How are you deciding?

[manofthehoff]

As April 15 approaches, what factors are you weighing as you narrow down to your final choice? What actions are you taking to learn the details you need to make an informed decision? 

I thought after my visits I would know for sure where I wanted to go, but I'm still far from a final decision. Great advisers willing to mentor me are paramount, as are rigorous training in my areas of interest and a good job placement record. I'm still trying to figure out which option delivers these the best!

[ThePastelCalico]

I looked at placement of grads, the funding structure, and the general atmosphere of the department. 

[limonchello]

on one of Lego Grad Student 's posts he writes something like ~ 'if you're having a hard time deciding, pick the place where the students seem the happiest. you don't want to suffer more than necessary over the next years of your life!'

[qeta]

Fit was not really a consideration for me, as I only applied to schools with very good fit. In the end, I chose the place with the best funding, placement record, and professionally collegial (non-cliquey) atmosphere.

[thenewkidaw71]

For me, it was a question of atmosphere. Both of my top choices had great faculty, interesting research, and highly ranked departments, so I got to look at the experience I would have at each school. School A had a very positive, collaborative, and social environment, but the stipend was much smaller and I would have to TA for most of my PhD. School B is known to be sort of intense, but it is in my favorite city and they offered me an awesome fellowship package (enormous stipend and RA after my first year). School A seems to place a lot of people in industry/non-academic jobs whereas School B is known to produce a lot of processors. I still don't know which will be better, but those are the factors on my mind!

Edit: This is not for sociology, but similar social science!

Edited March 31, 2018 by thenewkidaw71
I realized my situation is not for sociology, but similar social science!

[eetiandao]

I think a lot of people have such a difficult time of making a decision. You cannot have all the advantages of each program, and it is hard to "balance" our preferences. But fundamentally we do a Ph.D for academic life, so the strength of and fit with the program are vital. The life in one place may be not easy as we do not obtain generous stipend, we are far away from our families and friends, or we just do not like the climate here, but we are not aiming at living like a princess in Ph.D life. If we look at the future, it will be much clearer :  the program that provides us the best academic resources (not the university reputation in general) would be the ideal one. Others may think the next five years, but we need to think the whole life. If we cannot overcome some difficulties such as simple living condition or loneliness in five years, how could we be expected to overcome obstacles in our research and enjoy the delight of solving them, and become leading scholars in tackling the most difficult problems faced by human beings in our whole life?     And certainly future placement opportunity is important as market competition for social science in general is intense, and maybe ranking to some extent can help us a bit in making decision.

 

[pinoysoc]

Chiming in:

Although I came with 1 acceptance out of 7 schools, I realize what make your choice easier are department visits AND gut feeling. I was devastated I didn't get into Penn State this year and entertained the idea of trying again next year for it, but I went with my gut feeling with UAB and visited. I realized that the department (UAB) was small enough for individualized attention. The faculty also had connections ALL OVER the school that includes the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, etc. that the opportunities to do my research was infinite. This was something the Penn State couldn't offer had I gotten in. Yes, they're more prestigious, but my visit made me realize that UAB offered a better environment in terms of learning and having access to opportunities that Penn State didn't have. Penn State is quant-heavy. UAB is quant-heavy, but balances it out by making qual-methods a mandatory course so you have training in both. They also told me that we can do our dissertations in any med sociology topic and support the scope of what we want to cover, but also offers the option to guide you if the topic becomes too narrow. Penn State flat out told me that my research is narrow.. (but hey... their lost on studying minority health disparities). They also told me that they're concerned about how I'll survive their quant-heavy program. In short, the department visit re-affirmed my decision with UAB and forego reapplying.

But other things to consider include city-life, cost of living, etc. I got lucky since Birmingham is upcoming (just like St. Louis where I'm coming from). It has the right balance of academic life and having a personal life. 

[KevinJHa]

36 minutes ago, pinoysoc said:

Although I came with 1 acceptance out of 7 schools, I realize what make your choice easier are department visits AND gut feeling. I was devastated I didn't get into Penn State this year and entertained the idea of trying again next year for it, but I went with my gut feeling with UAB and visited. I realized that the department (UAB) was small enough for individualized attention. The faculty also had connections ALL OVER the school that includes the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, etc. that the opportunities to do my research was infinite. This was something the Penn State couldn't offer had I gotten in. Yes, they're more prestigious, but my visit made me realize that UAB offered a better environment in terms of learning and having access to opportunities that Penn State didn't have. Penn State is quant-heavy. UAB is quant-heavy, but balances it out by making qual-methods a mandatory course so you have training in both. They also told me that we can do our dissertations in any med sociology topic and support the scope of what we want to cover, but also offers the option to guide you if the topic becomes too narrow. Penn State flat out told me that my research is narrow.. (but hey... their lost on studying minority health disparities). They also told me that they're concerned about how I'll survive their quant-heavy program. In short, the department visit re-affirmed my decision with UAB and forego reapplying.

I second the gut feeling thing. 

Professionally, I think CUNY has a lot more to offer me but I really don't get a good feeling from the department and the general atmosphere. On the flip side Northeastern, a much less renowned soci department, gives me such a good gut feeling and I feel I'd be happy there. 

PS @pinoysoc im really glad you found a department that suits you

[coffeentv]

1 hour ago, KevinJHa said:

I second the gut feeling thing. 

Professionally, I think CUNY has a lot more to offer me but I really don't get a good feeling from the department and the general atmosphere. On the flip side Northeastern, a much less renowned soci department, gives me such a good gut feeling and I feel I'd be happy there. 

PS @pinoysoc im really glad you found a department that suits you

Kevin,

I felt really good after visiting Albany even though I was not very interested in the department before. Everyone there seemed very happy and nice. I felt they would make sure I'd succeed. I was also impressed by the number of first/second year students publishing with faculty members. CUNY is great, but it can be difficult to get professors' attention and students are all over the place working. I've taken many PhD level sociology classes there, so you are welcome to PM me if you have any question. I feel Northeastern has a smaller department? Maybe you'll get more attention there.

 I'm ready to commit to Albany as soon as they offer me funding even if I get off the waitlist at UConn or UPenn or Temple. The only thing that could change my mind is a generous funding package from NSSR (very unlikely).

2 hours ago, pinoysoc said:

Chiming in:

Although I came with 1 acceptance out of 7 schools, I realize what make your choice easier are department visits AND gut feeling. I was devastated I didn't get into Penn State this year and entertained the idea of trying again next year for it, but I went with my gut feeling with UAB and visited. I realized that the department (UAB) was small enough for individualized attention. The faculty also had connections ALL OVER the school that includes the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, etc. that the opportunities to do my research was infinite. This was something the Penn State couldn't offer had I gotten in. Yes, they're more prestigious, but my visit made me realize that UAB offered a better environment in terms of learning and having access to opportunities that Penn State didn't have. Penn State is quant-heavy. UAB is quant-heavy, but balances it out by making qual-methods a mandatory course so you have training in both. They also told me that we can do our dissertations in any med sociology topic and support the scope of what we want to cover, but also offers the option to guide you if the topic becomes too narrow. Penn State flat out told me that my research is narrow.. (but hey... their lost on studying minority health disparities). They also told me that they're concerned about how I'll survive their quant-heavy program. In short, the department visit re-affirmed my decision with UAB and forego reapplying.

But other things to consider include city-life, cost of living, etc. I got lucky since Birmingham is upcoming (just like St. Louis where I'm coming from). It has the right balance of academic life and having a personal life. 

Congratulations! I remember you were quite stressed during the process. I'm happy you are excited to move to a great city and attend the program you like.