jenjenjen

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

About your dog: I think that depends entirely on you and your program. I am in a social science program where the majority of my analysis and writing can be done from home, and I prefer to work from home or from a library (as opposed to my cube in the windowless cube farm). When I was taking classes I was generally there from 9-6 or so, but now that my coursework is finished I am rarely at the school itself. I go for meetings, seminars, interesting kinds of things and I do most of my work remotely. My time is verrry flexible, and if my building didn't prohibit it I would get a dog in a heartbeat. Another thing to keep in mind: a dog can be a great comfort when you're all stressed out over graduate school.

Advice?

Age:
-Don't feel like you have nothing to offer just because you are younger. I was 22 when I started graduate school. You got accepted to the program for a reason, and chances are you are just as equipped as any older students are to successfully complete the program, just in a different way.

-Your older classmates may be just as terrified as you. Talk to them. You have a lot in common. You are, after all, in the same place.

-You will feel like an imposter, like you don't belong, or like you are constantly behind. Or all three. It's normal. It will pass. (Well, sort of.) People of all ages go through this.

Adviser related:
-If you are lucky enough to get both research interest fit and personality fit perfect, congratulations! But sometimes, personality fit is more important than research interest fit as long as the research isn't too different. A great adviser is interested in your career development, likes you as a person, advocates for you, and wants to hear your ideas. Even if his or her research is quite different from yours, they may give you the autonomy to work on your own projects and just supervise you. A bad personality fit will drive you nuts, even if you love his or her research. Consider that when evaluating your adviser fit. (This will vary by field: research fit may be less important in the humanities, more important in the natural and physical sciences. Social sciences are somewhere in-between.)

-Don't be afraid to be straight up blunt with your adviser when it comes to asking about your progress. Ask if you are where you should be both academic program wise and getting-a-job-after-this-mess-wise.

-Be proactive. Advisers love when you draw up an agenda for your one-on-one meetings, come with talking points and progress to share, have concrete questions to ask, and have overall shown that you have been thoughtful and taken control of your own program. Of course, this won't immediately come easily to you, but in time you will work up to it. Every semester I type up my semester goals, and at the beginning of the year I type up annual goals. I show them to my adviser and we talk about whether they are too ambitious, or whether I need to revise them, and how I can meet them.

-Don't expect your adviser to actually know what courses you have to take to graduate. They will know about comprehensive exams and the dissertation, but a lot of professors don't really keep up with the course requirements, especially if their program is in flux. Get you a student handbook, and find out what you need to take. Map it out in a grid, and check off things when you finish them. Show this to your adviser every semester. You may have to explain how such and such class fills a requirement.

-Nobody loves you as much as you, except your mother. Keep this in mind as you take in advice from all sources, including your adviser. Your adviser is there to guide you, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything he says.

Studying:
-You will have to read more than you ever did before, in less time than you ever have before, and you will be expected to retain more than you ever have before. The way that you studied in undergrad may need some tweaking. Be prepared for this.

-Corollary: you may find that your methods change with age or interests or time. I preferred to study alone in college, but in grad school, I prefer to study in groups. It keeps me on task and the socialization keeps me motivated. You may find that you shift from being a more auditory learner to a visual learner or whatever.

-You will feel behind at first. This is normal.

-At some point you will realize that your professors don't actually expect you to read everything they assign you. This, of course, will vary by program, but there will be at least one class where the reading is actually impossible to do in one week. The point is to read enough that you know the major themes and can talk intelligently about them, and then pick some of the readings to really dig into and think more deeply about.

-For most programs, don't worry so much about grades. If you stay on top of your work and do what you're supposed to, you will probably get an A. How much grades matter varies from program to program. In some programs, a B is a signal that you are not up to par, and more than a few Bs will warrant a discussion with your adviser or the DGS. My program isn't like that - A, B, it's all meaningless. My adviser doesn't even know what my grades are. But at almost all programs, a C means you need to retake the course, and two Cs means you have to convince the DGS not to kick you out.

Extracurricular activity: What's that? No, seriously:
-A lot of your time will be unstructured. You will have coursework, but most grad classes meet once a week for two hours and you may have three classes. You may have meetings with your adviser every so often and some seminars or things to catch (like we have grand rounds and colloquia that are required), but a lot of time will be unstructured. However, since you have so much more work than you had in undergrad, you actually will have less free time than you had in undergrad. This may initially cause you great anxiety. It did for me. Some people love unstructured time, though. (I don't.)

-Because of this, you'll have to be planful about your non-grad school related stuff.

-TAKE TIME OFF. DO it. It's important for your mental health. However you do it doesn't matter. Some people work it like a 9-5 job. Some people take a day off per week (me) and maybe a few hours spread across the week. Some people work half days 7 days a week. However you do it, there needs to be a time when you say "f this, I'm going to the movies."

-Find your happy place, something that keeps you the you you were when you came in. I love working out. It gives me energy and I feel good. I stay healthy. I also love reading fiction, so sometimes I just curl up with a good book, work be damned. You have to give yourself permission to not think about work, at least for a couple of hours a week. You may also discover new hobbies! (I never worked out before I came to graduate school.)

-Your work will creep into all aspects of your life, if you let it. This is why I hate unstructured time. You will feel guilty for not doing something, because in graduate school, there is ALWAYS something you can do. ALWAYS. But since there will always be more work, there's no harm in putting it aside for tomorrow, as long as you don't have a deadline.

-You may need to reach outside of your cohort for a social life. None of my close friends are in my doctoral cohort. I've met master's students in my program, master's students in other programs, and I know a few non-graduate students I hang out with, too. Go to graduate student mixers. (If your university doesn't have any, organize some, if you like planning parties.) Join a student group that doesn't take up too much time. I had a doctoral acquaintance who kinda laughed at me because I joined some student groups other than the doctoral student one, and I was usually the only doctoral student in those groups, but I met some close friends (and future job contacts) and had a good time.

-DO NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL. This is paramount. This is important. You are a well-rounded, complex, multifaceted human being. NEVER feel bad for this. Everybody wants some kind of life outside of work. Yes, you may loooove your field, but that doesn't mean you want to do it all day long. Some other doctoral students, and perhaps professors, may make you feel bad about this. Don't let them. Just smile and nod. Then disappear when you need to.

Career:
-This is job preparation. Remember that from Day One. Always be looking for ways to enhance your skills. Read job ads and find out what's hot in your field, what's necessary, what's in demand. For example, in my field statistics and methods are a hot commodity, and they're not a passing fad. I happen to really like statistics and methods, so I have pursued that as a concentration of mine.

-Don't be afraid to take on volunteer work and part-time gigs that will give you skills that will be useful both inside academia and out, as long as it's not against your contract. Your adviser may be against it, but he doesn't have to know as long as it doesn't interfere with your work.

-If you want to work outside of academia - if you are even *considering* the possibility - please please definitely do the above. Even if you aren't considering it, consider the possibility that you won't get a tenure-track job out the box and that you may need to support yourself doing something else for a while. You will have to prove to employers that you have developed usable, useful skills and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. But don't overdo it - get the degree done.

-For more academic related ones - always look for opportunities to present and publish. Presentations look good on your CV. Publications look better. When you write seminar papers, wonder if you can publish them with some revision. Write your seminar papers on what you maybe think you may want to do your dissertation on. Even if you look at them three years later and think "these suck," you can at least glean some useful references and pieces from them. Discuss publication with your adviser early and often, and if you have the time and desire, seek out publication options with other professors and researchers. But if you commit to a project, COMMIT. You don't want to leave a bad impression.

-If you can afford it, occasionally go to conferences even if you aren't presenting. You can network, and you can hear some interesting talks, and you may think about new directions for your own research. You can also meet people who may tell you about jobs, money, opportunities, etc.

-Always try to get someone else to pay for conference travel before you come out of pocket. Including your adviser. Do not be shy about asking if he or she can pay. If he can't, he'll just say no. Usually the department has a travel fund for students, but often it's only if you are presenting.

-If you are interested in academia, you should get some teaching experience. There are two traditional ways to do this: TAing a course, and teaching as a sole instructor. If you can help it, I wouldn't recommend doing a sole instructor position until you are finished with coursework. Teaching takes a LOT of time to do right. You should definitely TA at least one course, and probably a few different ones. But don't overdo it, if you can help it, because again, it takes a LOT of time. More than you expect at the outset. If you are in the humanities, I think sole instructor positions are very important for nabbing jobs so when you are in the exam/ABD phase, you may want to try at least one. If your own university has none, look at adjuncting for nearby colleges, including community colleges. (I would wager that the majority of natural science/physical science students, and most social science students, have never sole taught a class before they get an assistant professor job. At least, it's not that common n my field, which straddles the social and natural sciences.)

-Always look for money. Money is awesome. If you can fund yourself you can do what you want, within reason. Your university will be thrilled, your adviser will be happy, and you can put it on your CV. It's win-win-win! Don't put yourself out of the running before anyone else has a chance to. Apply even if you think you won't get it or the odds are against you (they always are), as long as you are eligible. Apply often. Apply even if it's only $500. (That's conference travel!) Money begets money. The more awards you get, the more awards you will get. They will get bigger over time. If you are in the sciences and social sciences, you should get practice writing at least one grant. You don't have to write the whole thing, but at least get in on the process so that you can see how it's done. Grant-writing is very valuable both in and outside of graduate school.

-Revise your CV every so often. Then look and decide what you want to add to it. Then go get that thing, so you can add it.

-The career office at big universities is often not just for undergrads. I was surprised to learn that my career center offers help on CV organization and the academic job search, as well as alternative/non-academic career searches for doctoral students. In fact, there are two people whose sole purpose it is to help PhD students find nonacademic careers, and they both have PhDs. This will vary by university - some universities will have very little for grad students. Find out before you write the office off.

-It's never too early to go to seminars/workshops like "the academic job search inside and out", "creating the perfect CV," "getting the job," etc. NEVER. Often the leader will share tips that are more aimed towards early graduate students, or tidbits that are kind of too late for more advanced students to take care of. This will also help you keep a pulse on what's hot in your field. It'll help you know what lines you need to add to your CV. And they're interesting.

Other:

-Decide ahead of time what you are NOT willing to sacrifice on the altar of academia. Then stick to it.
I'm serious. If you decide that you do NOT want to sacrifice your relationship, don't. If it's your geographical mobility, don't. I mean, be realistic, and realize that there will always be trade-offs. But you have to think about what's important to you for your quality of life, and realize that there is always more to you than graduate school.

-If you don't want to be a professor, do not feel guilty about this. At all. Zero. However, you will have to do things differently than most doctoral students. Your adviser will probably never have worked outside of the academy (although this may vary depending on the field) so he may or may not be able to help you. But you have a special mission to seek out the kinds of experiences that will help you find a non-academic job. Test the waters with your adviser before you tell him this. My adviser was quite amenable to it, but that's because I told him that my goal was to still do research and policy work in my field just not at a university, AND because it's quite common in my field for doctoral students to do non-academic work. If you're in a field where it's not common (or where your professors refuse to believe it's common, or it's not supposed to be common)…well, you may be a little more on your own.

-Every so often, you will need to reflect on the reasons you came to graduate school. Sometimes, just sit and think quietly. Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you love your field? Do you need this degree to do what you want to do? Usually the answer is yes and yes, and usually you'll keep on trucking. But sometimes when the chips are down you will need to reevaluate why you put yourself through this in the first place.

-To my great dismay, depression is quite common in doctoral students. Graduate work can be isolating and stressful. Luckily your health insurance usually includes counseling sessions. TAKE THEM if you need them. Do not be ashamed. You may be surprised with who else is getting them. (I found out that everyone in my cohort, including me, was getting mental health counseling at a certain point.) Exercise can help, as can taking that mental health day once a week and just chilling. Don't be surprised if you get the blues…

-…but be self-aware and able to recognize when the depression is clouding your ability to function. Doctoral programs have a 50% attrition rate, and this is rarely because that 50% is less intelligent than, less motivated than, less driven than, or less ambitious than the other 50% that stays. Often they realize that they are ridiculously unhappy in the field, or that they don't need the degree anymore, or that they'd rather focus on other things in life, or their interests have changed. All of this is okay!

-You will, at some point, be like "eff this, I'm leaving." I think almost every doctoral student has thought about dropping out and just kicking this all to the curb. You need to listen to yourself, and find out whether it is idle thought (nothing to worry about, very normal) or whether you are truly unhappy to the point that you need to leave. Counseling can help you figure this out.

-Don't be afraid to take a semester or a year off if you need to. That's what leaves of absence are for.

Lastly, and positively…

…graduate school is great! Seriously, when else will you ever have the time to study what you want for hours on end, talk to just as interested others about it, and live in an intellectual community of scholars and intellectuals? And occasionally wake up at 11 am and go to the bank at 2 pm? Sometimes you will want to pull out all of your hair but most of the time, you will feel fulfilled and wonderfully encouraged and edified. So enjoy this time!

I indeed read the whole post before commenting the first time, but the reason it sounded like you were referring to Africa as a whole is that you quoted someone who said they wouldn't mind getting a job "in Africa" and responded with a vague "there," indicating that you were responding directly to that person's statement about the whole continent of Africa. Though it may have been an intentional "there," referring to the university that your friend works at, it didn't appear that way to me. If you are well-versed in anti-colonial works, which I'm sure you are, I trust you have had more than one encounter with the narrative of Africa as one big, savage land as opposed to a continent made up of very different countries, cultures, and experiences. Your original statement seemed to fit into that narrative, and once I found out that you didn't mean that, I apologized. I think your continued defensive tone, despite my apology and your original ambiguous statement, is unnecessary. I understand your statement was more specific than it appeared to me, and I thank you for clearing that up for me.

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

ohhello, I'm going to give you three pieces of anecdata from my own experience which you are, of course, free to ignore. The first is that the people I turn to for advice/support academically are not my cohortmates primarily because they're in the same place I am and thus not really in a position to offer me helpful advice. Number 2, I haven't and won't co-author with the others in my program because, at least right now, there aren't enough similarities in what we're working on for any of us to do with without putting aside our own dissertation research. While this is definitely not true for everyone in my program, it is true for at least half of us, if not more. Third, you don't really know what you're getting when you meet people at a visitation weekend. Personally, I don't pay much attention to those visiting or give them very much of my time. They get that if they show up on campus in August, not by visiting in March or April. I doubt I'm a very good representative of my department then but that's because I'm usually wrapped up in my own stuff and trying to find 30 minutes to spare to potentially waste on someone that I'll never even see again. I realize this sounds rude but it's true and becomes even more true the more visiting weekends you have to suffer through.

Two more points and then I've gotta go do some work.
1) When I was visiting programs, I was not at all concerned with impressing the other people visiting. If you don't know why I want to go to graduate school and you want to, that's your problem, not mine.
2) All cohorts will have their superstars, the majority of the folks in the middle, and a few people that struggle and/or eventually drop out, for whatever reason. If departments could predict who those students would be in advance, admissions would certainly be different than they are. You get what you get, in a lot of ways. Not every student at Harvard is a superstar, you know? And, sometimes the people that you would least expect to be successful are. I was a solid "middle of the pack" grad student my first few years, then I steadily started writing successful grants to fund my research and ended up with better funding than anyone else in my cohort. I can assure you that no one, not the adcom, not my advisor, and certainly not me, would've guessed that would happen 4 years ago when I decided to enroll.

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

So this might sound kind of strange but I often use "progressive muscle relaxation" to help combat anxiety with public speaking like things. You should be able to google it, and it's a technique often used to reduce physical responses to stress. It involves a whole process of tightening and releasing specific muscles while focusing of the buildup and release of tension, plus deep relaxing breathing. I use it to help fall asleep on occasion butttt I've realized that after "practicing" it a bit, I can go through a few of the steps in public and calm myself down. I usually get super hot, red, and shaky when nervous but before i have to speak, if I focus on deep breathing, and clenching and releasing my foot/calf/etc muscles I can reduce my stress response. It's not like a magic cure but it does help! Or you might be able to find something similar that works for you (such as using visualizing meditation at home, and then doing a quick 2 minute meditation before entering a stressful situation). Sorry if that sounds hokey or whatever haha.

Haha i was loathe to chime in seeing as everyone else took such a professional approach to facebook, but mine, too, is pretty terrible. While I have high protections on, I also have about 800 friends and 2000 photos tagged of me. And while you'd have to be rather committed to search past all the photos of me travelling, graduating, and posing in the "sorority squat," I'm sure there are some in there in which I am clearly less than sober. Or dressed up for the unfortunately misogynistic and even boderline racist themed fraternity parties (think cowboys and indians, not black face). Also lots where I'm in a swimsuit... ugh I'm going through it now. And while I don't post anything one would be easily offended by, it's pretty easy to tell I'm of the liberal persuasion. But no off color jokes or the like...

Basically I think I would come off as fairly juvenile. And ridiculous. But when this was gradually being created over my highschool/undergrad days I WAS juvenile and ridiculous. And I kinda enjoyed it. So I don't really want to take it all down, and it's still my best way of keeping in touch with quite a large number of people. That being said, I don't friend faculty, older grad students, nor students of my own. But due to the whole 800 friends and all their friends-of-friends, it's probably not as private as I'd like to think. Sigh... well at least you all have given me some impetus to prune my friends list and perhaps clean up my photos from freshman year.

Yeah i would try and get in contact with a grad student at the school you are visiting, if possible. I would say I was "overdressed" at my last visit to UW - and i was wearing a value village sweater dress, leggings, and low heeled ankle boots. The next day i wore grey boot cut corduroys, red shoes, and a (niceish) white t-shirt and I felt more on standard. I think slacks or serious heels would have been out of place at this visit, but it may well vary from school to school. Generally it seemed like there were far more grad students in jeans than prospective students in jeans...

I didn't contact any professors before application time (some schools actually discourage it) but still wanted to sound knowledgeable about the schools to which I was applying. So I sort of edged around the issue by saying something along the lines of "At XYZ University, I am especially intrigued by the work of Drs. ABC and DEF and would relish the opportunity to learn and work in the same environment." So I wasn't entirely saying that I absolutely wanted to work with John Smith, but that I was aware of the faculty whose interests align with my own.

Yeah i would try and get in contact with a grad student at the school you are visiting, if possible. I would say I was "overdressed" at my last visit to UW - and i was wearing a value village sweater dress, leggings, and low heeled ankle boots. The next day i wore grey boot cut corduroys, red shoes, and a (niceish) white t-shirt and I felt more on standard. I think slacks or serious heels would have been out of place at this visit, but it may well vary from school to school. Generally it seemed like there were far more grad students in jeans than prospective students in jeans...

Officially decided on the University of Washington.

you should go something like this


Dear Princeton University,

Thank you for rejecting my application for the fall 2012 admission. While I assure you that your rejection letter was carefully reviewed by me, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission to your department.

This year, I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of programs rejecting me, it is impossible for me to accept all rejections.
My rejection decisions take into account not only the universities’ prestige, but also the suitability of the department’s program to my personal interest. Hence, despite your university's outstanding qualifications and previous experiences in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will join the ranks of graduate students in your department this fall. I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,
Meep

I agree w/whoever said only you know what the right choice is. I met my partner in a similar situation...she was graduating from Penn State (i graduated from there the previous year) and we literally met the day before her graduation (i was in town). I was living and working in philly at the time and i swear to you I quit my job and moved back to state college for the summer to pursue the relationship - lol - one of the crazier moments of my life. by the end of summer, i convninced her to move to dc w/me (separate apartments, but you know how that works out) even though she'd never considered DC an option. May will make that 7 years ago, we married the summer after my first year in grad school and really we both rely on each other (financially and emotionally) to do some pretty cool stuff (professionally and personally).

being super-successful and having a solid relationship need not be mutually exclusive. that's a myth. rather I find that they can be mutually reinforcing. personal experience is the better our relationship becomes the more successful we each become in our respective fields. neither one of us could do what we do, in the ways we do, w/o the support of the relationship. that's just how we roll -- sometimes it pays huge dividiends to take the risk on the relationship.

and btw--i also don't think you base your decision on this, but that doesn't mean it ought not be ONE of the factors, weighted in a way that only really you can determine of course. but people decide on grad schools for all sorts of crazy reasons: prestige, family expectations, nothing better to do, they're really not capable of doing anything else, they LOVE it, etc. etc. Pursuing a relationship doesn't really sound that crazy in comparison to some of these.

Eh.. just my two cents!

Smile mysteriously and say "don't fret, you are my first choice" ? That's probably how I'd handle it haha

Smile mysteriously and say "don't fret, you are my first choice" ? That's probably how I'd handle it haha

Hey - does anyone who is a graduate student now living on campus know how hard it would be for an incoming new graduate student to lottery and get one of the two-bedroom efficiencies? I am sorting out my budget, and I really can't pay more than $700 a month for living and was wondering what my chances would be for the two-bedroom efficiencies in EV? My parents hunch was that since it was the cheapest and we are all graduate students, those would be the ones taken first and hardest to get.. but at the same time, it looks like a lot of the law students and maybe more flush graduate students are going for some of the nicer/slightly more expensive places. Any insight to this would be great! (Ie, would it just be stupid to only submit my options for the places I can afford and risk not getting on-campus housing and having to live in a shared bedroom in East Palo Alto).

Finally someone who says graduate school is going to be fun!

Get some Muse up in here! And some Arcade Fire and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, too.

And then when I start feeling weepy and nostalgic, some Smashing Pumpkins and The Cranberries.

Hey all, I saw this on another forum, loved it. It's advice for those of you going to visit upcoming programs at admit events:

Nerd alert…

Every 10 years, the NRC (National Research Council) publishes a comprehensive dataset on all PhD programs in the US. You can download the excel file and sift through the numbers on everything from % minority faculty, publications per faculty, average # of years till completion.. etc.
I did this for the “top 30” programs in Sociology (see screenshot below). Each year the NRC collects information for each program on the # of students enrolling and the # of PhD’s granted. They present each value as an average over 5 years (in this case, each is from the same time range: 2002-2006).

To gain a rough estimate of completion rate, I divided # of PhD’s granted by # of incoming students.

*Note that Harvard’s program in Social Policy is not really graduating “183%” of incoming students, rather students are likely shifting around between Harvard’s 3 programs in sociology. Similar things must be happening at Columbia (121%), Penn (109%), & Cornell (100%). This rough methodology obviously has flaws.

Yeah I think it's good for anyone planning to apply for a PhD program in the future to realize the importance of letters of rec., especially having two or three good ones from faculty. One professor told me that the reason many graduate programs don't hold interviews is that the LOR essentially fulfills that role. It is an evaluation by a person who is familiar with what it takes to survive and excel in graduate school and academia, and ideally they know the applicant's history well enough to decisively say whether they are capable. The GREs are known to be flawed and a SOP can be bullshitted (or bought), so really it's your academic record in combination with your LOR that reveal your academic past, and your LOR with (some help from the SOP) that show your potential in the future.

EDIT: That kinda sounded like i was undercutting the importance of the SOP. I think it's also crucial, but in showing a little more about who you are as a person, and demonstrating your grasp of why you want to pursue a PhD in sociology, and at that particular school.