2021 Cycle

[aebarton]

24 minutes ago, thenerdysociologist said:

 

yeah it still is super disappointing though. I figured the departments may have been more aware of their budgeting situation before now. Makes me wonder if the university cut some more out of social sciences budgets. 

Yep, I got this email too. Pretty upset. 

[Bill Jacobs]

Hi all. I was accepted at UIUC. Is it worth it to get a degree from there? it is lower ranked. any info will help. thnx

[jetsetter]

10 minutes ago, Bill Jacobs said:

Hi all. I was accepted at UIUC. Is it worth it to get a degree from there? it is lower ranked. any info will help. thnx

The answer to this question will ultimately depend on the following:

1) What your focus in sociology is going to be and what are you comparing this program to? If UIUC has faculty members whose research aligns with yours better and could provide better mentorship, then you might want to consider attending it.

2) When you say, is it "worth it", are you receiving full funding and stipend? If you have to pay out of pocket, then no, it's nor worth it (assuming this is a 5-year PhD).

3) What your purpose is in getting a Sociology PhD. If you really want to work in academia at big-name schools, then going somewhere with "better" name recognition may be worth considering. But again, this is not an end-all-be-all, it ultimately comes down to your research and publications.

4) Your geographic preference. UIUC is in the middle of nowhere and gets cold winters. Are you OK with being there for 5+ years. 

Hope this helps!

[aebarton]

This admissions cycle is like the “Wild West” ?

[Bill Jacobs]

9 minutes ago, jetsetter said:

The answer to this question will ultimately depend on the following:

1) What your focus in sociology is going to be and what are you comparing this program to? If UIUC has faculty members whose research aligns with yours better and could provide better mentorship, then you might want to consider attending it.

2) When you say, is it "worth it", are you receiving full funding and stipend? If you have to pay out of pocket, then no, it's nor worth it (assuming this is a 5-year PhD).

3) What your purpose is in getting a Sociology PhD. If you really want to work in academia at big-name schools, then going somewhere with "better" name recognition may be worth considering. But again, this is not an end-all-be-all, it ultimately comes down to your research and publications.

4) Your geographic preference. UIUC is in the middle of nowhere and gets cold winters. Are you OK with being there for 5+ years. 

Hope this helps!

thx u so much for replying !!! number 3 is my main focus i just want to make sure that i can get a job...my mentor said if i go there i would b pretty stuck regionally like i would only be able to get a job in the midwest but i want to make sure i can get a job anywhere in the US...it does NOT have to be a big name school it can be any school i just want to teach and do research!!! i just want to make sure it's possible to have a degree from here and, say, move to florida with it. does this make sense? thx u so much !!

[jetsetter]

Just now, Bill Jacobs said:

thx u so much for replying !!! number 3 is my main focus i just want to make sure that i can get a job...my mentor said if i go there i would b pretty stuck regionally like i would only be able to get a job in the midwest but i want to make sure i can get a job anywhere in the US...it does NOT have to be a big name school it can be any school i just want to teach and do research!!! i just want to make sure it's possible to have a degree from here and, say, move to florida with it. does this make sense? thx u so much !!

No worries, I think you'll be OK. Let's not forget, UIUC is the flagship state public school in Illinois so you're in good hands. That said, it is true that your network tends to be clustered where you do your PhD studies but that doesn't mean that you are bound to be regionally locked there. I think if you are able to produce great research, you are very likely to be hired anywhere. 

Good luck!

[sluggerotoole]

Has anybody here heard anything from Riverside yet?

I saw a rejection posted on the board, but still no update on my portal! 

[SleeplessInSomewhere]

6 hours ago, Bill Jacobs said:

Hi all. I was accepted at UIUC. Is it worth it to get a degree from there? it is lower ranked. any info will help. thnx

Hello! I'm the student who just turned down their offer. I did turn it down due to getting offers from higher ranking schools, but I will say that their program is really good especially in the area of transnational sociology. I also felt like the faculty was very warm and the students were very friendly, which I think are important factors to consider. If you're going to be somewhere for several years it should at least be a relatively healthy environment (relatively healthy for PhD students anyway).

As someone else mentioned, it does depend on your interests and the faculty members expertise. Another thing is that you have at least five years to really maximize what you've got. Network, present at lots of conferences, build a good relationship with your department faculty - the bigger names have wider networks and will come in handy when you apply for jobs and need a reference. I think many faculty members who ended up teaching at great schools but didn't graduate from Ivys did just that.

Personally I couldn't see myself living in UC for that long. There was also the question of summer funding (ask about that), they'll probably tell you what they told me which is that you can apply for TA positions and make money that way. 

Congratulations on getting in and best of luck with your decision. I did my homework pretty well on the program so if you have any questions feel free to reach out.

[IllinoisThrowAway]

8 hours ago, jetsetter said:

No worries, I think you'll be OK. Let's not forget, UIUC is the flagship state public school in Illinois so you're in good hands. That said, it is true that your network tends to be clustered where you do your PhD studies but that doesn't mean that you are bound to be regionally locked there. I think if you are able to produce great research, you are very likely to be hired anywhere. 

 

Flagship (and Ivy) at the undergrad level does not apply to the grad level. There are programs at satellite campuses that many would consider stronger than the flagship campus. I think it's important to remember that support for your field will differ by each department and placement is the most important thing.

Nobody can predict the future but they do can figure out how much people will get paid. Nobody is going to get rich from grad school but one should be able to live off a stipend without the need for roommates and they shouldn't have to worry about tuition waivers being withdrawn.

UIUC's administration has actually done really bad damage to its students in the past including threatening to withdraws tuition waivers back in 2017/2018 for all future students. Luckily, the Union prevented that from happening. 

This happened a few days ago:
https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/student-says-he-was-dismissed-from-uiuc-over-covid-19-testing-non-compliance/

Edited February 20, 2021 by IllinoisThrowAway

[AwesomeWilliam]

So I guess I can safely assume that JHU’s offers were already sent out? I haven’t heard anything from them and there are three or four acceptance posts already..

[donaldduckheim]

1 hour ago, AwesomeWilliam said:

So I guess I can safely assume that JHU’s offers were already sent out? I haven’t heard anything from them and there are three or four acceptance posts already..

That is my assumption as well, but I don't think anyone has been waitlisted either yet, so maybe there is still hope? I just want to know.... why do they take so long to send out rejections ?

[cranky]

Seems like Berkeley's Demography and Sociology & Demography has sent out acceptances?

[LMSoc]

54 minutes ago, donaldduckheim said:

That is my assumption as well, but I don't think anyone has been waitlisted either yet, so maybe there is still hope? I just want to know.... why do they take so long to send out rejections ?

I've noticed that too, and I think maybe similar to some other programs they are running later to see if they can gather more funds for more people. The Cornell info on the portal I think might actually apply to more programs too, and that's why the process of potential rejection is being drawn out. It's just some schools are more formally notifying people while others aren't, hence why the rejections seem to take so much longer to receive. The schools accepting students want at least a decent cohort size this cycle given they took a class.

I'm not really banking on hearing positive news from JHU. Seeing everyone else's quals here has left me thinking I'd need a full-blown miracle to get in there ? lol. But I'm happy with my one acceptance and that's all I could really ask for. I'm hoping you all hear some good news from JHU soon!

[joona]

1 hour ago, LMSoc said:

I've noticed that too, and I think maybe similar to some other programs they are running later to see if they can gather more funds for more people. The Cornell info on the portal I think might actually apply to more programs too, and that's why the process of potential rejection is being drawn out. It's just some schools are more formally notifying people while others aren't, hence why the rejections seem to take so much longer to receive. The schools accepting students want at least a decent cohort size this cycle given they took a class.

I'm not really banking on hearing positive news from JHU. Seeing everyone else's quals here has left me thinking I'd need a full-blown miracle to get in there ? lol. But I'm happy with my one acceptance and that's all I could really ask for. I'm hoping you all hear some good news from JHU soon!

I'm thinking of writing to the grad admissions officer on Monday morning just to get an idea as to what's happening.. I'll keep you guys posted 

[LMSoc]

1 hour ago, joona said:

I'm thinking of writing to the grad admissions officer on Monday morning just to get an idea as to what's happening.. I'll keep you guys posted 

Thank you, I appreciate that!

[TKAGOBOY]

For the 4th time in a row..I couldn't get into Sociology PhD program.  I will try again but I need someone who can guide me during next  application.  Congratulations to al who got admitted. .one day I will tell my struggles and success story. It is what it is. Anyone who's ready to lend a helping hand can reach me on agobentesky@gmail.com.  my gre score is 303.  I will reorganize myself and try again.

[lkaitlyn]

1 hour ago, TKAGOBOY said:

For the 4th time in a row..I couldn't get into Sociology PhD program.  I will try again but I need someone who can guide me during next  application.  Congratulations to al who got admitted. .one day I will tell my struggles and success story. It is what it is. Anyone who's ready to lend a helping hand can reach me on agobentesky@gmail.com.  my gre score is 303.  I will reorganize myself and try again.

Happy to help if you DM me but don't want to give out my email. FWIW, please don't be hard on yourself if you didn't get in this cycle. Watching from the outside, this cycle looks ridiculously brutal for everyone.

[Sq1990]

Genuinely bummed...

Waiting now on UCI, UCRiverside, and UCBerkeley 

Rejected by USC, UPenn and UCSD.

I think I might stand a chance at Riverside, but UCI and Berkeley seem unlikely with what I have been reading.  

 

Man this cycle has been brutal ?

 

Has anyone had experience resubmitting applications before for a next cycle?  I am trying to mentally prepare for that possibility.  Will programs reconsider a previous year applicant---I am guessing you have to demonstrate that you did a variety of things to better yourself within that year as an applicant, I suppose?

 

 

[glee1111]

If we haven’t received any news from Michigan, is it reasonable to assume a rejection?

[letsgetit21]

On 1/5/2021 at 1:39 PM, socszn_28 said:

Thanks for making this thread! Was waiting to find other soc applicants to freak out with...

I applied to 9 programs and would really love to not do another application cycle (although this is my first, and probably is a wild card cycle). Good luck everyone!!

Personally, I am taking it as a rejection. That's what happened to me with other schools - acceptances went out and 2-4 weeks later I got a rejection

[__both__]

5 hours ago, glee1111 said:

If we haven’t received any news from Michigan, is it reasonable to assume a rejection?

I am assuming that because they seem to have sent formal waitlist notifications. Focusing my vain hopes on Duke personally

[SleeplessInSomewhere]

Has NYU already sent out all acceptances and rejections? I received neither an acceptance nor a rejection, and there's no update on portal. Anyone else on the same boat?

[NeckPocket]

On 2/19/2021 at 3:46 PM, sluggerotoole said:

Has anybody here heard anything from Riverside yet?

I saw a rejection posted on the board, but still no update on my portal! 

Nothing from Riverside, or any of the UC's except for Berkeley on my end. 

Sluggerotoole, your profile says you're from the UK. Is that current? And have you had a chance to visit Riverside? It's a great program, but the neighborhood and community is far from what people consider California living.

[jetsetter]

3 hours ago, SleeplessInSomewhere said:

Has NYU already sent out all acceptances and rejections? I received neither an acceptance nor a rejection, and there's no update on portal. Anyone else on the same boat?

I haven't received anything from NYU GSAS. I'm guessing it's a rejection :/

[lalalalalala123]

Hey guys,  i saw some posts said accepted via phone. i am just very curious. if u r an international student, will the grad school call u too? After all, there is a time difference, isn't there?