samoth

I got the impression that most departments don't conduct interviews. But then, Harvard state on their FAQ that there are no interviews, and then it turns out that they do interview applicants who make it to the short list... Why don't you try looking up your departments in the results search and see if they conducted interviews last year?

Sorry to hear that... any word from cornell?

I guess I have the same superstition about calling as hardboiledegg does...

Yeah - we're all online together for once!

Why don't you send an email to the department then? Give them a working phone number?

Hi, nick124 has raised a good point - that it's your undergraduate GPA we're talking about, and that you have completed some of your grad studies with good grades... I'm sure it would give you a big advantage. again - good luck!

Several faculty members from different universities told me that GRE scores are becoming a less and less important part of the application process. I was surprised by the seemingly low verbal GRE scores some current graduate students claim to have. In communication I think relevant work experience gives you a big advantage. And I agree that if you check out cornell communication results you'll see that they send out notifications from february all the way to mid-march. At least cornell is showing signs of life. Both annenberg schools are keeping silent for the time being...

That is true, but I know that in some schools, USC for example, the department simply won't get the application. The central graduate admissions office checks the application first and dumps it if it doesn't meet the requirements (GPA>3.0, TOEFL>100 for internationals, etc). It's worth checking so as not to spend the 90$ for nothing.

Maybe we really are the only ones applying... lol

It would be a good idea to check whether the gradschools you're interested in have a cutoff undergrad GPA. I know that some of them have strict policies about that (so strict that they don't even forward applications which don't meet the requirements to the departments), and some of them are not as strict. A good place to check would be FAQs of the graduate admissions offices' webpages, and if you don't find the information there you can try emailing them (although some of them don't always reply...). If there's no cutoff GPA then your good graduate GPA and your GRE scores would certainly be an advantage. Good luck!

It's a terrible system. It saves all of the documents you uploaded in all the applications you use it for (Harvard, Princeton, etc.) and if you're not careful you can accidentally attach the wrong SOP to your application. I almost sent the wrong SOP to Princeton because of that.

I think we all are. At least Princeton were nice enough to call, instead of throwing the application into the rejected pile... I'm sure she meant that they had the personal essay/statement of purpose twice or something, because many people use their theses as writing samples. Anyway - thanks for posting this! It's good to know that they're already reviewing applications. Good luck!

Good question! I hope it was the social policy program, and not sociology (to which I've applied)... the social policy program is notoriously selective, and it's more likely (I hope) that their admission process includes an interview.

No problem. This is from the department's graduate program FAQ: "Does the Department require an interview prior to admission? No, there is no interview included as part of the admissions procedure. After applicants are accepted into the program the Department invites them to visit on a special day in March. The Chair and Director of Graduate Studies present an overview of the program, and you will have an opportunity to meet with current faculty and graduate students, and gain more insight and information before making your final decision." Also - check the results search for last year's results. Only three people reported having an interview.

Don't be disappointed - last year people got emails on several days, so if you didn't get one yesterday it doesn't mean that you won't get one. Second thing - they specifically say that they do NOT conduct interviews. It's possible that these interviews (phone interviews, btw) are only done when they want clarifications for something on your application... otherwise I see no reason why they would say that an interview is not required if it really was.

I skipped the thank you notes after a person from Harvard GSAS (who was uncommonly nice and helpful) told me that they get so many emails during the application season that she hardly manages to keep track...

Well... it's this kind of thinking that keeps us sociologists busy! I haven't read the book itself - are these really its claims? or is Brooks offering his own creative interpretation?

I got an email from Penn saying that they expect to notify applicants by mid-February. As for USC - they only make decisions at the end of March, so I still have a lot of waiting to do. Best of luck to you too!

No, you're not. Just because we don't get our own forum doesn't mean we don't exist. Where did you apply ? (I applied to both Annenbergs and to several sociology departments).

That's the best part! (and they assign email accounts a few months in advance usually, at least that's what my previous school did)

Happens to sociology students all around the globe.... I got that response many times.

I'm worried about the same thing. I have 680 on the quantitative, but I did very well in methods and statistics courses and took advanced courses in regression methods. I understood from several faculty members that as long as your score isn't abnormally low then the courses you took will make a big difference.

Are you applying to Yale too? I saw that last year's decisions were made in late February, so we still have a lot of nail-biting to do.

Try checking FAQs in the departments' webpages. Most places I checked made a point of stressing that you do not necessarily need a sociology major.

I understood from a faculty member of a department whose deadline was 12/15 that they start reviewing applications at the end of January, and they intend to send decisions out in the second week of February. I guess it depends on the deadline, and on the dates they plan to make decisions by. Try looking up the departments you applied to in the results search, so you'll get an idea of when you should expect an answer.