lkaitlyn

This thread is for the most recent cycle.

Hi! Not applying this year but just wanted to crash the thread to say my inbox is open if anyone has questions about UC Irvine, the app process (I applied pre-COVID, though), scholarship negotiations, etc. Not an expert but always happy to try to help. Good luck to all of you!

NWSA newsletter (including any specific sections that interest you) and the ASA Sexualities and Gender & Sexuality newsletters! You can also check the sites for various gender studies journals to see if they have any special issues coming up, but that's more time consuming to do on a regular basis.

Your GRE is objectively fine, though the quant is low for a quant researcher; the AW section is also low, but your writing sample is more important than that for demonstrating writing ability. I wouldn't send the score if you can avoid it given your quant focus relative to your quant score. (If you were a qualitative researcher, I'd say send to more qualitatively-inclined schools, but from your description, it sounds like you're not going that route.) In terms of getting in, it will depend a ton on your writing — SOP, writing sample, etc. — and fit with faculty. Only applying to T20 leaves the door open for getting in nowhere (which happens to many people who also apply to places well outside the T20), so if you're determined to go to grad school next year, you should expand your horizons.

I'm not sure about TOEFL since I'm not an international student, though I will say that failing to make minimum cutoffs given for any test runs the risk of your app being tossed before it's even read. If they say 100 is the minimum, I'd retake. (Schools claim they don't screen like that but many do use scores as an initial tool to cut down on the number of apps they have to read.) As for GRE, its role in admissions, especially for international students, is really murky to me right now given the pandemic. The other parts of your app are more important, but if you think you have 160+ in you in either category without it taking time away from working on your personal statements, you might as well retake. Your current scores are below the ideal GRE scores for many of the schools on your list. However, if your choice is between spending hours studying more for the GRE or spending hours on your personal statement, do the personal statement every time.

From what you put, it sounds like you'd be a competitive applicant. One concern I have is you mention your third letter is non-academic. At least when I applied, schools all wanted three letters. You're applying for a research program, so having all the letters be from academic sources who know what it takes to succeed in a PhD program is important if at all possible, especially since you graduated recently. Don't worry about publications — almost no one has them coming in for sociology unless they did an MA previously, and most of those people don't have publications either. One other thing: you're applying to very few programs for a PhD applicant. Do you have a back-up plan? Many people target 8-10 schools and still have to apply multiple cycles. Only applying to four might be a problem regardless of how strong you are, unless you know for sure you are in at one of those places. I highly encourage you to broaden your horizons — many programs have sociology of medicine/life course/quant methods. Many schools also offer fee waivers if that's part of the issue. Even if you got into one of the four, you'd have very little stipend negotiating leverage with a list this small.

I know the deadline has passed but for the benefit of people in future years, I also recommend separating. They're reading these things really quickly so strategic bolding/italicizing/underlining is important to help the reviews get through the material. (Also, as sunny_blues said, they ask you to separate them anyway.) It's also helpful to see how much you have for each so you can ensure you have a balance. A lot of people forget to put enough broader impacts, but that's easy to see visually if that section is separating from the others.

If you think you can raise it without taking time away from working on the more important parts of your app, I don't see any harm in retaking. If you have good grades in stats classes, that will help.

I think I misread your first post, or maybe you changed it. A 167 verbal score is huge. Yes, the quant score is lower than most programs would ideally want. Honestly I'd submit everywhere recommended or required, and to optional schools where you're on the stronger end of the applicant pool (so schools below T20 where the 167 verbal will stand out in the applicant pool). If you're pitching yourself as a quant researcher, though, the quant score is going to be a problem. I especially worry about the quant score at Princeton, JHU, and Wisconsin, just based on the reputations they had when I applied to schools a couple years back. If you're talking about doing qualitative work, most schools won't care, but I wouldn't send to Princeton unless they require or recommend you submit. (Again, I would submit to all places that recommend or strongly recommend, since the 167 is very strong.)

The faculty seem solid! Obviously no one knows how they'll do with placement until it happens but in terms of faculty, they've set it up for success, IMO.

It depends on the program and what they're doing now. Pre-COVID, GRE could be used as an informal screening tool at some schools, especially the verbal section for international students. Now some don't even take it. An exceptional application can likely overcome GRE scores at most schools, but I'd opt for GRE optional if you have the choice at any of those schools you listed since they are some of the most selective schools in the country. Regardless, GRE probably matters the least of literally any part of your application, so it's not a prohibitive hurdle, just not a strength of your particular application. (Again, I'm talking about your scores relative to the schools you listed — your scores aren't objectively bad!) Of the schools you listed, based on their reputations a couple years back at least, I'd be wariest of Harvard in terms of looking for a school that would overlook a lower GRE. As the other poster suggested, it could be many factors: publications, research experience, LORs, and also if someone is from a group underrepresented in academia. The GRE tends to benefit people who have already had the benefit of tremendous educational, socioeconomic, and racial privilege, and schools know that. As I said above, the GRE is the least important thing most places, so if they have a choice between a 167/170/5.5 person with moderate research experience and a 150/152/3.5 person who has two peer-reviewed publications and several conference presentations, the latter applicant will get in 99% of the time. Definitely follow the suggestions above! If there's something specific you're looking for someone to highlight (for example, maybe you did a paper with Professor X that you think really showcases your research abilities, and you think Professor Y knows a lot about your critical thinking skills), definitely mention that as well. My formal research experience was weak (I went rogue and presented some things, but nothing with professor oversight), so I made sure to tell one of my LOR writers to emphasize a particular term paper I met with her about a lot.

Many schools are doing away with GRE requirements. Are you sure all the ones you listed still require it? Many of them were optional last year. I assume you mean your verbal score, since your quant score is at or above every GRE quant average for T10 programs that list those averages that I have seen. Your verbal score is lower than might be ideal for top programs (I'd say 160+ is the dream), but they care infinitely more about your actual writing than your GRE verbal. If you have lots of free time, retake with a total focus on verbal prep, but if the choice is writing an amazing SOP or retaking the GRE, screw the GRE — focus on the SOP and other components of the application.

You have to make sure your proposed research also doesn't sound clinical. Read through the entire eligibility manual. They don't allow projects that are clinical in nature.

I thought you'd stopped this! Thanks for keeping it going. Happy to send mine along if there's a place to submit them.

I just noticed this. I apologize that no one replied. Full disclosure: I am not in your field, so what I say might not apply as much. At least in my field, MA programs are rarely funded in the U.S. unless they are part of a PhD program/en route to a PhD. There are exceptions to this, but you have to seek them out, and they're often at lower-ranked universities. (The higher-ranked ones in my field just care about PhD students, hence their ranking, so they don't have or don't care about funding MA students.) Australia/Europe, I'm not as familiar with, so you'll have to do more research on that. You sound on paper like you might be a strong candidate based on your research experience leading to publications, but the only way to truly know is to apply. If financial aid is necessary for you, make sure you only apply to MA programs that do fund some of their graduate students, as many programs do not offer any type of funding. That information should be visible on a program or graduate school's website, or you can email and ask if you cannot find that information. You can also look for fellowships for your field to apply to along with graduate programs. Some schools may have fellowships you can apply to, e.g. something like Stanford's Knight-Hennessy program, while some fellowships exist separate from schools entirely (e.g. NSF-GRFP, Fulbright, etc.).

A PhD can be as demanding, if not more so at times, than a "normal" job, so it's not like doing one is escaping intensity. It sounds to me like you need to seek out more intense mental health treatment. I say that not to sound mean (there's nothing wrong with seeking out mental health help!), but because it sounds like right now, you're not in a super stable place emotionally. Spend some time focusing on getting yourself to a place of stability and then figure out what you want to do.

I'd taken zero sociology courses before applying right out of undergrad to PhD programs. I didn't get into a lot of places, but wound up at a T20 program and later got NSF, so it can be done! Also worth noting I had some other negatives in my app that don't apply to you, so my results are probably worse than they could have been had I not had other baggage. Note that it's also not unusual for an applicant to have zero publications when applying to PhD programs for sociology (though unsure what the expectations are for those who got an MA before applying) — I had one thing in a random undergrad journal and an R&R at a real journal when applying, which is basically zero actual publications. All my LORs came from professors in other fields (and actually included zero faculty in my home department at my school, which also didn't seem to matter). I think your idea of finding a research lab to join is a fantastic idea and the best thing you can do between now and applying. Academics rarely say no to free labor, so if you ask around, you'll find someone who will let you help them out for free. Make sure you work hard so you can use that person as a letter of rec when you apply. I also recommend trying to find a lab that intersects with your research interest. The other thing you can do this year is polish up your MA thesis and try to get it published so you at least have something R&R when you apply, but that's secondary to the research lab/getting a letter of rec from the lab. TL;DR: volunteer for research, and you'll be fine!

I think I need you to be a bit more specific. "The intersection between mathematics and sociology" doesn't tell me your research interest. What substantively do you want to research? Do you literally want to research how the disciplines go together, or something else at the intersection of both?

MA programs in sociology tend not to be this focused because they're really either 1. Revenue-generating for the school programs that professors don't care too much about, or 2. Meant to just be general stepping stones to PhD programs. With a defined research interest like that, you might be better served applying to PhD programs if you're in a position to do so. There are very few terminal sociology MA programs I can think of off the top of my head, but prioritize following funding over research interests for the MA in my personal opinion. (Others might disagree with this.)

You probably will need to ask NSF directly. Email them.

Academia is never worth jeopardizing your mental health, despite what people might tell you. There's no shame in prioritizing your health. That said, I worry about whether or not you have a real back-up plan, or whether you'd be even worse off coming back to no job, no housing, etc.. If you had a stable place to go, I'd be 100% on board with you leaving, no questions asked, but you need to have a plan before coming back. I'd figure out the feasibility of getting things in order before making the decision — how much debt would you go into? What types of jobs would you potentially be able to apply for and get soon after coming back? Are there any financial implications for stopping the Fulbright early? Some fellowships have rules that require you to pay back some or all of your stipend if you terminate early, so look into whether or not you'd need a medical professional to vouch for you in order to not owe anyone your money back. Fulbright is still a one year program, yes? If so, you come back in a couple months anyway, so staying might make the most financial sense if it won't endanger you mentally to do so. If it will endanger you, focus all your energy on sorting out living arrangements over the next couple weeks and come back. You'll need a place to go, a few months of living expenses (or somewhere to stay for free for a bit), and preferably an idea of the types of jobs you'll be applying for in whatever area you're relocating to. I also recommend making this decision with your therapist, not based on anything I or anyone else on here says. P.S. Academia is a lot of busywork, especially at the MA stage, so I think this (unfortunately) did give you a real look at academia. It's not for everyone, and can be very depressing and isolating at times. I've never found the coursework in grad school helpful — it's more a hurdle to get through.

The overwhelming majority of people from all sociology PhD programs do not get TT jobs. The job market is abysmal. You need to go into it knowing that. This means having a back-up plan to academia. The chance of getting a TT job is much higher at the T20. If you care deeply about getting a TT job, you shouldn't go to a program much lower ranked than 20. (There are some schools below 20 that place quite well, e.g. Arizona.) Do people outside the T20ish get TT jobs? Sure. Is it likely? No. And it's already unlikely enough at the top ranked schools in the country. If you want TT, also get rid of the idea that it will be at a T20 or T40. Getting a TT job anywhere is difficult, so you need to be ready, if you want TT, to move somewhere super remote at a low ranked school. In terms of what people do, that depends. I know people planning on working jobs in data analysis (this actually pays crazy well depending on where you are). I actually love teaching, so I could always wind up teaching at a high school somewhere or maybe working at a nonprofit focused on issues related to my research. It really depends on your interests.

Follow the money for an MA. If school B has more funding, that's where you should go.

Rankings aren't everything, but the difference between #64 and beyond #100 is pretty large. Do VT.

I want to echo was xyz234 said. I had zero sociology courses when I applied and it worked out for me at a T20 program. Research is infinitely more important. That plus a strong writing sample is 100% where your energy should be.