baozi

Yeah, same. The UT Austin funding offer though is depressingly low. If you can’t get any grants/fellowships for the summer, you’re basically fucked if you want to live alone, and that makes me nervous. I sent out some job apps in January, and I’m getting traction on some industry jobs that usually require a PhD (and I was planning on pursuing if tenure track wasn’t in the cards post PhD), so I’ve started really freaking out about the PhD job market and whether it is worth it. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out. I hope it works out for everyone though! It just really sucks that applications, PhD programs, and the following job market are such a nightmare and require so much sacrifice.

Oh man, this makes me feel better about maybe going to Austin and their placement looks decent. Another good resource on placement is here: https://scatter.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/who-hires-whom/ (sorry my hotlink isn’t cooperating on mobile). This works with older data though, so it doesn’t capture recent departmental changes as well as job rumors.

Maybe? I’m not holding out hope though as Uchicago admittances all seem to come out pretty close together. I also somehow got locked out of my application account which is driving me nuts as I just want that second confirmation haha. Just let me know lmao

Yeah, one of my UChicago interviews went really well so I was hoping, but it looks like a no... rip

As someone who applied for a second round, I want to echo what Soc_foucault said, as it fits advice I was given after my first round. If there is something in your application that you know you can improve with a reasonable amount of effort, such as study to raise your GRE scores, then a second round may be worthwhile. For example, for my first round I had no recommendation letters from sociologists, as I was switching disciplines. I was also in a position where I could take courses in sociology at a top school with significantly reduced tuition. This let me a) take courses in sociology and write a better/more nuanced cover letter and b) create relationships with sociology faculty for advice on how to improve my application for a sociology department specifically and for recommendation letters. So far, this round has been much more successful for me. However, this is a specific case. I was advised pretty outright that if I had not been in the position I was in with really actionable application improvements to strive for at a limited cost, that going to a lower ranked school was more advisable. So, it really depends on your case, but in general, the advice is go for the lower ranked acceptance.

It looks like the standardized application header to me. Maybe it is the header for the mobile version of the website? Did you look on it on mobile or on a computer? It appeared at the top after I opened up my application not in the initial application screen.

Yeah, same! I just want to know, so I can move on accordingly. Could it be that they’re going by the date the application was submitted? I turned mine in the last day, so maybe it’s that?

Yeah, I haven’t heard a peep from them. I keep checking the portal with all the decisions posted here but nothing has been updated for me.

Probably this week or next based on the results board. They also seem to send results out midweek (Tuesday-Thursday). I can’t tell you the usual time of day unfortunately.

Based on the results board, it seems pretty common for Waitlist notifications to be sent the day before or the same day as the other application status updates for Duke. My guess is we can expect results today or tomorrow for Duke.

My POI told me that funding info for UT Austin should be sent out in a letter within a week!

I guess we are all in the same boat then. I just want to know haha. I checked PhDStipends.com to get an idea before I applied. It looks do-able, but tight which is why I am anxious about getting the real numbers. Hopefully it stays in the do-able range! I have a phone call arranged with a POI there. I’ll let you guys know if I get any more specifics about funding timelines!

Has anyone gotten funding specifics from UT Austin yet? It is one of my top choices, so I’m anxious to see whether I can make it work.

Thank you guys so much for your quick replies! I really do appreciate it. I did misunderstand the GRE sending policy, so I am planning on taking it this Friday. Hopefully it goes well! Thank you xyz234 for your kind words! When I look at the numbers I feel like I have a decent shot, but I always end up second guessing myself. Most of my recommendations, excluding #2, are also very quantitative focused and were expecting much higher GRE scores from me which made me worry a great deal. Your comments made me feel like my chances were a little better than a shot at the moon, so thank you!

Hi guys, I just wanted some advice on whether I should take GRE I am signed up to take this Friday. I also would like to hear you thoughts on my recommenders. GRE Advice I took the GRE 2 years ago and got 166 Verbal (97th percentile), 159 Quant (72nd percentile), 5.0 Writing (92nd percentile). At the time, I had been scoring between 160-163 in the practice tests in the quantitative section, but on the day of the test, I got flustered on the first test section, which was quantitative, and I did not finish all the questions in that section on time. It took me a while to calm down after nearly being late to the test thanks to getting trapped in a train tunnel for nearly an hour. I feel pretty confident that I did not perform as well as I could have given the circumstances, so I decided to retake the test this fall for this application season. Unfortunately, a series of unplanned for work and personal crises basically killed the study time I had set aside for the test. I was able to get about 2 weeks worth of practice in about a month ago before all my planning was forced out the window. Now I have less than a week of time to prepare. I started deep diving into practice questions today, and it is not going nearly as well as I would like. My average time per question is way too long. This is making me worry that I might score below my previous test, which I had more time to study for. I can't help but wonder if taking the test again is worth the money and time I could spend on other aspects of my application, which have also been pushed back due to these same issues. What do you guys think? To give some context, here is some information about my application. I am aiming for top 20 schools. I have 3.7 GPA in undergrad and 4.0 in graduate school (MA in Sociology). I have several years of social science research experience that is quantitative heavy, and I want to pursue mixed method research projects in the future. My application and the institutions I am applying to reflect this. I can get recommendations from two economics professors I worked very closely with for a few years and two sociology professors, all of which are from top schools themselves. Over all, I feel like my application is decent for these schools, but my quantitative GRE score worries me as it seems to be just below the average score at a lot of these institutions (160/75th percentile). What do you guys think? Should I risk retaking it? Will a 159 really weaken my applications, especially in light of my quantitative work experience? Recommenders Advice Also, do you guys have any advice on which recommendations I should use for my application? Here is a breakdown of my recommenders: 1. Sociology, senior faculty, master's thesis advisor, had me in a class. Excited about my research. Has already offered to provide a recommendation. 2. Sociology, junior faculty, was a co-professor in a class I took last year, but I only got to know her well this semester in a very small reading course. 3. Economics, senior faculty, I was a research assistant for several years, co-published a paper with him. 4. Economics, junior faculty, I was research assistant and teaching assistant for him for several years. I definitely want to send #1. I am currently leaning towards #2 and #3 for the other two spots. I was thinking of asking #4 for additional recommendations for schools that accept more than 3 letters. What are your thoughts? Does that sound like a decent strategy? Should I instead replace #2 with #4 as I have worked with him longer?