faculty

I think this elusive "fit" will become more clear once you visit. Are faculty around and collegial? Are graduate students friends with one another? Where do people live and what do they do? Are there people whose work really speaks to you and do they have a history of working with graduate students? What classes would you be interested in? That said, if you're a criminology person, I'd probably choose Delaware.

I wouldn't be afraid of talking to current faculty if you have similar concerns. Faculty at any school really want their students to succeed, wherever that might be. Trust me, they realize what their strengths and weaknesses are and where they stand in the competitive rankings. Many lower-ranked departments feel pride in sending MA students or transfers to better institutions, as it is a signal of successful mentoring. Furthermore, higher ranked departments don't want a student there who is going to flounder because they don't have compatible interests or relationships, as they won't do well on the job market and will reflect poorly on the school. It's great that Zues gave faculty copies of his/her statement, etc. I'd suggest not only doing that, but finding someone who will sit down and go over those materials, point out weaknesses in your packet, and provide suggestions for good schools to apply to given your interests. Many MA students' packets would benefit from this kind of attention, particularly because the bar is higher for them to "know what they're talking about" than those who are still undergraduates.

They have a new chair this year, so that could explain the difference.

Turning down an interview isn't rude, but I think that canceling plans to visit could be construed as such. I'm sure such things don't matter to everyone, and socme is right that it saves departments money in the long run, but remember that regardless of where you go, you're already interacting with your potential future colleagues. Some of them have awfully long memories. There is someone I met on my grad school interviews 12 years ago who still remembers me and will often stop to chat at the ASA meetings. Thanks goodness it's for something positive. It's an important thing for graduate students at any stage to think about. Even though you're going to grad school to learn how to be an academic and a sociologist, you're simultaneously being thrown right into the professional network that you'll (hopefully) be in for a long, long time and you have no idea who you'll have to rely on for an award or grant or presentation or publication or job in the future, so tread carefully when you're talking to people. This doesn't mean that you should always be "on" or be disingenuous, but it certainly means not to be an ass or insult people.

A lot of schools don't officially waitlist, or don't waitlist many, yet have a back-up pool of students they'd admit if too many of their outstanding offers are turned down. If you haven't heard anything and others have, that's where I'd assume you are.

A forum like this didn't exist when I applied to grad school (and in many ways, I'm grateful for that), but a friend and I from undergrad applied to grad school at the same time. I got in everywhere but one school (Stanford). She was rejected everywhere but one school, a state school with no real reputation. We both started school. I stayed in my highly ranked program (which I chose, in large part, because I was so impressed at the visit weekend. I had no idea I'd like it so much). She earned her MA and switched to a top sociology program in her field. That MA did cost her a bit of time and I did end up finishing a year before she did, getting a tenure-track job in a wonderful department at a good school. One year later, though, that friend interviewed for a job in my department (through no pulling pf any strings of mine). Her starting at what was supposed to be our "fall back school" didn't hurt her one bit.

GRE scores are the easiest way to initially evaluate a person, but they're not all that matters. Also, I don't think that quantitative is the most important (particularly if you brought up the stats experience in your packet). At both my graduate institution and where I work now, analytic scores were rated most important by the faculty members.

Exactly. Even if you have to spend your own money, visiting is worth every penny.

I think it's worth visiting schools that you'd seriously consider. Maybe they're not in your top 3 now, but they fit for whatever reason. However, it's also important to let schools that you wouldn't consider know that you're no longer interested so they can move on to the waitlist and potentially open up the spot for someone else (as is clear here, a lot of people are in that position). That said, I wouldn't notify anyone who hasn't been in touch with you to withdraw your application or to use admission somewhere else as a bargaining chip. While both of these things are done, I don't think it's in good taste. Just wait and see who accepts you, let them know that you've got a fellowship at a highly desirable school for you, and be honest with them if you're not going to accept their offer.

From what I've heard, admission will be quite different at Wisconsin this year because they're admitting everyone with full-funding for a number of years (whereas before they'd admit a bunch, let them fight for funding, and see who would sink and who would swim), so I wouldn't count on any statistics out there. Even if they're accurate, they're outdated.

Research experience shows that you know what to expect in graduate school. Graduate school is a lot more like a job than it is like undergraduate school. Some students enter not realizing this, thinking that they'll just get to have prolific people in their field as professors as they continue what they started in undergrad, and then flail around. Experience certainly isn't necessary and it's not a sure-fire way to get in. One could still construct a packet that demonstrates that they're not applying to graduate school because they're just in love with sociology and not ready to stop learning about it, but because they want to do research, academia, etc. On a related note, the obsession here with stats is misguided. It's true that a weak score will hurt you and you should retake the GRE or at least address the score in your packet, but every department - and sometimes every committee member - is different with regard to how they interpret the scores. If you've got decent scores, though, your entire packet will be considered. After perceptions of potential for success (whether a school uses scores, the entire package, letters, or what), fit is what really matters. I'm in a department with specific strengths. We don't want to let people in whose interests aren't represented, as they won't have as many opportunities to succeed. We also don't want to only accept people from one area just because they've got fantastic qualifications, as there aren't enough faculty in that particular area to go around and ensure that everyone is included in research opportunities, etc., and this will ultimately hurt the students' chances. This is also a reason that students applying to programs might be wary of stressing POIs as you call them. A stronger statement indicates that they department as a whole has something to offer the student, not a particular faculty member. That faculty member might already have too many students, might be leaving for another job or retiring, or might not like your packet if it's shared with them to get a feel for its quality. Let the department know what you like about it - its enduring qualities, which can still be areas of strength - and not the (often transient) person that you might want to work with.

Neither the US News nor NRC rankings are thought of very highly in sociology circles. There was recently an effort made at crowdsourcing the rankings with some well-received results. The results are the "allourideas..." file here: http://www.stephenvaisey.com/socrankings/ and one discussion of the idea/results is here: http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/crowdsourcing-sociology-department-rankings/

No, I wouldn't do that now. Later, if you get into another school that you're considering, the deadline is quickly approaching, and it's between the two... or something along those lines, it would be more acceptable. It's too early in the game to risk annoying a department, particularly one that you're wait-listed at.