THS

Almost every program in the country had some people reevaluate why they were there AND had students MA out or finish their PhD. AND many also didn't take cohorts last year. This has resulted in a labor shortage in a lot of departments that rely on graduate students to TA, RA, and teach. I know in my department because phd candidates are being forced to TA this spring when they have been teaching or RAing due entirely to this labor shortage.

Heads up that a lot of programs will be taking on big cohorts (this is good for getting your foot in the door, bad if you want personalized attention from the department). That said, Washington State University will be taking in a large cohort- if you are interested in quantitative methods, environmental sociology, sociology of gender and work, or experimental methods it might be a good program to look into. The program has also moved away from academic only prep and is really starting to focus on applied/sociology for industry preparation for graduates. Don't go there if you want to study qualitative methods (only 2 profs do this, very little support) or racial/ethnic sociology (the support/knowledge base just isn't there). Also don't apply if you aren't ok living 2 hours from a Target. Otherwise, beautiful hiking/fishing/outdoors activities, low cost of living, and great beer for when you aren't buried in work. Good luck on your apps and hopefully this post is helpful to some of you!

Look into nonprofit work. With your training in social science you'll be a good fit and have skills that many are looking for. They won't pay well but they have flexible schedules and are fulfilling to work with (depending on the route you go-- most of the nonprofits I've worked with deal with food security and domestic violence).

Christine Horne at Washington State University.

Of course the American Dream is over. Instead, you have people (like posters above) who want to believe that meritocracy/their work and what they've been able to accomplish is that "dream" while the rewards for the work have objectively diminished over the last 50 years. There's nothing wrong with reframing it as "my American Dream" but realize that when you do this you are 1) managing your personal self image (normal psychological response) and 2) managing your perceived and projected social class (moral capital management- how worthy others view you and how you want to be viewed). Just look at studies of downward mobility amongst the millennial generation or recent reports on inequality in this country...those tell the quantitative story of the death of the American Dream (and the job market we'll all experience after grad school is just another symptom of that).

If you end up applying to programs next year, at WSU, Kmec has been known to chair committees for students doing historical/document analysis type research (or, at least, I know of one student who recently graduated). Otherwise I seriously suggest you consider a PhD in Anthropology. They share a lot of theory with Sociology, but you'll find far more emphasis on history, context, and culture-- and huge emphasis and excellent training in qualitative methods (multiple courses likely offered and field schools to practice before its your thesis or dissertation on the line). I have grad degrees in both/know the differences well. Hope this helps!

Washington State University will not be recruiting a new cohort. Internal e-mail confirmed this morning. There is a statement on the WSU Sociology homepage, but the prospective student webpage has not been updated (and it is unclear if it will be updated as a lot of the department's web presence is out of date).

I know that the pandemic has really messed things up for a lot of you. Your dream program might have cancelled admissions this year or you are looking at an even more competitive market because there will be fewer programs accepting students. This might mean that you choose to take this year off and wait to apply next year OR that you want improve your skills and increase your chances of success in a program. I am writing this post to suggest skills you can develop on your own, without being in a program, but that will make your life better when you get there if you learn them beforehand. They will also make you more attractive to programs that expect their students enter with certain kinds of skills/knowledge. The first thing you should do is learn to use R. If you don't know where to start a really good textbook is Discovering Stats Using R by Field, Miles, and Field. This text is great because it will give you a refresh on your stats knowledge and will teach you to use a free stats program. The learning curve for it is pretty big, you have to learn to speak its language- but if you can teach yourself how to use this your life will be so much easier later. A lot of people might say that learning R first is a bad idea, but if you learn to use R then using state, SPSS, or SAS later is a breeze. Plus the R community is amazing and there are so many free tutorials out in the world if the book is confusing. The second skill you can develop on your own is practice regression models (learning the code to run them, to interpret them, learning what you use various types of models for...). This is super important if you want to be a qualitative person. What? You might be asking. Yes, I am serious. Many programs will expect you to be competent in every method so going in knowing how to do quant work will mean less push back for your qual dreams. There are lots of textbooks you can use, my program uses Regression Models by Example by Chatterjee and Hadi. But anyone can teach themselves to do this as well. Download free data (CPS is pretty easy to work with if you are just starting out) and play. The third skill you can develop on your own is the ability to use python. There are lots of online programs that my peers have used to learn this skill (I, honestly, have not). I do know that as you progress in your quant skills that eventually this becomes something you'll want to know how to use. I work with survey data/not crazy huge datasets so I've been able to avoid it, but this might be something to think about. A lot of posts on here suggest doing things like learning theory, but from my experience you have no idea what theory will be covered in the program you end up accepted to. You could spend an entire semester learning Talcott Parsons or you could get a general overview or you might just cover Marx/Weber/Durkheim. My point there is I wouldn't bother. I would download as many pdfs of peer reviewed research articles on the area you are interested in writing your thesis on NOW while you still have access to your undergrad institution and to start building a literature review. Make sure to do specific searches of major journals (AJS, ASR...) If you don't have access get your hands on as many "free" sources as possible and make it your goal to read at least a couple books in your interest area. Make sure to save the citation information, the gist of the article, and any quotes you think you might later use (I do this in excel spreadsheets). Even just saving them to a PDF is a good starting place though. This will help you when you finally do get to that point in your career. Your interests might change, but it never hurts to have a solid lit review started. You will be able to pull from that for class papers if you don't use it for your thesis someday. I know that not being able to apply is going to be super stressful for many of you and that it will probably mean working a job during this time which is why I gave a list but with varying levels of commitment or time attached to the tasks. I'd suggest doing ANY of these things- but if you don't do anything that is ok too. We are living through a global pandemic and it is ok to not be ok. The thought here is that these are good ways to build on your skills while you figure things out (let's be real knowing how to do statistics or use python are great skills to have on a resume anyways anymore). I am so sorry this is happening to everyone who is at this point in your grad school journey, I login to this site like idk every 4 or so months so if you DM me I won't answer for a while, but I promise I will eventually reply if you have any questions about what grad school is like or about how to go about any of these suggestions I have made. I did this because after advising a student from my summer class I realized that she is far from the only person thinking "what now" so I hope this helps. A side note: obviously polishing your application materials will help too. An extra year to craft the perfect letter of intent might be a blessing for someone who is still wrapping up their BA. Also I hope other current grad students share their insights. I am ABD in my program and nearly done so people earlier in the process might remember some things I don't or have insights from their programs or other books to recommend

It looks like some programs will still admit students, but that this cycle will be highly competitive due to an even smaller number of spots. Just wanted to share. Not sure what my own program is doing, if they are reducing the cohort size or skipping a year- either way I'll post it to this board when they announce. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/01/some-departments-plan-suspending-or-limiting-graduate-cohorts-year-or-longer-free

Just realized you posted in two places and I already replied once

I made this switch and it has been fine. I would advise brushing up on your statistics, you'll need to be able to use quant methods if you want to make the switch work. That will actually be a benefit to you in your new program because you'll be one of the few of your peers who is actually trained in both (I found the qual training to be pathetic compared to what we get in anth which made me glad I did my MA there first)... I do qualitative (method for my dissertation) and survey (work for a center at my university) primarily now that I am in my dissertation phase- but I have been an RA doing quantitative analysis too- I definitely learned more quant skills in my soc department, however. Best of luck if you make the switch. Feel free to DM me if you have more questions!

I wish I had a better answer to this but I'd say both but I am not sure. I am in a combo program but came in with an MA. My program goes back and forth for whether it prefers to admit BAs or MAs (basically it seems like it depends on whether the department head thinks we need more TAs or ppl to teach classes as crappy as that is). At any rate my personal experience was that my not stellar GPA but decent GRE was why I had to do an MA prior to applying to a PhD program (that's actually what the rejection from the combined MA/PhD program I applied to told me right out of undergrad). So I had to do an MA first. If your grades and GPA and research experience are excellent then I'd apply straight to the PhD programs. If you are worried you won't get into the PhD then I'd apply to the MA as well (cover your bases). It also depends on what your interests are... I also wouldn't knock applied programs. They teach you lots of methodological skills that make you a great researcher which is a huge asset in a PhD program. Lots of the people who come in with Mas in my current department went to applied programs first. The only hang up is if their MA thesis work wasn't rigorous enough the department makes them repeat this step- so it really just means that when you hit that stage if you decide to continue to the PhD make sure your chair knows that so you can do something that'll be comparable to what you call "academic" programs sometimes do (in my experience terminal program MA requirements are far more intense than when its in a combined program, our MAs don't do nearly as much as I had to for my masters). I hope this helps! Sorry it took me so long to get back on here to reply- comps are kicking my butt but hopefully this isn't too late to be helpful!

It won't hurt you in the process, but lean into the sociology courses you took and why those were important. Sociology is more territorial than anthropology department are so that's why you want to focus on why you want to be a Sociologist. Having studied both you'll know they are very similar- share theorists even- so it is weird that they are this way, but Soc especially is. Best of luck in your applications!! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!

Hi I hope you are still checking this sometimes- I can see it is from awhile back. I did my MA in cultural anthropology and am working on my PhD in Sociology so I know a bit about both fields. 1) The first is that it might be harder to come from industry straight into a PhD program, especially if you haven't been doing research in your industry or aren't working in an area related to what you would want to study. If this sounds like you then I would highly recommend applying to a terminal masters program first-- in either field. There are some that will pay you to TA and cover your tuition (Oregon State's MA in anthropology, for example) and lots of pay programs. These are often a little easier to get into for a step in the middle and are a great way to figure out what you are really interested in/narrow down what you want to do. I was generally interested I poverty and inequality...why some people make it and others don't (social mobility) when I left undergrad. In grad school I narrowed that down and shifted a lot as I learned more about safety net programs and stigma/the role of symbolic capital. That allowed me to write a much clearer SoP when it came time to apply to a full PhD program. The good news is that from here, as long as you put the work in on that MA, your work should translate into part of your PhD work and cut some time off of that program. This advice means getting a phd will take 1-2 years longer than if you go straight into a PhD track but it is a good option for people who don't know what they want to study or were kind of goofy during undergrad (I was the latter- I transferred a bunch and didn't declare a major til the last minute). 2) The second case might be that you just have broad interests but you work in an area you could study. If that is you then start talking to local professors who also study in your area. Ask them about their programs/if there's room to translate your current work into a degree. In my current soc program I've watched that strategy work for 3 phds we've brought in (my cohort and after cohorts). So reach out and ask questions. In my experience whatever you write on your SoP won't be what you actually end up doing for your dissertation anyways so as far as what you write you are interested in it isn't a make it or break it once you are there-- and the committees know that. It is more about showing your interests are aligned with the people who could teach you. That's true for both soc and anthropology programs. You do need to pick one though. Although we know they are super similar fields- they are territorial and won't be pleased if you want to be a "social scientist" they are looking to train Anthropologists or Sociologists (as ridiculous as that might sound to people who are kind of between the two fields for where their interest lies). Anyways, I hope this helps!!!

I am not blind to the problems that can come up as an instructor of record, I've dealt with some already. I think the difference is that in my own classroom I can at least make sure racial slurs and hate speech aren't used. That might be a small thing, but when you TA for another person that's the kind of thing you can only do if they let you (or at least that's what I've realized this term- I can't imagine anyone else I've ever been a TA for allowing this). Also suggesting that finding a POC in an other department suggests that every POC faculty member is going to be open to supporting/mentoring minority grad students from across the university...they are heavily burdened as is and there are so few of them! The reality is that I am in this alone- and other POC grad students will be in this alone until the institutions that are supposed to support and protect us from this kind of behavior (UMBUDS and OEO) stop acting as legal buffers for the university and follow through with their mission in good faith. I have support from the uni where I did my MA, I've talked to my previous advisor and some old committee members and they have all expressed concern but also told me to keep my head down and just try to get through unscathed-- that I'll be stronger for it. So in addition to posting here when I was angry I did reach out to my support group. Unfortunately no one has a good answer beside that it sucks and just to keep my head down for the rest of the term. To me that is sad. What I am experiencing is a well documented and, unfortunately, frequent occurrence for POC graduate students across the country- I just am beyond pissed off that it found me and was hopeful someone would have some brilliant solution/miracle story. Also I think it is important to share these kinds of stories so other people know they aren't alone when it happens to them.

We do not have a single POC in our faculty. I know that might be shocking for a Sociology department, but it is in Eastern PNW and I think attracting people to the area is difficult in general. This does, however, mean that I have absolutely nowhere to turn for help. I have watched other POC grad students in similar situations try the OEO, Umbuds, the department Chair, and even their own advisors with no positive outcomes for the grad students. In fact I've watched the department run 3 POC students out of the department and it is only my third year (did my MA elsewhere). This is why I say that there's nothing I can do. I am unwilling to put my neck on the line and am really just trying to do damage control. Yesterday I spoke to another grad student who has been the profs TA many times and she told me that generally this prof gets first years w/o MAs and has never had another TA who has independently taught before-- so my confidence in my ability to handle anything is probably a nightmare for the prof because the prof is, in the other student's words "extremely controlling and unpredictable" in addition to being "entirely unaware" of her behavior. My peer also noted that she can't remember another POC student ever working with this faculty member. Ultimately I really wish I had reached out earlier. I made some assumptions from positive things I had heard prior to working with the prof, but if I had asked one of her students I could have avoided a headache/just known to keep my mouth shut. And yes, unfortunately in the setting I am the best move for me is to keep my mouth shut and head down I see something wrong. I have no power and no support to make things better-- even when it impacts students of color in the classroom. I want to get my PhD and if I say anything I will be their next target. I'll add this is my last semester I'll ever have to TA- I'll only be teaching moving forward (thank god). So I shouldn't have to deal with this kind of mess in the future.

It depends on your subfield and the area of theory you intend to draw upon. Each will have its own set of critical texts and as you specialize those will be far more important than being able to recite a classic.

Thanks. I know you are right- I am simply having a hard time knowing that I now cannot at the very least reduce offensive language they are using given the number of Hispanic students in the class who are exposed to it...I know what it is like to go to school and be confronted by racial slurs and have professors do nothing. I think that’s the only reason the professor’s decision to just not have me talk to students at all is killing me since she does not reply to their posts. I handled my reply e-mail to the professor and my outward attitude about it just as you said- professionalism first. As a POC in academia I’ve learned that I will never win here, there are only losses on my part to be had. I’ll add that you are entirely right about our role. I do not seek to change the students mind, just to explain: 1) Why her language is problematic since it will most likely make a workplace difficult for her down the road- that’s a better lesson to learn in college than out. 2) Challenge her to express her conservative ideas in an accurate way. I am entirely ok with students expressing ideas that align with DT but I challenge them to do so using facts/evidence. When I teach my philosophy is that everyone is welcome to their opinions so long as they can back it up logically with sound evidence AND they do not use language that oppresses or others students of other backgrounds. You are right, however. This is not my class- I just need to be her tool this term and when I teach again I can set this tone/create an inclusive space for all students- I can’t make the professor choose to do that in her classroom.

Hi all! I am a PhD student in the Social Sciences. I am a very experienced GTA as both a TA role and an instructor role. I've taught independently 7 times and TA'd 5 times (2 of those I had independent recitations). I've never had any issues or problems-I've only gotten good reviews previously from both students and profs I've worked for but this term doesn't feel like its going so well. This term I was assigned to TA and it has been super weird. The prof isn't giving tests or papers- just using TopHat for some in class assignments and Perusall for readings. All I have to do is make sure grades get put from tophat into blackboard and I originally was supposed to be moderating Perusall/gathering the main themes and e-mailing them to by 8am the morning of class. Simple enough and not a ton of work-- yay and a score for a term where I am trying to finish my comps. Here's the problem. She has now asked me to 1) not give my assessment or interpretation of the main themes from the students Perusall, just their verbatim quotes because "she doesn't have time and it is too much" ok- so I'll just give her some random out of context quotes...that isn't an issue but--and 2) to no longer engage with the students not just on Perusall but through e-mail, talking, or comments in assignments I grade. Basically, I've been told not to speak to students. Previously she had wanted me to comment and make sure I answered questions/kept their reading comments on track. This came after I redirected a student who went on a rant about illegal immigrants on a reading about housing segregation in the USA- trying to get her to at the minimum use a less offensive term "undocumented" and also to only use facts relevant to the readings- I also provided a couple sources to help educate the situation (she went on a safety net rant) and to redirect the comment thread in that part of the article. The student replied with a crazy reply- I showed the professor the reply and what I could have responded with (a point by point answer) but that I thought it was too long and might be better if she addressed it because the student didn't care what I had to say/wasn't going to listen to it and would probably just be upset if I said anything in response at all. The response I got was what I shared above with the only explanation given being that she wants to set the tone. I probably could have handled the first post a little better- been more specific (but I have to wake up at 5am to get these done by 7am when she wants the report and their readings aren't due til 6 so a lot of them do these late at night) so I was quick and brief and kept reading to answer other student questions/make sure everyone was on track and understanding the readings... After I included my concern about some of the somewhat racist posts that happened in the reading to the prof and she was ok with how I had handled it and said she wasn't sure what she wanted to do long term. I am concerned that 1) she doesn't want me to engage with students and hasn't told me why- it makes me think she thinks I did something way out of line and 2) that she is going to blindside me with something crazy on my eval that will mess me up in my program. She isn't on my committee/I don't work with her but I am just super confused by the way she is handling the situation because she's just asked me to stop doing things she told me to do as part of my job and didn't communicate why- especially when in one area I asked her to tell me how she would handle it. Everyone in the social sciences knows we deal with these kinds of situations sometimes and they are HARD so it is nice when you are in a TA role to see how they would handle it- just being told to not talk to any students- at all- doesn't feel like helpful or useful feedback. Did I do something wrong? How would you guys fix it? I am totally freaking out right now/I don't want this to destroy my reputation in my department so close to finishing and going on the job market/needing recs. I'll add I am a POC so I am additionally worried that she thinks I am being over sensitive or something (so much anxiety now- I don't think I am but I think it is an important factor in this given the problem is students racism whether intentional or accidental because of their background).

I attend WSU and this isn't accurate (I mean it is what the webpage says but...). Everyone in admitted to our program gets 5 years of fundings (sometimes 6). After that you are on your own to find moneys to continue your work. Our department also offers a series of awards to cover summer living expenses. Many students get RA/TA positions during the summer as well, however or work in the SESRC (survey research center) over the summer. You also get health/vision/dental. Hope this helps.

I went to Oregon State for my Ma (Applied Anth) and am at WSU for my PhD and I would 100% choose Oregon over Washington for place to live. I like my phd program, but Pullman is a drag and Spokane isn't that great. Idk if your program is centered in Spokane or Pullman...it sounds like Spokane from what you posted, but if you are in Pullman know that you'll be an hour and a half from Spokane, an hour from good hiking...it just isn't ideal.

You'll find cheaper housing and better food options in Moscow and there's a really great dog park that I take my dog to in the summer (I live in Pullman because WSU makes us become WA residents for our second year funding). At any rate Moscow is a much more vibrant community/has more going on. Moscow mountain has great hiking, there's a great farmers market, the best brunch spots around, cool shops, an adorable downtown, the co-op....can I just make it clear I wish I lived over there? Pullman is sad compared to Moscow. But you will have an easier time finding a rental (potentially even a small house) over there for a reasonable price and that will allow you to have a pet. You'll want to start looking as soon as you know you are coming though because the communities are small and both universities are expected to add undergrad enrollment next year. Hope this helps and congrats!! (also please forgive any spelling/grammar above- I have a mild concussion from an accident last week, stupid but it means that I'm making a lot of silly little mistakes in my writing).

I think any time you are switching fields you need to be able to explain why you are making the change. I made the switch from my MA (anthropology) to a PhD program in Soc and certainly had to be able to articulate why I wanted to make said switch. I would say that it'll be an asset in that you will come in with lots of stats experience which will allow you to focus on qualitative methods and not struggle with the quant ones (I am doing the opposite with the switch I made). At any rate one of my peers came in with her MA from an economic program and it has helped her lots/she has lots of interesting contributions to seminars. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your insight. I am certainly in that mindset of being the best me I can be/honing the relationships that matter. I went in trying to keep my advice to myself/only offer up what I thought was needed when I saw people panicking and I wanted to try and say things that would ease that (so when first papers or presentations popped up for my office mate). I have, the whole time really, found a lot of my initial lessons in terms of how to present myself to faculty, how to prep for coursework...really all the negotiations of grad school to translate well from one program to the next- if that helps what you are musing about in terms of starting your new program. I think once you learn how to prioritize, to find balance when possible that those are the kinds of skills you are forced to learn early on that are difficult for some people. Even self care is something that in my first year of grad school I was terrible at. So there is some tension in the simple fact that myself and other PhD students don't struggle with those things with them because we already went through that first year once before. So, I think, that is where the real problem lies. I think there's some conflict on the part of my department to bring in both cohorts and put us in first year classes together when we have vastly different timelines for the department/are in essentially different programs with different handbooks/requirements. I see that they want us to work together/have a sense of unity but the reality is that we are working on different things- them on masters, us on comps/phds. I don't think that earns anyone more or less respect, but I have friends who did their PhD and it is a different set of work. Its like how I knew an MA was going to be different than an honors thesis from undergrad. I am friends with one of them and I learn from her all the time- we have great conversations. I have many friends who never went to grad school- it isn't an elitist mindset on my end to clarify that-- I'm not just expecting respect because of my MA, but I do expect them to treat my past with as much respect as I afford theirs and to be cognizant of the differences between what we've done/accomplished. They have insights from previous careers and types of people they've been around that shape how they experience our program and so do I and we can all learn from that. Mutual respect is what I am struggling with the lack of. I am being made to not be able to talk about my life before- being made to feel that under no circumstance is my MA acceptable to bring up because it makes them feel that they are being judged. To give an example because that's so abstract- I recently talked about how I have to just bulk write papers early on because I can't do step by step, I procrastinate. If I write it early on, if I get it all on paper then I can edit it/it takes the stress out. Me saying what I learned worked for me/because my anxiety around writing is weird and referring only to myself was taken as me telling them that the way they were going to write their finals was wrong/that I was telling them to do what I did. I was not offering advice--they all went to undergrad, they know what works for them. I didn't even mention my previous program when I told them that, so it is things like that- its frustrating tp me. I just miss my last program. We all always listened to each other and always had mutual respect regardless of stage in the program. We always made it ok to talk about anything. No one had problems like this and I don't know what it is about this program that makes the environment so different.

I am in my first term of my PhD. I came in with my M.A. and my new cohort was about 10 people. I am having problems, however, with my new colleagues in terms of how they see my MA work. I am baffled as they reach out to older cohorts for advice but scoff and dismiss what I have to offer. They act like, whenever I mention insights I have to grad school, like the insights I have to this process from my last program only matter to that program. I get it they are young/mostly straight out of undergrad (or the workforce) and have never done this and I remember trying to build myself up/prove myself- but I was always so impressed by the work it took to earn an MA that I was always open to hearing anything someone with an MA had to share with me. Even now my peers (who will have to earn MAs along the way/they are technically a year or two behind me in the program the way it is set up) are even upset whenever I mention things I learned about myself from before...I just am baffled and don't know what I can do. I stopped giving advice even when asked. I do sometimes talk about my past but in the same way they talk about their undergrad or work pasts...it is just literally the last thing I was doing/a huge part of my life. I'll note that I have no problems with the two other women who came in with MAs. Instead it is the 3 of us who face this problem with our cohort/are not included. And as I am not an international student as the other two are I think I see the social difference in how we are treated in a more clear way. Sorry for any typos- I wrote this kind of quickly/just needed to get it down and into the world for feedback/thoughts/advice.