EdSocPhD

Thanks! Yes, Homewood campus is correct. I visited this past weekend and agree that the area directly north of campus looks appealing. Have you heard anything good/bad about The Broadview? It's in that area and seems a little too nice to be real.

Thank you!!! Officially sent in all my decline forms, so hopefully some other waitlisted people will get some good news today

Wanted to let all you Hopkins folks know that I just returned from my campus visit and emailed the department my acceptance form when I got home. So, I'm officially attending, assuming they don't email me back to un-admit me or something crazy like that (...I'm a bit paranoid). Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Hah. I'm from Manhattan and go to school in Chicago. Urban me up!

Thanks! To be fair, I doubt it was about ranking - we seem to be from totally different areas, so my guess is that I was at the top of the PSI-ish side of the list rather than the PGSC-ish side. I'll be visiting in a few days and will make sure to keep an eye out for any ghosts in the Sociology department. Anyway, best of luck to you!

I just got my acceptance to Johns Hopkins today (Sociology PhD) and am planning to visit before I commit. I'm hoping to get a chance to walk around the area and get a sense of the different residential areas. I don't drive, so does anyone have suggestions for where to live that's (a) walking distance from campus, (b) relatively quiet (not packed with undergrads), and (c) safe? Also, when do people generally start searching for housing in the area? I'm guessing late-April/early-May would be a good time to look? Or is sooner better? Thanks!

Hi, I'm curious to hear what people think about this situation in general. I've narrowed it down to two universities, both with POIs who fit my interests really well and with whom I think I'd get along in the long-term. Professor A is an older, bigger name in a lower-ranking department with a lot of resources. Professor B is very new (hired in the past 2-3 years) but probably up-and-coming name, and in a higher-ranked department. I've heard that bigger names may be a better bet for external grants, research opportunities, etc., but I've also heard that younger professors might have the advantage of being more energetic and in-tune with more recent work and where the field is going. I'm leaning towards Professor B's school for reasons mostly unrelated to the POI decision. Has anyone here had (or heard of others having) really wonderful or horrible experiences with a younger/less experienced adviser?

Got off the waitlist at Johns Hopkins today. Not even sure what's better - the offer of admission or to know that I'm done waiting. So pumped! Good luck to eveyone!

Admitted off Hopkins wait list! So thrilled (and *especially* thrilled to be done with this whole waiting game). They're offering partial reimbursement if I want to come visit, which I'm definitely considering. Probably a good idea to see where I'd be spending the next 5+ years of my life before committing...

Thank you @faculty! Another question for you: in terms of future job opportunities, how foolish would it be to choose Notre Dame over one of the top-20 programs? I've heard that ranking means everything and I've also heard that ranking is pretty meaningless, so I'm really confused about how much it should play into my decision.

Has anyone heard any updated news on the Johns Hopkins waitlist? Or is anyone (preferably in the PSI concentration) planning to accept/reject their offer soon? The lack of closure is eating me alive.

No, that made sense, @SocPhDStudent, thanks for the response! I'm just having trouble figuring out whether Notre Dame (a 40-ish ranked Sociology program) would be more valuable to an education school than Teachers College (a top-10 ed school). I definitely don't want to work in a sociology department.

Greetings! I am having a lot of difficulty choosing a program to attend in the fall and was hoping to find some others in my field facing this same decision. It is a great problem to have, but it is absurdly stressful. So...any other soc of ed people out there? I am considering UT Austin, Penn State, and Notre Dame (all Sociology PhD programs) as well as Columbia Teachers College (Sociology & Education PhD). I hope to ultimately teach at a graduate school of education, so TC might be good, but I've also heard that there is a general perception of the straight sociology degree as more valuable on the market than an education-specific degree. Notre Dame seems great, but I'm concerned that it might not be great for placing graduates at education schools, given that the university itself does not even have an education school. UT Austin is technically the highest ranked sociology program on the list, but I've heard that students have trouble making ends meet with the stipend, which would be especially difficult for me as I have family on the east coast that I would need to visit from time to time. The funding situation at TC is also somewhat of an issue, since they only give full funding for the first 3 years (the program is expected to take 5+ years to complete). Furthermore, I have been told that I am very high on the waitlist at Johns Hopkins (Sociology PhD). If anyone has heard any news from them, I would really appreciate hearing it! I am almost certain that I would accept Hopkins on the spot if offered admission. Also, does anyone know if there are any rankings lists for the sociology of education subspecialty? I'm not relying on rankings to make my decision, but I'm sort of surprised that I haven't come across any lists like this yet and would be very curious to see any that exist. Thanks!!