overlyresearched

I posted in the UT Austin forum about this, but realized that it would be more helpful here...  most visit days are on weekdays..  since the faculty are on campus then and sometimes schools encourage you to sit in on actual grad classes.  There are almost always conflicts, either with work/school or other admit days.  My advice would be to visit any of the schools you remotely could possibly see yourself attending (and I would never choose a program without first visiting).  So those of you who are lucky to get into a lot of places - just also know that the next few months will be really chaotic with the visits and selection process. 

I know I'm supposed to relax over the weekend but it's not happening.

According to last year’s posted results for Stanford, generally speaking, they rolled out acceptances throughout a five day period- between Feb 4(Sat.)-Feb 8(Wed.)
So there is a chance all Stanford admits were not sent out yet.
 
Be optimistic!

Automated. Probably just a reminder. The timing really got my hopes up, though.
 
 
 
To my understanding, work experience really only helps your application to the extent it lowers the perception of your personal attrition risk.
 
Which points to the real reason your professors probably (and I certainly) advise waiting: it gives you perspective about your future, your career and your passion. Many people go to graduate and professional schools only to find that they don't like the work they were groomed to do. Often, a little work experience could have prevented this by providing some insight into the types of quality-of-life priotities that can and should help determine what career you want to pursue.

When I went to recruitment weekends, I found the fell into two camps.

In the first type, they are playing it cool. You already know they are interested, but they're pretending like they're maybe not THAT interested. They ask you a lot of questions, all leaning towards how impressive YOU are. People asked me about my other offers and they were quick to tell me why their program was better than X program. While that might be true, it kind of turned me off. On one of my visits, my POI trashed my current department, only to be really flustered when I reminded him they were identically ranked to the program he was in. In my opinion (not everyone will agree), if you're really a good fit with a program, they don't need to trash other programs you applied to. You'll figure it out by asking questions and seeing that it's the best place for you! Also at this type, the focus was more on fitting in with my own potential cohort instead of with the existing students. I had very minimal interaction with existing graduate students in that department and I wasn't entirely clear on if they were happy. This type of program tends to be top 10 (although not always) and very competitive. If you want an R1 job, don't let this steer you away from a progam. I have many friends I met on recruitment weekends at these type of programs who are very happy now. This brings me to the second type.

The department I chose had a weekend that fell into the latter camp. This type of university focuses only on themselves. They talk about their resources and how great THEY are. Unless you explictly say "oh I'm comparing y'all to StateXUniveristy" they probably won't make many direct comparisons. Even then, when we recruit, we are told NEVER to trash another place. The idea is that this place is so great that we only want you to come if you think you're going to be happy and be a good fit. The culture of these programs tends to be much less competitive. I only visited two weekends like this, but the university I finally chose was my safety school until the recruitment weekend. The caution I have about these programs is sometimes they are too positive. Don't let yourself get swept up in the positive emotions of recruitment weekend and end up committing to a type II program that's a pretty good fit over a type I program that's the BEST fit for you.

No program is 100% positive sunshine and roses. I don't care what they tell you on recruitment weekend, there are some skeletons in the closet and some unhappy people there. You will almost never see this side of any program on their recruitment weekend. Try to gather information and make the most informed decision possible. This is why I emphasize fit over all other criterea when advising recruits. I believe that if you're happy doing your work, other stuff falls away. Sure, I don't like the town my university is located in, but it's only for a small number of years. I picked a program with a great fit and a lot of resources and 90% of the time I'm a happy grad student.

A list of questions I think are important to ask:
Are most people happy in the program? If not, why are they unhappy? (This part is super important. If a theory person came to a demography-focused program and complains that it's not a theory program, that doesn't mean it's a bad program. That means that person didn't pick a program with a good fit. If people with good fit are unhappy, then you have a problem!)
What is it like to live in University City?
How do comprehensive exams work? When do you take them?
How are people chosen for additional years of funding? Does the funding clock stop if you apply for outside funding?
How many people apply for outside funding? What are the success rates and what support does the program give?
What is the culture like? (This question is HARD to get a real answer too. My best advice is to stand back and people watch for a bit at the party. Are people cliquish? Are they genial? Do students know all professor's names and are they comfortable at least introducing you to them?)
What are summers like?
Does your POI co-author with their students? (Ask their students. If they won't answer you, go look at their CV. Rule of thumb: if they don't have a list of people they've mentored and/or some way to acknowledge their grad student authors, they probably fall in the stingy authorship camp)
Do students co-author papers with each other?
If you're interested in non-academic jobs, how are those placements? Is that goal supported by the department?
Do grad students teach their own classes? Are there resources for those who do?

To address your cocern about "holding your own". Don't worry about it. This isn't a competition. You've already been admitted. They've already picked you! Regardless of what school you pick, you will go on to be a successful person.

I enjoy having prospectives that ask thoughtful, intelligent questions. I've spent over 100 hours involved in recruitment weekends since I've been here. I am always willing to take time to talk to recruits. That said, I really don't like it when they trash my university. Recruitment weekends are expensive. We spend over $1500 on average per recruit at our weekend. This is on the high end, but most visit weekends require some type of investment by the program. Our graduate students spend countless hours emailing and calling prospectives, and preparing for the weekend to make it a success. When someone comes to our weekend and says nasty things about our program or talks incessantly about another program, I am incredibly turned off. Treat every school you visit with respect. People attend that program and have some pride in it, otherwise they wouldn't be helping out with recruitment weekend. If you do this, don't be surprised if older graduate students don't want to answer your questions. If you want to compare the program you're at to another one, ask a question like this, "How does this program compare to others with academic placements?" They should be able to provide you with concrete information that you can compare later.

Sorry I wrote a manifesto! Please feel free to press me on any of this or have me clarify something, either here or on PM. As you can probably tell, I love recruitment activities. I think of it as an investment in my program. If I can get the best students to come to my program and they can go on to be superstars, that reflects positively on my program and me. Hope that helps!

Hey everyone, I'm done with my service on the adcomm. I'll be typing up a longer post about that experience and tips for picking schools for anyone that didn't get in this round sometime in late February.

One more time...

PLEASE! Remember that you can be identified by what you post online. I deliberately avoided coming onto GradCafe while I was looking at applications, but I see many familiar names now that I'm back. If you do not want to be identified, use caution when posting. Don't put your location, use your real name, etc. Grad recruitment committees frequently troll this board for information (based on my experience and the experience of other senior students I know) without posting or signing in.

I can't wait to meet the people I helped select during my service on the adcomm. Best of luck to all of you who applied!

Just to clarify, I personally stayed away from this forum while I was on adcomm. When I was a graduate recruitment member, we often used these forums to determine where students might have other offers from (listing the schools you were accepted to at the bottom) which isn't always information recruits are forthcoming with on their weekend. Most schools (the 5-6 I have experience with) do look at these boards to gain more information. Right or wrong, I just feel that I should publicize that knowledge to anyone who thinks they are remaining semi-anonymous. It's not so much about judging as it is about gaining information. I hope that clarifies what I meant here.
 
 

Darth, I've seen your posts here for a while (since before my service on the adcomm) and I'm sorry that happened. That's very atypical and I hope you know that very few people would go to those lengths to identify someone. I'm talking more about people who have a handle like MikeSmith and then are surprised that people can figure out who they are.

Anyway, glad to be back everyone!

At the non-interview schools, I think you only really need to say "Well, I'm primarily interested in Sociology of ____ (or "social networks" or whatever).  I'm not sure exactly about thesis topics, but..." and then you can have an option of saying  "I'm kind of interested in ___, but you know how it is.  I'm open to other ideas." They know your topics are going to change, don't sweat it.
 
At interview schools, you might want to say "I'm primarily interested in Sociology of_____ (or better yet, briding ______ and _______).  I wrote my statement of purpose on _____." You have an option of saying "But I'm also interested in ____ and ____", or waiting for them to ask you about it.
 
I'm in a third year class where I see what all my colleagues are actually writing their dissertations on.  I obviously don't know what people wrote in their statements, but I think a maximum of 1/3 of the kids are doing something that closely resembles what they wrote in their statements.  Maximum.  One kid moved from video games to medical sociology (social networks approach so same adviser).  One kid moved from education to historical sociology (again, methodologically the same adviser).  One kid moved from class in a specific foreign country to science and technology in the same country.  One kid moved from globalization and gender to science/technology and gender.  My own project moved from something that mostly historical to something that is primarily ethnographic and possibly statistical, but still "sociology of religion" and in Turkey.  In all those cases there was something that stayed the same, but most of it changed.  Professors know that will happen.  Your statement of purpose is about coming up with an interesting, plausible research idea, and a general research area.  None of it is a binding contract.  Don't sweat it.  Just be interesting and charming, but once you're in, they're not going to not let you in.  I always mention, my first post-visit day meeting with my adviser went horribly, and I believe she thought I was a chauvanistic, ultra-nationalist.  She loves me now.  It's all good.  Don't worry about it (with interviews, be a little more careful, but still).

Can I just say how much I love you for updating this while you're on the phone? 

I was admiited to four schools, and was flying from europe. I got the maximum coverage from each schools (around 400$). Together it was enough for the trip. They didn t worry about which flights i spent their money on.

Also want to add that this is a circumstance where they might tell you their maximum coverage (or a good time to ask about it). If you are visiting multiple schools, each school might even be able to pay for some portion of the international/overseas flight. However, many financial departments have the limitation that they would only pay for travel to/from their school directly (i.e if you flew to X, Y, and then Z, school Y might not be able to pay for any flight into or going out of X or Z from/to your home country due to whatever policies). When I was visiting multiple schools in one trip, I worked together with the administrative people from all the schools in order to divide up the costs so that each school is contributing an approximately equal amount and that I was getting the maximum reimbursement possible. So if you are planning to do this, make sure you are communicating well with all the programs!

Most top departments will pay for admitted students to travel from overseas for visits. Others will ask whether you're already coming to the US to visit other departments, and pay for your domestic travel form one department to another. This may mean that you end up missing the formal visit at some places, but I would think that would be preferable anyway to making multiple international trips within the same month.

@Nazimova23 I hear you on the location and the specifics of the campus. I think those things you can't change - and it can be a deal breaker... Cold weather is an odd one for me.. I can deal with it, but I really really hate cold weather and snow (it makes me lethargic, seasonally sad, and I wind up eating a lot of food to compensate in the winter time). I've really debated if I should let this random factor affect my decision, and after some thought, these things should matter.

So maybe like in real estate, location matters a lot more than we think in our decisions? I also think we are all so unique and different.. the exact things you listed as negatives are actually quite a draw to me.. the campus: I liked how you could bike around without worrying about a car hitting you or hitting pedestrians (compared to biking in an urban city). I also think I'll be able to afford a car if I need it (or I'll save up a year for one later). And after experiencing the eros and grit of a city for a lot of my life, I'd be looking forward to a break from it for awhile as I work on my graduate studies...

But again, I will say this about all of the people I met at the Stanford open house who were struggling with decisions at the visit event.. I don't think any one there could make a "bad" decision. Everyone had great options and I believe will be successful wherever everyone winds up going.

It sounds like you have made up your mind, and I don't think its a bad idea for you to follow your gut and go to the other program.. the things you listed as problems with Stanford are going to still be there in the Fall and would contribute to a very difficult/negative experience for you if they are already bothering you now...

@nazimova23 - that's really funny.. since well, I could only figure out a few people, and not everyone... though I think it might be unfair a bit since well, some of us have posted far more than others - like I have no clue who you are

I'm not as torn as before honestly.. well... hmm.. I think the effort from Stanford to be more qualitative was sincere and genuine. I think their response to Monica's leaving was honest - and was not out of any malice or disrespect towards her work, ethnography or qualitative methods (and I believe a few people confirmed with me that the decision not to give her tenure was not made by the department - who supported her - but by the school at large/faculty in other departments).

I'm still leaning towards Stanford despite other options being better in qualitative methods... I think the idea of mixed methods as the wave of the future really resonated with me more than before my visit. That you can go into a more qualitative program and have a sort of echo chamber of what you are doing is great -- but once you leave and present at ASA or move on into a post doc or assistant professor job and into the real world of sociology, you might not have that echo chamber any more. I dunno.. they seemed really honest about selling their program as what it was - top in the field in regards to quantitative training, but also supportive and open to qualitative work.

As to the other stuff, I loved some of the current grad students there, and also some of the others I met who might go.. though as someone joked, it was sort of like trying to hit a moving target since we don't know who is going to accept and who isn't. Also, I found the faculty incredibly warm and congenial... it went from my first day of feeling so intimidated by them, to the last day of when they did the presentations, where scholars like David Grusky and Doug McAdam were just so chill, open and honest to taking feedback about their projects from us... incoming students. Felt so warm and a great place to be. So you are right, infectiously fraternal - the whole place felt very very supportive. the faculty dinner event and other events felt much like a family/extended family get together, than a feuding fiefdom of warlords, which some sociology departments can become.

So yes, a bit sad in some ways - but in another way, really illuminating. @Nazimova23 - it seems that you aren't going to go? Perhaps why you are a bit sad? I have a few more visits to finish up before the end of the month, but I can see myself very happy at Stanford and I'm leaning heavily towards going still.

Also, I think it seems like this year was a special bumper year crop.. and I'm taking that as a sign.. I do like the idea of being in a larger cohort as it allows for more people with similar interests as you. I was talking to someone who just finished the program - that year only had 8 people, and only 2 were strictly qualitative - I can imagine in the 14 they are aiming for this year, they would get at least 5-6, which is equal or more than you would get at other more qualitative programs - or in any other year at Stanford. If you would ever take a leap of faith, it would probably be best in such a year...

Interests: political sociology, gender, culture

Top Choice: University of Spoiled Children

I worried about this too... and then decided to cut out all of my "backup" schools because I didn't really want to go to them. I figure I would rather re-apply next year than go somewhere just to go *somewhere*. The better schools just happen to fit my research interests better, so we'll see what happens!