cec2021

I have the same impression as @Ikaitlyn on Sociology MA programs. I would potentially recommend looking into MPH programs if you are interested in occupational health and safety, worker rights, or the impacts of work on health and life. It really depends on what you want to do with the degree. If you plan to work after, a more applied degree like an MPH can be helpful.

I just wanted to update y'all on a stat I learned at the UT Austin admitted students day. Their normal acceptance rate is 20%. Because of increased apps and a decrease in the number of seats they were allowed to offer, this year it was 5.7 percent. It really was a weird tough cycle.

Thanks! I think it really will be. I was accepted to UT, UNC, and Emory and will be attending UT Austin. UT was by far the best research fit for me, with a research program focusing on exactly what I want to study. I was offered an RAship with the program and good recruitment funding increases over their standard offer. I will work twice as many hour than at Emory for only a bit more money, but I am very excited, and will make time for my classes and own research.

Hey y'all. I officially made my decision and let the schools know. It was scary, but feels good now to know where I will be next year. Anyone else totally wrapped up their cycle? Are y'all excited? Nervous?

Sure. It is a lump sum amount that they have offered to give in the spring of my first 2 years, in addition to TA/RA funding. Some other programs might call it top up funding or something. This school was clear in their grad handbook that it is money to try to get you to go there.

Hey y'all. I have to get on a soap box quickly. I really hate the phrase "full funding". I have been seeing people post in the results section that they have been accepted with "full funding". There is no such thing as full funding. There could always be more funding. Could we start saying "standard funding". I have been told to my face and in writing that a school will try to match my other offers, and one school gave me recruitment funding. Another didn't, but I know they have some that they do give to some candidates. Point is, "full" implies that you can't get more and that it is enough, which is really not true for the standard offer at most programs.

Hi! Congrats to the Emory admits that were notified today. I was not one of them, but I was at the recruitment weekend. If any attendees of the recruitment weekend want to stay in touch, DM me or reply here or something. Everyone was really nice and cool and I would love to hear where you end up.

Yes, it does I think! Either way it counts as income. Check out the Personal Finance for PhDs podcast. But also it makes a difference to your experience there. Do you want to TA every semester? If you want to be a prof and need teaching experience, maybe! If you really want to research all the time, a research assistantship or NIH traineeship would be better. Move this convo to the negotiating offers and stipends conversation. I'm very interested in where it goes.

I haven't taken a single class labeled sociology and I have been accepted to 2/3 programs and have an interview with the third. I did do a very research/ social science heavy career and got letters of rec from sociologists or sociology-adjacent faculty. That was very important for me, because I think my prior studies were relevant and impressive (although not sociology) but my application really needed people who know what sociology is to say that they thought I can/should do a PhD in sociology. Perhaps you could get a letter from the PI on the computational social science project you were a part of.

Hey y'all. Now that I have received 2 offers, I am ready to turn my attention to this thread. I am a little anxious because I have not gotten the funding offers from either school yet. I know the what will be my second choice school's offer because of a zoom call with a faculty member after acceptance. For my first choice school the professor I was in contact with before applying has contacted me to say that I will receive an RAship in my offer. I am thrilled about the RAship, but still worried about funding from that program. The standard funding is lower than my #2 school and the cost of living is much higher. I'm trying to take ikaitlyn's advice and be patient. My recommender/current professor advised me to make a spreadsheet with every part of the offers- stipend, work expectations, health insurance, fees etc. It has been a little over a week since admission to the first school that I heard from. Do y'all think it would be appropriate to follow up with the graduate coordinator about the official offer and dates for the virtual visit weekend on Monday?

Anyone receive their funding offer from UT? I thought normally it was with the acceptance. The numbers on PhDstipends look really low, especially as housing prices have been on the rise. It is by far my #1 choice, but the math doesn't look good.

I really hope so! It was January 22nd and 25th in 2017 and 2018. I think the 29th in 2019. So I've really been on edge about it this week!

Have you heard back from UT Austin?

Any suggestions for how to get to a webpage with application status for schools that use applyweb? For UT, the apply Texas page is very clear about my application (in review), but all I can find on applyweb is the receipt of submission.

I added to the list with some info from this forum this year and in past years. December 1 deadline: University of Chicago - currently conducting interviews University of Illinois Urbana Champaign - finished interviews, extended offers Rutgers - finished interviews, offers to be extended first week of Feb UT Austin - no updates (usually sends out acceptances on Jan 22 or Jan 25, last year was abnormality with acceptances in early Feb) UCLA - acceptances sent out December 2 deadline: Stanford - no updates December 15 deadline: Harvard - no updates CUNY GC - interviews held this week UNC- some acceptances have gone out. I haven't gotten an email and portal hasn't changed, so I'm guessing rejection is coming, but hasn't been sent yet. Emory- no news (usually sends acceptances end January, beginning of FEb) Jan 2 deadline: Yale - no updates Jan 4 deadline: NYU - no updates New School for Social Research - no updates Jan 5 deadline: Arizona State University - acceptances and rejections sent out Please add to this list!

Don't discount yourself. This is going to be a crazy competitive cycle. Great candidates are going to get rejected from every school this year. Don't take it personally. One person has posted an acceptance for UNC, which is stressing me out! Not sure if it is real because there is only one. But I would love if any lurkers on this page that applied to UNC would respond if they have heard back!

Anyone have more info on that UNC admit? for some reason I thought UNC usually releases in Feb. Congrats!

Congrats to the UCLA folks! It is not a school I applied to, but it is exciting to see the first big wave of decisions hit the results page.

The woman who made the phdstipends website also has a podcast called personal finance for PhDs. She also is on an episode of Hello PhD podcast talking about how to negotiate, and what to look for in your offer letter- e.g. summer funding, teaching time, how fees get taken out of your stipend... v helpful.

Yes but if Poli-Sci apps went up that much, it is not unreasonable to think sociology applications went up too.

I'm pretty sure that UT Austin doesn't.

Keep us posted! I was interested in UI Bloomington but I can't do the area and the weather.

I was a Mathematical Statistician (mostly a survey methoodologist) working in research and methodology of a Federal Statistical Agency. The tools I used most were programming in SAS ( I think still most used in Federal and State agencies, but I think R is catching up), some advanced statistics, knowledge of survey design and error, experimental design, and scientific writing. I could have advanced with those skills pretty far, but to lead the research and write grants for funding, I believe a PhD would have been required. There were also plenty of researchers who had technical masters degrees such as survey methodology, statistics, and science communication. I was in a very very technical research group. Other research groups had more subject matter experts, and sociologists. I also interned at a state health agency and knew epidemiologists with MPHs and PhDs and DrPHs.

I generally think a PhD is too long to be in school unless you really want to do research, get NIH/NSF grants, be a professor, or lead a major research organization. I'm certainly no expert though. Why are you considering a masters in Sociology specifically? I am in a Masters of Public Health program now. It has the advantage of offering an accelerated one year program for mid career students. I also did my bachelors in statistics and worked as a statistician for the federal government, so I have some thoughts on what is needed for government research careers.

I'm encouraged to hear the interview involved a potential advisor. I met with the professor I want to work with at my top choice and we really hit it off. She followed up after to say I would be a good fit for her team. She isn't on the admissions committee, so I can't tell how much it would help with my application. I'm really hoping it will! Anyone have thoughts on how much letters of recs help? Obviously we have already submitted them (for Dec 1 schools). I think two of mine are really great (impressive people in the field, connections to the school, know me pretty well), but I'm just stressing so much about this cycle because of COVID's effect on cohort sizes.