pbspoon

And, the Harvard rejection. Not a huge surprise but still extremely disappointed. Has anyone heard from Michigan?

Just saw the results post that someone got accepted to Michigan joint Sociology & Public Policy on Friday. Congrats! If that person is reading, would you mind sharing whether it was an official email or email from a POI? I’m on pins and needles about my application there... Thanks!

Just got my Duke rejection. Blech.

Thanks for starting this! I applied to Duke (Pub Pol), Michigan (joint w/ Sociology), Harvard (Social Policy & Sociology), and Wisconsin (straight Soc). Only heard back from WI so far (rejection), but it seems from past years’ results like Sociology programs generally release earlier than policy ones. I did have a Duke interview back in late January, and they told me to expect results in about 4 weeks, which would be the end of next week. Although I just saw on the results board that someone reported an acceptance via email yesterday?! Would love to know more about that if that person is reading! Just checked my portal and it all looks the same. Good luck to all! Glad to know we are not alone in waiting purgatory...

Thank you! That's both helpful information and very reassuring. I feel much more confident with my ability to express interest/ability/sociological thinking in my SOP than with other aspects of my application, so hearing this is a relief!

I'm applying for Fall 2020, mostly joint programs in Soc/Public Policy with some straight Sociology and some Public Admin PhDs thrown in as the programs seem to align with my interests. All of the emphasis on research experience in department admissions FAQs and on forums is making me nervous, because I have no true social-science research in my background. I do have a lot of experience with other kinds of research, so I'm wondering what I can legitimately count. Would greatly appreciate thoughts! Here's what research I can claim: Legal research (significant research/writing as a clerk to a federal judge, several legal summer internships that were all research/writing -- likely 2 of my 3 LORs will reflect my strengths in writing and this kind of research) Political science, but not in a data-y way (my senior thesis in college -- written in 2010, mind you -- was a political-theory thesis and basically law/philosophy/history/gender studies research, including original interviews but no data sets; my study abroad in college was an independent research paper on Swiss neutrality and advocacy NGOs, also reliant on interviews and poli sci literature) Lots of fact-checking and editing work with legal academics as the editor in chief of a legal academic journal The only true "data analysis" work I can claim would be really digging the bottom of the barrel: I took a few Psych/Neuro classes in undergrad (again, like 2008) that involved gathering data, doing analysis, and writing "scientific"-esque papers with graphs and p values and such. My questions are really these: Would any of this hold sway for a Soc adcomm looking for applicants with research experience? Can I legitimately answer the question "Do you have undergraduate research experience?" with a yes? Should I just give up for now and go get social-science research experience via a job or Masters program before trying for a PhD? Thanks!