felicidad

It's not a lie. You're not saying there is something wrong with the system. You are simply asking that he submit his recommendation without outright accusing him of dropping the ball. I just think it sounds more polite to say, "Perhaps you already sent this and for some reason it's not showing up in the system" than "You didn't send one of my letters." It also has the added bonus of making it clear that the letter has not been submitted in case, like in my situation, the professor thought that they had submitted all the letters.

Does the recommender still have time to remedy the mistake? If not, then don't bother. If so, I had the same problem. My professor tried to submit six recommendations on the same night and two of them slipped through the cracks. I just sent an e-mail saying basically "The system is still reporting that your recommendation is not in. Would you mind trying to submit it again? If it still doesn't register, I will call the help line to find out what is going on." That way you're blaming an external factor and not putting them on the spot, but still making them aware of the problem.

I am another Northwestern acceptee. Didn't post on the results page, though.

I'm claiming another Columbia acceptance. Same date as all the others.

Fair enough. I did not detect the sarcasm. My bad!

I'm typically not one to call troll. Maybe someone pestered the DGS into giving them the decision early.

Quite frankly, it seemed more like s/he was implying that certain jobs are less intellectually challenging. Maybe not with the receptionist comment, but definitely the McDonald's one. I get so sick of people denigrating fast food workers. Especially sociologists, who I like to think as more enlightened than that.

Harvard Soc on the results page. *holds breath*

My bet is by the end of this week? Any takers?

I teach 6th-8th. *sticks a tongue out at you*

Yeah but there don't seem to be acceptances going out either. I'd think that an acceptance would be cheering for all the single people out there! P.S. Being a teacher is like the best on Valentine's Day. Good haul this year! Three carnations, a cup, a rose, a box of candy AND a stuffed dog. And the dog is good-sized too. Going to miss this next year...

I'd be careful about taking offense to ivy tower elitism while in the same breath insinuating that certain professions are below the one you aspire to. Especially if you actually intend to "interact with society on a more fundamental level," don't be surprised if your pity is unappreciated.

just posted that comment on the results survey? I responded to their e-mail stating, "Please accept my refusal. I don't want to belong to any department that will accept people like me as a member." Also, how did you get an acceptance from the future? Time machine? Someone please claim this. I want to talk to a crazy person.

I had the same issue recently. I usually follow the rule above of referring to people as they've introduced themselves. That resulted in me addressing emails to a DGS by her first name. If I did offend (and I still am concerned I might have), I think I made up for it by calling and asking for Professor "Y." PS, am I the only person who thinks of the X-Men every time I start to write Professor X?

I just started an e-mail to Harvard's DGS. Then I closed it because: 1) Such e-mails are inevitably annoying. 2) I know the answer will take at most another two weeks. 3) Knowing the timeline won't make the day - 2 weeks go by any faster. So instead, I wait. As my mother says, "Keep crazy to yourself."

Wow...you're like the sociology version of me! That's exactly my issue, and exactly those schools.

Just because it's normal for some colleges not to teach research methods doesn't mean a lack of training in that area won't disadvantage you. As you can see from this thread, you will competing against applicants who DO have a lot of training in theory and methods, at least at a basic level. The point is, if the OP is going into a masters program, presumably he has access to courses outside of history that would make his application stronger. So why not take them?

I think that it will actually be really transparent and make your GPA look worse if you try to boost it by taking undergraduate courses. That's like going backwards and wouldn't inspire confidence in your level of work or your judgment.

My personal opinion is that an extremely high GRE score might make the GPA look even worse by suggesting to the adcom that the applicant does not perform to potential. I'm especially concerned because it is a graduate degree. What have you done between earning the degree and now to demonstrate that you are ready to do a higher level of work? I'm sure that some schools will cut off at 3.0 instead of 3.1, but I only ask because your post implies that you are applying for schools for which a 3.1 might be a serious disadvantage.

What you posted seems to imply that you needed to have that GPA by the priority application deadline, in which case it would already be too late. :/

I think you'll only be at a big disadvantage in terms of methods training, which you could easily make up for by taking additional courses outside your field. That's just my opinion though and I'm no expert. I also think it depends on what specialization of sociology you're interested in. I think you'd have trouble convincing a committee that you'd be a good fit for science/technology with an advanced degree in History. Culture or historical sociology would be a different story.

What the heck, there's a thread about practically every other university. Seems like they're running a bit on the late side based on past years in the results survey. Anyone know anything?

Every program that I applied to had a way to check receipt of recommendations online. Did you check after they said they sent it? I checked my applications even after my recommenders said they had sent in all recommendations and found two missing. Even if they have the best intentions, recommenders can make a mistake or get confused.

Congrats!

7:30 CST.