Palito

Congrats to everybody so far who has received good news! I'm a current student at UW-Madison. If anybody who received an offer of admission to Wisconsin has questions about the program, feel free to PM me.

Who compensates parents in Germany?

Aside from the Motherhood penalty, one might look at stagnation in US wages over the past 30 - 40 years as it coincides with the reconstitution of the American labor force. In other words, how much of this the wage reduction is the result of downward pressure on men's wages? What are the most common jobs for women and what does pay look like for all in that occupational market? Also, in Liquidation: an Ethnography of Wall Street, Karen Ho shows that women and people of color working in Wall Street are differently sorted into less prestigious and less high paying "front office" jobs because the culture of performing task successfully in these positions grants preference to white males with a specific kind of cultural capital (pp.107-121). Ho goes on to show that there is a substantive gap in pay for women and people of color on Wall Street. So at least in that specific field of investment banking, we have data that provokes us to consider that gender discrimination can be revealed through means other than looking at aggregate data on wages. On the apparent contradiction of choice: the "choice" to carry a baby to term and commit oneself to raising that baby is considerably different than the "choice" to pursue a career, or to work generally. In the first place, nobody is a fluid free agent making a simple rational decision about things. It's just more complex than that. The "choice" to carry a fetus to term and raise a child results from a biological precondition; the "choice" of being in the workforce stems from social preconditions. Many women don't have the choice to not work. They might be single, they might have partners who cannot earn as much money as they can and have little other choice to become the breadwinner. A woman might choose to work even though she has a child, as my sister has done, or she may have to work out of concern for providing for her family, as my partner did for the first year of our sons lives, or she may abstain from motherhood because she feels she must make a choice between a career or a child. Part of the issue here is that the culture of work in the US promotes long hours, which conflicts with living a full family life. Child-rearing is a serious and worthy endeavor that has a significant impact on the character of future citizens and laborers. Other informal tasks and roles have been subsumed into the economic order. Why not compensate motherhood for its economic contributions?

Students at Indiana enjoy the distinct advantage of being mentored by the entire department. It was really clear to me that students also interact closely with specific faculty, but the program is distinct in that everybody is looking out for every student. People do not fall through the cracks at Indiana, and it is clear that ensuring that everyone succeeds is part of the department's strategy for success. You will be hard pressed to find a program that does more to ready students to be professional sociologists. I think the egalitarian approach to designing the program has helped to create an environment where students do not feel at odds with each other, and often collaborate. Also, I heard about lots of collaboration between students and faculty, resulting in publications. Additionally, students are encouraged to take a class dedicated to turning a draft of a paper into a publication. One can take this class multiple times, and it seems to have really contributed to students publication records and, consequently, careers. Bottom line: If you go to Indiana, you will leave a really solid sociologist, maybe even a "star," and you will have benefited from a very deliberate program of professionalization that will make you very competitive in the job market. I really was so impressed with what they're doing in Bloomington.

Officially accepted the offer at UW-Madison. To anyone else planning on attending, message me! I'm really curious to see who will be in the cohort!

@blixx, it's a ridiculously good potential cohort.

If you have the time and resources, and you do not have a another sample that you feel reflects your current ability to compose a paper, it really couldn't hurt. In fact, it might be a benefit in unforeseen ways. Last year, I applied to 7 programs. I did not get into a single one. I took a really critical look at my dossier of materials and identified every weakness that I could. I saw my writing sample as a big weakness, so decided to write a new essay over the summer. Because I was intent on creating a really convincing narrative arc for my academic experience and transition into sociology, I looked for ways to make all the pieces of my application fit together. But I was also really concerned with demonstrating that I could put together an essay that more or less fit the form that an essay in sociology might typically fit. So, beyond showing competence, the writing sample I produced linked in directly with the research program I outlined in my SOP, as well as with a number of activities that I had been engaged in that I pointed to in order to demonstrate my commitment to advanced studies in the field. I was really surprised by how successful I was in my applications this year, and I think the cohesion with which I constructed and arranged my application materials was a big factor in realizing that success. At least one DGS mentioned that they found the writing sample really impressive, and then jumped into how the social problems and processes that I started in on in my essay might play out in research at that program. Bottom line, if you have a really solid piece, you should probably follow Amlobo's advice. If you don't feel confident about what you have, you should know that you will only become a sociologist by doing sociology, so you might as well dig in and start building a larger research program for yourself.

I think Magicunicorn was commenting that the variability of housing prices in student areas tends to be smaller than the variability between cities more broadly, so comparing extremes -- Nashville and Palo Alto -- probably isn't that helpful, unless of course those are your two options. @Magicunicorn, thank you for point making the point about program amenities (or whatever you want to call it). Funding, or enough discretionary income, to travel to conferences is one factor that I hadn't considered. That's helpful.

I applied to UCLA last year and never heard back from them. Seriously, they just never told me anything. I called and asked and the graduate secretary told me that she couldn't tell me over the phone. Then, she never told me at all. That, combined with the fact that I really don't want to live in L.A. led me not to reapply this year.

I'm concerned as well. I have expressed that concern to the DGS. I think specific figures will not really emerge until the program has an idea of how many people they accept the offer. The one piece of advice I have received is to connect with specific professors at Visit Day and see if they might have work for you on their research projects. This is a way of bumping up the stipend. Another thing is that the program really pushes students to apply for outside funding in the first year. If you have a strong research proposal going in and think you are relatively strong at this task, you might think of that as a good opportunity to secure funding for the second year at a program you prefer. That's risky though. Lastly, don't forget to compare the cost of living where programs are located. I've heard that Madison is a moderately priced city. Rent prices there are definitely lower than the city I currently live in. I imagine that Evanston is fairly pricey. You've got great options! See you at Visit Day!

I'm really impressed with Indiana's program and very seriously considering accepting my offer there. There seems to be a lot of support in terms of faculty mentorship, as well as financially. I'm faced with deciding between Madison and Indiana though. This isn't going to be easy. I definitely plan on attending the visit day,

I don't see any updates on my account with Indiana. I need to remember where I stored my NETID for Madison, but it is possible that the person that reported a rejection called the department when he or she saw that others where getting news. Or, there might be people still under deliberation which the program has yet to notify. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

That was me. There was a small issue with the letter I initially received that leads me to believe that the bulk of offers may not have been released yet. Keep the faith, Darth!

They definitely sent out at least some, camillejl.

Not my post, but I got a notice, too. It was DGS.