breaks0

I'm not sure what's considered a low math score. I believe mine was a 150 under this newer system, which is very low, though my other sections were near 100 percentile.

I'm gonna be the cynic, b/c that's what I've been reduced to. Because I've applied 2 years in a row and your fear is what's happened to me. I'm not gonna go into how it's screwed up every area of my life. But be prepared, it's so competitive your fears may be realized you may not get in. That's just the reality. That said, you're on this board and asking early and you're a talented undegrad. It's very common for people in your shoes to fear that and after a stressful year of doing all the bs that goes into the apps, they end up fine. That'll probably be you as long as you work hard and take the good advice offered on this board and other boards on grad cafe. Good luck.

Not true in my experience, it DOES reflect one's ability. Whatev, it probably depends on one's fit in the program and alot of other factors as well.

Why is that again? At least 1 of the places I applied said the opposite, they cared more about my ma and other grad school grades than undergrad ones, otherwise why ask for the transcripts from any grad level coursework? Fine, maybe they are "inflated" and of little use to you, but I wouldn't just dismiss them as "unreal." Plenty of undergrad programs have grade inflation as well (see Harvard for ex). And ultimately, at least if I was on an adcomm, I'd be more interested in someone's numbers if they have previous grad level coursework since it's frankly more likely to be closer to the type of work my dept would expect of them than what they've done at the undergrad level (at least hypothetically speaking). I'm not saying how many adcomms in sociology or other social sciences operate that way, nor that it should necessarily exclude those w/good gpa's who only have bachelor's degrees, but you're argument seems to go too far.

Sorry to hear and thanks Shiva. I can see Toronto's dept is good, but given its size (number of facuty) I'm quite surprised they take so few people. The school has alot more money than York and I would've thus expected them to take more foreigners. I'm not totally sure what happened w/York, I think my "POI" gave me some inaccurate info about my chances in the course of my phone interview, leading me to think I had a better shot than I actually did. As far as the US goes, I don't know, my GRE math score was poor, the ranking percentile anyway, my CV is weak on work experience and I guess at this point b/c I haven't been a fulltime student in a few years and maybe my refs and statements weren't strong and/or focused enough, this kept me out of everywhere. In the US schools, probably my interest in Marxism and rural political economy/development probably didn't help. Since this is the 2nd year in a row this has happened (at least I got 1 unfunded offer a year ago from the US), I'm out of ideas where my life will go from here. My high student debt makes all that worse, so I'm feeling worried about my future and burnt out now. .

I only applied to York in this field and b/c the grad student union has won their recent strike and since I was mistaken about being accepted (my interview was confusing), it appears I won't go there. Or anywhere else in the fall in any field, I'm 0-10 or 0-11 on phd apps this season. For many reasons, my academic future is in the gutter and may be down the drain, it's not looking good at all. Good luck to the rest of you.

Update, b/c the grad student union has won the strike at York and since I was mistaken about my acceptance, it appears I won't be going to York. Or else anywhere in the fall, I'm 0-10 or 0-11 on phd apps this Fall. For many reasons, my academic future is in the gutter and may be down the drain, it's not looking good at all. Good luck to the rest of you.

Agreed w/the others, would you really want your career prospects in the hands of someone like that, let alone would you be happy working w/for him? Hierarchy aside, what he said and the way he did so sounds at best impolite and, frankly, unprofessional. You seem to have fortuitously made the right decision, at least in regards to that school.

I thought I got in and the situation is complicated, but basically I'm still siting on a waitlist, so I was wrong. The interview I had was confusing in that regard. IM me if you wanna know more. Thanks, I appreciate all you've said and you're basically right. Sociology in the US isnt that field, w/a few exceptions, I've learned that the hard way. I've found the right field, sociology in Canada or elsewhere or some areas of human geography (for my interests anyway) but then the cost becomes job market viability upon graduation and funding to get in. There's a mass student strike spreading across Canada atm which has held up my application, which has aggravated the situation. What it comes down to this is this, I can't do my research if I don't get that silly degree. At least then I'd have the makings of the kind of manuscript in the dissertation that I want to write and hopefully publish somewhere eventually, b/c I know what I want to do, even if that means after the phd a non-academic career. And to me finishing my education is a big deal, key life goal. Anyway, now I don't know, such is life. Good luck to everyone who has gotten in somewhere. Thanks, hugs and best of success to you as well!

My life is in the trash heap, I can't do this anymore, rejected by all but 1 school which gave no funding last year, rejected from 10 (including 8 sociology programs) and 3 de facto waitlists this year. I'm in a huge financial hole to the point of needing to go on public assistance now (applications are f-ing expensive!), I think the phd is now unattainable and I dont even know if I can get a professional masters. I'm obviously incompetent and don't know how to do this game, I've read alot of the advice but convincing an adcomm seems a magic trick to me. You can only gutwrench yourself into poverty so many times before it becomes unsustainable to continue. Full of regret and dejection.

What is GIS?

Did you get any offers?

I have another question about Trillium if anyone is stil reading this or knows. So I inquired the other day at York and was instructed, as it also says on the website, that you have to be nominated by the department where you're accepted. So this isn't something you can just apply to you on your own, no? I was informed that the department effectively ranks those it accepts and they inform those within their nominee quota (1 or however many) that they chooses to nominate. I asked my prospective program director and so far no response, and I'm guessing it's probably too late now since there are only a few weekdays left till the deadline. I would have liked to have gone for this b/c it really could make taking my offer possible, wheras w/o it, I'm now leaning against taking it. This is nervewracking.

Can I ask is this open to foreign students or just Canadian ones? And can you apply directly or do you need to be nominated by your department? I don't think Trillium is going to work, maybe I got on it too late... well I'll post that on the other thread I started. Anyway good luck.

Can you name some Darth? And do any of them have enough fin aid to give you a full ride or partial ride even? I almost applied to york phd and chose geog there at last minute, everyone's heard that story by now.

Good luck Shiva. I came very close to applying to Toronto, but ended up going for a different dept, which didn't work out and I now regret it. I have, however, effectively gotten into York, but like you would be a foreign student. The big issue for me is funding for tuition b/c there's very little for people like us and we pay a much higher tuition, I'm guessing Toronto has a bit more. I would love to take the offer, but am really in a dilemma b/c it's expensive (despite the stipend they give you) and so leaves you w/debt, but I didn't get in anywhere else either. So I feel like I'm kind of "up a creek," so to speak. Have to make a decision by the end of next month. Hope you get into U of T, then maybe we could meet up. Best of luck!

Thanks for additional responses. I forgot to mention, they do give a stipend of over 21k canadian dollars for living expenses, which is plenty of course for that purpose. But the tuition equals nearly that much which you have to pay yourself, so you're practically paying for your own stipend. And the dept's grad program assistant told me most phd students don't usually attain perm residency until their 4th year in the program. At that point when your tuition then drops to the canadian rate, the stipend is usually enough to cover your tuition too. But that's likely at least 3 years and alot of money spent down the road from when you enter the program.

Hopkins is starting to send decisions, at least the no's.

I didn't get into Santa Barbara, among alot of other US schools. Anderson and Robinson responded to my intro emails, but John Foran was the most helpful in his email reply to me when I wrote to him. I liked Robinson's approach especially and I targeted all the Marxist sociology programs in the country (except nyu for a specific reason I'd rather not say publicly), it's just hard getting into all of them as I've said on the accept/reject thread. But thanks for the suggestion I'll look.

This has been a shitty day, can't even get into Binghamton. Looks like I'm going to Canada.

SDR, I took a seminar there last semester so I know some of the faculty and students in that and some other depts. I wanted to make friendships w/some of them so this has become a bit personal for me, you get (well I do) emotionally invested in a place when you take several classes there, though some were a long time ago. I'll im you the answers to your questions. Congrads also to the binghamton acceptances. I hope I'm still in the running there, it's my last realistic shot in the US.

Would someone explain how results are reported to the results page search engine here? Is it done by us or by the depts/admissions offices @ the schools? No one's explained it before.CUNY was nice enough to promptly respond to my limbo status within 24 hours of me asking, w/the expected reject. I wonder if I'm one of those 5 rejects listed today, though obviously I didn't report it. I'm left feeling as crushed as the rest of you who haven't gotten in anywhere (even though I got into 1 place). My cv (meaning the total package of all my skills and experience) and math gre suck and I guess having 3 a minuses in course credits there and a ma w/an even higher gpa in diff field from another local school isn't enough for their ad comms. I'm not the perfect fit, it's probaby not the best dept there for me and I didn't flirt w/the ad comm chair b/c his interests had little to do w/mine. I dunno I think genuinely they made the mistake, I was clearly smarter than some of my classmates from that dept in the small seminar I just aced. I know this'll upset some people but thats just true. That said, this was my best shot to stay home in nyc and I've lived here over 15 years so I have reaons to want to stay. It's still a good dept faculty wise and there were enough people close to my interests, I shouldn'tve been rejected and it just makes things more difficult in my personal and every other area of life, I don't need any more of this! I get it hits close to home also b/c the Marxist depts are the ones rejecting me as well, it's the fact that it's here on top specifically of schools like Berkeley, Santa Barbara and to some extent Wisconsin (applied to nyu in another field for some specific reasons, that isnt gonna work out probably either).

Totally! I agree w/you 100% and feel the same way in alot of ways. I have a backup up north (Canada), but there are problems w/the offer I've .gotten. How to put this? If you know you wanna do this field, or whatev field you want, and its at all possible (esp at the financial level) to pursue it, don't give up! I'm beginning to think this is a bad year obviously, it's very competitive and you get a sense from the thread how in demand the top people are. But on some level, you have to block out the negativity, from your fam and SO and all the pressure of the waiting, the rejects, everything. And persist. The MA backup idea in the meantime if you dont have one isnt a bad idea, though it can be costly. Wait till all your decisions come in, hopefully you get an offer and you try to do something else if you can. This is my 2nd year doing this, I wish I could say it gets easier, for some people it has, maybe try to strengthen your portfolio in weak areas as much as you can if you do have to go through all this again. And ask the profs, you poi's or someone what they didn't like about your app maybe so you can fix it next time either at their school or wherever else you apply.

Good advice, it's a top 20 school so no surprise. It's all about name recognition. They do all the substantive stuff you talk about, not denying it, but top 20s and below seem to want people who've (ideally done an ma or high level undergrad) and work/field experience and published if possible. Any idea where you're going next year?

lol I don't mean to sound snarky, but look @ this thread? What do they expect? I think most posters here have gotten in somewhere by now, w/funding, but many haven't or not into our preferred choice(s). If we have to sweat it out day after day not knowing how our futures are gonna turn out, I think they can put up w/some phonecalls, even alot of them.