CozyD

Look at the schools you're interested in applying to and see what they say about prerequisites! Most schools are pretty clear about saying what kinds of backgrounds they look for! And if they have a few specific courses they want you to have done, that's definitely something you can take care of without getting another degree. And then just make it clear in your statements how your experience relates to and prepares you for what you want to do in the future.

This isn't really my area, but here are some thoughts: - First check the admission requirements for the schools you're interested in and make sure you're meeting those. For example, it looks like UIC requires you've taken a statistics class. - I think psych would probably be more helpful than education policy, if you're picking one. - In general, people just don't really seem to care that much about minors. It's a nice little extra thing to have, but there are usually more worthwhile things to focus on. - It will probably get you further to focus on specific courses that are relevant to what you're interested in doing in/after grad school, or in gaining some/more research/volunteer experience. - A big piece of applications is being able to articulate a clear explanation of who you are and why you want to study the thing at that school. You kind of need to look at all your previous coursework and experiences and see if it all comes together into a coherent narrative. Or you might see that there's an area you could build on that would help do that. - If you don't have substantial, relevant volunteer experience, that's probably the biggest thing to focus on. It can really help to be able to say "I did this relevant thing that affirmed that this is an area I'd like to work in." If you're in Chicago, you might consider volunteering for the National Runaway Safeline: https://www.1800runaway.org/

I finally made what was pretty much a done deal a month ago official a couple of days ago: UC Santa Cruz, Social Pyschology.

I think this is doable but probably not ideal. I took some classes through UC Berkeley's Extension program online, and I was pretty happy with them! Lots of places offer online classes now. It's probably helpful for your transcript to come from a recognizable name though. Some online classes are more self-paced, some are on more of a set schedule. You should have time to enroll in summer term classes still. It might be hard to complete a fall term class and get the transcript in for an early December deadline though. Maybe you could take both courses over the summer, or find something self-paced that you can wrap up before the deadline. You probably need to just look at the websites of some online programs and see who's offering appropriate classes on a schedule that could work.

I'd look for the people publishing work you're interested in and see where they are working. Some of them may be teaching in social psych or women's/gender/sexuality departments -- if your research focus lines up, you might still want to apply to those programs.

As a first step, I'd definitely compare with some other places and make sure it's not just that the CV is out of date. You could also look at Google Scholar or see if they have a profile on the school website, their own website, Academia.edu, or ResearchGate.

I think that if someone introduces themself with a name (to just you or to a group) or signs an email with a name, that is the name you should call them.

I feel like this is going to depend on the specific field and kind of book. Maybe look at some of the sort of book you'd want to write and see what credentials the authors have?

I'm late on this, but here are my thoughts: It's reasonable for them to want you to acknowledge that you've received the offer, but it's not reasonable for them to expect you to accept immediately. The multiple emails are weird too. This seems like a red flag that this person could be terrible to spend 5+ years working closely with. But it also seems like it would be an even bigger red flag if they don't respond well to you saying you need more time to make a decision. This also sets a sort of precedent for the entirely of your relationship with them. Like, it would probably be good if they knew you set reasonably boundaries around things like this.

I took some online classes through UC Berkeley's Extension program, and I was pretty happy with those. Pretty easy to enroll, quality courses, well-known school.

I've been using ResearchGate a lot to get full-text articles. Some people have things posted publicly, so anyone can download them, but also lots of other researchers will send you articles if you request them through the site. I filled out my page with all my publications/presentations too. I don't know if that's made a difference to whether people have been willing to send me copies of their work. A few people have also read my work on the site. I hope but have no confirmation that the site will prove to be useful in networking sorts of ways too.

Last week I actually got a very nice rejection email from a POI at a Psychology program. (That's not Sociology, so it might be totally different.) We'd exchanged pretty short emails before I applied to the program. I actually really appreciated the gesture though. They said some kind, reassuring things and left the door open for us to stay in touch about our shared research interests.