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tt503

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    2013 Fall

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  1. Honestly, I'd be very happy to attend any of the programs to which I'm applying. I'm interested in a couple of trajectories, which basically include religion and the sociology of scientific knowledge. If I had to rank in order of preference, it would clearly be Yale, Chicago, Harvard, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Brown. We will see what happens.
  2. I thought we were just suggesting readings for the summer, not necessarily post modern approaches. My bad.
  3. Something I really enjoy is "Re-assembling the Social" by Bruno Latour. It's pretty accessible and an easy read.
  4. I love the Manhattan math books. They've helped me understand the concepts so much better than Kaplan or PR. You can buy the books on Amazon...I'm not too worried about my verbal score (I'm already practice testing at 98% and not taking the test until August), but their math prep is awesome.
  5. You can apply to 3 programs (http://www.grad.wisc.edu/education/admissions/faq.html). The information listed on the sociology site is just specifying what your degree will look like if you are admitted to the environmental track or the sociology track. For someone who has spent two years researching programs...this should've been a basic question. ;-p (I'm just kidding...it is kind of confusing based on the sociology dept.'s website.)
  6. I think any relevant additional experience can be a plus. I highly doubt that any program would think less of you for getting an MLA related to sociology, especially if you do good research when you're in that program. I took an "easy route" to get into a more respectable school/program after my first MA (at an unranked, no name institution) because people didn't consider my previous program to be "academically rigorous" (their exact words) and therefore, questioned my abilities due to my low undergraduate GPA (this was after spending 3 years "proving myself" --having a great Master's GPA, publishing, presenting, and teaching two college level classes as an adjunct). Since being in this program, I've heard nothing but positive feedback from my professors who probably have higher hopes for my PhD applications than I do, have done excellent research, got even more experience as a TA, and taken way more classes as electives (another intermediate language, taking statistics and GIS in the fall 'for fun', three graduate courses on social theory (one 700 level), having "known" professors give me letters of recommendation...I feel that this program has made me an infinitely more competitive applicant, without which I would not be taken seriously at the programs I plan on applying to for a Ph.D. I say, if you're not paying for the MLA, go for it! TL;DR: More relevant coursework and more experience are almost always going to be beneficial.
  7. I'm going to be 31 when I matriculate (hopefully in the fall 2013). I don't know how much "age" would play a factor in admissions. Generally speaking, I don't really think it's like law school where they admit a huge wave of cookie-cutter applicants, so they need to 'diversify' the applicant pool. I've heard positive things for older applicants (e.g. they seem to know how to manage time/responsibilities better, they are more focused) and negative things (e.g. the job market will be tougher because as one colleague said, "who wants to hire a 40 year old when they can invest more into a career of a 30 year old?"). I think being older has made me a more competitive applicant, with two master's degrees under my belt and loads of teaching experience. However, there are a lot of impressive undergraduates out there. Personally, if I was on an adcom, I'd select me over any undergrad ten times out of ten, but that might just be my own bias creeping into it. ;-)
  8. You just do it. It gets easier the more practice you have. The first semester is a little rough (you'll probably learn more than the students do), because you're just trying to find your groove. Don't take the assessments to heart (if they are bad)--you'll get better. If you don't know the answer, there's no shame in saying, "I don't know offhand, but I'll find out." You're not expected to know everything, but chances are you'll know more than your students. My first teaching experience was teaching English to 30 students and I didn't have a Master's degree in it. It is intimidating, but I'd suggest you search online for good tips. I like to play games during some discussion sessions (think Jeopardy), or bring in relevant YouTube clips to help start discussion. Most students seem to appreciate when you don't have the same lecture style every week, because it's not as boring. :-) This week I have to lecture to 70 students on a subject I know nothing about. I'm not sweating it. (This comes after 5 years of teaching.)
  9. Why don't you contact the POI at the school and explain what your position is and ask if you should receive a Fulbright, if you could defer your enrollment for a year?
  10. It depends on the extra curricular activities. Nobody is going to care if you're part of ____ club or fraternity/sorority (generally). Teaching, researching, and those types of activities are generally going to be a plus. I suppose you could make anything appealing if you were to tie it in convincingly to your application through your personal statement (community organization stuff could be strong for sociology, nonprofit internships and the like). It's really up to you to sell yourself and your qualifications regardless of how impressive or meager they may be. I think I have some pretty kick ass ECs, but there's no rubric or threshold or magic EC of what gets you "in."
  11. Applying and getting in are completely different things, as I'm sure I'll find out first hand in the next year. ;-)
  12. You're also at one of the top programs. I wouldn't say that sample is representative.
  13. Presenting, organizing panels, the like. Some people present at graduate student conferences, which are (generally) easier to get accepted to and don't require as rigorous of a methodology as a national conference for a discipline. There are lots of variables, but generally advisers don't want students to present right away because they want them to have a good working knowledge of theory/subfields to apply to academic inquiries and many people coming from undergrad just aren't equipped to do that. Plus, their work is associated with the adviser. After comps/exams is when that kind of stuff is generally encouraged (especially after language exams when you can do research in French/German/etc.). I'm not saying this is applicable in every case and I'm sure there are many talented people in this thread. I'm just trying to depict a realistic picture of the first year of graduate school.
  14. Ordinary grad student, yes. Ordinary first year? No. You might take a year of theory and stats while TA-ing. But not many first years are doing conferences or publishing. Andt most of the first years who are doing these things are either savants or incredibly underprepared. There's not a lot of middle ground on that.
  15. I never said it was the case with all grad students. It obviously depends on the funding package. This has just been the standard in my experience, and I've been in graduate school a long time (six years).
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