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ello_pomelo

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  • Interests
    Medical sociology, Demography, Higher education
  • Application Season
    2018 Fall
  • Program
    Sociology

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  1. One thing you should definitely try to do is research! Do you have credit room in your degree program to complete a senior thesis, independent study, or even assist a graduate student with their research? You don't necessarily have to publish anything, but getting your foot in the door will be both informative for you and smiled upon by an adcomm! Another thing to consider is what subfields you're interested in. I would personally advise you to try as many different areas as possible as you fulfill credit requirements, but consider taking upper level courses in the subfields that interest you the most. Lastly, it is never too early to begin preparation for your application. I'm not sure if Canadian schools require the GRE or other testing systems, but if so, studying in your junior spring is advisable as it leaves ample time for potential retakes. You can also start researching institutions and faculty members with whom you would like to study! And of course, keep those grades up! It depends on the school, but consider a decent absolute cut-off to be a 3.5, with a greater likelihood of acceptance in the 3.8-3.9 range. Best of luck!
  2. I wouldn't discount The Blackwell Companions to Sociology. These books are broad and offer overviews of major sociological topics by modern authors. They can be a great refresher for "gaps" that may be missing from your prior education, or can elucidate new topics for you. Moreover, the bibliographies can be useful to find information for further research. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-324297.html
  3. That depends on the programs you apply to, in addition to the quality of your institutions. Some schools place heavier emphasis on GPA than GRE, some vice versa. Some will favor a lower GPA from a higher-ranked institution, while others have no preference. Some will only turn to the GPA if other parts of the application are not satisfactory. My advice would be to look for specific institutions and faculty that interest you and see if your GPA is close to the average of those admitted. Ultimately, the best grades to show are the best grades you are able to get!
  4. Hello! I have scoured lots of websites for my own graduate school inquiries, and nearly every single one mentions that a specific background in sociology is not required or even preferred. Often what it comes down to are your research interests. Do you have a specific field of sociological inquiry in mind? Have you looked at the professors' recent research projects to see if your interests align with theirs? You mentioned an interest in mathematical sociology, but clearly defining your goals within this subfield in the statement of purpose will likely help your application. That being said, to me it seems like your application doesn't need much "help!" Your background at both Harvard and Michigan shows an advanced level of scholarly ability, even if you consider your GPA to be low. Moreover your GRE scores are in the top percentiles which is an advantage. A verbal score of 167 shows that what you may lack in writing-oriented research experience can be made up for in ability. Your letters of recommendation can be a large asset as well, depending on your experiences with your professors. For example, perhaps you could contact the sociology professor for whom you assisted in undergrad, and ask them to discuss specifically how you handled the project from a sociological perspective. When approaching your statistics professors, perhaps explain how you plan on applying statistical knowledge to the field. The last thing I'd recommend is to look into other quantitative subfields. Have you investigated demography or quantitative research methods as their own disciplines? There is a lot of fascinating scholarship there, for which your background may provide an asset to the discipline. Wishing you the best!
  5. I imagine that at worst, you may need to take a little bit longer to complete your program. Taking time pressure off of yourself will enable you to have more security in your comprehension of topics. Extra time isn't always desirable financially, but at the end of the day completing a graduate degree certainly seems doable. Moreover in a positive mindset, you may even consider your dyslexia to be a benefit: to my knowledge, graduate school is about perseverance and work ethic as much as it is about intellectual ability. I'm sure that as a straight A student you have equal footing in intellect and perseverance, so I wouldn't be too concerned. :-)
  6. First time applying! Interested in health/demography. Looking for warm weather, so considering: UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, Vanderbilt, UPenn & Penn State. GPA is fine but research experience not so advanced. Debating whether or not to add lower-ranked schools. Already took GRE but nervous it's not high enough for these schools. 160V (85th percentile), 160Q (75th percentile), 4.5W. Should I take again?
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