Applicant X

I think I am at the end of my decision process and am just curious - anyone headed to Stanford?

So, I got sick of waiting around for them to get back to me and just wrote to my interviewer - who was sweet enough to write me back instantly with a reasoned rejection letter (no ed soc. at harvard, much fewer admits than before, only the ones with the right fits, etc). I think Harvard has made all its decisions and he seemed surprised that I had not heard a beep. Anyway, point is, you should write to your interviewer. The grad comm. almost never responds to general admission questions as quickly.

I am in shock !

STOP fretting. THAT is absolutely the reason. State School (so probably not Fedexing it) + US Postal System + Your home country's Postal System. You have no reason to fret. The last time I got acceptances, packages from schools came weeks after email notifications (I did not live in the US)

Do you live in the US, International? Because I am an international student (technically) but have a US address and got the letter last week. Dont fret about it though - if you have the emails, you are in.

HBE - They really, really want you.

Nope. Noone gets funding for visitor's day. I already emailed Freeland and asked. Re: housing options, you should call NOW and see if either Lowell Hall ((608) 262-1583) or the Double Tree ((608) 251-5511) has rooms (in that order of preference). I have stayed at both hotels and Lowell is most convinient (and right next to Memorial Hall, which is a nice place to just hang around and Madison watch, especially if you are traveling with family - of course, this is weather permitting). Of course, they fill up really fast and given that its admit weekend, everything will be booked. You should also try and see if they have rooms at the Madison Concourse Hotel, which is closer to Capitol hill and a bit of a walk - but its a nice walk on State Street (which is where all the food and shopping places are). But the MCH might be pricey - so you should check. Either way - Call NOW! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

I applied only to 6 programs (and only 5 of them in the US), so the usual : Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, UW-Mad and Oxford. But then, I am a lawyer so it was important to me that the programs had strong education/policy/ law schools. So lets see how it all shapes up. Also, I am an international student (in some sense) so I only applied to schools that would help with global policy/academic career options. Anyway - we should probably stop boring the general audience of this "Stanford?" chat and schedule to talk soon - would love to know the stuff you are doing, etc! Good luck for all your other schools! (How did your FAS interview go?)

Oh - so exciting! Thats almost exactly what I am hoping to do (if I understand your excitement-induced incoherence, that is) - international education policy / sociology of class as projected by educational structures / and the global relationships in this understanding (ok! ok! long, exciting day!) And the reason I think with those interests Stan is better than UW is because a) as a private school, you KNOW your sources to a lot of funding are superior, the education school is just BRILLIANT and they have full time ed+soc faculty (unlike other schools) so its just a wider range to choose from (and i do not know if you are doing higher ed - but Stan is one of the only schools in the US (the other is BU) that does international higher education policy -- simply super faculty!) and c) (this is an important ©), if you are planning on doing any sort of international work (and I do not know if you are), a big school's name make a BIG difference. Sure, UW-Mad is the top program -- but outside of a very elite circuit within the US that appreciate that (as they should!), it is a relatively unknown school globally. So if you are planning on being internationally involved, you should surely pick Stanford. (And I do not say this lightly - I went to HLS and I promise you, the number of doors it opens for you - just that name - is something else). Also - have you been to Madison ? Its freezing 6 months of the year! Again - personal life choices. I love Madison (I travel there often on work) but after one winter, um.. Having said that, you cannot really go wrong. They are both such amazing programs - you should be so proud! Congrats!

Wisc could override Stanford for one (or both) of two reasons : a) are you getting funded at UW? and are you working on US related Socio?

Of course, there is this to look forward to after that : http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=826

The PhD comics are almost entirely a product of the Stanford Science PhD cohorts. But having many friends that fit that stereotype (international, science jocks, broke PhDs), I have to admit they are quite accurate! Yikes!

"NO WAY!! Berkeley all the way!" While I will have to admit that both schools have different, but comparable charms, from a social science PhD standpoint, unless you are doing the joint law+soc degree (which Stanford just does not have), Stanford is the better school for the following options: a) more money when it comes to additional funding (summer, internships, etc, etc). Berkeley is a great school but they do not have the same kind of resources that Stanford does (even if they have changed the last couple of years). Average Berkeley Phds take longer to complete when compared to Stanford Phds - so unless you are SURE you have a research agenda you are going to certainly see through the next 5 odd years, you should pick Stanford. The department is focused and they push you from day O. c) The nature of funding is really advantageous - 2 of those 5 years (usually, the first and last year) is on fellowship which means you do not have to be working your first year -- which is great when you are just starting to get used to a new school/place, etc; and most (if not all) students, get a $2000 research stipend to start their research projects from the first year! Also (and i am not sure if this is relevant to you), their other schools are really fab - they have a fantastic law school, a superb education department and a great business school -- so its great to get a lot of parallel advisors/academic resources at St. Having said that, Berkeley does have its charm and if you are doing international research, its surely got its advantages over Stanford.

Breathe In. Breathe Out. They are still making calls. It is only 2.30 pm on the FIRST of their calling days. NO reason to freak out, yet. Good luck!

Thank you, MD. Looking at these options from cold, cold Cambridge, California does beckon a little bit! Wait - you just got into Stanford! YAY - congrats! What is the freak out exactly? Stanford - hello!

Congrats!!! This is such an active discussion group - Go Sociology! As for those of you that have not gotten the call yet, please remember that they are calling over the next couple of days. So even if you get a call today, there is no reason to believe you are not going to get called tomorrow. Good Luck vibes all around ---

Thank you, HBE. Also - Visit day is on April 1 and 2 and they are planning on doing a whole 2 day visit faculty cum general mixer thing.

The Dean of Graduate Admissions (i think - the line was unclear when it started and then I was too excited to ask again) called with the results.It was a really personal call - she knew my interests, research, etc and just called to say that I was in and that the email/post was on its way (probably end of the week). Stanford, like most of these schools, only accepts students when they can offer a full ride and while she mentioned the 5 year funding (with 2 years fellowship, research and travel grants), she did not go into actual specifics of the package. The application pool specifics were somewhat similar to Harvard's FAS - 300 applied, 15 or so get accepted for a 7-12 class. Clearly, the process has just begun and they are contacting people by phone and email over the next couple of days- so good luck to all of you!

Dear Ewurgler : there is only one tip to these things. And its often easier said than done. But, seriously, Do NOT freak out. Do NOT get anxious. Just pretend its someone you know who wants to talk to you about stuff that you have spent a lot of time writing/reading/doing (i.e., your research). Once you get the fear out of it, you will realize that even if they are, for the instant, in a position of power, you wrote your thesis! you know this stuff better than anyone else. There is NO reason to be scared/anxious/nervous. Chances are, at this point, they have already done the rounds of figuring out that you are academically suitable. They just want to get a sense of why its important to you : so all you need to do is be calm. and remember that this is just another phone call. Word of somewhat substantive advice - do research on the person you are speaking with so you feel like you already know him/her. It often makes it easier. Good luck!

Hope this helps those of you who got admission into the Wisc-Mad program and are wondering about the effects of your super generic "dear applicant" letter (Yes, when the department writes to you, it means you are in : the "recommendation" email = acceptance) . (a) if you have not been nominated for a university fellowship, the chances of another fellowship from the university/non-work type support is pretty much nil. ( if you are hoping for support in the form of TA or RA jobs, then chances are pretty good, but there's no guarantee. (I got a ton of information from Bob Freeland about the admits in F2006 and F2007, all of whom ended up getting some sort of support. Last year, 26 of 28 students did, meaning two had no jobs/support of any kind.) HOWEVER, frustratingly, decisions about support in the form of TAs and RAs are not made until after the April 15 deadline for accepting or declining admission. (This has to do with the way budgeting is carried out at UW) and therefore, if you have not heard from them yet about funding (which should have been on that email), you are going to have to wait past admit weekend and/or accepting your place to know if you are going to get a ride. Good luck to all of you!

I'm not sure what to make of it. It was fairly informal. Just a general chat to know the usual things : "why sociology?" "why harvard?", "why now?", etc. But I am guessing it depends on who is interviewing you. Good luck for it!

Yup. And its 20 minutes. And they just want to know general "why sociology?" "why now?" sort of questions. Again - advice given to me that worked - do research on the person interviewing you and stay calm. Its really just a chat with a professor at the department who wants to know why you want to study there. Good luck!

I just spoke to friends who are current graduate students at FAS and they confirmed that the Sociology department at Harvard DOES conduct phone interviews of all its shortlisted candidates (about 24 at this point - they said 10% of the original applicant pool, which was about 240 this year) and have done for at least the last 8 years. However, from the results page, it seems that the interview emails are still being sent out - so there is no reason to believe that all the interviews have already been scheduled/are over. I think the final admit rate is about 5-6% (so half of the people who interview, get in) and the results are meant to be out from FAS at the end of Feb (or so). Good Luck to everyone!