sociology27

Accepted at Rutgers... 5 year fellowship (2 years excellence fellowship of 21K stipend and insurance, 3 years TA fellowship of 25K and insurance)... wooo! It's been a good season so far.

I'm coming from a non-sociology background and am having a decent amount of success this cycle, so here's my two cents. Don't be afraid to use the jargon on your SOP. Don't overwhelm them, but, to put it bluntly, talk like a sociologist. Use terms you've read about/are interested in. Bring up specific theories you hope to employ in your research. Reference scholars you hope to specifically build upon/correct. Bring specific research projects into the realm of larger debates in the discipline. In my opinion, that's the best way to convince them you're not gonna come in blind. Oh, and maybe hype up the sociological parts of your coursework.

Mine says so on my application summary page. And I called up the Grad center and were told that letters went out on the 7th. I got mine today, which is indeed an acceptance and some health and housing info... but nothing regarding funding.

ahhh, me too!! Maybe they're sending acceptance letters via post service??? hmmm. Idk what's going on. I was to celebrate but I'm not sure what's going on..

Would it be bad to ask to come to the visitation day if you're on the waitlist? I'm wondering if just asking could hurt? Thoughts?

The last couple of years Harvard has done interviews at the end of January. But so far this year, nothing has been posted of interviews, acceptances, or rejections. Anybody have any idea what's going on? Is it possible they're just gonna skip interviews this year? Or, perhaps, have people been interviewed without anyone on this board posting anything? speculate with me!

Anybody know what this craziness is about? Rejections before acceptances? I didn't receive a reject today (yay?), and I'm wondering who else applied and didn't hear anything. Anybody care to speculate on what's going on?

I think the shift to social movements could be a general trend because of the worldwide movements happening right now. See Greece, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, the US, Great Britain, Russia, Bahrain... just to name a few. And they are all connected historically and ideologically. So I think it's just an exciting time to be a social movements person and hence, people are gonna shift a bit towards that subdiscipline. Culture realllly needs to be on the list of subdisciplines.

Hege-money... someone's read their Kant/Schopenhauer/Foucault?

I got an email saying I'm on the "very short alternate list" and that I should know one way or the other by early/mid April. Anybody else get waitlisted? Anybody get in and not plan on attending? Any idea what the odds are of getting in off the waitlist? Any info would be much appreciated.

Just got acceptance email and phone call from POI.

rejected from UCSB.. BUTTT...wait for it... "on short list of alternates" at Michigan!! Wooo! thought I was rejected after yesterday. I'll take a waitlist from top 5 school.

Yeah, that was me. I was contacted from my POI in a short, informal email. They definitely did not send the "chat" invites out all in one bunch. So my guess is they're stretching it over a few day span and letting people know they want to chat the day of. They're only ACCEPTING 5 people this year !

Can you guys report what times you got your acceptance emails? Just to know if they went out all in one swap or if there's a possibility it'll extend until tomorrow.

Does anybody have insight into the program? Any opinions on how the program is viewed? Anybody else apply?

USC has a really great placement record for their ranking. Shockingly good actually. I'm happy I applied there and really hope I get in. So far 3 interviews and 3 likely rejects. 6 I have no idea about.

congrats... was it a standard email or personalized? I thought I had a decent shot here, damnit.

Thanks for the insights. As someone who applied to USC and Notre Dame, I'm finding this thread really useful. Another school that I applied to, and am wondering about how they are viewed, is UVA. They don't take many people and the faculty isn't that big, but the people they do have there seem pretty awesome. Anybody know how they are viewed in general. Also, any opinions about Rutgers??? It seems to be just outside the top tier... but again, really great, some superstar, faculty. Lastly, it also looks like CUNY-GC could be moving up as well. Their placements in the last couple of years seem to be getting better. And I'd also add that their rocking anthro. department will help them as interdisciplinary research becomes more prevalent.

This is a reallly interesting threat. As someone who applied to programs in the 30s and 40s (as well as top 20 ones), I'd like to know how the scene/prestige might change in the next 6-8 years.

As far as the Stanford/Berkeley decision, it realllllly depends on your specialization. I don't know why Stanford over Berkeley would be an obvious decision though (except for possible funding). Berkeley is a much cooler location (in my opinion) that palo alto. Plus you get a more activist campus, which should be a plus for sociologists I would think. And rankings wise, they might as well be even, though USNEWS gives the overall lead to Berkeley. But again, I think it comes down to specialization. also, Berkeley's program is huge, as in numbers, so I think you're going to get a wider array of professors and students; both of which I consider a plus. (it was my dream school. I say was because it looks like I didn't get admitted, and dreams tend to dissipate as quickly as they appear; but still a great school).

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Sociolog86, is there any particular reason you think that? The interview made it seem like they were interviewing everyone on their "short list," which does appear to be a pretty long short list, judging by the amount of invites.

On the USC front, does that mean that they've notified people already? Or are they securing funding before letting anybody know? I like USC a lot, so if you could answer this I'd appreciate it.

Anybody know the whole dress code for this affair? I don't know how stupid I sound asking this, but should I bring a suit or will a decent pair of pants and button down shirt do the trick? I guess I could email the coordinator of the whole thing... but I'd rather not.

I echo what ohhello said. It's just a fairly casual conversation about the things mentioned. Also, it's clear that they read your SOP, so be prepared to fill in any gaps or explicate on anything in there.