lovenhaight

I'm excited, but a bit scared. 24 hours ago my concern was whether or not I'd get in anywhere, and now my concern is navigating the job market and my husband being able to find something that he enjoys doing while I'm continuing my education. To this point, we've both been students for quite a while...it will be very different when I'm the only one in school.

Well, I'm not the one who posted the acceptance, but I'm about to post one! Woohoooooo! I'm working on a paper in our statistics lab and literally just screamed at the top of my lungs when I saw the email pop up, then ran down the hallways to our faculty offices and told everyone I saw. I think I was more anxious than I realized.

Who is claiming the Oregon acceptance? My heart is in my throat.

One of my cohort members got accepted to Kentucky yesterday as well. I don't think she's entered it on the results search, though.

My university isn't closed for the holiday, so I thought I'd check Oregon's calendar...it seems that they aren't closed for the holiday either. Hmm...

Beers all around then! I'd buy you one just on getting accepted to KU too. Even if you pick a different program, there's still that Jayhawk love.

BTW, I was told by the graduate coordinator that there isn't an official visitation weekend. Instead, accepted students can come and visit and tend to do that on their own spring break vacations. I'm not sure who "thatistheone" is, but given that they haven't posted anything other than that, I'd take his or her information with a very large grain of salt.

I agree with most of what you're saying. I would just add that I doubt that there is a largely significant correlation between top programs and potential for success in academia. So many of the indicators used to measure academic success have been shown to make little to no impact on achievement, and there's also the whole personal preference issue mixed in. In my situation, I have a very high GPA, a very high GRE score, great LORs, publications (in progress), teaching experience, etc.; however, I've chosen to apply to only two schools with only one of those being in the top 10. I know that I'm not the only one in this situation, and I'm not attempting to toot my own horn by saying this, but there are plenty of well-qualified, ambitious, and intelligent people in lower-ranked programs. I'm also coming at this as a 29 year old who has spent a lot of time working in academia on the administrative side at a prestigious public university, a smaller unranked regional state school, and a state flagship university with PhD programs that fall anywhere from the very top of the rankings scale to the mid-range (but still damn good). The R1 designation link that someone posted for clarification was from 1994...I'm assuming that things have probably changed since then. I also know that one of the factors in rankings is the amount of money that the university's foundation has. We'll begin to see more evidence of this when the state schools start dropping in rankings and the private schools move towards domination of the lists. I do think that the top 30 schools have the luxury of being the biggest fish in the pond when it comes to selecting their cohorts, but I would guess that if we commissioned a study of academic aptitude and predictors of success among students/graduates of Sociology PhD programs, we'd see a fairly even distribution of talent. And you're absolutely right, this has been an active and interesting conversation, and one that I think a lot of us feel is an important conversation to have if we hope to get away from this ivory tower elitist perspective that seems to pervade our discipline. Without being too Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on this, perhaps those of us who are tired of the elitism in the discipline could or should pledge that wherever we end up, we do what we can to minimize the biases in regards to opinions of programs.

I wouldn't worry too much. I've had contact with two POIs there, and both told me that their process is more about qualified applicants than building relationships with potential POIs or POIs "taking on" graduate students. They select the admitted cohort, then assign an initial adviser which then changes after you're there and have made personal contact and more decisions about your specific research. I hope that makes you feel a bit better. I'll cross my fingers for you if you cross your fingers for me. Hell, if we both end up at Oregon, I'll buy you a beer.

I don't think that you need to do anything other than to wait for their response to come in. If you already know that you're going to turn down the offer if one is extended, then contacting them to withdraw your application is kind of a faux pas. All you'd really be doing is burning a bridge, and that isn't a good thing to do in academia...you will inevitably cross paths at some point.

I don't really know what their ideal candidate looks like, but with any luck we will find out today or Monday. (Info from the department as of Wednesday)

Not all the large programs send everything in one day. There are some that trickle out a handful of acceptance letters, then wait a bit to send the rest of the admits and wait lists. In my experience, on the day they do that, there will be a deluge of acceptances/wait lists/rejections because they will finish the process all at once.

Do you ever actually read any of the job market publications from the ASA? They tend not to paint rosy pictures. The comments that you have made regarding your perception versus what the research actually says makes me question your background as a social researcher. This is fairly elementary stuff here, and you can't seem to grasp it.

Just to add some more perspective to the issue of rankings, here's a link to the methodology used by US News and World Report: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2011/03/14/social-sciences-and-humanities-rankings-methodology-2012 As social scientists, I would think that it should be fairly easy to see that rankings are inherently biased. Add to that the fact that 114 Sociology programs were surveyed with a 43% response rate (really, sociologists?!), and you may begin to realize that we have a "ignore the man behind the curtain" situation in regards to the great and powerful programs.

Way to research that statistic, Darth! This is a big part of why I wanted to start this thread. There seems to be so much mis- or dis-information out there, and a lot of it is in favor of continuing this elitism among the larger schools. On another note... Perhaps this is blasphemy, but I'm a bit disillusioned with the ASA of late. I think that it began when they were so hyped up about how academic sociologists aren't good at reaching out to public sociologists...and yet, there have been no real substantive motions made to create a more inclusive discipline. It seems that perhaps ASA is just another group reinforcing elitism in Sociology, at least on this topic.

Always go with academic LORs...adcomms tend not to care about who you are as a person, just how you perform academically. If academic LOR writers throw in personal info, then that's all well and good. Getting to your question though, I don't think that you can really make the decision based on what people on this forum tell you is the best choice because only you know your situation. If you like this job and it is one that you can hang onto for a while, then maybe the job is what's right for you right now. If you just want to go to a PhD program, then do that. With PhD programs, there is always next year. You just have to have a gut-check moment and decide what works for you at this point in time.

Sounds like we might hear something from Oregon on Friday at the absolute earliest, more likely next week. (Don't bank on it, but at least it gives us some idea.)

It came in sometime between 8 and 9:30 pm Eastern time. I'm not obsessed.

The best way to hunt for these is to just look at program websites. Some programs include a tuition waiver and stipend, some just a stipend...they're almost as varied as PhD programs in terms of what they offer. If a program that you're interested in doesn't discuss funding, email or call their graduate director.

Who is claiming the new UW result?

Hmm...would it be overanalyzing to think that today's slow response rate has something to do with programs not wanting to send rejections on Valentine's Day?

Because we are. I'm at home sick today and generally feel like crap, so hearing something either way would be a welcome relief.

I think that dizzidawn is saying that she used to work as a receptionist and that taking Sociology coursework made her want more for herself. I don't think that someone pointing out or insinuating that some jobs are paid less or are less prestigious is falling prey to ivy tower elitism. I think that it shows some common sense.

To want both is an absolutely acceptable answer to the question. If you know what you want, go for it full steam ahead. I simply put this suggestion forth for those who feel that the Big Name programs are the only path to a graduate education but have doubts in terms of being competitive during this application cycle. For those who aren't as sure as you are, I think that it is an important question to ask...and it may be particularly pertinent to those who have had some time away from academia.

A terminal MA or MS can be a good stepping stone for admissions to the big name schools, as it allows time to hone in on research interests, put out some publications, and take part in professional socialization. My intention isn't to suggest stopping at the terminal MA/MS, as those who wish to go on to a PhD program should select one with a thesis option, only to say not to discount the terminal MA/MS. For those who feel that a big name PhD program is the only ticket out of their current situation yet find themselves in the rejection pile their first time out, it is an absolutely viable option.