socio1251

If you're aiming for PhD programs in the US, I think it's generally better to do an MA program in the US. If you want to do MA in Europe, Science Po's MA program has a higher yield rate for PhD programs based on my limited impressions. In general, I think it's really helpful to get an MA from a prestige university (such as Chicago, Michigan, UPenn, NYU) in the US before applying to PhD programs, at least this is the case for international students. It's certainly not impossible to get in without an MA as an international, but it's been very hard these days.

I'd like to propose CUNY Graduate Center, since I feel that at least half of the core faculty are qual. In fact half of my cohort specializes in political sociology or gender issues now. There are several qual workshops organized by students or faculties, including a society and protest workshop. The department also has a historical analysis course and a couple of qual courses in the department every semester. You can simultaneously get a Women Studies or Critical Studies certificate offered by the Graduate Center(open to all phd students), too. One more plus, you can take ANY related course in other departments within the school or the consortium universities (Princeton, Rutgers, NYU, New School, etc).

I'll say stick with the one with smaller cohort, greater attention from faculty and ideally a two-year one to get your research ideas ready for PhD programs. The one-year Columbia program sounds more like a cash cow to me. If I were in your shoes, I will choose New School over Columbia.

Last year I heard back from the director on April 13 that I am next in line so be prepared for that......As far as I remember, 11-12 people attended Open House. PS: I didn't attend bc the person they were waiting for response eventually accepted the offer. Director then told me to reapply and I did, and being rejected this time lol A depressing experience for me...

I think it is only the case for Cornell, which is super weird this year. Other schools and programs may view objective measures differently, don't worry!

I am also the other rejected person that posted on the results page. Now I guess it's because we are all international (?) not based on objective measures... GRE 162+166+4.0, GPA 3.8, TOEFL 106...

I have lived in Brooklyn in a townhouse room for $550 (with wifi included, hydroelectric and heating are charged separately). You still can find a room under $800 in southern Brooklyn, Queens (forest hills or Elmhurst) or Little Italy (near Chinatown), if you really want to budget a bit. Cooking can save a lot of money, too. For me, I spent $2,400 a month without cooking. I even went small gigs a lot with this budget. So this was my personal experience as a grad student four years ago. I know most people will spend much more in NYC. Living in the city is definitely expensive, but if you work really hard, you may still be able to make it.

I think your GRE writing score should be okay if you are aiming for quantitative programs (based on your descriptions). What about your TOEFL speaking section? The only possibility of the cut-off is the speaking score (over 24 or 26) for some schools.

Brown, U of Washington and probably Boston College too

Me too! Would love to gain more insights from all of the successful SOPs! With no offer in my hands right now, I am considering re-applying in the upcoming circle. And I would really appreciate it if you are willing to share your SOPs via message! Thanks a lot in advance!

I emailed UC Irvine admission office last week asking about their decisions. The DGS told me that it is not clear at this point if there will be subsequent offers made or when that might occur. I think for all of us not having received UC Irvine decisions, there may still be chances (or just silent rejections in the end).

I received an email from the graduate secretary from Indiana Bloomington, attached with a rejection letter three days ago. Last week I emailed the department asking about when the result would come out, and it seemed that they made decisions already. Perhaps you will hear from them soon, good luck!

Hug hug* It is definitely a hard time for us. Hope we will eventually find the right place despite all these struggles!

Hug* I'm an international student too and I didn't have time to get a better TOEFL either. For UCs, I've heard that UCI doesn't like international students because of a lack of funding while UCSD usually takes several international students. Hope we can all find the place worthy of our hard work and waits!

@tobe_newbee@SocFreshI posted the UCSD rejection. It was a generic email from DGS in midnight (it was a weird time to send an email, so maybe they're still deciding the waitlist?) Good luck to you both! BTW, I received rejection emails in three subsequent days, so I feel you all. I thought I would be okay after thinking over the worst circumstances at the beginning of this week, but it was still hard to deal with this. I am always unconfident about myself and this whole process exacerbates my self-recognition.