gilmoregirl1010

Thank you everyone!

This is my mini Aussie. We live in an apartment, so we make lots of trips to the local dog park, but he's a big reason why I've been able to get through my Master's program. I definitely think dogs are great emotional therapy, if you're in a position to take care of them

I'm applying this fall for Fall 2014 too! I'm still working on a final list, but my top choices are UVA, FSU, George Mason, Amherst, and Notre Dame. My GRE verbal score was fantastic (97th percentile), so I'm hoping that offsets my average quant score, which has plateaued around the 60th percentile. Right now, my biggest challenge is finding programs that fit my interests that I might have a decent shot of getting into, since my top choices all seem to be fairly competitive. I'm very excited to start applying, but I am definitel NOT excited about the January-March marathon of impatiently checking my email every few minutes! Good luck everyone!

I am finishing up my Master's degree in Sociology now, and will be applying to PhD programs in the Fall. However, the more I learn about a potential career in academia, the more I think that, rather than seeking out a job at a university, I'd rather look for employment in a more "applied" setting, either with the government or a think-tank. I still would like to get my PhD, especially since many of the jobs I've seen posted require one, but I also know that many PhD programs fight very hard to get their students to go the academic route. So my question is: do you know of any Sociology PhD programs that are genuinely okay with their graduates pursuing non-academic careers?

Hi, everyone! I went to USF for my undergrad, and I loved it. Everyone who said it's a commuter school is right, although I think USF is trying to change that. There are safe places to live near USF (I lived in Cambridge Woods Apartments 5 minutes from the campus and never had any problems), but there are also very sketchy places near campus, so be careful. If you're close enough to not have to drive your car to campus, that saves you a lot of time trying to maneuver the parking garages, which are always full. I would also second the fact that public transportation is absolutely horrible, especially in comparison to other major cities in the US. Tampa has some really great areas, and lots of stuff to do for people with a variety of interests. It's not as close to the beach as it might seem if you're unfamiliar with the area, but it is close enough for an easy day trip. Ybor is lovely even if you're not into the club scene, and has really been cleaned up a lot in the past few years. There's not a lot to do downtown, but the Soho area has some great little shops and restaurants (the speakeasy is AMAZING and I cannot recommend it enough). Other than that, there's your more touristy (but still fun) stuff like Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo, and the Aquarium.

First of all, I want to add my voice to the chorus of "THANK YOU"s, FertMigMort. This is fantastic, and very illuminating. I have a question about something you wrote earlier, in regards to publications being necessary for anyone at the Master's level. I'll be applying to PhDs this coming round, while finishing up a terminal Master's program in Sociology. I have a lot of research experience, and will have more than one paper submitted to journals by the time I start applying to programs, but I can't guarantee that I will have heard anything back one way or the other by the time I submit my applications. Would this level of research experience be acceptable, or do I really need to have something accepted into a journal to be competitive? Part of the reason I ask is that a few of the programs I'm applying for waive the application fee if you submit the application early. With about a dozen schools on my list, every fee counts, but if it would significantly improve my chances of admission to wait until I had (HOPEFULLY) a definitive publication, I'd be willing to eat that $75. Thank you again for your help!

Well, as far as I'm concerned, my husband plans on doing almost all of the childcare work, and would prefer to be a stay-at-home Dad if we can swing it financially. So I know it would be incredibly frustrating for me to be discriminated against by faculty members who assume I have a different work/home arrangement than I do based on gender stereotypes, rather than judging my case individually and going from there. If my work actually does end up suffering after I have kids, then that's one thing, but to assume that that's going to happen up front and discriminate against me accordingly seems incredibly unfair, especially since men generally don't experience similar discrimination when they become fathers . I'm sure many women would agree with me.

Ah, thank you so much! Sorry I'm just responding (the past week has been very busy), but I really appreciate your input! That mansplaining thing was disheartening though. Ugh, would it be too much to ask that academia be more progressive than that?

Thank you all very much! These are all excellent suggestions, I'll definitely look into them, especially Canada. Do you know if a PhD from Canada is accepted in US institutions? I know that at least for the UK, the structure of their PhD is so much different than here that people who go to the UK for grad school often times have trouble finding jobs in the US. So that would be something I'd have to consider, too.

I've heard the same about feeling alienated from your cohort, but that's something I'm prepared to deal with, especially if I am able to do most of my grad work before I have a baby. But I've talked to my advisor, and my husband (who is planning on doing a LOT of the parenting, maybe even being a SAHD if we can ever afford it), and we're pretty sure that late in the PhD will be best for us (again, assuming my reproductive system cooperates! ) Thanks for the suggestion on UT Austin, I hadn't considered them before, but their program does seem like a good fit for me!

Hi everyone, I am currently in a terminal Master's program, looking to go on to a PhD in Sociology. I've been married for a few years, and my husband and I are trying to figure out the best timeline for us to have kids while I'm in school. My plan right now is to try to get pregnant (my own reproductive system willing) while I'm working on my dissertation, which seems to be the sweet spot for me as far as age and responsibilities are concerned. However, I know that not all departments take kindly to women with plans for motherhood. The department I'm currently in has spoiled me, since they are incredibly accepting of pregnant grad students and work very hard to accomodate women who have babies so that they can still be successful in the program. However, it's not a very highly ranked department, and so I'm looking to apply to other, more prestigious schools as well. I had a 3.89 undergrad GPA, currently. 4.0 grad GPA, 1360 on my GREs, and substantial research experience, so I think I'm qualified to apply to some top-tier schools, but it is very important to me that I end up in a place that won't treat me like a pariah if I try and balance my personal and work life while in grad school. My timeline itself is not the question here, but rather if there are any programs you know of that would be willing to accomodate it? Like I said, I know they exist since I'm in one right now, but I was hoping to see if any other Sociology grad students were in programs that were hospitable and accomodating to young mothers. This isn't the kind of thing that programs tend to advertise on their websites, so I figured I'd check here instead (If it helps, my main research interests are sex/gender and religion.)

Resurrecting this thread to say that, while I haven't started my program yet, I'm really excited about the vibes I've been getting so far from my department. The department head has been sending emails out regularly since I accepted their offer, which has given me more contact with my new program in one week than I had with my whole undergraduate program the entire time I was in college. It's also all very positive stuff; this morning she sent out the news that one of our PhD students just got an assistant professorship, which was encouraging. Also, apparently my new program has a co-ed softball team, which I'm hoping to join! I've never done grad school before, so I don't know if this is common for all programs, but from the horror stories I've seen on this site, I would think maybe not? Either way, I'm really excited to get started at my new school, and I haven't come across any red flags that would make me nervous about this program. Maybe time will tell differently, but as of right now, I'm very excited about graduate school, and I wanted to share my positive experience so far.

I think it depends on what you specialized in, and where you're looking to work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that sociologist job prospects are going to be growing faster than average, so I think the future is looking as bright for our field as it is for any other. Here's a link to the BLS website, where they go over what sort of jobs sociologists take. Granted, this doesn't discriminate between the students as Berkeley and the students and State University X, but it's a good start: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes193041.htm

Thank you! And I agree, the application fees are definitely an investment, especially if you get into a program. I just wasn't sure if you had gotten in anywhere yet, and I didn't want to tell you that only to find out you had been rejected everywhere :-/ And yes, I agree. It was a very risky move, I can see that now. When it comes time to go for my PhD, I plan on casting my net MUCH wider. Live and learn, I guess.

I only applied to three programs, one master's program and two highly ranked PhD programs (this is my first cycle, if you can't tell, haha). I applied to the master's program against the better judgement of every academic mentor I talked to, every one of whom told me I could do better, it wasn't worth my time, etc, etc. I was totally unaware of how difficult it really was to get into grad school until I came to this site. I'm very glad I didn't listen to them about the MA program, because I got full funding to the master's program and have been all but rejected from the other programs. I know I should have applied to more programs in a variety of rankings, but I was stupid and didn't think it would be necessary, since I was thought it would be difficult enough to choose between three acceptances, lol. When I'm done with my master's degree, I'm going to approach PhD programs much more realistically. On the bright side, you may have a big credit card bill, but it seems your odds of getting into a program you like are much better! (or maybe that's just more of my naivety talking?) Either way, good luck!

I know this is going to make me sound like Aesop's fox in the vineyard, but not only was that good advice for any program, but it also is making my probable rejection much more palatable. So thank you, and I will keep that in mind when I reapply to PhD programs in two years

I think I share the feelings of most of the people who've posted already. Rejection sucks. I've spent pretty much the whole waiting period bracing myself for a rejection letter, but that didn't make getting them any easier. I've been pretty emotional for the past few days. Other things may have factored into my being an emotional wreck, but still. Not fun. I don't think it helped that my mentors, research advisors, family, and friends have spent most of this past year telling me how awesome and qualified I am, and how I won't have any problem getting into any program I want. It was easy to write off the family and friends as nothing more than naive optimism, but when my research advisor, who is a distinguished professor and seems to really understand the system, had confidence in me, it made it much harder to be realistically cautious about my prospects.

Yeah, I know you're right, I should at least hold out hope. On the other hand, I didn't get a phone interview, and I'm assuming not everyone who gets accepted comes on GradCafe. Also, I started the morning with a nice helping of rejection from UNC-Chapel Hill, so I've been feeling pretty pessimistic all day. Not the best attitude, but it's a hard one to fight :-/

Congratulations to everyone who was accepted! I wasn't one of the lucky ones, unfortunately, but I AM truly happy for everyone who made the cut. Now to find a large bottle of rum and copious amounts of chocolate...

I think I would look closely at the letters of recommendation. If the student has developed relationships with their letter writers, that will show, and that will suggest that the student is serious about academics and has been thinking about grad school for a while, rather than just applying because it's senior year and they don't have any other options. It's also a way to get a perspective on that student from a professional in your field that understands the position you're in as an adcomm member. It's more personal than a test score or the GPA, but it's also probably less biased than the student's statement of purpose. And, like everyone else has said, I probably wouldn't put too much emphasis on the GRE.

I was under the same impression. I did a rough comparison of housing costs in New Haven with housing costs near the other school I was accepted to, and it looks like New Haven would be a much cheaper place to live, at least housing-wise. I can't say about any other costs, but that was a good sign! And I'm actually in the same boat. I've gotten funding at a Master's program, so I'm not totally out of the game, but this was my big shot at a PhD program, so I'm really excited to hear back. Hopefully things will work out well for both of us!

From what I read on their website, they accept 6-10 people a year, which sounds small to me, but might be average for a graduate program at a school like Yale. And yes, their funding is supposed to be excellent, which would definitely be a plus

I figured I'd start a topic for Yale, since I haven't heard a lot of talk about it. Did anyone else apply this year? If so, what are your research interests, and who were your POI's? The stats from previous years make me think we might hear back by the end of this week or the beginning of this week, which is good, because I don't know if I can wait any longer! I keep fluctuating between solid self-confidence and total self-doubt. Either way, it will be good to just have a decision in my hand, so I can stop wondering. How are you all feeling?

Thank you both very much! Socspice- I only mentioned the community college thing because I'm actually currently applying to Master's programs, and the one whose application I'm working on now mentions it on their website as a common post-graduation career, so I figured it was safe to discuss (pardon the run-on). I'll definitely fix it up though, thanks! And it's hard to be a lot more detailed, since I have a 500-word limit which I'm pretty darn close to as is, but I'll do my best! Avee- I'm definitely going to do that. I only took their names out of this draft because this is more of a template, that will be adjusted for each individual school depending on how my interest lines up with their faculty. Thanks again, I really appreciate it

Hi everyone, I'm currently working on preparing my application to graduate school, and I was wondering if you would mind evaluating my personal statement. This is the short version, which I am preparing for some of the programs that require a 500-word-or-less essay. I have a good deal that I can expound upon for the schools with lengthier essay requirements, but I just wanted to get a good base down before I went crazy. Thank you so much in advance, and please be gentle- this is my very first draft, and I'm kind of shooting in the dark as to this whole process. (Also, I'm sure this is common, but I'm removing names and places that could identify people that may not want to be identified.) One area I know I need help with is a catchy opening statement. Grammar, punctuation, spelling (although I'm pretty sure I caught all of that), coherency, etc, are all on the table. Thanks again! ---------------------------- My extensive research experience with [professor], coupled with my history of academic and professional involvement with the community at the undergraduate level, has uniquely prepared me for graduate work in the [program] Since my second semester in college, I have been assisting [professor] with her groundbreaking research in the area of minority politics in [state]. For the past three years, [professor], myself, and another undergraduate student have compiled archival and biographic sources in order to analyze the factors that influence minority pathbreakers to run for political office at the state level. Our research has been presented at the [conference] as well as at an on-campus research symposium, and is currently being developed for publishing into a reference book for high school and college students. This experience has allowed me to see the painstaking, yet rewarding, nature of research in the social sciences, and has greatly prepared me for the rigors of graduate school. In order to further develop myself academically, I have also taken part in many extracurricular academic activities on campus. Along with [2nd professor] and a fellow undergraduate student, I have co-authored a paper concerning the effect of social media on the professor-student relationship. I have also presented my research on reality television and its effect on society to a colloquium of my peers. Most recently, I participated in a sociological study abroad program in London and Paris, which significantly broadened my worldview. As someone who firmly believes that theoretical education should be balanced with application, I have remained involved in a variety of non-academic activities throughout my college career. I have held several part-time jobs since starting college, the most recent of which is as a tutor with a literacy foundation sponsored by AmeriCorps. I have also been involved in several leadership positions with social activism groups on campus, and have helped raise awareness in my community of such issues as human trafficking, the crisis in North Korea, and the plight of the child soldiers in Uganda. Throughout my studies, I have developed an interest in the sociological subfields of gender inequality, criminology, religion, and culture, and am enthusiastic about conducting research in those fields. As such, I would be honored to work with [professors at hopeful program]. Looking forward to my career goals, I hope to work for a time as a community college instructor, thus allowing my husband to finish his education, before ultimately pursuing a PhD in Sociology and teaching at the university level. I am certain that my strong academic background and research experience, as well as my future research and career goals, will allow me to both benefit from and be an asset to this program.