nandoswitharando

Rejected by Berkeley. Not surprised, but not upset either because I got into Harvard GSE a few hours ago :^) good luck to everyone else!

Just got the phone call about 30min ago. So excited! Not sure if I'll commit, but it seems promising.

Just got the phone call about 30min ago. So excited! Not sure if I'll commit, but it seems promising.

Just got the phone call about 30min ago. So excited! Not sure if I'll commit, but it seems promising.

Can the person who was rejected by Berkeley share where they found that info? When I logged in to the site, nothing came up and my application still says "submitted".
(Sorry to hear about your rejection )

Hi all. New to posting. I felt it important to say that there's a ton of incorrect information that is passed around on gradcafe and especially on the HGSE threads. I know applying to grad school is scary and can feel super mysterious but unless you hear info directly from HGSE (and from the *appropriate* people at HGSE), I wouldn't put any weight into the info. I think there are some people who just want to feel like they have some sort of power or the inside track somehow but it just results in folks being more confused or let down on here. 
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Funding (during the academic year and during the summer), teaching opportunities (if you think you might want to teach later), stats training, placement (departmental and specifically for whomever might be your advisor), fit with the people in the department (not necessarily your cohort but the people there who you might see in classes or work with on a project). Outside of the department, I'd think about potential external committee members, library/research resources, location, ability to pursue hobbies you have (I train a martial art so I looked for available places to do that), cost of flights to friends/family, and weather.
If you're planning to do a dissertation which will require external funding to conduct research, I'd also pay close attention to the track record of your advisor and your department of getting those in a timely fashion. For example, if you want to do international data collection and no one in the department has gotten a major external grant for research in the last 3-4 years, I'd be wary.

For all of us with multiple acceptances, now we're coming to the tough decisions between equally tempting programs. Does anyone have any advice on what to ask POIs and current graduate students to help narrow down our choices? I also have a few visits coming up and am trying to plan how best to use these opportunities to decide which program is the best fit for me. What has been helpful to you so far?

Just got into UT Austin with six years of funding (same number of years I got from Irvine)! It's relieving to know I got into one program, even more so to know that at least two programs want me. Negotiation awaits!

1) I hope he happens to scroll this site daily, reads this and can't even swallow from embarrassment and regret. I would've killed (not really killed, but you get my point) to have been in his position and had someone from the department reach out to me.
2) As spiteful as it sounds, he does not sound like someone you would want in your program and I would let the other professors know of his arrogance (they can deal with him as they please but there's already enough arrogance to go around in Graduate programs). I've worked with too many arrogant people in graduate school to keep count and they drove everyone on staff and in-cohort CRAZY.  For instance, in my cohort, we had a girl who was blatantly racist and unapologetic in class and in practicum. She was eventually dismissed because the program wanted to save their image, but many of my classmates whom group-interviewed with her recalled her saying some problematic things even during the interview. Yet, our program directors ignored the warning signs because she was, in fact, very intelligent!
 In another case, I interned at a Psych hospital during my grad studies and on our team we had a resident doctor with ZERO ability to talk to the kids (WHOM HAVE SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESSES) without bursting into full arguments with them, consistently insulting other employees (employees he was working UNDER at that), and attempting to assume the role of head doctor (IN the head doctor's presence!). It ended with our team Psychiatrist speaking to the Director to have him removed from our unit. So repeat, if you are able to catch one of these people early on, DO SO. Too many arrogant, prejudiced jerks, whom have no ability to communicate in their field or consider others slip through the cracks just because they're pretty on paper and can hold it together for a 30 minute interview...and you've managed to catch one! Save the universe one last jerk and put the word out on him. There are plenty of other wonderful, well-rounded applicants in the sea.

That's me. Fingers crossed for good results.

CIS.
 
Thanks! It's on Monday.

That's me. Fingers crossed for good results.

Current student at one of the schools you listed. Your GRE scores are fine, and wouldn't be something I would worry about (mine was aa 4.5 in writing as well and both my V and Q were lower than yours––much lower). Other than that, your undergraduate trajectory actually reflects my own. Same GPA, same RA experience, I didn't co--author though but I was credited in a study I worked on. I speak three languages and english also wasn't my first language either (I was born and raised here too!) Anyway, I think that you shouldn't worry about the GRE stuff, like at all. Like, I mean, stop thinking about it completely. Start focusing on your statement of purpose, your personal statement (for Berkeley, and Columbia now accepts little "diversity" snippets), your writing sample and your CV! The one piece of advice I would give you (actually one isn't enough LOL) is write a statement of purpose that let's your voice shine; so we get to know you. I tried to hide too much of myself in my statement. Be honest about what draws you to your fields of interest and how sociology can help you build a set of questions around it (and how, not just why, you're the person that will make a significant contribution to those fields; whether it's because of your personal experiences or because of the research questions you've already begun asking in your thesis, or because in the process of reviewing a piece of literature a series of questions emerged and so as a result you've begun learning about a particular set of computational tools you'd like to pursue under Professor X to help you answer those questions etc.) Undergraduate applicants also have a habit of summarizing their coursework––don't do that. Rather, focus on how a set of sociological fields have guided you to your study on X and actually talk about that study (what did you do; how did you do it; what were your findings; how does your thesis reflect a change in what others have thought about/said about what you've studied, etc.). You can also point to how your RA helped guide you through your questions or methods, etc. From there, point to what you'll be pursuing in graduate school (following the method of how you explained your work thus far). The trick here is to think about how your past work left you with new, unanswered questions or methodology you'd like to pursue. Maybe you were looking at white and black students but didn't look at asian students and now want to do a comparative to see if this would produce a change to your observations and/or theory. When you're done you move into why this program; mainly who you want to work with, etc. BUT don't forget about geography––actually, that's really important. Why NYC? Why the Bay Area? To answer that talk about how your research makes sense in the context of the social world the university is in/around. That's fine if you want to conduct fieldwork abroad or thousands of miles outside of campus; you'll most likely be supported at any of these programs. That said, you'll still have years of coursework before you do that and so these programs wanna make sure you'll make the most of your time in the area you're in (for instance, if you're studying the relationship between economic relations and knowledge production through the social life of tech startups, the Bay Area or New York might make the most sense for you... but don't just assume they know this. Tell 'em.) What else... oh, reach out to one or two professors you align with and one or two graduate students (ideally 3rd or 4th+ years). More than half of the people I met during admissions day had made contact with either a professor or a graduate student (or both). Try aiming for tenured junior faculty opposed to senior faculty (although the latter can't hurt either). I'll leave you with this. I didn't get in my first or go my second time. But that's okay too, actually. I'm still the youngest in my cohort and, frankly, it was the right move. You'd be surprised how much your interests change once you actually leave academia. All of a sudden, you realize, you have many more interesting questions you'd like to ask and it's those questions that will make you stand out if the first time doesn't work out. Good luck and lemme know if you have any questions! 

http://www.alexhunterlang.com/nsf-fellowship check out Stephanie Cardenas Psychology proposal at the bottom of this site

UT Austin: 159V, 151Q (incoming students, not the entire pool of accepted students). Source here.

UT Austin: 159V, 151Q (incoming students, not the entire pool of accepted students). Source here.

I haven't been able to find an overview of GRE scores, but these are the median/suggested scores I've been able to find: 
Berkeley: 161V; 154Q Stanford: 166V; 163Q; 5.5W Wisconsin: above 75th percentile Duke: 162V; 160Q Indiana: above 70th percentile Notre Dame; 160V; 155Q; 5.0W a surprising amount of schools don't seem to post average scores ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@nandoswitharando, you're welcome. The Craft of Research, in my opinion, provides the most help in section three of the book "Making A Claim and Supporting It." Since that is exactly what you do with an Issue essay, it is a great resource.

Also, for a pdf copy: http://course.sdu.edu.cn/G2S/eWebEditor/uploadfile/20140306165625006.pdf 

I would put this around a 4 (but really, just guessing). 

Reasons:
Your evidence does not fully support your thesis. You list an example of computer science majors when the issue at stake is all students. You need to argue with more general statements and then offer specific proofs.  Your opposition argument is not strong. You state cost as a factor but then you directly move to time to graduation. While cost and time are linked, you did not link them. You left the reader to assume a correlation. Moreover, you do not prove that the prompt is motivated by financial concerns.  Contrary evidence to your thesis. In your second paragraph, ethics is the only issue you explore. Later you propose an "ethics for computer scientists course" which by its very name would have "a direct bearing on their future courses." In arguing in this way you actually support the prompt you are arguing against.  All your ideas were limited by the prompt. No creative insights. In this way, you have agreed with the unwritten assumptions of the prompt: e.g., that a student going to a university actually knows what they want to do or what they are able to do. Always interact with the assumptions of the prompt. Only one paragraph of for evidence. While you add additional for evidence in your opposition paragraph, you do not interact with the issue on different fronts. Tips:
Make sources up! Really. This is one of the best kept GRE secrets. If you have a prompt about education, just make up a statistic or a quote from Harvard or Yale or someone about the subject, interact with it, and use it to support your thesis. Also do it for the opposition. This takes creativity and may take practice before the exam to do well. Because you can't look up sources, you are allowed to make them up! (I did! Scored a 5.5).  Argue with general statements with specific examples. Argue your thesis with 2-3 claims with 1-2 proofs for each claim.  Transitions, transitions, transitions. For example is not a way to begin a paragraph in a GRE essay. They want topic sentences.  Write with more certainty. Making up sources will help you sound more certain. Instead of "computer science majors generally do not include ethics requirements" try "A 2014 survey of computer science majors published by MIT reported that less that 5% of computer science programs require an ethics class as part of the curriculum." You will need to write as an authority on a subject about which you are not. At this point, some creative BS really will help you.  Set the limitations of your essay early. If you establish two parts of the issue you will talk about and do so in depth, you will be given more leniency for not including other possibilities.  Lastly, if you have time read the Craft of Research. It will make you a better writer and researcher. It probably will help improve your GRE score. 

I’m coming from an undergraduate program outside sociology and an MA in communication. So my background isn’t in sociology, although my MA research was partly rooted in the Sociology of Communication. Like the original poster, I've been out of school for several years.
Here’s what I’ve been doing to prepare for starting a PhD program next month:
I listened to an audiobook (Audible is a great resource!) introduction to sociology, as well as a couple Great Courses on intellectual and political philosophy (Audible doesn’t offer a Great Course on social history, but the political philosophy one touches on Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Habermas), and one on American religion (I’m interested in soc of religion and social movements). I also listened to books on movements like Black Lives Matter, a book on Christian fundamentalism, and Pankaj Mishra’s Age of Anger (a challenging look at critiques against liberalism, the enlightenment, etc.; it gives some good background to the classics, but applied toward contemporary populism).
Regarding theory: I started with Coser’s Masters of Sociological Thought (any edition), which was recommended by my program’s Director of Graduate Studies. It gives a good intro to the lives and times of classical sociologists. Lately, I’ve been working through the classics, starting with Durkheim’s The Division of Labor in Society and The Rules of the Sociological Method. I’m hoping to read some of Weber and Marx in the next month. I don’t think I’ll have time, but I wanted to read Mind, Self, and Society, as my interests fall within the symbolic interactionist school of soc.
I write a brief summary of each section I read, and then a summary of each chapter, right in the book. The classics are tough, so I expect to read a good deal again. But I think it’ll be easier the second time with my notes and the class discussion.
I’ve read/listened to several books that are part of my program’s Prosiminar, including one I’d suggest anyone pursuing an academic career work through: Kelsky’s The Professor is in.
I may be going overboard. But I found out a couple months ago that my wife and I are going to have a baby at the start of the second semester (which is great news, but kinda scary at the same time as I’m going back to school). So I’m trying to do everything I can to free up time to work extra (and make extra $) during the first semester so that I can avoid going crazy during the second.

You don't need a 4.0 major GPA. You have an excellent track record. Just work on your personal statement and writing sample, and try as best as you can to articulate why you want a sociology PhD. PhD admissions can be decidedly arbitrary on some level, but that's out of your control. It's good that you're reading Posselt's book, that gives you more insight into the inside baseball. But don't obsess too much about it.

@Concordia I sure hope I can get in someplace with this record. I've been reading Inside Graduate Admissions and don't know what to make of my situation – I'm getting a degree from one of the best international affairs programs in the U.S./world, so I may be considered "low risk," but as a Black woman from a working-class family and a first-generation college student I may also be considered "high risk." My GPA also worries me, as I'm afraid I may no longer have a 4.00 major GPA after this semester (I'm in between an A- and an A in one course). Everyone else seems far more qualified and accomplished than me, which is making me nervous.