SocHope

I'm confused - are you graduating in 3.5 years, or did you graduate within 3.5 years and are now currently applying to PhD programs for Fall 2012? If the latter, you might think about taking the GRE a little earlier than December, if possible. Penn State has a later application deadline (mid-Jan. I believe), but you may want to take the GRE more than once depending on how well you do. PS's Sociology website states: What is the average GRE score of students admitted to your program? The vast majority of students admitted to the program score above 1200 on the GRE (verbal and quantitative combined). Many score above 1300. Most students admitted to the program have GPAs above 3.7. Your GPA might be on the lower side, but you sound like you have a lot of great background experience and your interests seems to really align with the focus of PS's program. The only thing I can say is write a solid statement of purpose and get stellar letters of recommendation. Just go for it! I can't really give much advice about other programs because we have very different research interests. Perhaps others can help - or maybe you can search some of the older topics. Good luck!

So this is coming pretty early for the 2012 application cycle but I thought I would throw it out there. Do most programs have their visits in March for admits? How wide can that time frame be? If one misses that date, could a paid visit occur outside of that? The only reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to plan a long international vacation around spring next year and don't want to miss out on big events. It's a purely selfish motive, I realize. But I want to get a real vacation in before I start school (assuming i get in anywhere)!

I looked into the program because I specifically want to apply to schools that are strong in both sociology and demography. However, Brown doesn't seem to have a lot going on in terms of migration/immigration, which is my main area of interest. They do have a lot in health and development though, and because of the latter, I'm still debating whether or not to apply. UPenn is probably my current top choice though.

I don't know that not contacting faculty would necessarily hurt your chances. I've gotten some pretty mixed feedback on that. Some people do, some people don't, but it doesn't seem like it counts for a whole lot in the admissions process. I guess there is the odd story here or there of a person really going to bat for a candidate, but I don't think that's very common. I'll be doing my first round of PhD applications this fall! I vacillate between fairly confident to miserable self-doubt, so it'll be fun to go through a whole fall and winter riding THAT roller coaster! Good luck!

The only thing to be aware of, I think, is department/university policy around non-degree students. For example, Berkeley's Demography department says students who come in as "coursework only" status aren't normally eligible to become degree candidates later on (http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/degrees/coursework.shtml). So just be sure if you are taking classes as a formal non-degree student at a department you later plan to apply to, that they don't place any restrictions. I don't think there would be any problems if you were to informally audit a class (if the professor is willing) though.

That's generally what I've heard/read too. Example, from the UNC website (http://sociology.unc.edu/programs/prospect_grad/faq), emphasis added by me: "Should I contact individual faculty members with whom I might be interested in working? Will this help my chances of admission? A good mentoring relationship is one of the keys to success in graduate school. However, it may be hard to tell which faculty member will make the difference in your graduate career. We do recommend that you apply to schools that have multiple faculty members with whom you might work, and several areas of interest to you. We do not recommend making decisions based on program ranking alone. You are welcome to contact faculty members directly, from their contact information in the listing on the departmental web site (http://sociology.unc.edu/directory/faculty). Gauging their interest in your areas of interest may be useful as you make your own decisions. Although individual faculty members do not pick their own students, our admissions committee does consult with individual faculty as we make our decisions, and the feedback from them is one of the factors we consider." I realize that's not exactly saying one must contact faculty, but I don't think it particularly hurts, unless for some reason the faculty you contact take an immediate dislike to you based on your initial email (I'm sure it's happened before). My own personal suspicion is that with budget cuts and increasing despair over the tight academic market, many of the professors I am interested in working with, and which the graduate committee might identify assign as my advisor anyway, might not be taking students. It's better to figure that out from the get-go, I think, rather than spend the money applying to that program. I guess there is the off-chance that I might still be admitted and assigned to another professor whom I didn't identify as being a good match. But I think even initial contact with faculty that might be good fits could yield that kind of information - like someone saying "I'm not taking new students but so-and-so is and they do similar research" or something. I hope more people will describe their experiences and/or rationale for what they did/plan to do!

Hm, I guess I'm a little confused by your timeline. Why would June be too early but May be ok? Or are you saying contact people May of the year I would be entering? For example, if I apply fall 2011 for admission in fall 2012, I would start contacting people in May 2012? Most of the application deadlines for the schools I am planning to apply for are in December, and I always thought it was good practice to speak to potential advisors before applying, or at least during the application cycle, rather than after. Thanks for the replies!

This is mainly a question for those who don't have an established relationship with the professors they are interested in working with. I was planning to start contacting professors July or so (my rationale being I didn't want to email them too early while they were busy with the current crop of admits). Anyone have different opinions? Related, how much do you tell about yourself in the introductory email? I was going to keep it to one paragraph, explaining my academic background, relevant work experience, and research interests (and how it relates to their work). I wasn't planning on going into details about my GPA, GRE scores, or coursework. I figure if they're interested enough, they'll ask. And I suppose the very first email is to suss out whether or not they're even taking on students (I dread the one-line reply "I am not currently taking on new advisees"). Also, etiquette on contacting multiple professors within the same program? A few of the schools I'm looking at have multiple professors who do work I'm interested in. Is it generally ok to contact all of them and see who is/isn't taking on new students? Any other advice on contacting potential advisors is welcome. Also, any horror stories to share?

Thanks for sharing. It was a pretty interesting read! Although what I took away from the thread is that every individual committee member looks for something different. Perhaps the best support anyone can have is a committee member who will really advocate for you!

So, hey, anyone here familiar with the two programs at UPenn? I'm interested in getting a joint PhD in Demography and Sociology, and UPenn was strongly recommended by my graduate advisor and and a number of other people. Ultimately I'd have to be accepted by both departments in order to pursue the joint degree, but it looks like admittance into the second program can come after beginning the first. My question is, how big of a difference would it make applying to Demography first? I'm looking at their admissions statistics (http://www.pop.upenn...triculants.html) and it makes me optimistic. Unfortunately the Sociology dept. doesn't have such detailed statistics, so there's nothing to compare to, but I'm imagining UPenn's Sociology dept. gets a lot more than ~30 applicants a year. By the way, how awesome is it that the Demog dept. publicizes such detailed admissions statistics?? I wish all schools did that! =/

So the reasons for applying to a PhD program in any given year are many and varied. Maybe you felt it was the right time to start, maybe you really wanted a change, maybe (like me), your GRE scores are expiring and due for their last huzzah before retirement. But one thing most PhD applicants have in common is the question of funding. Mainly, are we going to get any? I've sent feelers out to friends in (mostly non-Soc) PhD programs, former professors, and other prospective students to get their opinion on general state of funding for PhD programs right now. I realize there are a lot of factors at play here (such as program type, institution type, specialization, etc.), but I've also been surprised by how varied the opinion has been on this. Talk of budget cuts or diminished funding are par for the course right now, but some people have been really optimistic, and others very doom and gloom. I'd like to know how YOU feel about it. This is a just-for-fun poll. Current, former, and prospective Soc PhDs are invited to weigh in! Informed opinion, wild speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories are welcome. Maybe we can add a little levity to a potentially doom'n'gloom situation!

I can't really answer your specific question, but I certainly sympathize! But I think even basic quantitative skills will serve you well, no matter what program you end up doing. Even if it's to help you understand other research that's out there. I bet if you took one or two Intro to Stats classes at a local state or community college, you'd find that the math isn't as bad as you might think. Some colleges even have statistics courses designed specifically for the social sciences, so those might be a good bet too. I guess there are programs that overlook lack of (or not so stellar) quantitative skills, but it doesn't hurt to be well-rounded, right?

I'm guessing if you come out of the program, you'll have some pretty neat demography training, which is applicable outside of academia. (If you go to the Demog. Dept.'s website, you'll see that they have a coursework only option for professionals - so that seems to indicate to me a fair amount of professional training: http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/degrees/coursework.shtml) As for foreign language, I don't see anywhere on the website where it specifies that it needs to be a language related to demography. From what I've read on the website (http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/students/programdocs/language.shtml), it sounds like it can be any old foreign language, so long as you are functionally literate in said language. I'm still on the fence about the program, but I bet competition is crazy fierce.

Hi there! New poster, sporadic lurker (depending on whether or not I'm actually thinking of applying to grad programs). I'm gearing up to apply for Sociology PhD programs in Fall 2012. By gearing up I mean constructing an ambitious, but realistic list of schools to apply to, sussing out potential advisors, and getting a feel for how I might "fit" in a given program. My main area of interest is in immigration/migration, primarily migration from Asia to U.S. I'm also interested in demography (as it relates to immigration), education of immigrants (mainly higher ed), and social networks of immigrant enclaves. Some of the programs/faculty I think really fit my interests would be, in order: 1. UCLA - Min Zhou and Roger Waldinger 2. Duke - Nan Lin 3. CUNY - Margaret Chin 4. Princeton - Alejandro Portes 6. UCI - Ruben Rumbaut Not really sure about faculty, but these Soc depts. work closely with demography programs and/or have immigration as one of their primary research specializations: 4. UT Austin 5. UM Ann Arbor 6. USC With the exception of maybe CUNY and USC, most of my current list is made up of pretty well-known, competitive programs. As awesome as it would be to get into said schools, I'd also like my list to have some non-reach-for-the-stars programs. So, I'm hoping all the current/potential Soc students out there, and anyone else "in the know", can tell me if I'm missing any potential "good fits" from perhaps less well-known schools. Throw out programs names, faculty, anything, and I'll be sure to look into it. Thanks! I hope to be pretty active on here once application season comes around again. Sooner than we all think, I bet!