Interviews/Acceptances/Rejections Fall 2019

[jriveracal]

16 minutes ago, sociopolitic said:

Oh I hadn't even thought about this yet... I'll probably email whomever informed me of my acceptance a polite email that says something to the effect of "I'm honored by the offer, but after much thought I've decided to attend University X." Academic sociology is a pretty small world, so they're find out where you're headed anyway -- might as well be the one the giving the news! Surely establishing an early reputation for friendliness and professionalism can't hurt!

That's how I feel, I just didn't want to come off as a weirdo if this wasn't common practice. 

[sociopolitic]

28 minutes ago, jriveracal said:

That's how I feel, I just didn't want to come off as a weirdo if this wasn't common practice. 

Well, if we're labeled as "weirdos" for being polite, I think I'm cool with it!

[annetod]

Can anyone claim the Harvard Sociology and Social Policy admit? Says it was by phone...guessing that means all their calls will go out today. 

[antioxidant17]

Is anyone still waiting to hear from anywhere? I just haven't heard from Boston College, which I'm assuming is a rejection. I'm just kind of wondering why they haven't told me that yet ...

[Birdie13]

At what point to we reach out to places we haven’t heard from?

[TheBunny]

24 minutes ago, antioxidant17 said:

Is anyone still waiting to hear from anywhere? I just haven't heard from Boston College, which I'm assuming is a rejection. I'm just kind of wondering why they haven't told me that yet ...

I got waitlisted by BC 2 weeks ago but I rejected their waitlist as I accepted another offer 

[bandanajack]

27 minutes ago, antioxidant17 said:

Is anyone still waiting to hear from anywhere? I just haven't heard from Boston College, which I'm assuming is a rejection. I'm just kind of wondering why they haven't told me that yet ...

Some schools will have a fair number of apps in their waitlist and will send out rejections to all of them at once when the last position is filled. This can take awhile since people have to consider offers, possibly lasting through April. 

[hardatwork]

1 hour ago, antioxidant17 said:

Is anyone still waiting to hear from anywhere? I just haven't heard from Boston College, which I'm assuming is a rejection. I'm just kind of wondering why they haven't told me that yet ...

I’m still waiting on Penn State, UPenn, and UNC for anything definitive. UChicago hasn’t reached out, but I hear that’s normal for rejections. And I’m also waiting on Oxford which hasn’t released anything at all. So, 5/14 programs still to go...

[antioxidant17]

14 minutes ago, bandanajack said:

Some schools will have a fair number of apps in their waitlist and will send out rejections to all of them at once when the last position is filled. This can take awhile since people have to consider offers, possibly lasting through April. 

Oh so it's like an unofficial waitlist? I just don't get why they wouldn't notify me of being on a waitlist and then reject.

[bandanajack]

1 minute ago, antioxidant17 said:

Oh so it's like an unofficial waitlist? I just don't get why they wouldn't notify me of being on a waitlist and then reject.

Yeah, an unofficial wailtlist. And Idk. I'm guessing that because a great number of ppl might be notified it would imply they have a greater a chance of getting in. Or they simply don't want to do the extra step of sending out those notifications, making it easier on their end. 

But yeah, it would be nice for your app to be updated along the way. I get more information when I order a pizza from dominos for $11.99 than I do with a $75 grad app.

[bandanajack]

1 hour ago, Birdie13 said:

At what point to we reach out to places we haven’t heard from?

You can at any point, but I try to follow a guideline to know when it is most appropriate. Does the program webpage say when you should expect to hear back? Has it been longer than 1.5/2 months? Are you pressed to get an answer for planning purposes? Have they released acceptances and rejections?

I applied to a program with a deadline of Jan. 1 and I emailed them in mid-feb asking for a timeline and have yet to hear back. Gradcafe results are very slim and it looks like I could hear back anytime from Feb. to April so I guess I just need to be patient.

[sociocritic]

On 2/17/2019 at 9:01 PM, LCA_1350 said:

 

I'm hoping to get more information or opinions on the Syracuse Sociology PhD program.  On paper, it seemed like a good fit for my research interests (immigration / migration), and it appears it may be my only acceptance this cycle.  However, these posts about the program are extremely troubling, especially given my research interests.  I would rather keep working in the non-profit sector than be miserable for 5-7 years and come out with a degree that may be stigmatized (would this be the case? I'm not plugged into the Sociology academic world).  

I'm also worried about the funding situation - the email from the director of graduate studies said "At this time, we cannot provide funding to cover tuition and living expenses. We are working to try and secure funding for you. It usually takes a month or so before we will know whether we can offer funding to you. We can, however, assure you that we are diligently working on this!"  This wording seems suspect, and from the previous post, it sounds like funding has been an issue in the past.  I've always been told that a PhD program without full funding is a major red flag.

Living in upstate NY is also a concern.  My fiance is a STEM post-doc, and we were hoping to "hit" in the same general area - a PhD program for me and a TT job for him.  He's a finalist for a position at SUNY Cortland, and will probably get an offer, but during his visit he thought the lack of diversity was concerning, and the deep seated racism in upstate NY was very palpable (the faculty at SUNY Cortland apparently did not hide this).  We're both white, but living in a culturally diverse and accepting area of the country is very important to us.

Any thoughts/input/opinions on any of these issues would be very appreciated!

This is that department’s way of telling you that you did not make the cut. From experience they will wait to see if someone they’ve already extended an offer with funding to declines the offer, if so then they *may* offer you their funding- depending on where you are in line. They will offer for you to talk to a current graduate student. Whomever you speak to will be a student that has stayed in line and followed all orders while being a part of the program. DO NOT ATTEND ANY PhD PROGRAM WITHOUT FULL FUNDING- as you have already indicated, it’s a bad idea and a red flag to be offered a position w/o funding. If you are used to doing radical or progressive work in your job my advice would be to stick with it and apply again next cycle if you still want to pursue grad school. Nothing progressive is happening in that departament in regards to immigration and migration. If you’re planning to do stats or demography you’d be alright, if you want to apply a critical lens I would keep looking. A thing I wish I had known when applying is how important it is to apply to schools based on multiple specific faulty you think you could work with (read their work ahead of time if you can) and/or the theoretical framework a certain department follows- look to see what a departments main specialities are by seeing what faculty have produced recently, look at CVs, try and figure out which faculty are newer (ppl tend to start out as assistant hen go to associate to full based on the school)- knowing who is newer will help you to see what direction a department might be moving in, see what relationships the department has built with other departments etc. This all can be so hard to find/figure out prior to attending and also time consuming, but it is worth at least trying imo. My experience would have been much different had I done this deeper digging.

I wish you you and your partner the best, and go with your gut when in doubt. 

[belief_in_jerks]

Hi. This is the first time that I'm on Gradcafe and I'm not sure if I'm posting at the right place. I applied to UVa, BU, Columbia, and some other programs which turned me down very soon  

I posted a result on the board yesterday as I'm waitlisted by UVa. I saw somebody asking me on the board about whether I got interviewed or not. No, actually I didn't hear anything from them until I got the email to check my portal. Maybe it's because I'm an international student and I've never been to USA, so they just couldn't find a chance to interview? lol

Columbia has offered me a seat in master courses, and the deadline to make the decision is March 27. Praying UVa will reach out soon. So if any of you UVa acceptances have better choices, could you let them know as soon as possible? I'd really appreciate it.

BU (I applied for an MA program) said they received more than 180 applications today and only offered admission to 6 of them. Maybe the sociology department of BU is quite small? I don't know, but I think the size of their master program this year is tiny.

Edited March 6, 2019 by belief_in_jerks

[bandanajack]

13 hours ago, belief_in_jerks said:

Hi. This is the first time that I'm on Gradcafe and I'm not sure if I'm posting at the right place. I applied to UVa, BU, Columbia, and some other programs which turned me down very soon  

I posted a result on the board yesterday as I'm waitlisted by UVa. I saw somebody asking me on the board about whether I got interviewed or not. No, actually I didn't hear anything from them until I got the email to check my portal. Maybe it's because I'm an international student and I've never been to USA, so they just couldn't find a chance to interview? lol

Columbia has offered me a seat in master courses, and the deadline to make the decision is March 27. Praying UVa will reach out soon. So if any of you UVa acceptances have better choices, could you let them know as soon as possible? I'd really appreciate it.

BU (I applied for an MA program) said they received more than 180 applications today and only offered admission to 6 of them. Maybe the sociology department of BU is quite small? I don't know, but I think the size of their master program this year is tiny.

So your UVa grad portal says "waitlisted"?

[onika92]

16 hours ago, belief_in_jerks said:

Hi. This is the first time that I'm on Gradcafe and I'm not sure if I'm posting at the right place. I applied to UVa, BU, Columbia, and some other programs which turned me down very soon  

I posted a result on the board yesterday as I'm waitlisted by UVa. I saw somebody asking me on the board about whether I got interviewed or not. No, actually I didn't hear anything from them until I got the email to check my portal. Maybe it's because I'm an international student and I've never been to USA, so they just couldn't find a chance to interview? lol

Columbia has offered me a seat in master courses, and the deadline to make the decision is March 27. Praying UVa will reach out soon. So if any of you UVa acceptances have better choices, could you let them know as soon as possible? I'd really appreciate it.

BU (I applied for an MA program) said they received more than 180 applications today and only offered admission to 6 of them. Maybe the sociology department of BU is quite small? I don't know, but I think the size of their master program this year is tiny.

I am also international student and i got interviewed by UVA sociology via skype. so, it is of course possible to got interviewed even if you are fucking 11 hours away from USA. Anyways, still no e-mail or changing status of grad portal

[belief_in_jerks]

13 hours ago, bandanajack said:

So your UVa grad portal says "waitlisted"?

Yes, incredible.

"Your application to the Sociology program was highly regarded by the faculty. You have been placed on an admission waitlist and are a candidate for that program should an opening become available. You will be notified once a final decision regarding your application has been reached. If you have questions in the meantime about your status, please contact the program to which you applied." This is what it says.

[belief_in_jerks]

10 hours ago, onika92 said:

I am also international student and i got interviewed by UVA sociology via skype. so, it is of course possible to got interviewed even if you are fucking 11 hours away from USA. Anyways, still no e-mail or changing status of grad portal

I really don't know why. Good luck, anyway.

[Esenabla]

congrats to the UVA admit!

if you dont mind claiming it, im curious to know if you received an interview before getting accepted or if the acceptance email was the first time you heard from them

[Kidpolicy18]

First time on the boards here, and just very curious to know if anyone has gotten an official rejection (or acceptance!) from the Harvard Social Policy (& Sociology in my case) program. It is my first choice and there looks like there's an acceptance on the Board, but I haven't heard anything. I am waitlisted at the three other places I applied (including the Harvard Ed School, since my interest is in children's policy/social welfare research) and since I am in limbo, I would love to have some resolution of something!  

[bandanajack]

1 hour ago, Esenabla said:

congrats to the UVA admit!

if you dont mind claiming it, im curious to know if you received an interview before getting accepted or if the acceptance email was the first time you heard from them

Ditto to that. Also curious if anyone has gotten rejected yet? Wondering if they do all their rejects at once. And same question if anyone applied to UConn.

[tobe_newbee]

I just got an email from UVA saying I am wait-listed! I was so surprised and glad! I was not accepted from anywhere yet, so... good news. Because I didn't get their interview, I thought I was rejected. I am kind of curious about how it works cause some people got the decision after the interview, but someone like me was wait-listed (or admitted? I am not sure about it though) without interview.. I am also wondering whether this will affect the final decisions. 

[onika92]

1 minute ago, tobe_newbee said:

I just got an email from UVA saying I am wait-listed! I was so surprised and glad! I was not accepted from anywhere yet, so... good news. Because I didn't get their interview, I thought I was rejected. I am kind of curious about how it works cause some people got the decision after the interview, but someone like me was wait-listed (or admitted? I am not sure about it though) without interview.. I am also wondering whether this will affect the final decisions. 

congratulations! even if you are wait-listed, i know that it feels super encouraging because i also got that e-mail from them just now saying that i am wait-listed. conversely, they interviewed me. Almost like 1 month ago when i e-mailed them about the process, they said to me they usually make interviews all candidates they want to recruit. But who knows... it seems like we have to wait for the exact results and now i wonder how many people are wait-listed :s :s 

[tobe_newbee]

3 minutes ago, onika92 said:

congratulations! even if you are wait-listed, i know that it feels super encouraging because i also got that e-mail from them just now saying that i am wait-listed. conversely, they interviewed me. Almost like 1 month ago when i e-mailed them about the process, they said to me they usually make interviews all candidates they want to recruit. But who knows... it seems like we have to wait for the exact results and now i wonder how many people are wait-listed :s :s 

Thanks! Yeah, it's quite encouraging cause I was really losing my hope.... I am more curious to hear that they usually do an interview with "all candidates"... Just I hope this isn't a bad sign for me though. It's really hard to know this mystery of the admission process!! Good luck with you, too! 

[onika92]

Just now, tobe_newbee said:

Thanks! Yeah, it's quite encouraging cause I was really losing my hope.... I am more curious to hear that they usually do an interview with "all candidates"... Just I hope this isn't a bad sign for me though. It's really hard to know this mystery of the admission process!! Good luck with you, too! 

i also heard the same but maybe their policy could be flexible year to year. i mean i am an international student without any experience of studying somewhere where first language is english and maybe they want to hear me when i talk and interviewed me. dont know, just guessing and waiting and waiting

[belief_in_jerks]

3 hours ago, tobe_newbee said:

I just got an email from UVA saying I am wait-listed! I was so surprised and glad! I was not accepted from anywhere yet, so... good news. Because I didn't get their interview, I thought I was rejected. I am kind of curious about how it works cause some people got the decision after the interview, but someone like me was wait-listed (or admitted? I am not sure about it though) without interview.. I am also wondering whether this will affect the final decisions. 

I was not interviewed, either. Now in the waitlist