Karlito

If it is relevant to your research projects and the way you envision your future scholarship, definitely mention it.

It is still a fairly small subfield compared to, say, race relations in America for example. The Marxist paradigm in general has been considerably fading since the 1960-70s.

Flowerbitz you are, like me, probably on the waitlist at UCLA.

I see an immediate problem: you never really took a sociology course and you know exactly what you want? Even when coming from an undergrad in sociology, adcoms expect modesty and open-mindedness. They will frown upon someone who thinks he knows what he wants while he has not much to back that up. I would caution you to be more modest in your approach, even though your profile seems really interesting.

Email her again. Were you interviewed at all?

I do not know. Have you been interviewed? Email the grad coordinator, but at that point do not hope for much. I was told that they would have everything finished by the end of February. Good luck anyway!

@ all for Harvard: specifically for the sociology department. "Breeding" was certainly excessive - but essentially competition permeates the department's life from what I've heard. But students are not underfunded and as intensely subjected to harsh competition in such places as UCLA or Chicago I guess.

I've heard from solid sources that Harvard is very much a breeding facility with a highly competitive environment

Splitends - you got into Stanford too? Well I can just say congratulations, once again! You are this season's killer. You take soc123's title from last year. Thanks for your info about the funding. Stanford is pretty (incredibly would be the right word) generous with you guys. Any idea of where you will end up going?

Thanks for the info. Considering the cost of housing and living in LA, that's ridiculously low. Too bad because I think they are losing a lot of good students to other schools. I am still waiting and most interested, although I have another offer with good funding. Edit: when did you decline exactly?

How much was offered exactly?

Hey tomatoonwheat, thanks for your message. Yale did not work out unfortunately, but I got in another top 20 and I am on waitlist at a top 10, so yeah I consider myself fairly successful and lucky this year despite a greater number of rejections than acceptances How about you? Good luck to all, this process is so damn competitive

Because they had this new interview policy this year, and they interviewed everyone they were interested in. Unless you were interviewed (in which case you are either admitted or on the waitlist), it is most likely a rejection (Email the grad coordinator).

If you haven't hear from Yale, sorry but it is a rejection

Awesome post, thanks Jacib

Since the funding package at Wisconsin is not the best, people with other offers in the top 5-10 will likely decline. It seems very likely that you will get a spot. To me, the difference between Rutgers and Wisconsin is not negligible at all.

I am exactly in the same case, sociology27. Waiting for a top 10 but already in at a top 20. Don't know what to do! Just wait, I guess.

SocScholar, if you email then you'll know and you can start making more solid plans.

Haha I see I elicited some serious backfire! Debate is always good. So I guess it all comes down to which journal. The one I edited was probably crap then...You are all right that anything to boost an application is good. However, I am still persuaded that presenting at a national conference is more important than a publication in a UG journal. Again, it depends which conference, of course.

A note on undergraduate journal: I do not even consider that a "publication". I was an editor on such journal...No one read them, and the quality of submission is modest. If you list it as such on your c, you might look ridiculous to the adcom. Just sayin' and you do not have to agree with that!

So what's the funding like for admitted students?

Big question for me: Are stipends taxed, and if so at what rate?

Well first of all it all depends on the location right? Is your school in an expensive place?

Yes I am still waiting in UCLA. Well actually since I am on the waitlist I am waiting for people to decline their offer

kikiD I hear you. If you have the financial resources to wait until the next application cycle, I would advise you to wait and work more on your apps for the next cycle, after having deeply reflected with your mentors on what parts of your applications were not good enough. You probably won't be happy in a lower ranked program if you had high expectations. Retake the GRE, accumulate research experience (sometimes it is easy - just do tons of interviews and pull a qual paper out of this on a topic of your choice in line with your interests and the interests of the departments you like). Anyway, this all applies if you get rejected everywhere, which is not the case yet. Do not desperate...I was in the same situation as you and was pondering about what to do...until I got accepted into a top program 2 days ago. I wish you luck.