jriveracal

Best of luck to you with Duke. I applied for Duke as well despite not being the best fit for my interests. Princeton is my top choice. But it's Princeton lol. I feel I only have a chance with the UC's because I feel they might be more sympathetic to my status as a non-traditional student. I also know a few of the students in these programs and feel like if they got in that I could stand a shot too lol. Not based on rational logic whatsoever. I think it is so weird that there are not more students on this sociology thread. It seems to have had many more active users in previous years. I am such a nervous wreck, already checking my email every hour.

I am so worried about acceptance that I applied to 14 schools ? I have a kickass undergrad GPA from a major public institution and a lot of qualitative research experience, but my GRE is complete shit, I have no publications, and writing sample is mediocre at best in comparison to others. I never intended on going to graduate school so I didn't partake in an honors thesis or any other type of preparation for this, so I feel I look pretty weak compared to other applicants who have been preparing for graduate school for years. What program is your top choice?

This is so helpful. I have been coming on the grad cafe checking the results board and scouring last year's dates as well. Turned in my last application today and I am officially a nervous wreck now that it is January. According to last year's results, I am anticipating hearing from UC Irvine and UCLA first....which happen to be like the only two schools I feel I stand a chance with ? Luckily I have both of my children's birthdays this month to hopefully keep my mind busy. Best of luck to you!

Just had a nightmare that my POI sent me a very nicely written email to tell me that while my research sounds cool, he doesn't think he is a great fit for my interests and wishes me good luck elsewhere. For sociology, would this ever happen? I would imagine interviews and acceptances may come from POI's but rejections would just come from the department/portal. I just want to be mentally prepared for all of this. lol.

Wow, that's a great idea to reach out to try to set up meetings with faculty. I reached out to a couple professors that I was really interested in working with and asked if they would be accepting graduate students, but didn't try to set up time to actually talk to them. I'm sure that will give you a leg up in the admissions process. I have absolutely no plan B right now either. I literally need to get in. Not just for me but for my two kids, to give them a sense of stability again. Very cool. One of my applications is an overseas MPhil. It's a stretch for me, but we will see how things turn out. Best of luck.

What would you consider 'independent research'? For context, I am sociology. In my work as a research assistant...I was told to research certain things and I did it. I would not consider this independent research. But for things that I created that I was not asked to contribute, would that be considered as independent research? Or what would you consider to be independent research?

Thank you both for the replies. I was hoping to find some fellow applicants to chat with on here. For a sociology forum, our board is so quiet. lol.

Anyone else need a thread to post on and cry as they wait for decisions? How do you feel about your cycle? Where did you apply? I've turned in 5 apps and have 10 more. Yes, I am applying to 15 schools. Overall feeling nervous AF that I am going to be rejected from every single one. Anyone else?

Very late response, but we seem to have similar interests. How are your applications going?

I feel this so hard, but for alternative reasons. It took me seven years to get my B.A because I have been the sole provider for myself, my children, and my mother. I graduated last year and I have had no stability since. I have a good job, get paid well, but still can't afford COL in the bay area given my familial responsibilities and have been couch-surfing with my two children ever since graduating. In short, I am exhausted from life in general. If I do get into a Ph.D. program, I am sure I will feel stress knowing about performing well and knowing that my career depends on every exam, every grade, etc... But I would give anything to trade in the stress and lack of stability that my children and I face now to feel the "craze" of graduate school.

Anyone else feel this is rather ambiguous? "Please describe any projects that required your independent work and/or laboratories in which you have conducted independent research." What would you say exactly qualifies as independent work?

What are your research interests?

Anyone? Am I the only person who starts threads here? lol I am beginning to lose hope at Ph.D. admission given the fact that my GRE will be shit. I just want all my bases covered and would like to apply to funded MA programs if any are offered... Still would want it to be at a top 25 program if possible.

No advice but I'd like to follow this topic.

What are some universities that offer conciliatory admissions to MA programs if you don't make the cut for their Ph.D. program? For example, I've read on this site that some have been offered admission to the University of Chicago's MA program in Sociology after being rejected from their Ph.D. program. Any of you happen to know other programs that do this? Yes, it's only August and I'm already beginning to lose hope lol.

An MSW from Berkeley will get you MUCH further than an MSW from CSULB

I don't want to look like a complete dumbass reaching out to POI if it isn't common. My prospective program is sociology (Ph.D.) and based on previous posts I have read from others...I feel maybe this is more imperative for those looking into programs in the natural sciences? Could be totally wrong...just saw that a lot of the people that talk about doing it are in the natural sciences. Anyone else in social science going to reach out to POI? Is it advisable to do so or...?

Anyone else's prospective writing samples shit? No? Just me? I have only 2 options for my writing sample and both of them are papers I wouldn't feel comfortable submitting and I don't even know how I would fix them. Which one would you use? I have one "ethnographic" shitty paper that is pretty much just me going out and then writing about how I saw X sociological theory played out here when I saw this happen, and Y sociological theory play out when I saw this happen, along with some census tract info describing the community. I'd have to add a few pages. No idea of what. Maybe a lit review? And another paper that is long enough but pulls a sample of domestic violence NGO's and the countries they are found in and then I compare them to when The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) treaty was enacted and then I bitch about how the law is meaningless without any sanctions imposed for those who don't cooperate with the guidelines in the treaty to protect women and how we need these NGO's to essentially be the backbone of implementing this law....but these NGO's focus on victim blaming instead of reforming the perpetrators of the crime sooo that's dumb [I legit don't really have a meaningful conclusions]. Those are basically my two papers in a nutshell. Which would you use? As I wait for anyone kind enough to respond, I will just be here crying over the fact that I turned down the opportunity to do an honors thesis.

I've heard that these are a thing...Anyone know if it is true or not? All of the programs usually say that they take a " hollistic approach"...blah blah blah and thus there are not GRE cut-offs. But then they go on to say that "BUT the average is usually in this range." Is this a clue that maybe they do use cut-off scores to weed out applicants? Anyone know how I can find what they are for the programs I am applying for? Looking specifically for Sociology stats at T-15s if it matters...

Email me: jasminerivera@berkeley.edu

Thank you! Good idea about contacting the schools. I have a few P/NP courses [they were only offered as P/NP] so I am not sure if I should be counting those towards the "last two years" of units for my GPA, since they don't count towards GPA anyways. The difference could be between a 4.0 or a 3.91 so I think it may be best to just contact the schools individually.

Thank you very much for this! I have narrowed my list down to 7 based on fit of the program and based on if the program has 2-3 professors that align with my interests...The list provided above was more of my long-list. It's very helpful to hear that I really do need to work on my GRE because as of now I have been working on other items [sprucing up my writing sample and working on my SOP] instead of focusing on what needs my attention most [the GRE]. I didn't think that GRE would carry such a heavy weight.

Do they mean the last 60 units? [since 120 units for 4 years, cut in half would be 60 units for 2 years...] For example, my last two years were not done at FT status...So would I be calculating the last 60 units? Are summers included in that? Helllppppp

I agree. Improving your quant score [I need to do the same] may be able to offset your gpa. Also, in your prior applications, did you write "Why X" statements in your SOP for each program?

Help me? Program: PhD in Sociology Schools Applying To: Harvard, UC Berkeley, Princeton, U of Michigan, U of Chicago, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Brown, Northwestern, NYU?, Wisconsin? Long-listed Schools: ? Interests: Sociology of poverty and culture. Parenting practices and their relation to the reproduction of inequality. Expectations from Programmes: Remarkable professors not only as academics but as people, cutting-edge research, vast resources, access to funding, prefer suburban areas or close to suburban areas [I have two kids, would be easier to not raise them in a dense city].  Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley Major/Degree: Soc Graduate GPA: 3.91 Undergraduate Minor: GRE: My diagnostics rn are both 149. Shit, I know. Verbal I can definitely see improving- vocab is the only thing really stopping me but I am working on that. My quant seems pretty much hopeless tbh. TOEFL: Age: 25 Languages: English Work Experience: As an undergrad I worked in research for sociology [4 positions over three semesters- 2 paid, 2 unpaid], city and regional planning [1 position for 8 months, paid], Berkeley law internship [unpaid] at the death penalty clinic and Berkeley law research for a semester- unpaid...all overall were for 2 years. I am now employed full time doing research within a center at UC Berkeley. My prior work experience is unrelated- teen mentor for 3 years, retail management for a year, and serving tables [point being that I have worked non-stop since I was 17, not sure if this is relevant to note...I know when applying as an undergrad transfer I was told it was important to show I was working while in school....] SoP: Drafting it, finding it hard to disassociate my purpose with my life experience. I think it will be pretty decent in the end. LORs: 1 from soc prof who I have worked directly with doing research for for 2 years and she is now becoming dept chair of soc....another from a FT faculty who I took 2 classes with who offered to write a letter for me and is helping me with my SOP, and one TBD....either my current boss, the director of the berkeley department for which I am now working [but worried because she likes me a lot but doesn't know my work that well and tends to have a lot of typos....orrrr my GSI that I had for 3 semesters who gave me 3 A+ so he knows I'm a good student and knows me as a person. FEEL FREE TO GIVE ME ANY ADVICE ON WHICH 3RD LETTER WOULD BE BETTER. DEFINITELY NEED SUGGESTIONS. Concerns: 1. My GRE will be average AT BEST. 2. No academic/journal publications yet 3. Still unsure of what to do for my writing sample, I have a research paper that got a good grade but is not relevant to what I want to study now, or I have an ethnographic type of paper but I would need to add 10 pages to it. 4. I also took a semester off [what would have been my 3rd semester out of 6]. So I'm not sure if I should explain that or not...? Any and ALL advice would truly be appreciated. And sorry for typos, I'm at work and just tried to jam this out fast lol.