evenstar

Yayy I like this question, let's see there's surprisingly a lot! I have a couple shows I must see each week, the most important of which is Supernatural!! I'm currently attempting to learn the violin (it's hard...even though I played oboe all throughout high school so I am musically inclined) I love to cook The sociologist in me analyzes commercials for gender stereotypes and ridiculous overgeneralizations. Oh and thinking of potential research topics for graduate school. Watching my favorite movies...I could seriously watch Lord of the Rings all day, any day. Hmm that's it for now, but there are more

So I've been accepted at NC State for sociology and have a question for anyone in know about funding timelines regardless of school/discipline. I've been offered one but only if the funds are available...does anyone know when budgets are normally finalized and funding packages confirmed? I noticed someone had posted on the results page back on Jan 30 that they were also in at NCSU and funding was "TBD" so I'm guessing they sent this to everyone? Just trying to make sense of it all in the chaos of yayyyy acceptance.

Ah sorry! I realized the way I worded that was confusing, I am definitely applying to grad schools right now, but I only applied to 3 (one sociology program and 2 counseling) but I'm trying to work my way through which I want more buuut I'm trying to wait until I see if I even get in and where before I try deciding. So the 'if I decide to go' should have been worded 'if I get in' maybe to make more sense, hehe. I've just been not trying to get hopes up since I saw someone already got accepted to one of my programs on the results...though at least I haven't been denied yet I agree though, it will be interesting to see where everyone ends up, good luck!!

Sparkle don't feel bad...some of us aren't standardized test takers, no matter how much we decide to study and get prepared for it (like a lot of the people who do well on it seem to think is the case). I studied myself, and with two very standardized test-oriented people (one of which made a 790 on the quantitative) and I still did crappy for most PhD applicant's standards...however they're quite normal scores for masters programs and less academia oriented programs. The only thing worth mentioning in my scores was a 5 on the writing. But anywho, my point is, there are some of us who do study for it, and still can't get a decent score. And I am one of those people who is of the opinion that standardized tests are good predictors only if you did absolutely abysmal (and your scores are not absolutely abysmal), but beyond that, they don't really have much correlation with GPA. I know plenty of people who would most likely flop out of graduate school who could easily get in the 1300 range on the GRE. I'm not trying to bash anyone with a good one either...I'm just saying everyone is different, so you can't lump everyone into a group of 'I did well because I studied' or 'you didn't do well because you didn't study'. There are more factors. I am also a strong believer of this because it came true with my SAT score (it was horrid as well) and I have a 4.0 gpa at fairly prestigious research school as an undergrad. So no... I don't think my GRE will be an issue for me if I get in/decide to go to grad school as I made A's in all of my math classes and did fine in quantitative courses. I just plain suck at the GRE and don't have a good reason for it because I did study. I'm probably a minority in this regard but I thought I'd share my story that it does happen....just to give a little more credit to the people who don't particularly favor the GRE (and they still studied for it). And it's definitely not the end of your app. I've talked with several professors who realize it's not the only thing and not one spoke highly of it. It is used as a weed out of course but with that high gpa, I doubt they wouldn't look at the rest of your app which I'm sure is fabulous.

If you're talking about receiving materials then yes a month would be fine to ask if they received them. If you're talking about actually hearing a decision of yay or nay, then you definitely want to give yourself more time to hear back.

Ah, yes, that makes sense. Oh well only one(ish) more week until I find out no more obsessing is near! *hopefully*

I loveddd Atonement (both book & movie).

Yay!!! It's so nice to see I'm not the only one on the planet who reads this stuff in their spare time. Ohh, since you said you're not a soc major, if you get a chance read some of Marx. Surprisingly I was very intrigued in my theory course. As for me, I'm reading Lord of the Rings! I've just finished Fellowship and have moved on to The Two Towers. I'll feel great once I've finished all three and can finally say I've read the entire novel, not just watched Elijah Wood a bajillion times.

I haven't had a sociology interview, but I did just have a counseling interview this morning and there's one point which I'm pretty sure is easy to generalize...make sure to have questions to ask the professors at least. They always left time for me to ask about the program, and 2 of the individual meetings were solely for me to ask questions. If I hadn't had any, I would've been blank for a 20 minute period, so just make sure to have some in your head beforehand That's all I have that's general though.

I also got a call from a grad student in the department but it was more of a 'I wanted to see if you had any questions about the program or anything' type call. Not sure if they do that for everyone, but I wonder if they call all applicants or if this is a positive...wouldn't it be silly to call applicants who were definitely not in the running? He did send me a really long email reply about the program and such. Hmm...I hate over analyzing. I think I shall stop...haha, not.

Curious question to pass the time... If you get into graduate school, what are your goals after you complete your PhD in sociology? Do you want to go into academia or do you want to use your sociology knowledge elsewhere? Good luck everyone!

Based on what you want to do, do social work. Social work programs are less competitive than psychology ones, and social work is much more appropriate for your interests anyway. I was a social work major for 2 years before switching to sociology, that's where my advice is coming from...social work sounds perfect for you!

So here's a more light-hearted topic to focus on the positives of the process while we wait... To anyone who wants to share: What made you want to go to grad school? What programs are you applying for (You don't have to name schools, just your general area of interest), when did you figure out this is what you wanted to do? I think it'd be interesting to hear stories on how we got to this point of applying to graduate school. I'll go first! I'm applying to counseling programs and one sociology program. I've known I wanted to go to grad school for awhile now, because my career goals directly require at least a masters degree. I changed my major countless times my first 2 years of undergrad...I felt scattered all over the floor like I would never figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Then I got a job as a colorguard instructor (you know, the flag/rifle/sabre/dancers that run around the field with the marching band) at a high school near my university and fell in love with teaching and working with high schoolers. I always knew I was going to grad school but this helped confirm my program of choice...school counseling (and sociology at my current institution because academia it is also an interest of mine, we'll see if/where I get in and decide from there). Anyone else care to share?

More of my school's professors are on www.pickaprof.com - another similar website

I don't know if this helps but I'm in counseling and got an interview, and only emailed with a student representative from the department, never had contact with the professors. But counseling is a little different from academia...so maybe that's not exactly relevant. I did apply to one sociology program though, and met with the program director and talked with a professor in the department in person *he's not on the adcomm though*...I should mention this is the school that I currently attend so meeting in person was definitely not a big deal to arrange obviously. I would think that emailing at least with one professor would be a good idea though, I wouldn't have wanted to never had any contact with anyone in the department during the application process. I think it would def still be possible to get in, but it certainly would up your chances with them knowing who you are. The soc professor I talked to said every lit bit helps with talking to people in the department, even just emailing them to let them know your interests...he said it's definitely beneficial even for applicants out of state.