pinknblue

Hi All, Could anyone of the doctoral students or prospective doctoral students tell me how significant is the choice of the writing sample topic in the whole application process? I am keenly interested in exploring the concept of "individual freedom" in a society. Here I mean individual freedom in the simplest form and not vs. the institutions or state but purely "society & the freedom an individual has to take his own decisions" (particularly marriage and career decision). I am not sure if I am missing something here, or is it an outdated topic but hardly any schools have faculty or grad students doing research on this or a similar topic. Please advice where am I going wrong. Also should the choice of topic solely be decided by whats currently the hot topics?? I am really interested in my topic but at the same time definitely want to get into a sociology doctoral program. My TOEFL score is 108 out of 120. GRE Total is 1180. Break up: Verbal 540 percentile 71 Quantitative 640 percentile 58 Analytical writing 4.0 percentile 37 Could you also tell which schools would be feasible to get into with this score? I have no background in sociology, but did have psychology as my minor in undergrad. And I have an MBA in Human Resource. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much. Keenly waiting to get some good advice. Have a great day guys !

Hi All, I am applying for a Phd in Sociology at Upenn. Upenn Sociology does not have a mandatory req. to submit writing sample, but they mention its preferred. Is it ok if I do not submit the writing sample ??? Thanks a ton!!