sciencegirl

to the OP... did you reach higher this time around? Since you had the MA going into it this time, did you apply to much harder programs than the last time you applied? Was it not large enough of a net cast?

Hey all - I just posted my thoughts about why the admissions process is so weird to this cycle, and I mentioned the increased competition/lower acceptance rates of places such as Wisconsin. One thought that I wanted to throw out there is do you think there are more applications to Sociology phD programs than usual because of a drifting into the discipline from others? (coupled with the economy?). That is, not only are there more grad applicants, but that more students from other fields are applying into Sociology instead of other ones? I think this might be true in my case - where I think if I was applying 5-10 years ago, I would have looked into American Studies programs, maybe even social justice programs - I decided to focus on Sociology. Partially because the field seems to be opening up a bit more, that Sociology has seemed to be more encompassing of many different areas and being more accepting of interdisciplinary approaches. Also, anecdotally, I've heard of students from other disciplines, such as history, economics, psychology, ethnic studies, cultural studies - turning towards Sociology more and more as their phD field from different undergrad ones. Any thoughts on this? From my biased perspective, I would argue that maybe sociology is becoming a more "it " discipline in the social sciences?

I will second that it seems as if something seems off compared to previous years in regards to a very staggered acceptance procedure by some schools (Chicago), a question about how many waves there are or aren't in acceptances (Wisconsin, the UCs), or a slight delay from previous years (Northwestern, Harvard)... the only school that seemed to do it the old way was Princeton.. accept one day, reject the next and not leave people hanging. Perhaps the schools have gotten an unprecedented amount of applications this year and are trying to make sense of this themselves? Figure into that the importance of funding/lack of funding... also the economy, competition, the acceptance rates of places like Wisconsin plummeting... we are all probably messing up their acceptance/cohort formulas and they are trying to adjust this year?

@melusine860... ok, so there are a few of you who still haven't heard from Stanford. Last week, Stanford both sent out acceptance and rejections.. so its probably safe to assume that your application is being held as one of the maybes in the middle if you haven't heard. I believe however, schools such as UNC have already sent out acceptances.. (did @socialgroovements get in there? a few people on the board got in I thought...) but these did not send out rejections... I think for those schools it might be harder to say where you stand. It's a hard task for these adcoms since if their goal is a certain number, and every year they lose a few students to the other top 10 schools, its a tricky balancing act.

Nothing on the Harvard front. It seems that in some years they do interviews, in other years they do not. Given that there are enough strong applicants at least lurking where acceptances to Stanford, Princeton, Chicago, Madison and Berkeley have been recorded, it can be safely inferred that nothing on the board about Harvard means that nothing from Harvard has gone out yet. Perhaps next week we will hear about interviews - but maybe they will just announce acceptances and not do interviews. In regards to Stanford, @jenjenjen, @socscholar and I are three of the board results, the rest seem to be lurking or feel sheepish/secretive about their admission. Did you apply and not get rejected/hear anything yet? This seems to be the case with at least one other person on the board. It seems that they have sent out their initial admissions and have planned their admit event. However, it also seems that they have a lot of money and are expanding the Sociology department. (If you google "The Stanford Challenge" you'll learn that the University just raised $6 billion dollars in the last 5 years in a campaign drive, and the money will be partially spent on new professors and graduate fellowships). While in the past, the Soc department has aimed for smaller cohorts between 8-10, this year they seem very determined to expand by 40-50% and get 14. So what is probably going to happen is that they are going to feel out the first group in their March admit event, and play a numbers game with an informal waitlist hoping to add until they get the number they want. They probably can't go over 14, but they don't want any less than that either... so it results in a complicated dance. My perception of the program in my limited interaction with grads and their professors who have contacted me, seem to be that they are in a mindset of expanding the department. Also, I don't have numbers yet, but the structure of funding they have already guaranteed (5 years, at least 3 summers, yrs 1&5 full fellowship, 2/3/4 on RA/TA + additional funding opportunities for conferences/projects/symposiums) is pretty amazing. Are you waiting on other programs? Or better question, is there a reason why just Stanford and Harvard for the title of the post?

I would think that if you are studying something fairly recent, historically, sociology would be the way to go. I have a my BA and MA in two different fields, neither of which is strict Sociology and I went through this really crazy process of figuring out which phD program track I should go into... I looked at history actually and also American studies. A lot of mentors of mine said that my work could go through those fields, but it might actually benefit from a grounding in sociology. Also, the draw of having the job market of the larger field of Sociology was also something that was hard to ignore. (If we are complaining now about the lack of TT jobs in Soc., try coming from history or American studies)

@cupoftea... are those your first choices (Cornell/Brown?).. If you are still waiting on schools that you might go into.. at this point, I'd relax and just be happy you got in somewhere you'd be happy at. I keep telling myself that advice.. and of course taking your own advice is sometimes the hardest!

@cupoftea... I completely understand and know what you mean regarding inadequacy. I honestly had a panic attack within the 24 hours of getting in.. and was up until 4am on my school's website looking up all the course requirements, the classes, trying to predict my future schedule.. and freaking out about "what if I fail?!!" Also, I don't think its low self-esteem etc, or anything unique to you, @cupoftea, as none of my friends would describe me as that.. but I think everyone goes through these weird swings of doubt. My guess (and what my friends in grad programs have told me) is that these feelings continue in the program... I'm glad that this forum was set up to talk about this - I definitely feel terrible for people who haven't gotten into programs yet, so its hard to feel like I can talk about my anxiety about getting in. Well, I guess this is a good problem to have right? Congrats everyone!!!

OMG... I'm so glad that others feel so many similar emotions than me. I haven't been able to sleep at all since getting into a dream program this past weekend. I'm now sick since I've been tossing and turning every night, finally falling asleep at 2-3am.. wondering about moving, wondering about my life this fall. Ironically, before finding out anything from any schools, I was in bed by midnight easily so this is so weird that now after getting in, I'm having all this anxiety and nervousness.. I'm also kind of worried too about living up to expectations and hoping that I don't let any one down who believed in my application. A billion things on my mind at the moment...

Its hard to say... I have a masters in another social science/interdisciplinary field, but not Soc per se (and not History)... and I think it really depends on the program and what they want - and who you are overall as a candidate as well. @jenjenjen for instance has a Soc. background and said that Berkeley seemed to really want that (or at least thought it was a plus to her app), but at the same time, we both got into Stanford this round (but I haven't heard from Cal so i assume its a no-go, and maybe due to my non-Soc background). This shows you a bit maybe of the fickleness of programs, even at the top tier. My guess is this kind of stuff happens at all level of programs. I think that if you position your History work in a way that seems relevant to Soc than you should have no problem.. (ie, recent history of social movements).. but if you study ancient history in greece, probably won't help you.

@kbhaven.. $500 - not the best, but at least its something. @panasic... omg.. i don't know.. my guess is that you are probably on an informal WL... they seemed really dead set on making sure that they hit their cohort target this year, and they are probably seeing whether or not their 1-2 demographer admit is going to accept or not.. you mentioned that they aren't the strongest program in that area so perhaps they have a longer wait list and are holding back on it right now for your area until the others decide? If I were you, I would not contact them.. it could only hurt IMHO. I don't see how it could help, esp. since at the moment, they definitely seem to be moving full steam ahead with admit weekend. Do you have another offer you need to consider? I mean, I think the only way that it would be important for you would be if you had to make a decision soon about something... otherwise, as painful as it is, I'd keep waiting..

@panasic.. have you heard anything yet???? Are you the only person who hasn't heard back from them?

@slum... if humor points are worth anything, and if popularity on this board was a factor to consider, you'd be getting into a top 10 program no sweat... I feel it for you this week... the full acceptance is coming....

@slum... no worries. you got in already to a place right? and yes.. I was more interested on how "top #" is quite a fluid and somewhat arbitrary distinction... and also the US news stuff is now many years old...

Congrats @LOL!!!!! The first one feels great doesn't it?!! Also, @ThisSlum.. do you want to start a "top 10" thread? I dare you to. I am curious to see if there is any sort of agreement on this forum what "top 5" "top 10" or even "top 20" might be... (like a part of me is surprised that some consider UNC to be "top 5" as opposed to just "top 10" or that UCLA might only be "top 10" but Michigan is "top 5"

@thisslum... it looks like under @newsociologist's stats that the school in question is most likely Indiana.. a #11.. tough call! It's not top 10, but is it "just top 20?" Hopefully there will soon be more and more acceptances for everyone and the thread will turn from being super crazy nervous to everyone being super crazy neurotic and not knowing which program to choose! Good problem to have!

Yes.. that makes a lot of sense actually. I just got the official e-mail from the main office coordinator regarding the visit days for Stanford, and the travel days aren't part of it but they do ask you to arrive one day before and leave the day after the two days. Also, it seems like they have finalized then the initial admit list based on the group e-mail they sent out regarding the visit.. but maybe they have an informal wait list going if you haven't heard from them yet?

I was actually laughing at a 4-day visit.. do they expect you to go for all 4 days or is it more of a come if you can during these 4 days.. I can't imagine needing 4 days to do name games and campus tours with your new cohort. Also, is @jenjenjen the only acceptance from Berkeley here? It seems that she is the only confirmed post and also the only person chatting here on the forums who got in.. but is there a lurker out there? By numbers it seems odd that she is the only one.

That and being in Texas is super cheap... I forgot what someone said about funding.. how much was it?

@socquantgenderdemog Hmm... let's take two days to set up a phone call to discuss status of your application. Phone call lasts 5 seconds, only words spoken: "Sorry, we've rejected you." Now on the next scheduled phone call - RELAX... I'm almost 99% sure its an acceptance.. breathe!!!! And an early CONGRATS!!! I'm sure its only great news. If it was a real make or break it interview, they would do you the courtesy to tell you and not get your hopes up.

@xdarthveganx - I honestly don't think there's much argument with what you are saying/what most of us younger scholars all think... hence the cliche part. Weren't the quant/qual wars called a truce a few years back? Wasn't there a memo sent out about this at ASA?

I didn't think social movements was that niche now.. my impression is that there are a lot more graduate students right now working in dissertations in that area. It's probably similar to what immigration/ethnic studies was in the 1980s, where suddenly it exploded into a gigantic field. Also, in regards to LGBTQI studies, there are more sociologists studying this area as well (where previously, I think queer studies was relegated to an English/cultural studies/Judith Butler niche, where now there are dissertations being done on actual trans- experience as opposed to just "queering gender"

Hey - does anyone who is a graduate student now living on campus know how hard it would be for an incoming new graduate student to lottery and get one of the two-bedroom efficiencies? I am sorting out my budget, and I really can't pay more than $700 a month for living and was wondering what my chances would be for the two-bedroom efficiencies in EV? My parents hunch was that since it was the cheapest and we are all graduate students, those would be the ones taken first and hardest to get.. but at the same time, it looks like a lot of the law students and maybe more flush graduate students are going for some of the nicer/slightly more expensive places. Any insight to this would be great! (Ie, would it just be stupid to only submit my options for the places I can afford and risk not getting on-campus housing and having to live in a shared bedroom in East Palo Alto).

@dsmiles. sadly, I think no. We are in the dark about Brown. It doesn't seem to be many people's "top choice" though if it is yours, then you might be in luck as they might have less applicants. I also didn't notice many people applying.. it might be because we don't know much about it, hence perpetuating the loop of no one knowing much about the program. Perhaps try e-mailing their graduate students from their website.. they look like a friendly bunch! @chuck. try e-mailing faculty now at wisconsin, I'm sure you will get a response back within an hour. This has been my case now with the program I got into, and its like a light bulb switch. Once a program lets you in, they really want you to go. If you aren't feeling that from Wisconsin right now, then I would think that is weird. And about applying to programs that aren't the "Best fit" - here's the deal. This game is a gentle and complicated mating dance between you and these all-powerful beasts called sociology grad programs. Besides just "fit" we sadly need to be concerned about these factors that while we try not to think are a big deal (and try to pretend/ignore), seem to be things everyone at one point has a panic attack about: 1. funding 2. location 3 prestige/rank of program 4. actual availability of faculty we want to work with and how we "mesh" with them So when people apply, I think they take into consideration all these things, along with "fit" - and truthfully, if you are studying immigration, and a sociology program doesn't have someone you can work with.. then that's a pretty limited sociology program... The program might not be Princeton, but almost every program has someone doing immigration, along with the other big sub-fields of Soc.

i was going to say mixed methods, but felt so cliche doing so... lol