Doctor Jimmy

I don't know that they value either score more than the other. They are both important. I don't think your background in economics will hurt you. I know many people who have come from majors outside of sociology and have been accepted. As long as you can convincingly make the argument that your background will aid you in your research, and explain why you want to pursue your degree in sociology, you should be fine. Your stats sound fairly similar to mine, and I was accepted at Indiana and Iowa. So I would guess you will be competitive at the programs you listed.

I didn't take any break after undergrad (but I haven't started grad school yet... so I can only give perspective on the admissions process and not what grad school will be like without a gap). I don't think I was hurt at all by coming directly out of undergrad. I think if you do go directly from undergrad, it is important that you can show an admissions committee that you know what you are in for. I had already been pretty socialized into the field and presented at major conferences and was in the ASA Honors Program. I have also been involved in research for years, so I think admissions committees were not worried I was just going to grad school because the job market sucked or what not (which may be one of the reasons you can be disadvantaged if you come straight from undergrad). For me, I was absolutely convinced this is what I wanted to do, and I want to get done with school at a relatively young age. Therefore, I had no interest in taking a break. That is just my personal perspective. I think it can definitely help you if you take a break to get a job in something related to what you want to study in grad school and take the time to improve your GRE score. I just don't think taking a gap year is a necessity.

I can't help on the demography side of things. But I can say that UPenn will be exceptionally hard to get into for the Soci PhD. I would assume they receive ~ 200 applications a year.

Your profile looks impressive and I think you should aim for a Top 25 school (just make sure you also apply to a few back-ups).

It is such a personal decision. If you feel like you can only study exactly what you want to do at UC Irvine or Maryland... go there (this would be assuming you have a very concrete idea of what you want to do). If the above doesn't apply, or you feel like you could pursue similar interests at all places: UNC is the clear choice.

My view is limited as I have not been around sociology very long. But considering most every school I applied to is accepting less people in their cohort than in previous years... I think that pretty clearly says funding is a little harder to come by this year.

This sounds like a smart way to approach it.

Some people do successfully do that (I can think of a few people I know). But I would have to imagine it will be tricky considering you will need to get Letters of Rec from faculty in the department you are leaving.

I'm not all that familiar with the particular strengths of each program. However, as overall programs: UNC is always ranked as a Top 10 program (and actually currently tied for 5th). It is one of the best sociology departments in the country. Unless you feel very strongly about UCI... I think UNC is the clear choice. (But make sure to consider me only one opinion. I'm interested to hear what others think) And as far as the funding package. Try using a cost-of living calculator. My inclination is that the UNC package will be equal when you factor in how much more expensive California will be. ( http://www.bestplaces.net/col/ one to try )

University of California-Irvine & University of North Carolina- Chapel-Hill? Not sure which exact schools you are referring to.

I'll sort-of disagree with everyone. There is certainly nothing wrong with thinking you know what you want to do this early. Just keep an open mind and know that you may change your mind (I was a Marketing major... then a Pre-Med student... then a Pre-Law student... then a Psyc major... then a Soci major). You can never really start getting involved with faculty research too early though. So go ahead and stat working with faculty on their research (faculty that do work in your interests). This will also absolutely be the best way to see if sociology as a career is what you want to do. One quick point: Wisconsin, NYU, and Chicago will all be about as hard to get into as Princeton & Harvard. They are all extraordinarily competitive. And as mentioned earlier: Rutgers is deceptively hard to get into.

Yes indeed. I will keep my fingers crossed for IU. I know a few people that went to UNC-C that are now in good PhD programs (or that were accepted this year into good PhD programs). What is you area of interest?

Questions: 1. If you plan on doing research in the coming year (say Winter/Spring/Summer 2012), can this experience be documented on an application, although it is presently unrealized? -Absolutely. But start doing research now. Help out faculty this summer and this fall. Both will be already in progress by the time you are applying (and I put conferences I had been accepted to present at on my CV, even though I hadn't presented there yet. Saying "accepted to present at _____ is still helpful, even if it is in the future) 2. Are applicants coming right out of undergraduate programs at a severe disadvantage without such research experience? -Disadvantage: yes. Severe disadvantage: no. If you have a thesis and research with faculty some this summer and fall, you should have more experience than most applicants anyways. 3. How should I go about gaining such experience, apart from contacting professors at my university and begging to work for them? Is that essentially my only option? -My suggestion, even given other options, is to work with faculty. If you know the specific sub-discipline/ area within sociology that you want to do work in, then make sure to work with faculty in that area. They can help you with which schools you should apply to, and I can't overstate how helpful it can be if your Letters of Rec are from faculty that are known and respected in your area. 4. Is it worth waiting a whole year to gain experience in order to get into a better school if I'm ready to go now? What jobs will look good? Where to look for such jobs? -I think you should be competitive enough to go ahead and apply this fall. 5. Master's Program first? Anyone have experience doing this and know about how it effects Ph.D. admissions? -There are some great Masters programs that have good placement records. Consider this an option. Maybe apply to 2 or so as back-ups. But I think you can get into a PhD program with your profile. A helpful rule-of-thumb: Apply to 3 programs you will be competitive at, 3 that you should get in, and 3 reach schools. (Meaning at least 3 should not be Top 25 programs)

Congratulations Roll Right! And congratulations joops! UNC-C is a really great program. They do a great job of placing people in top PhD programs.

Hi apppk. I declined their offer. There is hope!

I think cinema just as often advances new and/or good ideas as "planting" dangerous ones. It could be seen as a public good as much or more than a danger. But you can definitely argue it either way.

I have already formally declined Iowa and Purdue. I think you should let schools know if you have decided not to go there. Give another nervous person (maybe someone on this board) a little more time to know their options.

Hi joops, I do indeed know of at least one person who was admitted and turned down the offer. They also mentioned when I visited that at least one person was almost definitely not going to accept the offer. So there is hope!

Social Psyc and Culture. Some of the programs are to focus on one or the other, some on both.

Rejected from Princeton. But it's OK, it's really not a very good school anyways...

Hi everyone, I just stumbled upon this brilliant forum for the first time. I can add my list to the mix: Applied: Stanford, Duke, Princeton, Northwestern, Penn, Michigan, Purdue, Emory, Iowa, Rutgers, Yale, Kent State, Indiana I was accepted to Indiana, Purdue, and Iowa. I was rejected from Princeton. I went on Emory's visitation weekend (There were 16 "prospective students" and 5 slots). I have not heard anything from Emory since.