oldacct

Not all schools make it so obvious, but there's two parts of the admission process. Admission by department and then the official ok by the grad school. Many departments will provide you a letter saying you were recommended by the department for admissions and most people post those results on GC as an acceptance. Which in most cases it is. But it is possible that the grad college will look at your scores and say they are too low and ultimately deny you. I've never heard of this. So I would say its pretty safe to say you're accepted and department will get in contact with you. Technically though, you're not accepted until you receive an admissions offer by the graduate school of the university you are applying to. Congrats!

For UW Madison, check the My UW portal (which is different than the application portal). If you haven't already created a log-in, check your initial emails from department on how to do so. Your results will most likely be there.

Seems like it's a lot to consider. I understanding not wanting to part with the $150 but unless it'll be really hard to swing it, I'd personally rather have a difficult time choosing between programs rather than regretting I did not apply to one. That said, 10 schools is a fair amount to apply to. So, it may not be that risky if you do not apply.

I don't know anything about the visitation weekends, but if anybody knows about Penn that would be great info to know. As far as the other schools, I don't think there's been any admits from there yet. So, it's unlikely any of us know unless we have a personal connection. Regarding cost-sharing between programs, I think most likely it will be fine. It's all about how you phrase it and transparency. My partner requested two schools to do this since they were both close to each other. He ended up visiting both (one during their official visitation week and another on a rescheduled date) and they were ok with it. The schools ended up doing the planning of exact travel arrangements and costs. One school paid the departure flight, the other school paid the return flight. I would actually consider submitting another app depending on a few things. How many have you applied to so far? How good is the fit with the program? What is the program's reputation? In general, I would encourage you to have as many choices as possible. But if you already know you wouldn't go there and money is tight then maybe pass. But until you meet your potential advisors, its hard to truly know where you'll be attending.

That's some relief. Thanks for checking! Yes, that's very true as is evidenced by the fact that this discussion board has had about 5k views within the last two days.

Did anybody apply to UPenn here? On the ApplyWeb checklist what is the application status? Based on the first sentence on that web page, it seems that "Ready for review" is the final status (before admission/denial) but nonetheless it feels unsettling compared to "Under review" or something like that.

Sorry to hear that!

Congrats, @theorynetworkculture !!

I'm also still waiting

Congrats on the Penn State acceptance!

Nope. Haven't heard anything. I would decided based on what schools are most important to you. If Vanderbilt is more important than another school you wanted to visit than I would try to switch your off days. But I understand how difficult that can be. There's an entire week that I cannot be away from work, and I already know of at least one visitation day happening during that time.

I haven't heard anything yet.

Thanks for the info!

Is there anybody on here that got accepted to Cornell's Sociology program? If so, do you know the visitation days?

Congrats! Did you get funding details? I was admitted via phone and told it'd be awhile before funding info. Was your acceptance by email or snail mail?

I had also spent about six months on my applications, and the time passed by a lot faster than I had anticipated. I would start with your SOP and your writing sample first, as they are the most important parts of your application, arguably. Typically, writing samples are 20 pages so decide now whether you are going to cut down your capstone paper or use something else. Maybe use your capstone paper as both your writing sample and article submission that way you can take care of both things. Also, by starting with your SOP you will have plenty of time to request and receive feedback. Some faculty may take several weeks before they provide you with comments. If you believe you’ll struggle with the GRE, allot significant time to study, but don’t start studying too early if you believe you’ll get obsessive about it. I started with my GRE because I knew it would be challenging but ended up wasting too much time on it because I was unhappy with my practice tests. In the end, I wish I had spent more time on my SOP. Lastly, if your GPA is bad, it will be an obstacle to admissions, but focus on strengthening other parts of your applications. My partner had a very low GPA, but an excellent SOP, writing sample, LORs, and publications. He was accepted into the top ranked program for his discipline.

Congrats, @theorynetworkculture!

I would agree with @AmityDuPeuple. I think it's best we all do not assume anything until we actually hear official responses. But looking on the results pages, it looks like multiple schools do rounds of admissions rather than a formal wait list so I would say no news still means that you are being considered.

To those asking, I haven't heard anything from the following schools: UW-Madison, Brown, UC San Diego, or Harvard.

Anybody still waiting to hear from UNC, UCLA, or USC?

ETS states that scores will be sent to schools 10-15 days after you test. I need my scores to arrive at the universities I am applying to by Dec 1. How many days prior to this date should I take the test? Is ETS sending schools scores digitally instantly as soon as you request these scores online? Or is there a delay of several days? I am especially concerned because I am applying to more than 3 schools, so I won't be able to request these scores until they show up on my online account. Thank you!!

I wouldn't phrase it so much about "wants" from program. I would rather ask questions to current students (and potentially faculty) before applying to the program. That way you don't apply to programs you wouldn't even accept offers from. For example, if you want X amount of funding each year you can ask: Can you please detail what the funding package is for students? If you want a great social life (q for grad student): What do students there do for fun? What's the social scene like? If you want to do interdisciplinary work: Are there opportunities to work with professors from X department. Or: This is the project I am working on, is this something that you would be interested in advising?