sleepycat

Hi! First I want to thank you for this thread. I have been applying and I still feel I have no idea what they are looking for. I have a few questions. 1) My first round at grad school in anthropology (see my next question) didn't go as smooth as I planed, but I am in another program (MPH) and provided I did very well (I thinking of applying to some bigger programs) would they see past the first attempt? 2) I have been bouncing back and forth between disciplines my entire academic career and my degree is an interdisciplinary (Soc/religious studies and a smattering of anthro). Does this put me at a disadvantage even if I provide a strong argument in my POS? I'm soc for sure, although I am taking a detour through public health (health inequalities, social dimensions of (un)healthy behaviors, and prevention). I know that UCSF (where I am planning to apply) has several people with MPHs on their website so I don't think that is going to be much of a problem. 3) As for publications, does it matter where the piece (provided it is peer reviewed) ends up? 4)Work experience vs. right out of an MPH/MA? I am going to have some regardless because my program gets me working out in the field, so I will have about ~1 years worth of experience, but will another 2.5 look favorable? Lastly, are committees looking for only academics (working inside of the academy) or are they open to public sociologists? Sorry for all the questions! lol Thanks again for this thread it is wicked helpful.

yeah, my profs actually said it would be better for me to get a MA before applying to phd programs so I can go to higher ranked schools, provided I do well. Also I am switching fields so it will give me a better foundation in the program I want to get into, which would be anthropology.

Did anyone that didn't get in get invited to the Draper Program?

Just received the NYU rejection, however, I was expecting it since I didn't get a phone call or email a few weeks ago.

I think Paul Willis (Learning to Labor, major cultural studies guy), is still at Princeton. I think that Princeton has a strong ethnographic section because they do single it out. Columbia also has its own section about ethnography, so look there. UC Santa Cruz, while lower ranked has several people that do qualitative methods so look there to. The one warning I will give you, I have found the lower end programs don't have a lot of qualitative people, mostly likely due to funding or just not attracting qualitative people. Although I could be because I looked for several different things and was having trouble finding all three.

I heard that it does, but I didn't apply there. Also darth, be careful about Santa Cruz, they don't fund your whole experience leaving you to make up a good portion of expenses. I am going for my unfunded MA at a local state school on the advice of my professors, who think I would be more competitive at bigger schools with the MA rather then going straight in with a good but not great GPA. I considered Columbia and Brandeis, but at $60,000+ I can't afford it because I do not want to be in that much debt for the rest of my life. I would rather go a fraction of that in debt (~$16,000 for 3 years) into a top school because I will do well in the MA program. It is going to take me longer to get the PhD because it is 3 years at least, but in that time I can make connections with people that went to top programs and have a much better writing samples. Pedigree might hurt me a bit though. Also I am switching to Anthro, so I need to make up courses that I missed as an undergraduate (upperdivision).

While my profile is pretty locked down, I tend to report my emotional rollercoaster ride so it is the only thing that I shouldn't be posting and I try not to post them anymore. i don't go out with friends that use their cameras very often, so I don't have a lot of pictures of me up. Basically if it something I don't want online in the first place I don't post it. I also changed my last name on my profile a bit so searches don't pop up, but people still know who I am. I also like controlling who wants to be friends so usually I send requests out. I just googled myself and just my profiles to HASTAC, Facebook ( I made two a long time ago by accident), G+, and LinkedIn come up so it is a positive search.

kind of

Ugh...I took a class from him for like a month and hated the class. (I went to Pitzer)

Oh I see! lol

UoC less prestigious?!

Question: What if the article is not in the field? Does it give any points or is it pointless? I am toying with an article now that will go into a communications oriented special issue on digital methods. I do research methods as one of my research areas, so it is beneficial to my research, but I don't know how adcomms in the other social sciences would view it.

Age: 24 Gender: Male Race/Ethnicity: White Location: US Sexual Orientation: Bi/Gay

just got the email I didn't want to get, oh well.

Rejected officially from Santa Cruz. Oh well, like I said on the survey, I was meant to get the MA first, which I am now in the process of doing, but in a new field. T.T

high way

couples therapy

Third. Though I am likely not to accept because of deciding to switching disciplines

Second!

gah guys you are making it sound that I will never get into graduate school, although Berkeley and the top 20 aren't where I am supposed to be so I wonder if it is any different at lower level schools or if it is applicable to Anthropology since I am switching disciplines.

virgin margarita

2 things 1. If you want to be inclusive then you must include South America, after all they are part of America too. 2. I take it you don't see yourself as an educator and won't like to teach all the cool things you have learned to other people. Where is the fun in just learning it and writing it up to put in books that only a few will read? Even the process of research is a form of education, although a form of self-directed one, but still. Frankly, it sounds like you want to use your knowledge to be better then others and that is not what the ph.d is for.

social structure

Okay just as a long time observer and poster of forums, I am so amused right now on how one person will say something controversial and somewhat unrelated to the initial intent and then the whole thread just unravels. Okay, I think there is some truth to the best students going to the high ranked schools, and therefore it reproduces the rankings. Education does (re)produce different strata based on levels of prestige and you will get different levels of education at different schools. This is not to say it was always this way with the concept of education in the past or in all cultures. I think this debate is not answerable in just sociology, but rather anthropology and to pretend that sociology has all the answers to this question falls into the trap of narrow, definable disciplines, which we are all guilty of (re)producing. And honestly this is why I feel awkward in Sociology and at top 20 schools because of all this border patrol on what is Sociology and what it is not just feeds into a paradigm of black and white thinking, when the world is a big grey blob, full of things that blend together. (Sorry, just unraveled the thread again )

I see your point.