AaronM

should we create the official acceptance/rejection thread or use this one?

congrats bigstar! maybe we'll be cohort-mates!

I got accepted to Ohio State! So Stoked!

2 month panic attack...begin!

yeah, why else would we have chosen the rediculously lucrative field of academic sociology? I don't know about you people but if sociology doesn't enable the high roller lifestyle, I'm out.

Is there a (semi)uniform way that departments contact applicants regarding admissions? Are decisions given out over the phone, via email, or admissions page update, or does it vary by department/advisor? Should I be constantly checking my phone, email, admissions page, or all three?

this study focuses on lying rather than greed specifically, and there are some obvious limitations, but I think it is relevant to the topic. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/12/research-says-studying-economics-turns-you-into-a-liar/266423/

so....writing samples, right?!

When a prof at a top 25 visited our school he said they didn't. Adcoms (at least at this school) recognize that these are heavily doctored and aren't very good indicators of how well you actually write. He said he had seen people with amazing writing samples be terrible writers and people with mediocre writing samples be actually pretty good writers. This is pure speculation on my part but I think it only matters if your writing sample is absolutely atrocious. I could also see them mainly looking at global issues to see what your sociological ideas are and how well you can develop them. But again, pure speculation on my part.

not by a long shot my friend. I have days where I think I'm going to get in everywhere and days where I don't think I'll get in anywhere. I'm already checking my email numerous times a day and my spam folder just in case something important gets sent there...and I'll be doing that until late february most likely. FUN!

im not sure about math/econ majors transitioning into sociology, but overall I think your pretty quant heavy. In my soc undergrad program we have to take a basic stats class, a data analysis class (pretty much a class on how to do analysis in stata/spss), and a regression analysis class (and/or two qualitative research classes, but we're focusing on quant here). I'm guessing here but I think that is pretty standard course-wise. I gained most of my quant experience while working as an RA and the book in my regression class was useless, so I can't really answer your question about texts. So to answer your question, I think your going to have more quant experience than most applicants, even those who want to do quant heavy work, but I'm not sure the transfer rates of math/econ/stats into sociology so I might be wrong.

sounds like you have some decent research experience. GPA and GRE are a little low for a top 20 if thats what your really looking for. At the same time, when I talked to a prof at a top 10 school about admissions, the main thing she said was "It is a really irrational process." So it's really tough to tell what you should be shooting for. I'm dealing with a lower GPA as well (by lower I mean not 3.9, like I feel most everybody has on this board) so I understand your apprehension. In my experience talking with some profs at top 20s, the main thing you can do to make yourself attractive is make the case for fit.

what one of my professors said was to think of your statement of purpose as "why should this university take a chance on you?" With funding and everything, they take a pretty big chance on you and with high dropout rates, they want to make sure your not going to just drop out. Research often shows that your very committed, anyone who has done research knows that there is quite a bit of grunt work involved and requires a lot of commitment to see the project through. Teaching can very well show your commitment as well; xdarthveganx's teaching example likely shows that because that position seems like it took some sustained work to get. Bottom line, you work with what you have, whether it is teaching or research. The issue is really framing what you have. I doubt an adcom member would look at a statement of purpose with a lot of teaching mentioned and just throw it to the side. Research represents a lot of what adcoms look for, but I highly doubt that they count teaching as a negative or even a neutral factor.

good luck! own it!

I'm sort of in the same boat, my wife and I had a baby a few months back. Bottom line is that having kids makes life harder in grad school than it would be otherwise. My advisor (who had a kid before grad school) said the main difficulty is feeling alienated from cohort members who are going out to party together while he wanted to go home and be with his kids. That being said, I've also talked to a prof at a top-5 who took motherhood breaks during grad school and while trying to get tenure and she said that if you are going to have kids, its a whole lot easier to do it during grad school than while trying to get tenure, so if your going to start a family, grad school is the best time to do it. As for family-friendly programs, I know UT-Austin explicitly mentions on their FAQ page that they are a family friendly program and they have many faculty and grad students with families and children.

you'll probably have a better chance of getting these questions answered by emailing current Duke grad students as most of the visitors on this forum are applying this year. There are a few who are already in programs, but if you really want these questions answered, I would find some duke grad students who line up with your interests and shoot them an email

FWIW some of my apps have asked if you have contacted any professors in the department and to provide a summary of the interaction. Not sure how they use the data, but have seen the question come up

Honestly I'd shoot a little higher. Don't be afraid to apply to a top 20 based on fit. Our numbers are somewhat similar and my profs are encouraging applying to some top-20s (I'm also applying to some 30-60s). People with worse numbers have gotten into top 20s based on fit so I would go for it. Don't go exclusively for them, but still try to sprinkle some in. It sounds like you have some pretty good research experience (Being an RA and producing a paper does count, are you going to try to publish it?) and the top 20 professors I've talked to say they love that.

I would check out the other post (specifically jacib's comment) for some good insight. It really varies by school AND who is on the adcom. If your planning on doing quant work, it might be a problem, but if your more of a qualitative person I wouldn't worry too much. Even then, if you have high quality quantitative research experience and you make it past the first sorting, your experience will speak more to your viability as a candidate than a test score. Like Willows said, if your strong in other areas, the main thing is beating the cut-off and getting past the first round of apps.

capricious, good gre word jacib! Stuff like this is really tough to answer. At ASA I talked to a few professors about admission and all the consensus was "It's a really irrational process." I do think, however, that they look at sections individually and weigh them that way. Like you said, a person who scored 90th on verbal and 50th on quant is fundamentally different than someone who scored 70th on both. I would reach out to grad students at schools that person is applying to to get a feel of what the individual departments actually look at.

I am applying to: Stanford, Cornell, Wisconsin, Penn, Penn State, Texas, Ohio State, Indiana, Minnesota, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Davis, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame. Taking the GRE in about two weeks so it might change or I might pare it down but I feel pretty solid

What schools are you applying to? Since applications are starting up soon it might be beneficial to know others who are applying to the same programs in case any questions arise.

yeah there's firms that hire soc MAs as research analysts. Like Lanita said, lots of work with government contracts or market research. The main thing you have to leverage is research experience. Quantitative is probably more in demand, but qualitative work is useful for research firms as well

hey fellow soc of ed people! I've heard positive things about sociology/social policy dual degree programs. With other dual degrees not so much. I've heard with PhD/J.D. programs you get pressure from both schools to just focus on their side. But I also know Penn State does pretty well with their dual degree programs. You really have to do your homework on the program but I think sociology/social policy programs are pretty good that way

I think around 90th is a good goal, generally speaking. It really depends on the rest of your stats. If you have a 4.0, tons of research experience, glowing letters of recommendation, you can probably get away with a lower score. If (like myself) your lacking in an area or two, you have to make it up with a good GRE score. As for percentile ranges, some schools have average accepted GRE scores in their admissions/FAQ pages. Since they haven't had time to post their new GRE accepted scores you have to do some converting, but from what I've seen the averages in the 15-30 range (where I'm applying is between 80th and 85th percentile in both and whether quant or verbal is higher really depends on the program.