tsengch77

Certainly, there are some professors in the top 20 programs who came from lower tier programs. There are several possibilities, since some lower tier programs are relatively niche and being known for their specialties in several subfields (take BC and environmental sociology for instance), and individually, some people have good publications and/or connections. From my point of view, prestige (for like top 50-60 programs) works like a threshold that affects the bar for job candidates, but it does not fundamentally limit or permit a person's chance on the job market. But, generally, I would say that once the rank got lower, one should be more strategically planning their way to stay in academia. As for outside of academia, I tend to think that it is like a different career path/ lifestyle preference, whether it is IOs, think-tanks, HRs, or consultant groups, it requires different connections and skill settings. There are people that graduated from top 20 and still chose to go outside of academia. Job placement page on each program's website is a good start to understand where do their graduates go.

I am waitlisted by U of T, though one of my friends (who is an international student) got acceptance. I also received UC Irvine acceptance today, though there is no funding information yet.

There are two aspects that I will consider not only for the cycle but also for the (hopefully) future doctoral journey. Extrinsically, I have also been working in other related fields for years (social movement/policy/politics), and if academia does not work out for me, I would go for other intended careers; in other words, I think that limiting yourself to only one possibility is never a good idea. Intrinsically, I also agree that you should not blame yourself for any rejection; rather, I would take that like fieldwork and consider what I have learned from the cycle, and what I shall do in the next cycle to increase my probability of getting acceptance, such as start applying for funding earlier, networking earlier, etc. Considering the competition may not fall down in the upcoming years as long as the pandemic is still looming, I would urge myself to turn the anxiety into preparing earlier next time.

I have applied to those two, and no updates yet. I think that from the previous record BC typically send out acceptance letters at the very end of January, while Northeastern conducts interview around late January. I also did the interview earlier today with my POI in UC Irvine, who said that it was his mistake for the late interview. It was very chill, chit-chatting about weather in Asia and the US, and most of the time it was me asking questions about the program rather than being asked.

I am also waiting for UC Irvine, where I received a pretty great correspondence letter (from a professor in the committee) earlier this year but have not heard from them in recent days. Nevertheless, I think it is how the competitive cycle goes, and it is so competitive that we may over-scrutinize every little flaws we might have. I have a pretty bad undergrad GPA because of a different major (however my master's GPA is much better), and a decent GRE scores (but not great). I am also waiting for other 10+ programs that I have applied to (most of them are strong in urban/political/development, which I am interested in), congratulation to those who have been accepted and hope for the best.

Back in November, I have also received email from UMinn that they also reduced cohort to only few demographers for the cycle.

I was informed by a current Ph.D. student that Boston University have also paused application for 2021. https://www.bu.edu/sociology/

Greetings, I am an M.A. in sociology from National Taiwan University, which is among the top universities in East Asia. My research interests are urban sociology (urban politics, comparative urban inequality), housing policy, political sociology (developmental state, governance, neo-institutionalism), political economy and uneven development in the Global South. My master thesis had been awarded, and my grad school GPA was generally good, though my undergraduate GPA was below average (mostly because of courses in other disciplines). Besides sociology, I was an activist and a policymaker. I have taken my GRE (V155/Q161) and TOEFL (total of 103). In my SOP I proposed a comparative urban inequality research that included cases from East Asia and Latin America. Despite many programs that matched my interests have paused for the cycle, I am still applying for fall 2021. I have planned to apply for Harvard, UMichigan, UChicago, UCLA, NYU, UT Austin, UC Irvine, Michigan State U, Boston U, and some Canadian programs such as UToronto, UBC, and McGill U. Except for Harvard, UMichigan, Boston U, and UToronto, I currently have corresponded with at least one professor in every other listed programs. I am looking for advice to narrow down my list, and I also welcome any additional program suggestions if that may suit my interests (for now, I am also considering Rutgers, USC, and John Hopkins). Thanks a lot!