rjparson

Just to interject - I did a one year master's program in the UK right out of undergrad at an institution that was of a much higher pedigree than my UG school. I'd recommend looking abroad to get a one-year degree if you're looking to make your CV more attractive. The UK has the added benefit of offering a lot of specialized degrees, which might give some weight to how you define your "fit." For instance, the LSE (not the school I attended) has dozens of programs that borrow from all sorts of social science traditions: http://www.lse.ac.uk/study/graduate/availableProgrammes.aspx (Edit: if this link doesn't work, look for "Available programmes for 2015/16" then click "Taught Masters") All in all, you can probably pick up an Oxbridge/London master's degree for much cheaper than what Columbia and Chicago are offering.

Both have received mine, I sent them in October though.

I had the same problem. I'm not terribly interested in gender/sexuality, crime, the environment, or medical sociology, but I had a hard time narrowing my SoP beyond that. I'm interested in stratification, economic sociology, culture/religion, and somewhat interested in rural issues.

What's off campus housing like then, and do many/any first year grad students live off campus?

Since acceptances for F15 are rolling out I thought I'd resurrect this thread with a question: I have a small dog that I intend to bring with me. Are there pet friendly options on campus and am I likely to get one, or should I be looking for something off campus? I'm not averse to signing a lease that starts over the summer if necessary.

Yep, that's me. I did development studies at Cambridge.

In at Princeton

Decided to stop lurking now that there's a decisions thread up - I've got 11 apps out with an interest in econ soc, stratification, development, and East Asia.