misterpat

I applied to study the New American Right. I'm sure I'll be familiar with many of these books before I finish school. They did list a few good novels, at least. :roll:

But we're all about cold realism in these parts.

Looks like you have excellent taste in disciplines. Did you minor in Philosophy as well? I did... If we also have that in common, it would be a bit eerie. And congrats on your acceptances. Some impressive schools you've got listed there.

This may defy what you gender studies folk think usually happens, but I don't really bring considerations of gender into my online interactions until I get a few hints one way or the other. (Here's an opening for a really lame pun about e-quality) A few possibly interesting exceptions: I assumed that both synthla and tritone were male, until I found out tritone studied gender and thereupon assumed she was female. And I've always operated under the assumption that the mods (rising_star and bgk, at least) were both men, though I have no basis for this assumption. Maybe it's some subconscious assocation of authority with masculinity. (For the record: I took that psychology test Harvard does to test your subconscious gender stereotypes, and scored "No gender stereotypes." So don't be too quick to label me a chauvinist pig for that last remark, even if both mods turn out to be female.)

Sub-sub-topic: Did you read Guyland? If yes, thoughts?

I majored in both history and sociology. I researched both types of schools this year, unsure of what I wanted to do. I post in this section since I figured I know about as much as many prospective Sociology applicants (and I may be one next year if I get rejected from History programs). I ended up picking History, because I think I'll enjoy primary source research more for a career. But I want to integrate some ideas from sociology into my research. And I also do read a lot.

Some people mistakenly use neo-liberal as a synonym for New Left. Whereas the "liberal" in neo-liberal actually stems from "classic liberal", which advocates laissez-faire economic policies and such.

Thanks. At least someone appreciates me. If you don't mind, e-mail the History Graduate Directors at UVA, UMich and UChicago and let them know about my delightful personality.

Yeah that 9500 apps is certainly an error. 14 rejections on TGC in a day though: that's impressive.

I agree. You're going to run into sociologists who build on the ideas of Weber and Durkheim and Marx, even if they aren't teaching you them specifically(I.E. When Ritzer talks about McDonaldization being the new Iron Cage, you'll probably grip his thoughts better if you've read Weber's piece on Bureaucracy and Formal/Instrumental Rationality.) You'll read all those guys in your theory course, so it might not be that essential to read it beforehand. The theory you want to read depends on your primary focus. If you're going for political soc, you might want to check out Jurgen Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. If you're going for micro-sociology, check out Erving Goffman's Presentation of Self in Everday Life. If you want to get acquainted with Marx, I recommend checking out the Marx book from the "How to Read" series. I've read 5 books in this series; they're kind of neat. They are all about 100-120 pages, and they use like 500 word excerpts from key texts, and have an expert explain them. So, you'll have like, "Marx's greatest hits" and a philosopher specializing in Marx explaining what he's talking about. Great way to get acquainted with a major figure. http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Marx-Peter-Osborne/dp/0393328783

That is somewhat reassuring. But there are people being admitted to a couple programs I applied to in the results section. That doesn't do much to assuage my nerves.

You should ban-for-life all the IPs of people who use the results page to have conversations. We have a forum for a reason. One must rule with an iron fist.

Ha. That's practically Pencilvania.

No. Sociology programs are notorious for discriminating based on race and sexual orientation. Also, Indiana Sociology has explicitly stated that they do not like people who understand literature. It's in the FAQs.

Well, aren't you a philosopher? :wink: I am in the same boat as everyone in this thread. I would even welcome a rejection from one of my schools at this point just to feel less neurotic about absuing the status-check websites.

+1 I would suggest drinking no fewer than 5 times a week.

RMP is inaccurate for determining which professors are no good, since students will dislike a professor for a bunch of things typical of undergraduates (e.g. "too much reading bro"). But I think it's pretty reliable for professors who get excellent ratings.

I think "GRE doesn't matter" is a bit of an overstatement. It's different all over. Look at this from UVA History's info for re-applying: "New GRE scores must be submitted if the previous ones are more than four years out of date, and in any case some applications may be substantially improved by retaking the GRE and obtaining higher scores." (http://www.virginia.edu/history/graduate/admissions)

I didn't mean last school as in last choice, just so you know. It just happens to have a Jan 15 deadline, so it would have been the last place I applied.

I almost applied to Iowa, but decided not to. I think it was application burn-out that made me not do it, as it would have been the final school.

It doesn't seem we have many Penn applicants this year. Maybe that's why...

Take as much language training as possible for Euro. French and German should be good. Just so you know, Intellectual History is the hardest sub-field to get a job in, supposedly. I suggest reading this article: http://people.virginia.edu/~adm9e/grad/grad.htm I would also recommend reading this article: http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/1998/9809/9809PRO.CFM You seem to have a decent idea of what to do already. Take multiple, small classes with a professor who is well-known in your field so that he/she knows you well enough to write a good letter. Try not to kiss their ass too much so that they geniunely like you (my personal opinion).

I believe Sat/Sun are generally rare. However, a person who posts here with the username "slothy" recently posted that his or her admit phone call from UNC Sociology came on a Sunday. So there are no universal rules. http://forum.thegradcafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=14869&hilit=sunday

No joke! Congrats! I hope you folks are turning down admits to programs where I applied.

Indiana is really strong for Russian history, and I'm sure you know that. Man I wish I had learned that language in college.