bparkm

Try University of New Hampshire's Perspectives. It's an online undergraduate journal of sociology.

Thanks a lot for your input, this is helping me a lot! rainy day - from what I've heard from others on the site, the quant part is somewhat relevant because programs want to see that you have at least an understanding of the concepts so you can do quantitative research later. I need to look more into the new gre, but I'm not sure if I can continue to devote my time to studying. fingers crossed - I've been stressing about it but have had time to study for still. The thing I'm concerned about is not getting a chance to be looked at by adcoms because of my gre score (my thinking is, they have hundreds of applications to look at, so they whittle it down by gpa, gre, etc and then look more in depth at those apps. Am I wrong? This is just what I'm guessing). I have already found some professors I would love to work with and I think I would be a good fit (Northwestern, UC Santa Barbara). I know some of these programs are top tier, so I would like to be as competitive as possible. Nora - good luck on taking the test! My advice for you, arrive early! Get situated with the environment, and remember your ID! Try and stay clear and focused throughout the test. As for the essay questions, I think the issue topic was on globalization and the analyze the argument was about building a bike path from one town to another because the highway was backed up (obviously lots of flaws in the logic). Hope this helps and good luck!

Yeah I saw that, but I'm a little worried that I'm not going to have as much time to study. I'm starting a new job in mid July, and I'm going to be much busier (my current job allows me to study during the day). Also, I don't want to spend another 2-3 months re studying for the new layout, question types, etc. Also, it seems like the quant section is going to be much harder. Do you think I should just hold off? I'm also starting to get a little burnt out, I've been studying since the end of Jan/early Feb, so it's been a while...

I have a few concerns about the new test. First, I am going to be starting a new job in mid July, and I think I'll be much busier (my current job allows me to study for periods of time while I'm at work), and I don't want to have to spend another 2-3 months studying for the new test. Also, I'm more intimidated by the quant section, ETS makes it seem like it's going to be much more challenging. Would grad schools look unfavorably at my application if I take the current one a second time, and then a third time with the new test? I'm not saying this is what I'll do, but do you think I should wait and then re study for the new test?

Thanks for the help. I was shooting for around a 600 for verbal. I'm familiar with the test format and everything, but I think my weaknesses are the analogies/antonyms. Should I just be studying vocab words? What about the quant section, I'm pretty rusty but have just been going through books trying to relearn a lot of that stuff.

That's a good point, thanks. I am thinking of going into qualitative research, but I see your point about funding and needing to have a strong quant research ability as well. I'm familiar with the test at this point, and know the "tricks" in them (at least the verbal part). Should I just be studying vocab words for verbal, and basic algebra/geometry for quant? I'm going to try and take the test at the end of the month, and need to streamline my studying a bit. I know for verbal my weaker parts are the antonyms/analogies. I'm not as sure with the quant stuff.

Thanks for your help! I've been looking around at programs and I don't think many have a minimum, but the averages are posted, and most of them are in the 600s for both sections. Which section do you think I should focus on studying more over this next month? I definitely spent more time on verbal studying for the first one, but I did a lot better than I thought on the quant section, and did a little worse than my practice tests showed in verbal. Thanks again.

Thanks for the advice. Do social science/humanities programs really look at the quantitative section that closely? Which section do you think I should focus more on this next month, verbal or quant? I did look around at websites, and there aren't many minimum cutoffs for scores, but a lot of schools did post averages and I think a lot of them were in the 600s for both scores...

Thanks for the advice! I studied quite a bit for the verbal, didn't do as much on the quant part but definitely brushed up on my skills in that area. I actually did a lot better in the quant section on test day than I did on earlier practice tests. I did a little worse on my verbal section though. I'm not 100% certain I could do better on the GRE, but if I did make that decision, I want to take it before the re-structured test. From what I've been hearing on this site, the GRE isn't necessarily something that is going to get me into anywhere, but it might keep me out of places (admissions committees need to find some way to whittle the number of applicants down, right?).

Hello all, I just took the GRE and would like some advice on whether or not I should take it again. I want to take it before the new test comes out, so in the next month or so if I decide to do it. Here were my test scores: V 550, Q 630. I haven't gotten my AW back yet, but I expect them to be around 5-5.5. I have a solid GPA (>3.5) from a pretty rigorous liberal arts college and pretty good research experience (I conducted original research for my senior thesis, and ended up presenting it at a conference as well as being published in an undergraduate journal). I would like to apply to a top 20~30 grad program in sociology, do I have a realistic shot, or should I retake it? Will admissions committees look down upon me taking it twice (like the LSAT or MCAT)? It's been hard to get some advice from my professors because they aren't that well connected to the graduate world, so I'd like some honest advice. If you think my scores are way too low and I have no shot, please tell me! Also, can anyone give me some advice on what sociology programs are well regarded? I am interested in race/racism, critical race theory, ethnic studies, in an American context. Thanks in advance!

Hello all, I just took the GRE and would like some advice on whether or not I should take it again. I want to take it before the new test comes out, so in the next month or so if I decide to do it. Here were my test scores: V 550, Q 630. I haven't gotten my AW back yet, but I expect them to be around 5-5.5. I have a solid GPA (>3.5) from a pretty rigorous liberal arts college and pretty good research experience (I conducted original research for my senior thesis, and ended up presenting it at a conference as well as being published in an undergraduate journal). I would like to apply to a top 20~30 grad program in sociology, do I have a realistic shot, or should I retake it? Will admissions committees look down upon me taking it twice (like the LSAT or MCAT)? It's been hard to get some advice from my professors because they aren't that well connected to the graduate world, so I'd like some honest advice. If you think my scores are way too low and I have no shot, please tell me!