samoth
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Posts posted by samoth
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First rejection, UCSD
Sorry to hear that...
any word from cornell?
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Meh, I suppose it's easier to actually ask over the phone. I will just ask if I have been rejected, which they should be able to tell me by now. I figure this might come across as a little brusque, but I'm just too anxious about this.
I guess I have the same superstition about calling as hardboiledegg does...
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Congrats!!! This is such an active discussion group - Go Sociology!
Yeah - we're all online together for once!
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The thing is, my phone is completely broken, so I can't access my voice-mail. I shouldn't be so nervous right now, but I guess I've just gotten too competitive. I'd rather know it's a rejection actually, it would just help me channel my obsessing into the other options
Why don't you send an email to the department then? Give them a working phone number?
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Firstly, Samoth thank you, I have skimmed over FAQ pages of the departments and seen that relatively low ranked schools want a cutoff GPA. For example, Michigan and Indiana do not although they state that generally they accept students with GPA which is higher than 3,3 and 3,5. In their responses to me, directors said that they are strict but there were some students accepted like me. And they told me to apply and see what happens.
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!
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Unfortunately that is not the case. I have been following up the posts on this site, where they display the admission results: http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?t=n&pp=25
There are more applications to life sciences, that is for sure. Since their deadlines were ealier, and they started announcing their admission results.
Cornell (PhD in Communications) started sending out interview invitations. I haven't seen any info on their MA.
I am very nervous and anxiously waiting. I have decent GPA (3.3), strong/valuable work experience in Communications and Mass Media and ungraduate degree, but my GRE verbal is embarrassingly low. Worries me alot.
Good Luck to everyone!!!
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...
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The OP could be one of those few applicants who gets admitted by the department, but then denied by the graduate school because of something. At many schools, the graduate school won't challenge a department on an offer of admission. But supposedly there are a few schools where the main graduate school is "strong," and the department's have less power. I think I recall Duke being an example of the strong graduate school model. Which kind of sucks, too, for this applicant since I think I receall Duke being strong on race/ethnicity stuff.
Anyway. I imagine some department will look past the undergrad GPA.
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.
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Maybe we really are the only ones applying... lol
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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!
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When uploading my application materials to Princeton, I distinctly remember the system messing up my uploaded information. After uploading all documents, I noticed that one of the files were missing (I don't remember if it is the writing sample or CV). I noticed it while previewing my application. I sent an email to Tech support; I also deleted all my files and then uploaded them before I got all my materials in the system! Perhaps, something similar happened to your application.
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.
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yeah, maybe i uploaded that twice or some other mix-up. a bit unnerving no matter how you look it, though.
also, i'm fairly certain that i'm addicted to this forum.
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!
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For those who were interviewed, did they apply to sociology or social policy or both? Which program interviewed them?
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.
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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.
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Yes, I was disappointed to see the updated results too. Does anyone know something about the Harvard?
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.
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One school emailed me to let me know that all materials had made it in, and I just responded with a thank you. I didn't want to come off as aggressive or anything.
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...
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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?
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Yea, it's too bad we don't have our own forum. As for my schools, I applied to: Stanford, Cornell, and Northwestern...(and a few interdisciplinary programs). Have you heard from any of your school's yet? I'm assuming I won't hear from mine til late Feb.
Good Luck!
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!
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Bumping this thread for this year.
So, are there any Comm. Studies people out there? I applied to several PhD programs...I`m surely not the only one.
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).
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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)
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Happens to sociology students all around the globe.... I got that response many times.
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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.
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I'm worried about Berkeley, Chicago, and Columbia since their deadlines were in the middle of December. I guess I'll see what happens.
Oh, and good idea samoth. I'll look them up. Also, if you want to know anything about Yale just let me know.
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.
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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.
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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.
how many universities have the interview tradition?
in Sociology Forum
Posted
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?