few times in the ASC meeting last year and the food was really nice.

Did you mean PAA? PAA is fairly competitive, especially if you are in paper session (not poster session). Last year, PAA paper session admission rate is only around 25%. You may be able to make it a case to let the admissions know, but I don't know if it is useful.

New cohorts in programs like UW should have at least twice as large as a size of 5... The yield rate was normal (~25%) for that kind of program. Therefore, I guess UW was either running out of funding last year or being too optimistic about the yield rate.

see my previous message - I am not - I wish I were, but no I was not. I am not type of person fear of revealing my admission results, needless to say good news.

@Katastrophe @redhillgirl yeah... interestingly that uw guy has the exactly same GRE as I had, other than a different gpa. lol Hopefully that admits is just an early contact from the POI, or something like that

I don't really think we need another thread. Currently, I think most people are comfortable with this style of decisions+discussion. If only a generic message of "I am rej/admitted/waitlisted by XX school" is what all desired, why don't just look at the results search page? Why bother even start a thread?

Are you admitted to Princeton??!!

Gingin, do you mind sharing who is your POI? I am not applying UC-Davis but happened to know a few people there. I am just curious. P.S. I'd like some M&Ms lol~

Thanks! I am saying this definitely not because I feel like I am more qualified than the admitted cohorts. I know many of the admitted candidates from this forum, and I think you guys/gals are really great! I just cannot think of a significant reason why my application is rejected. This kind of curiosity is killing me, if it is not because of GPA.

I am sorry for the lack of consideration about this case - I apologize. I neglected the fact that I am in a very good sociology program already and imagined the situation solely in my perspective. If you are not in this major for your undergrad and have no access to reliable faculty members, I would consult different rankings first to get a sense of how different programs are approximately placed. For example, a program ranked #50-ish or after might not likely be the leader in any of the major field you have ever heard. Then, I will probably look through their websites and read the articles of your POI in that program carefully. Believe it or not, I am very sensitive to people's writing styles. The feelings about the articles they wrote as sole author have made an important contribution to my rankings of the programs I am applying to. You may also contact people from your program of interests, either grad students or faculty members, to get a 'rough feeling' about the people there. You do not want to work with people with personalities you do not like, anyway, right I'll second what many people have said, school visits are important.

Thank you very much. I did not mean to criticize you for saying that, and I appreciate different viewpoints. >.< I am sorry if my tone seems getting different. The only reason I tied myself so quickly to Brown, is the faculty members there are very good in my fields of interests. Plus, more importantly, I found a really good adviser I would like to work with. These reasons are rather personal. I am not recommending anyone to tie to a school so quickly as I do unless they are in the same situation. I will now at least to wait from Yale and UCLA. I am pretty sure though there is no compelling reasons to wait for programs such as UNC-CH and NYU (though, this is just my case). For reference purposes, I would roughly describe my situation as: (1) have very, very strong interests in working with POI; (2) research interests unlikely to be changed; (3) do not care to know the outcome of the applications to the programs that unlikely to commit assuming the current offer(s).

I think a much better resource to consult is your professors. Ask professors in your fields of interests about their opinion. Share with them your GRE/GPA/ rough experience and let them know which "rough level" of programs you should get into. They know both you and programs much better than the rankings. To Avoid bias, ask more than one.

Thank you. I will not deny there is an "academic caste". However, I would strongly disagree the statement that "NYU/UCLA is better than Brown" (although I know you do not mean to say in this way). NO, NYU/UCLA is not any better, nor worse than Brown. They have different specializations and it is really hard to compare. Many of the professors in my current institution gave a mediocre remark about Princeton, too. So how much does ranking matter? A little - it provides you some kind of guidance in making your final list of application. However, what I want to say here is do not let rankings lead your mind. P.S. I am not withdrawing all programs I am applying to, at least not UCLA. But for NYU, I see no reasons to wait.

I have backgrounds in both sociology and criminology. It really depends on which school you are applying to, and what is the relationship between the Soc and Crim folks in that school. For example, Penn State has really fantastic Soc and Crim programs (both!), and these folks are in the same building, work together and maintain a good relationship within just the same department, albeit it is separate application process for the two programs. Maryland, however, host the folks in two disciplines (p.s. I don't think soc and crim are really two disciplines) in even different colleges/schools. Similar schools are like SUNY-Albany and CUNY. It also depends on whether you are a CJ type of criminology person or a "social ecology" type of criminology person. Some really top-ranked programs like Cincinnati and Missouri are almost entirely focused on CJ, which sounds too "political/policy-oriented" to me. If you are interested in prison/policing/sentencing/policy, better specialize these in these kinds of close-knit CJ programs. If you are interested in neighborhoods/ socio-economic/racial-ethnicity/ interpersonal violence, you should really aim for a sociology program. It is not about ranking, it is about your research interests. US News ranking system sucks and is totally broke. They rank Brown Soc #25 and UCSB #30-ish, which I believe nobody in academia thought in the same way.

Although I will withdraw many of my ongoing apps (see my signature), I have really decided to ask the AdComm in Wisc for the reasons to reject my apps. Different from another school I was rejected (UT-Austin), where I think I am writing a lukewarm SOP and having a mediocre fit to, Wisc is considered the best fit to me. I really question why my apps got denied. I suspected it is because a first-sight kill of my undergrad GPA. If so, I will report it to this forum and hope it will be helpful for the applicants of the following years. If you ask what I hate most for the grad application process, it is the so-called "first-round filter". It filtered "out" many promising applicants with stellar rec letters and publication records but lower GPA/GRE. Some people are just not good test takers (importantly, standardized tests are evil even I scored good on them). For GPA, it really depends on school and the course difficulty. I have math background besides my sociology major and took so many darn-hard mathematics courses. That is the primary reason to pull down my GPA. If I hear the AdComm rejects me straight out of my GPA. It will really sounds disappointing. I don't really care the excuse saying "uhhh.. we receive something hundreds/thousands applications and we cannot read every file that carefully". Come on! The application fee is so darn expensive and you told me my application was just worth one-time read? for 90/100/110 dollars?

I got initial contact from Zhenchao Qian. I am a family demographer but interested in urban/ spatial stuff, too. So I am 99% sure John Logan will also be on my committee.

*hugs* thank you! You all are so sweet! Wish you good luck too!

I will not post the admission results unless it is official. There are only two days left in Janurary... So I think my results will also be posted next month.

This is actually much earlier than I imagine. Brown has a small cohort, so if you actually go there, the Grad Cafe will again dominate the cohort!

Yay! See y'all Wisconsin admits! I told ya! Thank you. I almost cry (again) when I heard of this T.T . Although I am very happy now, still a little jealous of you Wisc cohorts. Hahahaha

Wish you good luck! However, this is a very personal email from POI. Don't be discouraged just in case if you have not heard anything from them. Normally Brown results are not out until next few weeks. I have known my POI for a year.

My top choice is between Wisconsin and Brown. Wisconsin is broke, so ... haha!

BROWN ADMITTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE TO MAKE ALL CAPS. Contacted by POI and said looking forward to working with me. Funding information has to be waited until it is official. SO EXCITED!!! My application ends. Once my offer is official, I will withdraw all other applications!