Rose22

Thanks for your advice. I have done well, 4.0 in my sociology courses so far and I expect to be able to maintain it. I'm sure I could get several sociology professors to write an LOR. I do plan to apply broadly, as broadly as possible. In addition to sociology, I'm also applying to two Latin American Studies programs, which I think I might have a really good shot at and it would combine my Spanish major with sociology. The two programs in LA studies that I have chosen are heavily sociologically oriented, so I think in the case of those, my background is probably really advantageous. My main concern is that I don't want my minor to be treated as a lesser being by pure sociology programs. I have worked genuinely hard in sociology and I haven't shied away from the methodology/theory courses that weren't required for minors but that I took anyway.

I posted the following in the application section and was told I might get better answers here, so here it goes.

Thanks for the information! I'm hoping someone who did social sciences can chime in. It's quite funny, because I just finished my requirements for my Spanish major. I had to take 8 upper division courses in Spanish to major in it, and no more than 10 courses would count. The ironic bit is that once I have finished my degree, I'll have taken more upper division classes in my MINOR than I did in my declared major. I really hope that I'll stand a chance in the admissions game.

Hello, I am an American who will be applying to Canadian masters programs in Sociology, but I'm a little worried. Most of the schools I've looked at say you need a bachelor's in Sociology or a related discipline. I don't think my major can be considered 'related', it's a BA in Modern languages with an emphasis in Spanish. I do, however, have what I consider to be a strong minor in sociology. At the time of application, I will have completed eight upper division courses in Sociology, including statistics, sociological methods, and sociological theory. The semester after that, my last semester, I will be enrolling in 3 more courses, including a senior research seminar, but this will be after my applications have been placed. I have the following questions: Will the 8 courses at the time of application be seen as substantive enough for consideration? Would I stand a better chance by waiting a year and having those three extra courses? Is the opportunity cost worth it? If not, can I at least make mention somewhere in my application of the final 3 courses? I am taking pretty much the same number and types of sociology classes that a BS in Sociology major at my institution would take. The reason I can't call it a double major is that my school doesn't offer a BA in sociology, so I'd have to go for the BS option which would mean I'd have to take on extra non-sociology electives to be awarded two degrees.

Thanks for your encouragement, I've only just now seen this message and so I am probably resurrecting this thread a bit, but I figured I needed to elaborate based on your new information. I'll update it a bit more to present a better picture. I dual majored in Spanish & International studies, and would like to pursue one of those, but I haven't decided which. I have pretty similar grades across the board with both of them - my main issue came from core classes. I have pretty good softs with both of them - With Spanish, I studied abroad in Mexico for six months and I scored advanced-high on the ACTFL rankings, which is one away from the highest mark possible. For international relations, I am in the process of finishing up an undergraduate thesis which I will have to defend in front of an interdisciplinary committee, and which I presented at my university's undergraduate research symposium. Given that, I feel that IR is probably my better chance for acceptance in Canada. I am equally passionate about both fields, so it will mostly come down to what acceptances I can garner. I had feared, however, that IR would be far more competitive than Spanish, even though more universities in Canada offer IR than Spanish/Latin American Studies. My cGPA is quite poor, but I hope that the softs and the high upward trend will make some difference.

It was mostly my upper division courses for my major/minor, and one graduate course in my major. My major GPA is 4.0.

I am interested in applying to graduate school in Canada. The problem is, my GPA is quite low at 3.0. Most of the universities I have applied to say they look only at the last two years of study GPA more than the overall GPA. My last two years is 3.68. How much will the weighting really benefit me? Am I likely to be saved by my last two years GPA at schools that say they actively look at that or will I still be pulled down by a 3.0? None of the programs ask for GRE, so no boost from that.