Fall 2019 anyone?

[jriveracal]

I'm new here so I apologize if there is a previous thread on this. Anyone else beginning to prepare for Fall 2019?

I am narrowing down schools and making a spreadsheet on the requirements for each school and also beginning to self-study for the GRE.

As of right now I am looking at Berkeley, Harvard, UCLA, Princeton, Brown, NYU, Columbia, U of Chicago, U of Michigan, Northwestern, Stanford, Yale, U Penn, UC Davis and UC San Diego.

Anyone else?

[Fall '19]

Starting preparations, for History though. Good luck!

[Rosettaspoon]

Hi there, I'm preparing for the application in sociology too and already took the G ( though probably would re-take one later)

I made a spreadsheet as well... 

[TsarandProphet]

I am also starting my preparations - I am applying to joint programs in History and Sociology!

[2019edhopeful]

I'm preparing too, for Education PhD programs, though. So far I've narrowed down Harvard, Penn, Boston College, Rutgers, Temple and maybe UCSD. I just started studying for the GRE, but I have a full time job and two children, so I don't expect to make very fast progress. 

[jriveracal]

On 6/2/2018 at 10:41 AM, 2019edhopeful said:

I'm preparing too, for Education PhD programs, though. So far I've narrowed down Harvard, Penn, Boston College, Rutgers, Temple and maybe UCSD. I just started studying for the GRE, but I have a full time job and two children, so I don't expect to make very fast progress. 

Hey, same here. Two kids and working full time [4 years old and 4 months old]. May the odds ever be in our favor

[NardyPardy]

On 5/29/2018 at 2:25 PM, jriveracal said:

I'm new here so I apologize if there is a previous thread on this. Anyone else beginning to prepare for Fall 2019?

I am narrowing down schools and making a spreadsheet on the requirements for each school and also beginning to self-study for the GRE.

As of right now I am looking at Berkeley, Harvard, UCLA, Princeton, Brown, NYU, Columbia, U of Chicago, U of Michigan, Northwestern, Stanford, Yale, U Penn, UC Davis and UC San Diego.

Anyone else?

Hey, 

I'm preparing as well!

I'm also self studying for the GRE! (**I've attached a vocab listing I found that is helpful to study from for the General Test**)

I've  found 2 programmes in the States I like though I'm looking at options in the UK and Canada too since I'm non-American and have no strong, unwavering feelings towards  studying in the USA

Magoosh 1000 vocab for GRE.pdf

[sociopolitic]

Another hopeful applicant here. Currently looking at Michigan, NYU, UChicago, UNC, Harvard, Duke, UCLA, Minnesota, Arizona, and maybe at Northwestern and Berkeley - not sure how great my fit there is. 

I've got a solid writing sample ready but have yet to write my SOP, though I'll definitely be busting my a** to make that flawless. Currently starting to study for the GRE, particularly quant, but instead I've mostly just stared at a closed Kaplan book. 

Speaking of, what books are you all using to self-study? Any idea whether there's an actual best prep book?

[high_hopes]

11 hours ago, sociopolitic said:

Speaking of, what books are you all using to self-study? Any idea whether there's an actual best prep book?

I found Magoosh the best - the online videos were really helpful. 

[jriveracal]

On 6/14/2018 at 8:31 PM, high_hopes said:

I found Magoosh the best - the online videos were really helpful. 

I am also using Magoosh. It's affordable and the videos are very helpful. My lack of vocabulary is what is primarily holding me back from a good verbal score....if anyone else is in a similar position I would recommend also the Manhattan 500 essential words vocab card. I find them VERY helpful and I can just carry them everywhere I go so that I can study whenever I have a free moment.

 

[lkaitlyn]

Also applying! Sending everyone much love and solidarity re: GRE studying.

[2019edhopeful]

On 6/13/2018 at 3:12 AM, jriveracal said:

Hey, same here. Two kids and working full time [4 years old and 4 months old]. May the odds ever be in our favor

Good luck! Mine are 4 years and 1.5 years and I made a long list of schools based on general academic fit, then a shortlist based on potential advisors, and then a final list based on places that are also family friendly. I live in Pakistan right now (American citizen though) and would be relocating to the US with husband and kids if I get in. Fingers crossed! 

[historygeek]

On 5/29/2018 at 4:08 PM, Fall '19 said:

Starting preparations, for History though. Good luck!

We have a history forum for this! 

[Fall '19]

I know! However, I had posted here few months back and no harming in wishing anyone and everyone, right?! Good luck with your applications! I am taking the GRE in a month and the quants are quite a bother. But, keeping my fingers crossed. 

[historygeek]

On 7/10/2018 at 2:52 PM, Fall '19 said:

I know! However, I had posted here few months back and no harming in wishing anyone and everyone, right?! Good luck with your applications! I am taking the GRE in a month and the quants are quite a bother. But, keeping my fingers crossed. 

I'm taking the GRE later this month (the 28th, eek!) and the quant has been KILLING ME! Amazon has some great math study books! 

[sociopolitic]

2 hours ago, historygeek said:

I'm taking the GRE later this month (the 28th, eek!) and the quant has been KILLING ME! Amazon has some great math study books! 

Yeah, I've got to say I've been very disappointed with Kaplan's math prep. I took their in-book practice quant exam and despite getting more right on it than on my diagnostic exam, scored two points lower! But when I looked at what my score would have been had I gotten just 4 more correct, I would have been put 8 points over the score I'm hoping for. I'm thinking that their score estimates are pretty crappy. 

My Manhattan 5lb book should be arriving tomorrow though! Hopefully I can make up for any damage Kaplan has done with this book - I'm taking the GRE in a month (yikes). 

[historygeek]

32 minutes ago, sociopolitic said:

My Manhattan 5lb book should be arriving tomorrow though! Hopefully I can make up for any damage Kaplan has done with this book - I'm taking the GRE in a month (yikes). 

I have the Manhattan 5lb book and it's a godsend.

[Fall '19]

I am so, so bad at quants, haha! Good luck, everybody. And I'll try the Manhattan 5lb after I'm done with Princeton Rev.Premium and ETS. (Still not done, yikes!)

[busrademirkol]

On 5/31/2018 at 6:10 PM, TsarandProphet said:

I am also starting my preparations - I am applying to joint programs in History and Sociology!

Hi TsarandProphet, I am also interested in historical sociology, thus I'm looking for some schools to fit my interest, do you know any other than UC Berkeley, 'cause I heard that UCs are reluctant to accept international students ? thanks in advance and good luck ❤️ 

[busrademirkol]

Hi guys! Here another candidate for 2019 Fall! I'm going to apply PhD in Sociology and mayyyyybe in Social Anthropolgy, nowadays I feel so complicated about this issue and trying to figure out myself  I'm also studying for GRE and the verbal part is killing me, oh i think I'm gonna cry...  and also still searching some schools to fit my uncertain interests  it sweetens up to be in contact with others within that period ❤️ hope the best for everyone ❤️ 

 

[sociopolitic]

9 hours ago, busrademirkol said:

Hi TsarandProphet, I am also interested in historical sociology, thus I'm looking for some schools to fit my interest, do you know any other than UC Berkeley, 'cause I heard that UCs are reluctant to accept international students ? thanks in advance and good luck ❤️ 

What are your substantive interests? There are a lot of schools with great comparative-historical scholars, but the topics they study are rather diverse. However, generally speaking I would say that aside from Berkeley, departments that are particularly strong in historical sociology are UCLA, Michigan, and Yale. Wisconsin and Chicago are also pretty good if you're specifically interested in comparative-historical research with a political bent to it. These are all very highly ranked departments though; I'm not sure which departments outside the top 20 (aside from Yale) are strong in the area. I get the impression that top departments are more likely to accommodate comparative-historical work than lower ranked departments (meaning I'm not sure you'd really find anyone other than Marxist sociologists doing this kind of work outside the top 50 departments).

[qeta]

16 hours ago, sociopolitic said:

What are your substantive interests? There are a lot of schools with great comparative-historical scholars, but the topics they study are rather diverse. However, generally speaking I would say that aside from Berkeley, departments that are particularly strong in historical sociology are UCLA, Michigan, and Yale. Wisconsin and Chicago are also pretty good if you're specifically interested in comparative-historical research with a political bent to it. These are all very highly ranked departments though; I'm not sure which departments outside the top 20 (aside from Yale) are strong in the area. I get the impression that top departments are more likely to accommodate comparative-historical work than lower ranked departments (meaning I'm not sure you'd really find anyone other than Marxist sociologists doing this kind of work outside the top 50 departments).

There are many different ways of doing comparative historical work and the methods also generally correlate with epistemologies, not just topics. My understanding of comp-hist work in sociology break down like the following. The Skocpolians like to use a Millian, "scientific" method. For that type of variable-based comp-hist work, I'd say Northwestern is a good place because of James Mahoney. You could check other people who are associated with Mahoney and where they are placed. A lot of them might be faculty in political science. UC Berkeley and Wisconsin comp-hist people are generally Marxist, perhaps with the exception of Mustafa Emirbrayer who uses relational historical analysis (think Margaret Somers). Even within the Marxists there are epistemological differences: I'd argue Tugal/ Riley and Burawoy at Berkeley are somewhat different beasts. Michigan is an interesting place for comp-hist research and has a long history of hiring and producing comp-hist people, I think perhaps because of Charles Tilly. It has generally made room for comp-hist people of all stripes and managed to house Tilly, Somers, and Jeffrey Paige (who wrote the brilliant structural/ Marxist tome Agrarian Revolution) at the same time after Paige was denied tenure at Berkeley. You could argue that folks using a postcolonial lens (Julian Go at Boston U, George Steinmetz at UMich) employ yet another method of doing comp-hist work.

Edited July 29, 2018 by qeta

[EdwardThompson258__]

Geoff Ward left Irvine and is now at WUSTL.

[zupernikki]

Hello everyone! 

Senior from a liberal arts university here! I am looking at PhD programs mainly on the East coast. UChicago, UPenn, Northeastern, U of Maryland, BU, CUNY, Johns Hopkins and U of Washington. I am interested in studying urban, homelessness, stratification, enviro, and edu. I have not taken the GRE yet, but my UGPA is average 3.7, I have great LORs, and I have 1.5 years of undergrad research experience. I am having a hard time deciding what schools to apply to based on my stats/interests, so if anyone has any advice on programs please let me know! Open to critiques!

[Andromeda3921]

2 hours ago, zupernikki said:

Hello everyone! 

Senior from a liberal arts university here! I am looking at PhD programs mainly on the East coast. UChicago, UPenn, Northeastern, U of Maryland, BU, CUNY, Johns Hopkins and U of Washington. I am interested in studying urban, homelessness, stratification, enviro, and edu. I have not taken the GRE yet, but my UGPA is average 3.7, I have great LORs, and I have 1.5 years of undergrad research experience. I am having a hard time deciding what schools to apply to based on my stats/interests, so if anyone has any advice on programs please let me know! Open to critiques!

You might want to check out Northwestern,  NYU (amazing work on stratification and urban poverty) & Wisconsin Madison (fantastic environment socio department). While I cannot comment on your suitability, I'm sure that given your current stats (I'm assuming you're an American student) and hopefully a good GRE, you will be pretty safe.