sociologo

Ehhh maybe. Some schools are still doing April 15, even though it's a Sunday. Others just bumped it to April 16. Hopefully good news will come soon for all of us.

I love your username.

Can I ask for more details about your mentor said concerning interdisciplinary programs? I'm debating between a program that is strictly sociology, and another that is considered interdisciplinary (meaning I'm required to take other courses in social sciences areas otuside of soc.) but most of my classes at the interdisciplinary would still be soc. My advisor is really against the inter. program, saying I'll have a hard time finding a job in academia if my degree isn't soc.... Freaks me out a little because I really like the program and my other option (strictly soc) is a poor research fit..

I like the idea of unsubscribing to email services. Groupon drives me nuts.

At the very least, try to get the federal loans with lower interest rates. Avoid private loans at all cost if you can - unless selling your soul and firstborn child is something you think you'd be fine with.

Possible: yes. Common: I don't think so.

Yes, I think I will send out an email tonight or tomorrow to express my continued interest in the program. I don't think they'll be able to give me any more information before the 15th, and I do have funded offers with that 15th deadline. Bleh.

I get asked for my ID when buying 5 hour energy things.... I didn't even realize those were restricted at all.

I'm convinced that there is something wrong with my email. Paranoia at its finest.

This has been one of my least favorite things about my Masters program: not having a pet. The apartment I live in currently doesn't allow pets, so when I moved, I had to leave my two turtles and my cat at my parents' house. My younger sisters are in elementary school, so they were pretty thrilled to have new additions to the family pet collection. My mom regularly sends me emails/texts with pictures of all of them.... Definitely going to be a condition for wherever I move next: I need my children!

Have you emailed the departments asking for an update?

I particularly love the silence that follows you sending an email inquiring about the status of your application/funding. It's April 9. Please just tell me, so my anxiety can end.....or shift to obsessing over something else.

I was accepted but waitlisted for funding at three different schools. I've largely been out of touch with them since hearing I was accepted without funding. A few back and forths with the program coordinators, but not for the last few weeks. Attending a program without funding is not really an option, and I said as much when emailing with the coordinators, even as much as I loved some of the programs. As April 15 is coming closer, is it worth emailing the coordinators again to say that I am still interested in attending, should funding become available? I don't want it to sound tacky that I am so focused on the money aspect, but (for most people) it's a major deciding factor. I also don't want to sound desperate. I do have two funded offers, but for various reasons, the schools I'm waitlisted at are better fits. Will it be awkward to send the email since it's been a few weeks since I last contacted them?

This was asked in 2010. Just saying.

Thank you for that, dimanche

I was told that you can back out of an offer after April 15. You ultimately need to do what's best for yourself, but you should let the school know as soon as possible if you decide to back out. It's a not fun situation and may create some tension, but it happens. There's a thread where I wrote the specific advice I was given. I think it's somewhere in Decisions, Decisions....called something like "what if a better offer comes along after the deadline?" there might be something useful in there for you.

Definitely an impossible decision.....it feels more like apples vs. pickles.... I'm definitely leaning more towards School B because School A has very few redeeming qualities other than it being a soc program. School B offers both qual and quant - School A is largely qual. Even though School A is a soc program, it's also very very very new. I also think I would be very lonely in the department. My research interests don't seem to quite fit in with the other incoming students - plus, most of them are coming in from the department's master's program and already know each other and have established social networks. Maybe that's a small point for some people, but I'm fairly shy and already had a similar situation coming into my current master's program. I still have that nagging voice in the back of my mind (that sounds strangely like my advisor....) that I'll be making a big mistake. I think my brain just likes second guessing itself.

How long ago did you submit your applications? I also applied to a school with an April 1 deadline and just decided to complete my application back in January when I finished the others. I wasn't expecting to hear anything until mid-April, but I actually received an admit letter from them in mid-March. You could always email them to ask a time-frame for decisions to be sent out, citing that you'd need to have enough time to plan a move..

Yes, I would like to go into research. I'm not opposed to teaching when I first finished, but long-term, research interests me more. School B also has a better track records of getting their students into research positions. It's not an American Studies program. Quite the opposite actually, focusing on global studies. Option C isn't an option in my mind. I know that this is what I want to do. I have six admits to PhD programs, and all but School B are in sociology. Funding is my main issue . The two schools I mentioned are the only ones offering me funding - I'm still waiting to hear from one who hasn't released funding yet (boy, would that solve my dilemma...it's my #1), and I'm waitlisted for funding at 3 others. I know my advisor is right in some instances. It looks better to the outside to have my degree explicitly say sociology rather than trying to explain the interdisciplinary that still is essentially sociology. But I realized School A wasn't a great fit after I went to the visit day for admitted students - besides just not fitting my interests so well. I'm already doing my Masters at a school I wasn't crazy about, so the thought of doing it for another 5 years is disheartening. Even the Masters wasn't so bad because it was only two years, and you really can't complain about a fully funded Masters program, especially if it was the only one to fully fund you. But I am still afraid of shooting myself in the foot before my career has really begun...

So, I was admitted to two different programs with nice funding offers. Program A is strictly a sociology program that doesn't quite fit my research interests. The program director said they are looking to develop courses more in my interest areas over the next few semesters in order to expand the program, but who knows how soon that would actually happen. There's only two people in the department who I would really want to work with - though one isn't teaching currently because he recently received a research grant. School B fits my interests much better, and there are more people in the department that I would like to work with. They also gave me a slightly better funding package. The program isn't strictly sociology. It's an interdisciplinary program where you have a "sociology track" but then also have to take a few courses in the other tracks in the program. Most of my courses would be sociology. My advisor is warning me against entering this program. He thinks I'll have a harder time getting a job after graduating since it isn't a well known school or solely a sociology program. He said if I would be happy in non-tenure track positions, or community colleges, it might be fine. I don't actually want to go into teaching, so I'm not concerned with not getting a tenure-track job. I feel like I would have a better academic experience at School B rather than sort of......settling for Program A. Will it hurt my long-term job prospects to go to the one that isn't solely sociology?

Oh yes. We have all your botox and other age-defying needs down here. In abundance.

Yes. After April 15, some spots will open up as people decline their offers, and waitlists begin to shift around. There's no guarantee, of course, because you don't know how many people will accept or reject that year. But it is possible to receive good news after April 15. Funding is a different story though...it might be more difficult to get it at that point, depending upon what types of funding were attached to the offers rejected by other applicants.

You must not live in South Florida. I go to school in Boca. ALL of the radio ads are for liposuction, botox, breast augmentation......It's gross. It was so weird when I first moved down from New Hampshire.

Well at least there's plenty of that in Florida..

I'm 22 and finishing my Masters this spring. If you want to PM me, I will try to give you some re-assurance and share my own experiences as being the youngest in a graduate program.