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I second that! I didn't necessarily have quite the success that @jriveracal had, but I think I learned a thing or two over the course of this process.

Just sent you a message!

I'm pretty sure they've sent out all their acceptances (and rejections to those who interviewed) and that they just have waitlists/rejections left. Sucks, especially since I went to school there

This is awesome! Props to you for such dedication. I know how devastating it can be to receive only rejections. So glad you were able to find your path! I want to reiterate how helpful it was to read successful SOPs. I was fortunate enough to be in contact with a professor at Chicago who sent me the personal statements of six successful students--three who got into Berkeley, one who got into Yale, one who got into Penn, and one who got into UCLA. They were SO much better than my first draft--so specific and thoughtful. I noticed my mention of professors was all pretty surface-level: "Professor X's work on Y interests me" while these students were saying things like "Professor's X approach to Y using methodology Z would complement my work on A, B, and C and would help expand my development of D, etc. etc..." I spent three months tinkering with my personal statement until it looked like that. Another thing that I found helpful was to email graduate students currently in my programs of interest who were doing the kind of work I would want to do. Over 75% of these graduate students responded to my emails and were generally very detailed in their responses. I asked them if there were any 'nuances' to the departments of which I should be aware. For example, the graduate student at Yale told me that it's not uncommon for professors X and Y to invite prospective students to workshops and then to chat with them afterwards. Following his advice, I emailed these two professors, and just like he'd said, they invited me to attend a workshop (I'm fortunate enough to live within a few hours of New Haven and to have a car). I spoke to each of the professors for ~30 minutes after the workshop, after which they told me they would look out for my application. I'm 100% sure that one-on-one time in November was what got me in.

Me too! Huge congratulations!

No I've been thinking of emailing my POI, but I also don't want to be that person... I was told we'd hear at the end of last week! *Shrugs*

Just wanted to send a few words of encouragement to those people facing rejections--I was there last year, and it sucked. I applied to 7 programs (not Sociology, but something similar) and got rejected by 7. I felt embarrassed. I felt lost. I felt let down by my recommendation letter writers who had given me way too much confidence. I was angry with the schools who had rejected me. Don't let it squash your passions. You might need to readjust slightly (like I did), you might need to apply to a wider variety or programs (like I did), or you might just need to do it again to get a better roll of the dice (like I did). You're not defined by these applications. And whether or not you have the degree, you're all sociologists.

Chicago, Harvard, Yale

I'll be at NYU!

Not yet

Interesting perspective as I sit here waiting to hear back from Yale: I went to UChicago as an undergrad and then for a master's degree and, during that time, worked in our department of graduate admissions. Although I was rarely involved with Sociology, I did see a lot of Philosophy/English/History applications. 1) It was insane how many highly qualified candidates were turned down--I'm talking super high undergraduate GPAs, bomb GREs, research experience, published papers, great recs, the works 2) Professors could leave notes on a student's profile for other professors to see, and it so often happened that a professor would say something like 'Fascinating research proposal!' or 'Great fit!' only to turn them down. The fact of the matter is that there are just too many great applicants relative to open spots and sometimes the department is just not looking for someone who studies x, y, or z no matter how great that person may be. And how did I do with all that UChicago knowledge? I didn't even get an interview, so there you go Stay strong everyone!

Mine was... eh. My POI told me that the committee will be meeting Thursday (tomorrow) to decide on the final group of applicants. He said he would email me either way. Fingers crossed!

I got one of these interviews, too. Mine was framed as a "conversation" rather than an interview, and it's with my primary professor of interest (with whom I spoke in person in November). Mine is tomorrow, and I really have no idea what it's going to look like... will try to report soon after.