jenjenjen

Hey everybody,

I appreciate the feedback, and I have some responses/ additions, although I stand by most of what I said.

With regards to my "freedom to do research quote" I agree that I over generalized. There are always a million limiting factors that play into the research you are able to do. I was speaking more in terms of the long run. If I am able to get tenure somewhere someday, it will allow me a great deal more academic freedom.

With regards to the hubbub on elitism, I am speaking from a purely pragmatic standpoint. I want to get a tenure track job after getting my PhD, and that is incredibly hard to do right now. Going to a top ranked institution (and working as hard as I can while there) increases the odds of that happening. Also, my interests are broad enough right now that I felt comfortable applying to a few different top ranked programs. If you want to specialize in something specific, then that is certainly a reason to shoot for a specific program, but I am not willing to pigeonhole myself into a topic this early in my career. The "Historical Comparative Economic sociology" definition is about as specific as I want to get.

I'm sorry if I offended anybody, but I stand by what I said. It is an incredibly competitive market out there. I would say the the top 30 sociology programs graduate 300-350 PhDs every year, and there are simply not 300-350 tenure track openings in sociology departments every year. I don't have any stats to back that up, but I would be surprised if I am wrong. If your goal is to land a tenure track job, you need to go to as prestigious of a school as possible, work as hard as you can, and get lucky.

Edit: Also, the comment from my professors about "top ten schools" came when they asked me what I wanted to do with a PhD, and I said get tenure at a school, so I do have a specific process in mind that somewhat qualifies that statement.

days without clouds and mountains on the horizon, the feeling after a long run, opening a bottle of wine, the people i meet while travelling, cooking without a recipe, debating politics with my dad, trivia nights at my local brewery, sex, pretty much any live music, my little brother, okay all my family, finishing a bottle of wine, thunderstorms, reading a good book, reading a really trashy romance novel, thinking about the future, painting my nails to look vaguely reminiscent of an acid trip, volunteering with mentally or physically handicapped children, working with homeless adults, pickup soccer, really easy hip-hop dance classes, yoga, my therapist, turning off my cell phone, fireworks and bonfires, being on boats, OKAY SOMEONE PLEASE STOP ME

days without clouds and mountains on the horizon, the feeling after a long run, opening a bottle of wine, the people i meet while travelling, cooking without a recipe, debating politics with my dad, trivia nights at my local brewery, sex, pretty much any live music, my little brother, okay all my family, finishing a bottle of wine, thunderstorms, reading a good book, reading a really trashy romance novel, thinking about the future, painting my nails to look vaguely reminiscent of an acid trip, volunteering with mentally or physically handicapped children, working with homeless adults, pickup soccer, really easy hip-hop dance classes, yoga, my therapist, turning off my cell phone, fireworks and bonfires, being on boats, OKAY SOMEONE PLEASE STOP ME