Happy to be here

Agreed, I really don't think that places like Nebraska-Lincoln and UC-San Francisco are really ranked higher than Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana, and others. Maybe there's some specialty or something I'm missing, but I'm pretty doubtful about this list.

Good points there MoJingly. Yeah, I feel like I'm middle of the pack as far as stats/scores go, and have definitely noticed those that are doing much better than I am. It is a little anxiety producing but the one thing I've learned from watching others go before is that the application process can really be a crapshoot sometimes. Having the high numbers is not necessary or sufficient to gain admission. I know someone who landed a good MS program in sociology with a GRE in the 900's--it was the relation to a particular faculty member that mad a difference. So, perhaps another lesson to remember is that it really only takes one interested faculty member, at one school, and you're in. As a sidenote, point 3 above is probably very true. I imagine there's lots of dishonest stat reporting.

So, I decided to send one of my applications to Rice. They've got an excellent sociology of religion emphasis, among others, and the idea of a brand new phd program is exciting. I wonder how many others are applying there as well? What are your thoughts on going to a brand new program? I've thought about some pros and cons, but what do you think?

I haven't had a problem at all, and I've had a little bit of email correspondence. However, it was several months ago and I imagine that they are dealing with a bit of chaos right now. Having a brand new PhD program, first time their department deals with applicants, first time secretaries and professors are reviewing applications...all that has to have a learning curve. Not an excuse (I have kind of a problem secretary where I'm at right now too) but I can understand it at least.

Agreed, I also encourage lurkers to share what's going on. Join gradcafe! Tell us where you're applying, where you get in, rejected, etc. This website has been an excellent tool in many ways to navigating the grad school application process--offer some input back, please. I think I lurked around for a few months before joining as well, and I really like the interactions I have here. So, sign up! Another random thought, I love how the "introductions to 2011 applicants" thread I started last fall has over 2,000 hits, and only 22 replies. More real people, not guests, should be a part of the forum and share their info.

I think you misspelled 'expertize'. I think it's 'expertise.' Rest looks good to me.

I agree with Roll Right. I'm at a terminal MS in sociology program and sometimes people take a year or two before applying for the PhD, just as you're describing. I've heard from professors over and over that maintaining some kind of research job in the mean time is the best thing to do. Qualitative ,quantitative, anything counts.

This topic made me ask myself again: "Why am I applying to the PhD, given all the stress, issues, uncertainty, etc.?" Here's my answer. One thing that I keep going back to is that I have simply enjoyed the research aspect of sociology. Papers written specifically for courses are sometimes hit or miss on whether or not the creativity or thought involved is really captivating, but for the most part I would rather do this than many other professions. So, doing research and teaching others about interesting topics in society seems fun to me. All the other BS is just that, BS. Whether it's stupid departmental dysfunction, application stress, or the unknowns of actually landing a decent job in academia--those are indeed problems, but I guess every job has drawbacks. I've held several different jobs throughout undergrad and high school and guess the one that really keeps me interested is sociological research. It's the one thing so far that I could actually be content with doing it the rest of my life. Now, there's good and bad ways to deal with the stresses involved, and one thing that helped me get through my thesis prospectus defense was the idea of "ritualized hazing." In all reality, I think a lot of people "make" (or should I say, socially construct) the difficulty, stress, and uncertainty into the academic career. And why do they do this? I think it's to give it an edge, a sense of worth, to make it something that not everyone can do and subsequently is more valuable as a result. Upon finishing getting grilled for almost an hour and a half at my thesis prospectus and having to bow to ridiculous egos and satisfy lame concerns--I go back to my grad carrell, stare at the wall for a few minutes, take a few deep breaths, and realize (again) that this is simply ritualized hazing. It's all a part of the act, and I play along with it so I can continue moving through it. Now, when I have uncertainty of PhD applications, I think to myself again--this is all a part of what "makes" being a professor great. They've been through all kinds of stuff and their reward is a very secure job where they get to research and teach stuff that they're interested in. For me, I'm willing to go through all the nonsense to get there, and recognizing it as ritualized hazing. Now, I have to say that not all of it is of this flavor--many of the difficulties of graduate school are for our own betterment and are a part of the learning process; however, I do think that some of the difficulties, uncertainties, and stresses are unnecessary and seeing things in this perspective has helped me tremendously. Maybe I'm just rambling and this is nonsensical, but just thought I'd throw this out there. That's how Sue "C's" it.

But anyways, I'm done now. I applied to 8 total, and all the materials are in minus two or three letters. I'm going into the Christmas break with the mindset of "just-forget-about-the-whole-thing." In my mind I'm thinking, okay, I won't start the worrying/constant-status-checking until late January. Hope that everyone gets into at least one good school, after all, one is all it takes.

Yeah, I don't really get it. I was grilled for almost an hour and a half and for the thesis prospectus I only had my intro, lit. review, hypotheses and methods. It's kind of nice in the way that I only have discussion, results, conclusion to add on for the thesis defense itself, but it sucked royally. For some reason I did all my transcripts and scores back in August/September, and I'm now doing the other application materials, document uploads, etc.

So as of today, December 13, I've got 5 out of 8 applications finished. How is everyone else? Also defended my thesis prospectus this past week, so life has been crazy. Just three more to go and then the e-hand-holding can begin among us all.

Wasn't me, but I'm impressed at the turnaround for Chicago. It looks like their deadline was December 10, so they're already reviewing AND offering admissions. I wonder how common that is? Getting all of them in and then evaluating after the deadline is what I would expect.

Hmmm...I'm seeing lots of similarities between "statement of purpose", "letter of intent", and "personal statement" as I'm going through applications. Maybe these are synonyms, maybe they're only meant to be confusing, and maybe I'll get a kiss from Kurt and/or Will Schuester this week?

He was awesome. I believe he was also the department chair for several years before Bankston. He was always very approachable, knowledgeable, and very sharp with the feedback he offered students. Funny guy too. I learned a lot from him.

I used to go to Tulane as an undergrad, both before and after Katrina. It was an awesome place to be. One of my all time favorite sociology classes was a class by Joel Devine, "Sociology of Disaster" which he did after Katrina. I don't know much about their program, but from my somewhat relevant experience, it would be a great place to study. The Sociology department is located on one of the most picturesque parts of campus. Huge live oaks lining the walkways all around. Very cool.

Geez, for some reason this phase of the application process is just really sucking. I mean, the GRE was several months of studying and stress, working with faculty to earn good letters of recommendation has been/is difficult, but writing a statement of purpose is just putting me over the edge for some reason. I only have a rough outline and already I want to crawl under my graduate carrel and suck my thumb, crying for mommy. I mean, I enjoy research, I enjoy sociology, writing research papers is fine, and doing a PhD would be tremendous work (but still enjoyable)... but when it's this strangely personal, 'selling yourself' ass-document, I feel like it's an affront to all other writing.

It does seem a bit dead, but I think that will change soon. And yes, the applying to PhD's while finishing the Master's is like someone puking in your mouth (thank you, Sue Sylvester). The other day I was filling out some online apps and at one point I walked out of my little grad lab and said, "I'm going to punch a kitten in the face."

I noticed that Duke is doing something similar. There is an early date in the middle of November where you can apply for $65, but if you apply at the normal deadline, sometime in December, it's $75. What is this? It's like some kind of "act now" special on QVC. For some reason, I hate it.

I'm just getting started, really. I have transcripts and GRE scores sent to where I'm applying, and have talked to professors about writing letters, so that's all planned out. Haven't sat down and started my statement of purpose yet, but will probably do that during October.

Lizzla, you are hardcore. Nuff said. So, perhaps some people are wondering about the timing of receiving the writing score after the test. I just got mine today (5.0, yeah!). I took the test July 15th, received my scores in the mail July 30th, so 15 days.

Nice, it seems like a lot of us are in a similar boat. Good to feel not so alone and I hope everyone gets a decent score on the frakking thing. Spaulding, as far as looking at potential programs, the schools I have in mind so far came mainly from reading other's works, and going to SSSR last year. I was able to meet a few professors there which sparked interest in a few programs. This next conference in October will be more interesting because the application deadlines will only be about a month or two after the conference. Anyone else going this year? I imagine several of the soc. of religion people would be.

I agree barilcious, the GRE is just silly hard. When I took it last week, the math section seemed especially convoluted. I had lots of the "pick I,II,III,IV" types of questions, and all kinds of triangle-circle overlap. Near the end, I was running out of time with about 2-3 questions left and just had to put something, nearly crapping my pants out of anxiety. To get prepped, I used the Peterson's study guide which has several sections loaded with especially difficult questions, and that helped me out. That, and listening to Stan Bush's "The Touch" while driving on the way. Hey Coffee-ology, what did you get the first time you took the GRE? My goal this time around was 1200+, got a 1230, and two years ago got an 1120. Lizzla, regarding geometry, one thing I did that was a life-saver was taking one last look at the 45-45-90, 30-60-90 triangles right before walking in. So glad I did.

Yes, I've been a part of a few projects on sociology of religion. I've worked on religious-based mentoring and positive adolescent outcomes, the role of conversion in the migration process, and my thesis looks at social ties, religious participation, and stratification. Hmmm, how did this get narrowed down? I suppose it came from being a part of these research projects first, and then the interests came along later. I think my first true interest in sociology was in gender, and the social construction of masculinity, femininity, etc., and other interests came from there. What about you? My school only offers the terminal MS in sociology, so I will be moving somewhere this next year (again, hopefully!). pm for other info

Let's get this party started! Long time (maybe a few months) viewer, first time posting. So I went and re-took the GRE today and actually got a decent score this time around. I was a 500 V, 620 Q, and 5.0 Writing to get into the master's in sociology I am currently finishing up. Today I got a 590 V (yes, my summer thusfar consisted of assaulting my mind with vocabulary, I felt like Chuck and "the Intersect") and a 640 Q. So, perhaps a 1230 is not a home run, but I think this is in the ball park of where I need to be, so I think I'll stick with it...feeling confident about other aspects of application. As mentioned, I will be finishing a Master's in soc. this spring, and then moving on toward the PhD (hopefully), and plan to emphasize in sociology of religion. Anyone else out there? Application season is only a few months away. Let's do this.