goodmp

I think you have a decent shot at any of those schools. If you can stomach it, you may want to think about retaking the GRE to boost your Verbal section -- you'd have absolutely no problems if you could get that above 650. That said, that is just getting your foot in the door -- a lot of other factors come in to whether or not you're accepted, but I think your profile looks pretty solid overall. You may want to look at http://orgtheory.wor...-grad-students/ and http://orgtheory.wor...out-gre-scores/ as well. Both are written by Fabio Rojas from IU's Soc program and provide some good insight. In particular, read through the commentary -- a lot of other faculty weigh in there as well.

1. The GRE 1.1. You will have to take the GRE. There is no way out of it. Every program will require this test. 1.2. You are not as smart as you think you are. There is no aspect of this examination thatyou can just “wing.” 1.2.1. It doesn’t matter that you read a lot; your vocabulary is not GRE specificenough. This isn’t an evaluation of your current vocabulary. Begin doing flashcards and learning words as soon as you can – even 10 new words per day is anamazing start. 1.2.2. Math is hard, but not impossible. Cultivate your mental math skills and begin working on this immediately. Make flash cardsfor important definitions. 1.2.3. http://www.urch.com/forums/gre/ is agood resource to work with other people on prepping for the GRE and asking questions. It is also a good source of practice questions to test your knowledge. 1.2.4. Don’t be afraid to take practice tests. I didn’t take any practice tests until the weekend before the GRE because I didn’t want to psych myself out. In retrospect, thiswas a mistake because I never worked on pacing. 1.2.5. Don’t ignore the writing section. This isn’t like writing an essay or a newspaper article. It is a specific type of writing that you should specifically prepare for. 1.2.5.1. http://search.barnes...e/9781402250507is the book that I used to prep for writing – I feel it was a pretty worthwhile investment. 1.3. Start planning early. It is never too soon to begin studying forthis odious test. 1.3.1. The test changes in August – all of the free and available online resources aregeared towards the old test. You maywant to consider taking it early to ensure that you can be as prepared as possible. 1.4. A course isn’t absolutely necessary. I bought several practice exams and a smalllibrary of GRE prep books, but did not buy a Kaplan or Barron’s class. If you’re self-disciplined and can learn onyour own, there are great opportunities for cost savings. 2. Contacting Professors 2.1. You don’t have to contact professors at everyprogram you want to apply to. You canstill get in if you aren’t already besties with your POI. 2.1.1. It probably doesn’t hurt to contact professors at your top couple choices. 2.1.1.1. Don’t be frivolous. Sure, you have an agenda – they know that youhave an agenda in contacting them. Havemore than just your agenda, be familiar with their research and be inquisitive. Don’t just blindly mail outyour SOP to every DGS you can find online. 2.1.1.2. Be formal and respectful. Don’t be hurt if they don’t get back with youin a timely fashion. Avoid txt speak,over familiarity, and so on. Don’t hassle them. 3. Statement of Purpose 3.1. Different schools have different wordlimits. Mine ranged from 500 words to1500 words. Have multiple versions thatyou can submit based on the requirements. 3.2. Tailor it to each university. Make a point to explain to each school whyyou want to go there. Don’t ignore other aspects of your essay, but make sure to include why the university is a goodfit. 3.2.1. Personal Anecdote: I had an incredibly successful applicant season – the only two schools I didn’t get into were the two schoolsthat I cut the “Why I want to go to your university” section from my SOP due to length requirements. 3.3. Read Asher’s Graduate Admissions Essays (http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/1580080421),no one that has read it has come back and said, “That was a waste of time. 4. Writing Sample 4.1. Make sure you have one good piece of academic writing that you can submit. If yourschool is anything like mine, you won’t necessarily have that. Work with your faculty mentor (you have oneof those, right?) and polish up a paper that you can be really proud of. Bonus points if you can make sure to use references from publications that faculty at your top couple of schools have written. 5. Letters of Reference 5.1. Unfortunately, if you haven’t cultivated astrong relationship with one or two professors at this point in the process, itis probably too late. 5.2. Let them know that you’re going to be lookingfor letters of reference from them as early as possible. This will engage them in your application process and will likely get you a lot of insight and advice. 5.3. Gifts are generally inappropriate, as this ispart of their job and they could get in trouble for being seen to take bribes. A thank you letter is neverinappropriate 6. Application Submission 6.1. Something will go wrong. Submit it before the very last minute. 6.2. Schools would prefer to have all of your lettersof reference by the due date, this isn’t hard and fast though. Submit early enough that this is a feasibility. 6.3. Submit everything possible in PDF format. .doc and .docx can look completely differentto someone else than it does to you. It can also be edited, which means something else could accidentally deletesomething or add an unintended typo while reading it. 7. Cost 7.1. Budget for this to be an expensive process. 7.1.1. My average cost per school, including transcripts and GRE scores, was around 100dollars. I ran out of money near the end and had to nudge up against deadlines to afford submissions. I got lucky, I think – but you should plan ahead better than I did. 7.1.2. Visitations are going to incur costs as well. Not every school will be able to fly you out. I spent about 500 dollars on this aspect, and that was also unexpected. 7.1.3. You’ll likely have to pay more once you’re accepted to confirm with your school ofchoice (particularly if it is public). My wife had to pay 45 dollars to Miami University to confirm, I had to pay 200 to confirm with UNC. Plan for this so it isn’t a surprise. Disclaimer: I didn't proofread this, but I believe it is generally accurate. It is one dude's opinion though, and you should consult other sources. Copying it from word deleted some spaces -- sorry, I tried to fix most of them, but I am sure I missed some.

There are lots of times when colleagues will want to meet at a bar or something and I have stuff going on early the next day and don't want to deal with the headache. Ordering a tonic water with lime ends up looking exactly like a gin and tonic and people just assume I am drinking and don't hassle me at all. As an added bonus, you can drink a bunch of them and look like you're a real trooper. They also usually have free refills which makes it even better.

I pulled some data from the NRC using the tool that the Chronicle put together last year. Carolina is definitely going to be more focused on the pursuit of an academic job following graduation, and will put you in a good position for that. I have no knowledge on how the non-academic job search works for Ph.D.'s in sociology, though there are a few on Carolina's alumni roster. Chapel Hill is definitely a "pro" unless you are dying to be in a city or something along those lines. I have no idea how it compares to College Park or Irvine though. According to the faculty list of interests, http://sociology.unc...facinterestlist none of them specifically focus on Social Networks -- though I imagine aspects of it are found in other areas. Maybe. It hasn't been an interest of mine, so I am not sure. You may want to take a look through http://sociology.unc...rad/sochandbook to see if that gives you a better idea about the dept. I am obviously biased in favor of UNC, I think it is a great program.

Several of the graduate students that I met at the UNC recruitment weekend were interested in social movements. I know Dr. Kurzman does a lot of work in that area and his graduate students spoke about him in glowing terms. I didn't hear many people talk about social networks, but I wasn't really listening for it since it isn't my focus. I had a really good time at the UNC recruitment weekend and I've had good interactions with the other graduate students and the faculty overall. I also think the prestige thing is definitely worth considering. There are also a lot of opportunities for non-academic work given the presence of the research triangle. Let me know if there is anything else I can clarify.

I've been working in IT for several years, and I definitely included it in my SOP. Depending on the type of job, showing that you have some significant work experience can really only be a positive thing. I was actually pretty negative about my job in my SOP, since working in IT is what drove me to go back to school and finish up my degree. If you can frame things as relevant to the discipline and elaborate on some skills you gained from your employment, I would suggest at least mentioning it.

Finished declining all of my other offers this morning. I did not anticipate how emotionally taxing that was going to be when I applied to the number of programs that I did. I still am having trouble shaking the feeling that something will go wrong with my UNC admission and I'll regret doing it this early. I'm intellectually sure that it isn't the case, but casting off the last bits of my safety net was difficult. Oh well. I hope that this lets some folks in off the wait-lists!

For what it's worth, they didn't offer me any kind of fellowship. The letter I received said that they were very interested in me, but were still working on sorting out the details of my funding. I went through and declined all of the offers that I was comfortable declining by e-mail on Friday. I'll be finishing up the ones I need to do by phone next week.

The only real employer in Oxford is the University. Unfortunately, the school is under a hiring freeze, so getting a job here is actually quite problematic. Cincinnati is about 45 minutes away and seems to be a viable option for people willing to drive. Parking is actually getting better on campus with the opening of two new parking garages. They require a special parking pass, but it seems like it would be worth it as a grad student. I currently have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apt that I've been paying $475 a month for. It was advertised to me as a graduate student building, but with massive vacancies all over town, that was quickly thrown out the window. Rental prices are incredibly cheap all over though, and most places will be happy to negotiate. I've had a pretty good experience with College Property Management, all things considered. I've been living here since 2001, feel free to ask any other questions about the school or the town.

I accepted the offer from UNC earlier this week. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be going to Ohio State, Washington State, or University of Georgia after I received the UNC offer. I visited IU and was really impressed by the program and the faculty, but there weren't any faculty that focused on my primary research interests (something that was mentioned upfront, they were banking on me changing my focus). The location also became a concern, since it would make life a lot easier if my wife were able to find a job. There are a lot more jobs in the triangle than there are in Bloomington. I haven't notified programs yet though, I need to talk with my advisor here and make sure it is safe to notify programs before I eliminate options.

I'll be at Chapel Hill in the fall. I'm in the process of trading in my car for a scooter and looking for housing.

1. The Man From Earth 2. The Princess Bride 3. The Stand (Mini-series) 4. Spirited Away 5. The Royal Tenenbaums 6. Waking Life 7. Idiocracy 8. The Maltese Falcon 9. Office Space 10. Fight Club

I'm definitely leaning towards UNC. I'm going to visit a few others to make sure that my gut is correct.

Rejected at Princeton, which breaks my streak. On the other hand, it has made the decision process way easier.

Thanks for the heads up, looks like I got in as well.