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aiaiaice

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Everything posted by aiaiaice

  1. I'm trying to finalize the list of sociology PhD programs I'm applying to, and I'd like to know if there are other good schools that I'm missing. I'm interested in economic inequality, particularly in relation to the culture of capitalism / meritocracy within the current neoliberal market system, preferably with a global comparative analysis approach. I'm 99% sure I'm applying to: Berkeley, Columbia, Stanford, Harvard, UCI, and I might apply to: Northwestern or NYU or Yale or Chicago Unfortunately I have an extremely strong preference for major coastal cities & nearby areas (basically around CA, NYC, or maybe Chicago), as an international PoC from a GIGANTIC ass city. I'm living in DC right now and yeah it's a city but the lack of cultural/racial/socioeconomic diversity is driving me crazy... Would there be any top 20-30 program that I am missing that would be a good fit?
  2. I'm applying to sociology PhD programs this cycle, but my BA was in econ without any background in sociology so it's a bit hard for me to navigate. I am currently working on my SoP and a friend who read my statement recommended me to elaborate more on my research interest and show more knowledge of the field. I'd like read about some relevant & well-received researches in my interest area (economic sociology / inequality and stratification / political sociology) to concretize my research topic and become more knowledgeable about what's going on in the field. Hopefully something I can mention in my SoP... Does anyone have any recommendations for doing this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
  3. I'm applying to sociology PhDs & MAs with background exclusively in Econ, and I've only written job resumes so writing a CV is a bit daunting for me. I have no publications, no grants/fellowship history, no thesis, etc. Research Experience section in my resume is just unpublished class papers & a field research paper from my study abroad?‍♀️. I currently work as a research assistant at a big-name intl org, but that's just a desk job I haven't co-authored anything yet. I feel like all the CV examples I can find are from people with way more academic research-oriented experiences, and I feel lost. Any guidance will be much appreciated! My main questions are: How do I include small research papers without embarrassing myself? Do I write short bullet-point descriptions for each, as I would in resumes for research jobs? Or should I just list titles? What are the sections that I can include, other than education / honors, my meagre research experience, work experience, skills (statistical softwares, languages etc)? Is it better to not include GPA? Does anyone have examples of CVs from people with minimal academic experiences?
  4. I graduated in 2016 with an econ degree and now I'm trying to apply for sociology PhD. I never took a sociology class since I had no idea I was interested in sociology until after college. I have good GRE(170V 169Q)/GPA(3.88) and decent work experience, but the biggest problem is that I didn't try to build relationships with professors at all during college thinking that I'd never go to grad school... and fast forward 3 years, now that's the only thing I want in life. Smh. I'm visiting my alma mater for 2 days next week and I was planning to talk to a couple professors who might at least remember me and ask for recs. I sent an email to two professors, telling them about my current job and my decision to pursue grad school, and saying that I want to stop by and talk to them and hear some advice (didn't even mention that I want recs, although they might have inferred). One of them was my reference for my current job so I'm not too worried, but the other one replied with a very curt response: "Dear ___, thank you for your email. A note just to let you know that unfortunately with time constraints that won't work out." She was never a warm or talkative person, but I'm a little shocked tbh since she once told me to let her know if I need a recommendation letter when I ran into her on campus back in college. Maybe I disappointed her by ignoring that and not ever contacting her...? That response probably means that she doesn't want to write an LOR for me, or that even if she does it will be negative, right? I'm panicking bc one other prof who could maybe write a letter for me went MIA after not getting the tenure and everyone says she just got pissed and decided to fuck it all.. Should I just be brazen and reply with a request for a rec? Or Should I try my French professor that I took 3 classes and wrote papers with, even though it's not related to sociology? Or should I just get 2 recs from my job? (I'm a research assistant, i.e. Excel slave, at an international organization) I feel lost...
  5. I graduated in 2016 with an econ degree and now I'm trying to apply for sociology PhD. I never took a sociology class since I had no idea I was interested in sociology until after college. I have good GRE/GPA and decent work experience, but the biggest problem is that I didn't try to build relationships with professors at all during college thinking that I'd never go to grad school... and fast forward 3 years, now that's the only thing I want in life. Smh. I'm visiting my alma mater for 2 days next week and I was planning to talk to a couple professors who might at least remember me and ask for recs. I sent an email to two professors, telling them about my current job and my decision to pursue grad school, and saying that I want to stop by and talk to them and hear some advice (didn't even mention that I want recs, although they might have inferred). One of them was my reference for my current job so I'm not too worried, but the other one replied with a very curt response: "Dear ___, thank you for your email. A note just to let you know that unfortunately with time constraints that won't work out." She was never a warm or talkative person, but I'm a little shocked tbh since she once told me to let her know if I need a recommendation letter when I ran into her on campus back in college. Maybe I disappointed her by ignoring that and not ever contacting her...? That response probably means that she doesn't want to write an LOR for me, or that even if she does it will be negative, right? I'm panicking bc one other prof who could maybe write a letter for me went MIA after not getting the tenure and everyone says she just got pissed and decided to fuck it all.. Should I just be brazen and reply with a request for a rec? Or Should I try my French professor that I took 3 classes and wrote papers with, even though it's not related to sociology? Or should I just get 2 recs from my job? (I'm a research assistant, i.e. Excel slave, at an international organization) I feel lost...
  6. Thank you so much!! This was extremely helpful. I guess I will spend my energy on researching schools & narrowing down my interest areas instead of working on an Econ paper that will probably have nothing to do with what I would want to work on in the future. Also thanks for the comment on quant skills - it made me realize that I was worrying about things a bit to far ahead
  7. I've posted something similar before when I was still not sure about PhD but now I'm really getting serious about it so here I go again.. Program: PhD in Sociology (I would almost prefer MA, but only if funded... I have almost no financial security) Interests: Stratification, economic sociology (preferably marxist), also interested in interdisciplinary studies btw sociology and neuroscience which seems to be sort of emerging?! Undergraduate Major/Degree: Major in Econ with minor in French / didn't choose to write a thesis (fuck me) Graduate GPA: 3.88 GRE: V 170 / Q 169 / W 5 (I'm from East Asia tho and I heard there's some sort of a reverse affirmative action against East Asians regarding GRE scores lol..) Work/Research Experience: - Well.. wrote some research papers in undergrad (2 for econ and 1 about social enterprises while i was interning in France) and really enjoyed the process but other than that no publication, no thesis - I'm working as a tax policy "research assistant" at a big-name intl org but what i do is stupid tbh and I'm not at all interested in econ research. I could try to participate in 1-2 working papers before application season if that would help significantly? - Before this, I wasted 2 yrs at an econ consulting company which was very much against my principles and extremely soul-sucking LoR: thinking 1-2 from undergrad econ / poli-sci professors (probably not too strong) & 1-2 from work (could be decent.. idk) Concerns: Zero background in sociology, weak research experience, possibly not so strong LoRs. I could probably sell my quant skills but ugh I would really not prefer to do quant-heavy research just because I have skills to sell... Since I'm done with the GRE now I'll try to really focus on researching schools / research areas and coming up with a solid SoP for the next few months. The main reason I'm trying to go into sociology is that I've been trying in vain for many years to understand the problem of inequality through the discipline of Economics, but then I realized (probably long ago, just couldn't come to terms with it since I was a financially struggling international student who was desperate for some stability) that modern econ is.. umm... a total bullshit and it doesn't even pretend to try to answer any of the fundamental questions regarding social structures that underlie economic transactions. Of course I will try to explain this in a more academic & less curseword-ridden manner in my SoP?‍♀️. I might sound cynical and full of hate but that's just a small piece of me - I'm actually very excited and full of hope to be finally jumping in to what I actually want to do! So I guess my questions are: - Do I stand any chance? If so, which schools should i shoot for in terms of rough rankings? (I really have no idea how things works in sociology.. I don't care much about rankings as long as I can do fulfilling research surrounded by engaging ppl) - Should I try to participate in some econ papers (ugh) at work (UGHH) even if I won't believe in any of the things I write?? Will that improve my chances significantly? - Any reading materials / methods you'd recommend to not sound like a total outsider in my SoP? I'm not that well read tbh - Or just ANY advice is much appreciated!!! Sorry I'm a bit verbose... I blame it on my adhd
  8. I got my BA in econ 2.5 yrs ago and I'm currently working as a research assistant at an international org, but I really want to switch to sociology, most likely economic sociology. I'm planning to apply for PhD programs at the end of this year (also thinking master's, but I probably can't afford that and I don't want to take loans...). I went to a top 15 liberal arts college, GPA 3.88, GRE diagnostic test V-166/Q-167, and I think I will be able to be convincing in terms of why I want to study sociology, but my LoRs are probably gonna be weak and I have ZERO background in sociology itself, outside of the career-search & readings that I'm currently doing by myself. I'm thinking about taking one sociology class at GWU for spring semester since they allow non-degree students, and maybe even get an LoR out of that. Would that increase my chances in any way? I want to have at least a little bit of certainty before I shed $5000 Also, if I do take a course, would an intro class suffice, or would that be too cheesy and I'd be better off taking a more high-level class? I think it will be fun to take a class even if it doesn't help since I really regret not taking sociology in college, but it's just so much money... ?
  9. Hi, I graduated with a BA(from a top 15 liberal arts college) in econ with minor in French a couple yrs ago, and after long contemplation I have decided that I want to pursue a new path in sociology. I'm planning to apply next cycle, at the end of 2019, so I'm preparing to start researching & studying whatever I need to study. But I'm seriously worried if I stand any chance in top programs. I had no desire to do a PhD while I was in college and, being a rare sub-middle-class international student, I made practical decisions and never even thought of studying sociology or even taking a sociology class. Also I lean very much towards the left (not quite a Marxist but almost) but my experiences don't really reflect that Please give me any advice that you have! My stats: GPA: 3.88 GRE: diagnostic test: verbal 166 / quant 167. I could probably get something like 168/170 if I study Research interest: Inequality, economic sociology (maybe). I'm planning to narrow down for the next few months by reading sociology journals etc Work experience: - currently a research assistant for fiscal policy at the International Monetary Fund. Basically a data machine with not a ton of critical thinking - worked in econ consulting for almost 2 yrs before this which is basically useless - other than that, small internships at an immigrant center and a Parisian social enterprise during college Research experience: Just a bit in econ. Didn't write thesis, but wrote 2 pretty solid papers for econ classes. I could try participating in a board paper at the IMF LOR: Weak. - An econ professor in whose class I wrote a paper and did well said he will gladly recommend me in the future, but I only took one class with him and we didn't talk a lot - There's a poli sci professor who would remember me and might write a pretty decent, but not great letter - IMF economists will be able to write a couple good letters for me What do you think are my chances / what can I do to improve them?! Many thanks!!
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