zh_awk

Congratulations! That's amazing, you must feel such a relief lifted off of you! Can I ask if you were called yesterday or today?

For some reason it seems like Brown is slowly trickling their responses out, which doesn't appear to be the pattern they've followed in previous years. Several acceptances went out last Friday, many rejections went out this Monday, and I received a response (rejection) early in the morning yesterday (I'm east coast in the US). There's definitely hope for you though! I'm considering any school I have yet to hear back from as a school I'm still in the running for and that mentality is helping me a lot Good luck on the remainder of your apps!

Congratulations! That's huge, and I can relate to so much of what you've experienced on your path to getting here. It's so tough to have families who don't always try to understand what and why we're pursuing what we're after, especially in cases where it feel like they may not even be trying that hard to do so. UMich is lucky to have you! I applied to their joint program in public policy and sociology, so if some magic happens and they let me in, maybe we'll end up crossing paths on the sociology end of things!

Same as the others - interviewed two weeks ago, was told I'd hear back by the end of February, and am anticipating this is the week we find out if we got accepted. I'm so on edge! I've received a rejection from my second choice school (today ugh) and HGSE's PhD is my top choice, so I am reaaaaally hoping this pulls through. Good luck to everyone else waiting for a decision from the program! @Creamsoda, @Rvmr and @jackie987, I hope we'll all get to be classmates this Fall!

Thank you, I appreciate it a lot! I hate how much of a crapshoot this process is, but it really is just an inherent part of how it goes, I guess. Just gotta keep pushing through it! Good luck to you as well!

Thank you, I appreciate that a lot. Last year I made the mistake of applying to a single program and ended up on the waitlist there before an official rejection, so at least this time around I have many more chances, and can "play the game" a little more effectively. Good luck with your apps! You're so right, this waiting game is absolute torture.

Well, my Brown rejection arrived this morning. Was really hoping I was on some kind of unofficial waitlist, having not heard back yesterday on what seemed like rejection day after last Friday's slew of admit offers. I'm trying to remember a part of this process is about luck and being in the right place at the right time, but I do feel extremely gutted right now, as I truly do not know how much more qualified I could have possibly been, given my experience and fit with the program. Brown was my second choice. I have 8 programs I have yet to hear back from so I'm going to try to pick myself back up and hold out hope that something better happens soon.

Well - half an hour later, I've just now received the email alerting me to the portal for my decision, and it's a rejection. This sucks.

I know many acceptances went out last Friday, many rejections went out yesterday, and have heard they may not do a waitlist. I don't know if it remains true that all acceptances go out at once and the same is true of rejections (or if they truly don't waitlist students), but I still have yet to hear back on any type of decision. Is anyone else in the same boat with their Sociology PhD program? My nerves are through the roof!

Ugh me too, this is my second cycle and I know my anxiety won't let up until I get one acceptance - til then, I'm going to be perpetually tense, emotionally and physically. Brown's my second choice and I know I'll feel gutted if/when a rejection comes through, and that's gonna just carry with me until a positive outcome (hopefully) comes from elsewhere. Good luck to you, keeping everything crossed we both get some positive news soon!

Oh god, I really hope they do a waitlist and it just looks like they don't based off of GradCafe updates - I try to remember not everyone out there uses the forum and that there are other possibilities floating out there! I wonder why they (or any program, for that matter) wouldn't waitlist students too? Do they just throw out the acceptances they're willing to and then hoard "excess" funding gained from students who turn down their offers? Seems unfair when there's so much competition for the already few spots available in cohorts each year! I've been waiting to hear from Brown and am so so anxious, but attempting to brace myself for a rejection, if this is true. Really thought I was an excellent fit for the program, given my research interests/prior publications/research jobs, and matching of interests with several faculty.

Oh god, I don't know why but that just made me so much more anxious! I literally just had my interview and feel good overall, but now I'm nervous it wasn't *amazing* enough to earn me a spot. Does anyone know if the trend of them contacting interviewed candidates about 2 weeks after their interview to offer a spot is still a thing? At the end of my interview I was told I'd hear back by the end of February, which I'm hoping doesn't signal they might have not been feeling me enough to want to offer me a spot sooner.

The email came yesterday afternoon, and thank you!!

Received an interview invitation for next week, with POI and CIS concentration chair! I also was not given options for times, and didn't want to ask for other time slot possibilities just in case that wouldn't be a good look. Good luck, everyone!

I can't find a single place on the website for UPenn's sociology PhD on their requirements on the writing sample, statement of purpose, and if they have any additional papers/statements they want. The app portal opened yesterday and I was hoping there would be clarification in there on these things but turns out there's none. Anyone know what length is their max on the writing sample/if it should be single or double spaced? Same for the statement of purpose? Thanks in advance!

I'm thinking of ways to boost my CV before submitting materials for PhD applications this Fall, and I wasn't sure if being a member of soc-related societies or associations (like the ASA, Sociologists for Women in Society, etc) helps at all with showing dedication to the field and increases your likelihood of getting accepted? Is it worth joining any of them in particular, if so?

This is soooo helpful - I was going back and forth on how much detail to include, and knowing a good time of the week to hit send is also very insightful. Thank you so much!

I may be a little behind on this, but I'm preparing to contact the professors at programs I'm interested in to confirm whether or not they'll be taking on incoming grad students (2023-24) to advise. What's a good way to approach laying these emails out? I imagine making them personalized (ie - speaking to their specific field/work/research topics), but is there anything I should definitely make sure I mention or incorporate? Thanks in advance!

I recently had a paper I co-authored published in a prestigious (international) education journal, and it was incorporated into a special issue (on the changing landscape of higher ed during/post-COVID). We were the only paper that even made it past the initial RFP from the US (after providing just the study abstract), so it's pretty exciting to have gotten accepted after the long-winded review process! Given its publication in a special issue, especially on a topic that I feel is going to be fairly commonly talked about in the years to come, I wondered if there is a way (if this is even appropriate) to list it on my cv in a way that indicates it's a part of this issue? Or, is this not common practice/is it pretentious to do? I did some searching online and didn't really find an answer so I was hoping someone here would have some insight into this. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm looking to prepare for applying to doctoral programs for the next cycle this Fall and have been primarily focused on purely sociology programs. However, I'll be coming in with a Master's in public policy and my research interests all intertwine with race/racism and sociology of ed, with a focus on education policy. I'm interested in a career in academia, though I am also considering pursuing working in policy research relating to these topics. Among my searching so far, I've found that Harvard offers two programs that could be good fits, though it appears I can only apply to one per cycle. These are a sociology PhD, and a joint social policy/sociology PhD (they list it as having a sociology "track"). I'm trying to figure out which would be the better one to aim for, and while I know this is probably useless in the grand scheme of things given it's Harvard, am also trying to think about which program may be slightly "easier" to get admitted to. Thoughts?

Hi all, I'm looking to prepare for applying to doctoral programs for the next cycle this Fall and have been primarily focused on pure sociology programs. However, I'll be coming in with a Master's in public policy and my research interests all intertwine with race/racism and sociology of ed, with a focus on education policy. I'm interested in a career in academia, though I am also seriously considering pursuing working in policy research relating to these topics. Among my searching so far, I've found that Harvard offers two programs that could be good fits, though it appears I can only apply to one per cycle. These are a sociology PhD, and a joint social policy/sociology PhD. I'm trying to figure out which would be the better one to aim for, and while I know this is probably useless in the grand scheme of things given it's Harvard, am also trying to think about which program may be slightly "easier" to get admitted to. Thoughts?

Hi all, I'm looking ahead to next year's cycle for applying and think I need to be more strategic with where I aim for than I did this time around. My interests are all in sociology of education, ed policy, race/racism and inequality. I think the major mistakes I made this year were not focusing intently enough on programs with faculty whose research aligns with my own interests, and also not applying to enough schools. Does anyone have recommendations of where I should look to for next year? I have Brown at the top of my current list (John Diamond is someone whose work maps almost perfectly onto my own, and there are a few other folks in the department who align strongly too), as well as Princeton (Jennifer Jennings, Shamus Khan) and Duke (Angel Harris). Since I have an interest in education policy too I'm going to attempt Harvard's social policy program as it offers a sociology track, but I know I need more schools on this list and probably some that aren't ranked as highly as these ones, to hope I land somewhere next year. I will also say I'm trying to stay on the East Coast, though I know that's extremely limiting. But, open to hearing any and all suggestions, whether they're on this side of the states or not. Thanks!

First, she/her. Second, while I appreciate the consistent reminder that this is a challenging track I'm on, my main goal with my post here was to understand if a PhD in social policy would be a better fit for my goals, as opposed to one that combines sociology into the program, or even education. I am 1000% committed to pursuing a PhD and do know that seeking a tenure-track professor position is going to be difficult to achieve, but I'm also aware that the degree (I am currently leaning towards applying to joint SP/sociology degrees again) allows me other options for a career should that end up becoming a low likelihood when I get closer to finishing the degree. All to say, the field that I pursue in my PhD is what I wanted some clarification on here, though I'm of course more than open and willing to hear out any additional advice from folks here. What I'm also hearing from you is that I don't sound like someone who has a chance of coming close to a tenure-track position given my qualifications at this time. Is the PhD not the stage of one's career that really defines this likelihood? I'm not trying to be snarky and am really just trying to understand your perspective; yes, I have a ways to go, but my understanding is that where I'm currently at is not going to determine this and it's too early to be able to say what I'm capable of achieving. Further, for the past couple of years, I have been given the impression from my coworkers and professors that what I have accomplished by this point in my academic/professional career is more advanced than most Master's who are applying to doctoral programs in these fields - I have 10+ years of research experience, over half of which is in either policy or sociological research, various works published or in press to be published in both fields (please don't reiterate it isn't significant unless it's groundbreaking, that point has been made clear to me in your responses, and some of my research is in fact quite significant), a 3.8 GPA in my MPP currently, and most recently applied to a program this past cycle with a very strongly written SOP outlining my research goals in addition to extremely strong recommendations (all three of my writers shared their letters with me, and one of these folks is a fairly well-known scholar in sociology). I've built a wide network across both fields, most significantly including a professional relationship with the incoming president of the ASA who's based at Brown. Do you really believe that I'm only in "Black Swan territory"? I might not be in as solid of a position as Brady was having extremely strong experience coming from UMich helping him into the NFL, but I don't think I'm as inadequate as I'm getting the impression you seem to have of me. @Dr_Hugh_, your insight on where you see me standing would be great to have as a second opinion. Thank you both for your thoughts.

Can you clarify what exactly you mean by this ("...not about the outcomes for teaching," specifically)? Did you mean this in terms of the competitiveness of the tenure-track job market, or something else? And I'll echo your mention of tenure professors not being great advisors - the professor who's been mentoring me for the past several years and has overseen my research/allowed me to co-write alongside him is an assistant professor himself and recognizes the difficulty of getting beyond where he himself is at this point. I've avoided tenure professors at Brandeis knowing their plates would either be too full to be proper/effective mentors, or they just wouldn't care enough. I've also worked with/taken classes with many Heller MPPs (and Heller/Soc PhDs) who are friends, some of whom are past defending their dissertation and others have graduated and moved on - a good chunk of them have made their way into academic roles, whether it's currently as a lecturer or if they've been out of school for long enough, into an adjunct professor job. I've talked their ears off for literally years trying to make sure this is the right path for me and if it's worth it, so I know I sound stubborn right now in wanting to stick to my plan, but I'm giving your advice all of my attention too and am processing everything you're saying. Teaching and doing research in what appears to be a rather niche area right now (meaning I've identified a gap in the soc literature/research) has been my end goal for probably 10+ years for me so I've really put a lot of effort into asking all of the questions to all of the people I've come across over the years to figuring out what the best approach to getting there is, and ensuring this is in fact what I want.

Thanks for this - I absolutely recognize how competitive the fields are (SP and Education too) and that strong grades in addition to research are important in order to have a fighting chance for tenure-track jobs. I've currently got a 3.8 GPA. In addition to my Master's being close to done, I have many publications in journals and had three under review (2 in soc journals, 1 in an education journal) at the time of applying. One soc paper was accepted in between applying and receiving my waitlist status update in March, which I told the admissions committee when I was first notified of being waitlisted so that they could update my portfolio. I've worked in research for a long long time - all to say, I know I'm a strong candidate (and can of course be stronger). And, I also recognize Brandeis is a good place but there are far better - I work here full-time and chose to pursue the MPP part-time to avoid having to pay for my coursework AND have taken courses that overlap with the doctoral program, in order to better prepare for a future PhD. I definitely didn't come into this thinking Heller was the absolute best/at the very top or anything, and more or less wanted solid experience at a school that's at least on the map in order to keep moving up over time, but you are reminding me that because of this I have to aim higher to get a tenure-track job in the future. Brandeis does things interestingly - for the joint degree in SP/sociology, you apply to one program and then the second after you've completed a year in the first. I applied to soc first because there's more funding for longer, and have many relationships with faculty and students in the department. I wasn't accepted off the waitlist this year solely due to funding (the grad admissions committee shared this with me, in addition to the two sociology professors in the department who wrote rec letters for me), and I made the mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket with Brandeis. Having established connections and strong relationships with faculty and professors in both departments here over the past 5 years is what compelled me to focus in on Brandeis, but I'll likely apply to top schools next round that also have joint degrees, including Duke, Brown and HKS, all of which my research mentor has lamented I didn't go for this year, believing I would have had a high chance of acceptance. Who knows if that's really true though! I'll find out next year. A follow up question for you - it sounds like you're also saying a PhD in SP wouldn't be redundant after finishing my MPP, am I understanding that correctly? I think the joint degree is still best for me, given the sociology side gives me an academic element to the degree, and the type of research I want to carry out is based in sociological theory. But, I could be wrong - perhaps a PhD in just sociology would suffice? Thoughts? And - what other schools would you consider true "top" programs? I'm preparing for next year already and want to begin connecting with professors whose research fits my interests at schools that I should apply to this time around. Thanks!