RefurbedScientist

There is a healthy running debate on these boards about the relative esteem given to ethnography in sociology. I recommend looking back through some old posts. My impression is that, on a whole, qualitative research is a fundamental and well respected part of sociology. Unlike basic statistics, there are rarely required courses in qualitative methods, though I think all departments offer them. Ethnography is a bit of a unique case, however. There are, of course, many very notable ethnographers in sociology (I think many Soc 101 students read Mitch Duneier's Sidewalk), but it's not the core method as it is in anthropology. That being said, very good ethnographers stand to do very well in sociology. Mediocre ethnographers stand to do mediocre. All that said, there is no reason why someone interested in ethnography should not pursue sociology. I would, however, recommend that your statement of purpose temper any methodological zeal (especially for ethnography), because most programs will expect you to go through their methods training hoops, which include invariably some quantitative methods. As for programs, I won't give you an exhaustive list, but I will suggest NYU, Chicago, Princeton, and CUNY as starting points*. Some ethnographers worth looking at include Eric Klinenberg at NYU and Mario Small at Chicago. You will find that, unlike anthropology, sociological ethnography tends to focus on the U.S. context. Notable examples (that I've read, so take with a grain of salt) include Javier Auyero (UT), Sujatha Fernandes (CUNY), and Jocelyn Viterna (Harvard), who actually does multi-method research very well. All three of those scholars do research in Latin America/Carib. And check out this discussion (and others) on the OrgTheory blog about ethnographers in sociology: http://orgtheory.wor...s-in-sociology/ *Edit: I should add that a useful method for finding the "pulse" of a sub-field or method is to look at recent graduates from the top programs in that respective area. Admittance to none of these (or any) programs is no cake walk, so it's worth seeing where their graduates ended up.

Howdy (future) Bostonians and Cantabrigians: I currently live in Cambridge but will be moving to New York to start my grad program in September. I want to use this board to advertise my room in Cambridge because my current roommates are looking to avoid the utter anonymity of craiglist, and I figure I can PM with potential roomies here on Grad Cafe first. So here are the deets: The room is available on September 1st. We have one bedroom open in a three bedroom apartment in Porter Sq, Cambridge. We're a 3 minute walk (at most) from the Porter Sq. subway and commuter rail station. We're one stop on the subway from Harvard Sq., three stops from MIT, and one stop from Davis Square (the closest subway stop to Tufts U.), so we're basically nestled in between all the Cambridge-area universities. We're also a 5-10 minute walk from Leslie University. The Porter Sq. station also serves the commuter rail, which goes straight to Brandeis in 20 minutes ($5). As far as Boston area schools, you can take the subway into Boston and transfer to a line that serves BU and BC, or take a bus, approximately 45 minutes. It's not the most convenient neighborhood for BU/BC, but ideal for Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis, MIT, and Leslie. The neighborhood: Porter Sq is not the most "happening" square in Cambridge, but it is the best for living. We have the only 24 super market in Cambridge, the only 24 hour pharmacy in Cambridge, plus a bunch of amenities like laundry mat, book store, hardware store, post office, and several great restaurants. Porter is the most functionally "suburban" neighborhood, I think. That means we have all the awesome convenience of a supermarket, pharmacy, etc., plus it's relatively quiet compared to Harvard Sq., Central Sq., or Davis Sq. However all of of those "night life" spots are only a short walk or subway right away. There are one or two music venues right in Porter, plus a few pub/tavern places, but the neighborhood is never loud or rowdy. It's an ideal location to "go home to" after a hard day, but still be in launching distance of bars, clubs, movies, and restaurants. As for the roommates: They are two men, both in their mid-20s. One is a scientist at a pharma lab and the other is an analyst at a development NGO. They're both very intelligent, social, and laid back. They're sweet and respectful people. It's definitely not a "party house" but you can usually find companionship for a night our or dinner. We like to cook, listen to music, and make conversation. About the apartment: We're on the first floor. There is a full kitchen, living room, small back porch and small back yard where we grill in the summer. We have washer and drier in the apartment, for free, and not shared with anybody. There is one bathroom. The open room is approximately 144 sq. ft., with one window and hard wood floors. The apartment is on a pretty quiet one way street. Please message me if you want to know more. I'm happy to share pictures and respond to any questions. Thanks! -SocialGroovements

Overall your profile looks really strong. While having some publications can only help, they're hardly a requisite thing that adcoms look for. If you plan on submitting papers in the Fall, then you can list them as "under review" on your CV and talk about them in more detail, either in your statement of purpose or CV. Apps are generally due between Nov and Jan, so you might even have an R&R by the time you apply. But overall, adcoms will be looking for research experience in general more than a track record of publishing. I would say you're ready, pending of course the GREs. Also, don't worry too much about the non social science BS. Adcoms often prefer the atypical applicant, especially if it means strong quant skills. My UG advisor went to a top soc program with an engineering BS. Also, a lower GPA in a major with a reputation as being more difficult will sometimes look good, accepting of course the huge variability in adcoms preferences and biases in a given year and across programs and individual profs. Check out the poll we have around here somewhere on 2012 applicants' backgrounds, including publications.

Me too. What are your interests more specifically? Any super-hero SoMo scholars you admire?

I lived in Waltham for my UG years and I basically agree with @wine. If Boston weren't right there, Waltham would be a perfectly adequate college town with (ample) restaurants, book stores, bars, a movie theater, grocery stores, cafe, green spaces, etc. However, unless you really want to walk to class every day, there is little reason to live in Waltham and not Porter Sq. The commuter rail is a 20 minute ride that costs $4.50 each way (I think savings with a monthly pass are minimal). It comes every 2 hours or so, maybe every hour during rush hour. So it's a trade-off between living really close to the campus and commuting in to do urban things in Boston, on the one hand, or living in a semi-urban setting in Cambridge and commuting out to school, on the other. I think either way is pretty close to an ideal situation. Neither scenario would even approach "terrible" (many people commute much much farther than 20 minutes to get to school/urban center in this country). I went to Brandeis and I live in Cambridge now. Any time I get on the commuter rail stop in Porter Sq., there are tons of grad students heading into campus. So it's simple enough. At the same time, I lived a fairly mature lifestyle as a UG at Brandeis (e.g. studied in the cafes, went to Cambridge/Boston on the weekends, avoided frat parties like a plague) and was mostly satisfied with the situation. However, as @wine said, there's really no reason to opt to live in Waltham unless (a) you really want the convenience of being to walk to and from class or ( most of your friends are in Waltham. Ultimately, those two factors will probably make or break either locale.

Woops. Gabriella Coleman left NYU this semester to head to McGill. http://gabriellacoleman.org/ In any case, check out NYU MCC faculty. Also check out Coleman's co-authors, if any, and find out where they work (if her's is the kind of research that interests you). You can also see if there are any academic associated with this event, ROFLcon. Or shit, just email a professor you like somewhere and say "hey." They might know more than me (but not more than the collective intelligence of the internet )

This is not exactly my field, but I would check out: UC Irvine anthropology with Mimi Ito. NYU Media, Culture, and Communication with the likes of Gabriella Coleman and others. WashU American Culture or Interdisplinary Project in the Humanities with Joe Loewenstein. I think I'll be able to turn up more later. If I forgot to post again, PM me. As for your more general questions: I think your research interest is very cool, and it's definitely a hot topic now in some circles. Anthropology is certainly part of the conversation here, and I think Gabriella Coleman is a stand-out (in my limited knowledge). Both her and Mimi Ito are anthropologists, so that should encourage you. The thing about new media research is that is can kind of happen in any department. It would be welcome in most any socio-cultural anthro department, so long as someone there is doing media or communities. It would also be very welcome in some cutting-edge communications departments. I would look at Northwestern, USC-Annenberg, Penn-Annenberg to see if there are any faculty who interest you there. It all depends on the approach you're taking, but from the sounds of it, cyberculture and virtual communities are probably best suited to an anthro program.

Not sure about the others, but I'm pretty sure Brown and Wisconsin don't offer stand-alone masters degrees in sociology. For example, see the FAQ at Wisconsin's page about that. As for your interests and other programs, I would take a look at UC Irvine for political and cultural sociology (check out Francesa Polletta and David Snow); Yale for cultural sociology and national identity (try Ron Eyerman and Jeffrey Alexander among others); and maybe Chris Bail at UNC for political and cultural sociology and national identities. As for the MA versus PhD route, I think that your background seems strong enough to pursue the PhD directly. Of course, an MA will never hurt your chances, but you'll have to make the cost/benefit analysis yourself. One reason to pursue an MA first would be to determine exactly what discipline is best for you. You have said that you might apply for a sociology/political science degree, but it's somewhat unusual and difficult to apply to separate disciplines at the same time, as much of the application process involves locating yourself in a discipline-specific field of inquiry (e.g. saying you're interested in cultural sociology and art probably won't appeal to a political science department's admissions committee). If you're very much unsure about what discipline is a better home for you, you might try the Masters Program in Social Science (MAPSS) at University of Chicago, which is interdisciplinary and geared toward entering a PhD program and the academic career. If you search these forums, you will find a lot of opinions on MAPSS (but remember, they are opinions). Otherwise, you might consider taking a year or two to work and figure out on your own what the best academic home might be for you. It is very common for recent college graduates to work for a time, read books and papers that interest them, contact faculty, and do research in preparation for the application process.

Wow. Very impressive and useful assortment of advice. Thanks so much to all. If I do go with the Thinkpad, I've been advised to invest in a sold state hard drive, which will apparently speed things up and outlive the rest of the hardware. Tangentially, the real attraction of the MBP is the ability to run Final Cut, as film is a hobby of mine (though probably a hobby I will soon drop once grad school work permeates every corner of my life). I'll process this and get back at ya. I'm also going to get in touch with some students in my department to see what the norm is. Thanks!

Without getting too much into specs (unless you really want to go there), I'm weighing a MacBook Pro versus a Lenovo Think Pad for my grad school computer. The essential question is this: Are most statistical software native to Windows, and does that make it a hassle to run them on Mac OS? Does the hassle of running Windows in Parallels on my MacBook outweigh my slight preference for Mac OS over Windows?

Also, this website collects median* quant GRE scores for sociology programs. However, I have to make a few major caveats. First, you should probably disregard the rankings here. These reflect the NRC rankings, which are not the general rule-of-thumb in sociology (for complex reasons discussed elsewhere on these boards). Second, I'm not sure the median GRE scores are reliable, as some programs websites list different media GREs on their websites than are indicated here. Finally, keep in mind that these are medians. They are not cut-offs. A chunk of people in each incoming cohort fall below (and above) these medians. Like I said, my quant GRE was well below the median at some programs that accepted me. At the very least, it gives you some hard (if unreliable) numbers to stress over. *Hmm, actually they say it's the "average" quant GRE score. Grain of salt, and all that.

I don't think your GRE scores are too bad. I got the equivalent of a 152 on the quant section of the old GRE and was accepted at a school whose median quant score is a 160. My verbal was higher, but it's arguable that the quant score weighs slightly more (especially if you have a solid writing sample and statement of purpose). I did well overall in the admissions process and don't feel that my less-than-stellar GRE was a major drawback. Given that the rest of you profile seems strong, especially in research experience, I don't think below-average GRE scores will stop you from being competitive at the schools you listed. Your quant score is probably about average for schools in the top 20-30 range. I would recommend spending a lot of time refining your statement of purpose and writing sample in order to demonstrate that you can write at a higher level than your verbal GRE score suggests. All in all, I think you have a great shot at the programs you named. I would also reiterate the mantra that is common on these boards: research fit will often trump raw numbers. That is, applicants with weaker profiles can be very successful if they target their applications at programs with two or three faculty working in their sub-field. Also, look for schools on the rise. For example, I'm interested in social movements. Although Notre Dame is only ranked 48 on USNWR, it's one of the top 10 places to study social movements. So a student whose raw numbers may keep her out of the "Top 10" will still be very competitive on the job market in the social movements subfield coming out of Notre Dame. Another example that comes to mind would be Brandeis (41st on USNWR) and medical sociology. Good luck! I think you're in good shape.

@ cogcul makes an important distinction. In terms of influence on policy, I think economists win. But we should also add the "popular press" to our analysis. In that respect, I think evolutionary psychology is in vogue, as is genetic explanations for social behavior (see recent Scatterplot thread for interesting discussion on this). I would put Steven Pinker in this category, perhaps. I think evolutionary psych will have an influence in the other social sciences, at least in the short term. Behavior economics, for example, seems influenced by this field. But if we step back from the so-called cutting edge and look at ideas that are most pervasive across the humanities and social sciences, we will find that many originated in sociology. Look at this list of the most cited authors in the humanities (which includes here the social sciences, I think, because this is a UK publication) in 2007, taken from Web of Science data. You'll find that six of the top ten are identified as sociologists (and I would agree that they are, other thread on postmodern sociology notwithstanding). So it appears that the "big ideas" that are being used by academics in many disciplines come largely from sociology. However, many of these are social theory writ large. That is, people talk a lot more about Foucault's social theory of discourse than his sociological (comparative historical) methods. The distinction here may not be necessary (what's the difference between social theory and sociology, anyhow?), but it's telling that something about sociology makes it perhaps more conducive to producing theories that can generalize to other fields. Network theory might be the "next" major social science paradigm that originated (or at least incubated) in sociology and spread to almost every other corner of academia. (I say "next" because networks are of course already being used in every field, but it's still relatively new compared to, say, Goffman).

Not rude at all. It's good advice, and I did update my profile to conceal my location (which didn't really give too much away, since there are soooo many institutions in my area). I suppose I'm counting on the good will of grad cafe users. Moreover, I don't work in a sociology field nor for a sociologist, so the gossip isn't all that juicy for our purposes. But I understand the Internet archives everything. If I ever run for president, those halloween pictures are really going to bite me in the ass.... But you're right, I could have likely asked the same questions without so much backstory. In any case, I appreciate all of the advice so far. Any dissenting opinions out there? Edit: Cut out some chunks from original post to protect secret identity. *Smoke bomb!*

To clarify my question: Is it possible that a fellowship committee (or, down the line, hiring committee) would look at this publication and say "Ew, no NSF/Fulbright/fellowship for you!" OR, do these committees look simply for experience and not necessarily quality of scholarship. That is, would they say "Looky here, SocialGroovements published with so-and-so hot shot professor as an RA at such-and-such hot shot research center. Good enough for me, let's sign this check already."

Sup sociolo-geeks, I have a non-sociology specific and, perhaps, non-grad school admissions specific question. It's more of a general "professional academic" question. Is there a risk involved in being a second author on a weak publication? I am an RA and have been involved on a project that, in my opinion, is not high enough quality for publication. The paper will be part a white paper or put on SSRN, so is not subject to blind peer review. If I plan on applying to fellowships, grants, and (eventually jobs), can this hurt my chances? Similarly, what are the ethical/academic honesty norms around covering up or getting out of poor scholarship? That is, could I be second author on this paper and not list it on my CV? Could I ask the first author to not list me as a co-author? It's a dilemma because I didn't volunteer to do this project. I do this for a living and don't make the executive decision on what gets published when, so it's impossible for me to hold the final product to my own personal standards. I just do the work that's assigned me, and the powers that be think they're doing me a professional favor by listing me as a co-author. Any advice, anecdotal experiences, or musings would be most welcome. Thanks! P.S. In the rare chance that you know my secret identity, discretion about my place of work is appreciated. I don't want to disparage or make over-broad generalizations about a center that does, in fact, produce fantastic work (just not this time).

Ah I see now I may have mistook your initial question. You mean contemporary scholars, right? Economists seem more likely to become columnists for the NYT, for whatever that's worth...

Stupid, no. Dangerous? Probably. Insofar as structuralism is/was the central paradigm for sociology and anthropology, then you can that back to linguistic structuralism and Saussure. That's one point for linguistics. But then it was Levi-Strauss who generalized structuralism to apply to other social structures (e.g. Kinship). So there's a point for anthropology. You can see where this going....

Agreed. If there's a chance you won't go on to a PhD in the US after the masters, then Oxford is a safer bet probably. Another thing hasn't so much been mentioned is the course load of each program and to what extent those courses prepare you for non-academic work (if that's a career outcome you're considering). If there's a chance you won't end up as an academic, then you'll want "applied" sociology skills, of which reading Foucault is, sadly, not included. This may not be a decisive factor between programs, but it may be reason for you to look outside your department for certain skills (as an earlier poster mention, at Oxford this may mean going down the hall to social statistics courses).

I haven't got a masters but did the undergrad thesis. I'm not planning on continuing that exact project, per se, but the research questions that motivated that project still interest me and will likely be part of future work. I don't think there is any danger in going into a doctoral program with an idea in mind for a dissertation, so long as you keep an open mind toward theories and methods that challenge your presumptions. Although I haven't done a masters, I have been working as an RA in a research center and I consider this similar to the MA insofar as I spend most of my time reading articles. The exposure to lots of different kinds of research has not changed my research interests, but it has opened up my methodological preferences. I think that's key. If you go into grad school saying, "I only want to do ethnography," then you might miss out on whole perspectives on your substantive topic that might be afforded by some other method. My undergrad thesis was an ethnography, and now I'm into social network analysis, but I still have the same research questions.

Let me preface by saying that Chuck's post should be taken very seriously, as unfunded masters programs can be very costly and not necessarily worth more in the long-run than working in a research field for a year or two. However, I do want to return to the OP's original question about comparing Oxford to BC. One of the factors not yet discussed is networking. I think that having a couple of years to do the conference circuit, get letters of recommendation, co-author, meet faculty for coffee, and generally make professional connections with faculty is probably the biggest advantage to a masters program in sociology. That is, the professional network you build will probably mean more in the admissions process than the stats sequence and intro theory course you take in your masters. With that in mind, I encourage the OP to think about long-term career goals. Specifically, what do you want to do with your degree and where do you want to do it? If you want to be a professor in the U.S., than you'll need to do your PhD in the U.S. In that case, going to B.C. might make it easier for you to make connections in the States that will help your career down the line. By the same token, if you want to be a professor in the UK, then the network effects favor Oxford (I assume, knowing little about UK higher ed). If you want to go into the private, non-profit, or government sectors, then think about the networks of those industries. I have a friend who got a masters in Poli Sci at Oxford and then slipped easily into an analyst job in London. If you're interested in working in your home country (which I infer is neither the US nor the UK), then over all name recognition might behoove you (Oxford wins, in that case). All that being said, most of the world's best recognized sociology programs are in the US. Going to BC will allow you, at the very least, an opportunity to network with those programs more easily.

Not sure if such a list exists, but I bet if you surveyed the members of this board on where they applied based on fit with their sub-disciplinary interests, then you might get a good picture. This might not get you a "ranked" list as much as a cluster of programs that have strong contingent in a particular field. Also USNWR does have a rough break down of "sub-fields" of sociology, but it's over-broad. I think the categories are economic, historical, cultural, stratification... and I'm not sure anyone pays attention to them.

Nice post Jacib.

Congrats!

I was the captain of a varsity athletic team in college. I spent four hours a day at practice and in the gym for all three seasons of the year. Every saturday for 6 months of the year I was at a competition for about 8 hours (track meets, if you hadn't guessed by now). All that work didn't count for s&%# in the grad application process. I don't even think it was even on my CV. However, most of us don't know we want to become academics at 18 or 20 years old. For one online form application, though, that had spaces to discuss extra-curriculars, I did talk about my athletic career briefly and even cited Chambliss (1989) "The Mundanity of Excellence", which is an ethnography of elite swimmers. It's all a matter of spin Personal anecdotes aside, you have a lot of free time in college (unless you're working to support yourself). Spend at least some of it doing something you love. That may in the end help you in your career. It may not, directly. In a very circuitous way, learning about myself through my student activism led me to studying social movements. It also helped me market myself, express ideas to poplar and expert audiences, convey arguments to a hostile audience, work in a group, be confident in the face of important persons, etc. All of these skills not only helped me get into grad school, it will continue to help me in my career. Never underestimate the importance of mundane life experience in your development. At the same time, it can only behoove you if doing something fun coincides with doing something that will help your career. So keep an eye out. Maybe you could volunteer some data analysis services to a local non-profit? It's a good opportunity to hone your l33t excel skillz and it's a line on your CV. Rambling... April 15th looms.