lkaitlyn

I know what I said isn't fun-sounding, but I'm not going to say do the easier one just because it's easier. The writing sample is one of the most important parts of the application. It's doubly important when you need to convince the committee you know how to do sociological work because your background is not in sociology. I think not using this opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in writing sociological work by adapting an existing piece and making it sociological or writing something new will hurt you. You can choose to ignore this advice — you may get into your favorite programs anyway, and it sounds from your response like you're pretty set on using existing work — but I think it will weaken your application. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide.

It sounds from your phrasing like you gave these random people a choice of submitting a strong, polished journalism piece or a weak research piece. Obviously polish is better in that case, but that doesn't mean that's better than submitting a strong, polished research piece. Submitting a journalism piece instead of demonstrating an ability to conduct rigorous sociological research will substantially weaken your application. Perhaps you can rewrite one of your articles to make it sociological? Add a literature review, craft a research question and argument, etc.? It is especially important that you show an ability to craft a sociological argument/question given that it sounds like you do not have any sociology experience. (I say this as someone who similarly had no sociology background.)

Gotcha. So congrats to the winners! ❤️ Excited to hear about the different research projects people are working on.

Can't see the tweet. Not saying you're wrong, but I'd like to think they'll notify the rest of us too.

Take the PhD offer, or apply again next cycle. Do not pay $50-60k for an MA.

Sadly, no. That person is mistaken. Rumor has it occasionally an HM will get the fellowship if enough fellows turn down the fellowship, but I haven't heard of that happening in several years.

1. You only need a new writing sample if you think the old one was weak. If you don't have any new research in the works, I doubt you'll be able to have someone new and high quality so soon, so you might want to stick with what you had or maybe edit what you had more, ideally with the help of mentors in the field (professors). Make sure that you're demonstrating your ability to do sociological research. 2. Probably not, but you'll send it when it's available, just like college seniors send their semester grades after applying. It normally won't matter much unless you do poorly, or if your undergrad record was weak, in which case I'd recommend waiting a year to apply so you can show them a longer track record of academic success. 3. Not sure how your scores break down but if it's close to 160/160 (e.g., one of them is 157 or something), I'm not sure retaking this is a good use of your time, especially since most programs don't even require the GRE anymore. 4. Unless something has drastically changed in the last 2-3 years, most applicants to sociology PhD programs don't have publications, and if they do, it's generally not as a first author and in a lower-tier journal or an undergrad journal, so I wouldn't stress about that. If you have something you've been working on, see if you can submit to a conference. A lot of smaller regional conferences have fall and winter meetings with open submission deadlines right now. Also make sure you're getting research experience. In your MA program, that should happen naturally, but if you don't have anything else to do this summer while you're waiting, maybe get a research internship or help out a professor with a project of theirs! I think forcing yourself to apply too soon is indeed quite limiting, as your questions indicate. I don't know the circumstances of your current application or situation, but if there were weaknesses and this wasn't just a fit issue (it may just be that you didn't apply to programs that were really good fits with your goals), you might want to wait to apply. That way, you can build strong relationships with new LOR writers at your MA institution (you'll want at least 1 to be from your MA institution even if you apply this year), work on a new writing sample, and expand the research experience on your CV. You'll also have an MA thesis to talk about in your application! Oh, and if you developed any good relationships with professors at the schools you applied to, perhaps gently reach out to that person and ask if they have any feedback for what you can do to strengthen your application for the future. I'd only do this if you've developed a personal relationship, though — don't just cold email admissions. And as a related aside, if you didn't develop any type of connection with professors, you might want to try that this time around; email a professor in each program in July/August with a personalized email about why you're interested in their research, a sentence or two about your work, etc., say you're interested in applying, and ask if they have time to talk about what they're currently working on. You'd be surprised at how many respond if you keep the email short, professional, and personalized. Even if they have no say over admissions, talking to them will help you be more specific in your SOPs about why that school is a good match for you and your research. And who knows? Maybe you'll work with them! (The person who I reached out to from the school I'm now at is still my advisor 3 years in!)

Hopping in to say I'm also still waiting! I wish we had a timeline but alas it's the first year of the fellowship so anything goes.

Check out the union's website for details on the new contract. That is the minimum you will get.

Yes. The union's website on the contract is far more clear than UC's, though.

Re: strikes at UC affecting offers (someone asked in the thread) - definitely. UC doesn't want to allocate more money to grad students, so they're trying to find ways to cut down the grad student population or try to get around the contract. For example, there's a rumor about UCI Social Sciences (school that oversees Sociology) trying to fuss around with fellowship-type funding because they're under the (mistaken) belief that it's exempted from the union contract (which is funny, because it's not, so you all might just wind up with more fellowship money with UC getting absolutely no financial benefit from it; karma!). Can't speak for other UCs but I do know that has been affecting admissions here at UCI re: funding offers, how many offers can go out, etc., since the department is trying to figure out how much money they'll get from Social Sciences. In the department's defense, to be clear, they do not control this.

Among the ones you listed? You probably have it about right. Generally selectivity correlates to ranking and better funding packages.

I got my invite a couple years back around a week after everyone else. I was convinced I was rejected at that point. Not trying to keep you clinging to false hope, but I wouldn't assume it's over until we're well into February. It also somewhat matters on professor. My advisor (who is great) takes a little longer than some others to do administrative stuff sometimes. Knowing him now, I'm thoroughly unsurprised that I heard later than others. Edit: I have no real inside info on this, though. Just explaining my personal experience.

FYI, I have heard that UCI is taking a smaller cohort this year, though I don't know the exact size. (But they're funding those people better than they funded people when they admitted larger cohorts, though I know that's not comforting for everyone waiting.)

Among the T20, historically UCI has "interviewed" (most of these converted to acceptances in the past/they were really informal) — not sure if that's changing this year or not.