tt503

Talk to some of your professors and see if there's a chance that you can either teach or TA with the summer school classes or for the extension education classes. Also, just email your adviser and see what they suggest you do. Look at Bunker Hill CC and they might have some openings for something (usually not, since the oversaturation process)...you also might inquire into the programs you were rejected from and see what went wrong.

You might have more luck in the social work thread, under professional programs.

i agree with the Manhattan Prep being well written. I'm working my way through all of their books now, and it's by far the best GRE prep that I've found (I've done Kaplan's GRE Math Workbook and Princeton Review's Verbal). It really has helped my understanding of the quantitative sections. The verbal isn't too shabby, but I don't really struggle on the verbal (I'm in the middle of memorizing the Barron's 3500 word list...only 1500 more to go). I definitely would recommend it.

I agree that the data seems skewed. The assumption of $5000.00 per class as the norm for adjuncts is kind of laughable. I've adjuncted for awhile now, and the most I was ever offered for one class was $2400.00 and the lowest was $1000.00. In my experience, which has been mostly with smaller departments, hiring one person to teach three classes isn't incredibly likely, because the adjuncts pick up whatever classes the tenured professors don't want, which are usually introductory classes with larger enrollments, so they don't want to overextend your workload.

Have you contacted the programs to see what might help improve your application? Also, if you're interested in medical sociology, you might want to cast your net wider and consider history of science programs, where you can still study sociology/gender/sexuality, but it might help with "fit" too (depending on your interests).

Find something to do outside your research. I've taken up running instead of being neurotic all the time and it's a great de-stresser.

That's pretty good! I think I have decent research experience as well, mostly qualitative methods--though I'm taking statistics in the fall (I used to be a stats tutor, but statistics for general education...this is statistics for the social sciences, so we'll see how it differs). I'm presenting at two conferences this fall, presented at an international conference a couple years ago, and have what was my previous Master's thesis published as a chapter in a book by an academic publisher, and have had my research included as part of a poster presentation...I also have two Master's degrees and the most college teaching experience I've seen any candidate have before they enter a PhD. I feel like a well-rounded candidate and an excellent fit for my top 3 programs...but this whole process is so frustratingly capricious, who knows anymore.

It's already pre-app season...

I withdrew my application, but some people wait until July to hear about funding if they are on the waitlist.

When I had an interview, I took a copy of my resume. They just basically asked what teaching experience I had, what my interests are and what my coursework was. They didn't ask me anything about my grades or quiz me about my knowledge (I'm not in a technical field though). I think they were gauging personality and if I'd do well in front of a group (was I articulate / was I confident / was I personable)....Good luck!

I was admitted a couple of years ago to CUA's Semitic dept. They didn't offer me funding through the department and said that it would have to be institutional funding, where you're put in competition with everyone else from other departments, and takes awhile. I did not receive funding through them, and although the department responded (vaguely) to my emails (basically saying "we're not responsible for this"), having to go through the graduate school to get any info was kind of a nightmare.

I don't know if they interviewed (I assume they did). I just know that they were making a decision between two programs and JHU was one of the programs.

I was on an engineering team that designed an eco-village (my group was responsible for surface and groundwater, wetlands, etc.). Our collaborative part of the report was 75 pages...I think it counts as "research" just as a "different kind"...I've included my explanation of this on an additional course list sheet (because some of my apps ask for an additional course list), and I may mention it in my SOP...it's not on my C.V. or anything though. If your thesis was part of an undergraduate symposium, you should list it. If it was just something you had to do in order to graduate, I'm not sure I would list it (e.g. I've "presented" my Master's thesis twice...the first time, was through a defense, and the second time was at an international conference...it is only listed on my C.V. for the international conference.)

There are a lot of different factors at play. I think it depends on where you're waitlisted. If you're waitlisted at a T50 school, you might have a better chance at getting in than a T5 (or T10). Also, where you are on the waitlist also matters, and I'd be checking up and reiterating my interest as much as possible. Plus, don't give up hope yet. Right now, programs are still having their campus visit days and people are still making their decisions/waiting to hear back from other programs. They have a little more than a month to get back to you

The thing you have going for you is strong quantitative skills. I read somewhere (I don't remember where...probably here) that the typical sociology applicant was a sociology major in college, no real research experience, with an average GPA, good GRE verbal, bad GRE quant. Nothing really to distinguish themselves from anyone else. At gradcafe, this is a self-selecting group of overachievers, so it is easy to think the data is skewed--this is not to say the process isn't competitive. It sure as hell is. I would make sure to play up your quant. skills in some way to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack. If I were you, I'd ace the GRE and use your SOP to justify why the switch between engineering and sociology. You can certainly propose ideas, but the committees are interested in "why sociology?" and "why sociology at our institution?" I don't know how "far ahead" you are in terms of other applicants in terms of having "focused ideas" instead of "broad categories." Many people write that they are interested in "nationalism" or "ethnography" or what have you, but they are also interested in these topics in very nuanced ways. I put these broader categories on my CV, slightly modified to each program (and I'm applying for 2013), to show that I've done my research and I can "fit" their particular rubric. I certainly have loads of ideas I could do my dissertation on NOW, but everyone expects it to change anyway. I'm certainly not studying the same thing I was 3 years ago, and intellectual evolution is something that is necessary for continued growth in your career. Something that you should be aware of before you write your personal statement is your writing tone. Overall, the original post's tone came across as really arrogant. Not only that, but like I've stressed in other posts, schools don't want to hire theorists, they want to hire researchers/teachers. You're going to have to find a way to reconcile that in a specific project that is marketable to schools who will potentially hire you.

I know of someone who was already notified by Hopkins.

UT Austin is probably one of the best Middle East programs, especially where languages are concerned. I know it's an up and coming department and their reputation is only strengthened by the fact that Jo Ann Hackett (Hebrew Bible) and John Huehnergard (Semitic Philology) left Harvard to teach there (and I suspect, to help restructure the HB program). Harvard is okay, but they are notoriously classical in NELC. CMES is interdisciplinary, so you can mix methods, but Texas ultimately (in my opinion) has the better curricula (in general). Honestly, you can't go wrong with Harvard, Chicago Princeton, or Texas.

I think this is excellent advice. I'm hoping to present at AAR in Chicago, but I'll at least go. I will probably connect with some professors while I'm there, and I'm certainly going to be checking out a program in Chicago as well if the timing is right.

It will be here before you know it. If I freak out, I just try to do something productive so it feels like I have more control over an almost unpredictable process. :-)

I know this may be jumping the gun...but there's a few of us lurking on here (and I assume more will be joining us) for admission in 2013, so maybe we should have our own thread? Who the heck are you and what do you want to do with a PhD in sociology? :-) Or maybe...how are you working on your applications? I want to do a PhD in sociology because it seems to be the tacit underpinnings of everything I find interesting (primarily, religion). I've done a lot of inter-disciplinary work (and I mean, a LOT...I'm on my second master's degree) which, by nature, doesn't really have a focused or rigid methodology. I'm really interested in theory, qualitative methods (historical comparative and...don't hate me, ANT), knowledge production, secularism and social movements. I'm working on my applications by studying for the GRE (I'm 1/3 of the way through Barron's 3500 word list...) and working up some papers to (hopefully) present at conferences later this year. Your turn. :-)

My research is mostly in humanities/social sciences, but I TA'd an upper-division class in Environmental Engineering (it didn't focus a lot on calculations, and was interdisciplinary).

I don't know about the sociology department, but I've had pretty close ties to other graduate departments at Harvard and they don't have a "competitive" vibe at all--mainly because these programs admit a small-ish cohort, and everyone in a given cohort seems to have a different research interest (often stratified because professors usually take 1 student every two or more years). Everyone has seemed really friendly and I've often seen graduate students help each other with various parts of research (even co-authoring papers together).

I don't have anything particularly incriminating on mine, and mine is set on private settings. I also have various lists of privacy, where my good friends can see all my status updates (where I may quote a certain rap lyric or two...that's about as "risque" as my page gets) but certain colleagues (and former professors) are on limited access. I have an academia.edu page set up that usually is one of the first results if someone googles me and is more of my professional network than facebook (or linkedin).

For Cornell, I'd suggest a few things... 1. You're on the right track about applying for additional funding. I'd also suggest a FLAS with Cornell. If you have external funding (especially for the first year), they're more likely to consider you. 2. Fit is huge. Most of the students I know in Dev. Soc. had prior contact with their advisers. I can give your better guidance through PM, but one of the bigger names you've mentioned just took a student this year, so I'm not sure how that affects your chances. 3. From what I gather, fieldwork is extremely important. Everyone I know here has at least a year (most have more than that) of overseas fieldwork. I'm sure they all have great GPAs, etc. but the fieldwork seemed especially important.

A couple things... ...I've heard that, in some cases, it is harder for international students to get funding than American students. I'm not sure what the details are regarding this, but I imagine it has to do with work status/visa, those types of things. You might want to check into what you may need to do if you are accepted for funding and start work on the paperwork NOW. ...it may be possible to defer a year. A friend of mine was accepted into the PhD program of her dreams, but without funding. She asked to defer a year and to be considered for funding in the next round, and she was given priority during the next admissions cycle (during that year, she did fieldwork to add to her qualifications). She's attending her dream program fully funded, instead of just declining an offer. ...I wouldn't advise attending a program without funding. Everybody that I've talked to has indicated that this is an extremely unwise decision. Because I'm headstrong, I went into a Master's degree unfunded (none of my cohort was funded), and I got extremely lucky that I was able to work as a TA after my first year. As a result, I was one of two students who is fully funded in their second year, in an incoming group of 16. I'm not even TA-ing in the department I was technically admitted to...it just so happens my skill set matches with another department's needs for a TA, and I knew people in the department who told me about it. I emailed the chair and lobbied for the position. It's mostly who you know and selling yourself (based on previous hard work) once you get the opportunity, but you can never count on having that opportunity. Some (not all) departments are extremely fickle places, and unless you're guaranteed an amount, they have no responsibility to help you out (especially with other professors being concerned about their own works and getting their own grants, etc.). It just sounds like added stress when grad school is already a pretty stressful environment (though one I absolutely love). I would explore all your options before you commit to one.