2021 Cycle

[SleeplessInSomewhere]

Hi!

Anyone know if these schools traditionally conduct interviews before extending offers of admission?

* NYU

* U Chicago

* Harvard

* Stanford

* Yale

* UT Austin

[Amanda21]

1 hour ago, SleeplessInSomewhere said:

Hi!

Anyone know if these schools traditionally conduct interviews before extending offers of admission?

* NYU

* U Chicago

* Harvard

* Stanford

* Yale

* UT Austin

iirc Chicago conducts interviews around mid-January before extending offers.

[cec2021]

1 hour ago, SleeplessInSomewhere said:

Hi!

Anyone know if these schools traditionally conduct interviews before extending offers of admission?

* NYU

* U Chicago

* Harvard

* Stanford

* Yale

* UT Austin

I'm pretty sure that UT Austin doesn't.

[Planted]

Hey everyone! This is my first PhD app cycle, and I limited myself to programs in my current geographic area because my spouse is tied here for work. Initially that was a healthy list of 5-6 programs, but so many decided not to take cohorts next year that I ended up only submitting 2 apps. Luckily they are programs I am genuinely interested in, but still! 

My chances are so slim, y'all. I think I'm a fairly strong applicant in a typical year, but not sure I sold myself well enough to compete in this cycle. ??‍♀️ 

Good luck to everyone and cheers to getting any applications submitted at all in the midst of, ya know, everything. 

[macska]

Got my first admit today at the University of Warwick in the UK! Still waiting on a bundle of schools and to hear back about funding at Warwick, but hoping that the good news keeps coming (for me and everyone else here, too)  

[Soc_Gen23]

1 hour ago, macska said:

Got my first admit today at the University of Warwick in the UK! Still waiting on a bundle of schools and to hear back about funding at Warwick, but hoping that the good news keeps coming (for me and everyone else here, too)  

Congrats!! That's great news! 

[FrigidSky701]

Just saw UCLA acceptance on Results page. Now I am extremely anxious...

[letsgetit21]

On 1/4/2021 at 4:43 PM, lkaitlyn said:

I want to echo this. I remember last year people posting Michigan weeks in advance of when decisions actually came out. Also note that schools do make decisions at different times. I thought I was rejected from the school I ended up attending because I got my interview notification roughly a week after tons of other people. Someone else in my cohort didn't find out she'd been admitted until after Welcome Weekend because of a tech glitch in the acceptance email! Until you get a rejection, you aren't rejected. ?

Thank you for this! I've been seeing all the Rutgers interviews, and I keep getting nervous because I haven't heard back

[gforgreat]

I know acceptance has a lot to do with the "fit" but my GRE score is TERRIBLE so seeing UCLA acceptance is making me nervous. 

Based on the results from previous years, UCLA sends out their acceptance letter around this time of the year, so the result may be true.

 

[belief_in_jerks]

1 hour ago, gforgreat said:

I know acceptance has a lot to do with the "fit" but my GRE score is TERRIBLE so seeing UCLA acceptance is making me nervous. 

Based on the results from previous years, UCLA sends out their acceptance letter around this time of the year, so the result may be true.

 

Same. Feel even worse when I checked 2020 results and found that UCLA didn't accept any international student (I'm an international student)

[SleeplessInSomewhere]

43 minutes ago, belief_in_jerks said:

Same. Feel even worse when I checked 2020 results and found that UCLA didn't accept any international student (I'm an international student)

They accepted one international student last year, and hes a friend of mine

[passere]

57 minutes ago, belief_in_jerks said:

Same. Feel even worse when I checked 2020 results and found that UCLA didn't accept any international student (I'm an international student)

UCLA usually accepts about 40 applicants, so it’s only a small fraction of them that post here. Competition is fierce for international students, but it’s not impossible. Best of luck

[cec2021]

Congrats to the UCLA folks! It is not a school I applied to, but it is exciting to see the first big wave of decisions hit the results page. 

[SleeplessInSomewhere]

Anyone claiming the U Chicago interview result / did anyone else get an interview notification?

[belief_in_jerks]

On 1/15/2021 at 10:45 AM, passere said:

UCLA usually accepts about 40 applicants, so it’s only a small fraction of them that post here. Competition is fierce for international students, but it’s not impossible. Best of luck

Thank you! I haven't heard back from UCLA. Still holding out hope

[cec2021]

Anyone have more info on that UNC admit? for some reason I thought UNC usually releases in Feb. Congrats!

[FrigidSky701]

Seeing all these UCLA acceptances and interviews from CUNY makes me nervous but congrats to everyone who got admission/interview offers!

[gforgreat]

I'm feeling pretty hopeless with UCLA (my gre score is bad) and UCI (the faculties I mentioned in my SOP left the dept), but i'm still checking the results page religiously lol

I still have 10 other programs to hear from, and my anxiety is skyrocketing... 

[cec2021]

2 hours ago, gforgreat said:

I'm feeling pretty hopeless with UCLA (my gre score is bad) and UCI (the faculties I mentioned in my SOP left the dept), but i'm still checking the results page religiously lol

I still have 10 other programs to hear from, and my anxiety is skyrocketing... 

Don't discount yourself. This is going to be a crazy competitive cycle. Great candidates are going to get rejected from every school this year. Don't take it personally. One person has posted an acceptance for UNC, which is stressing me out! Not sure if it is real because there is only one. But I would love if any lurkers on this page that applied to UNC would respond if they have heard back!

[glee1111]

28 minutes ago, cec2021 said:

Don't discount yourself. This is going to be a crazy competitive cycle. Great candidates are going to get rejected from every school this year. Don't take it personally. One person has posted an acceptance for UNC, which is stressing me out! Not sure if it is real because there is only one. But I would love if any lurkers on this page that applied to UNC would respond if they have heard back!

I can confirm UNC they sent me an email followed by a phone conversation. Good luck!!

[tsengch77]

I am also waiting for UC Irvine, where I received a pretty great correspondence letter (from a professor in the committee) earlier this year but have not heard from them in recent days. Nevertheless, I think it is how the competitive cycle goes, and it is so competitive that we may over-scrutinize every little flaws we might have. I have a pretty bad undergrad GPA because of a different major (however my master's GPA is much better), and a decent GRE scores (but not great). I am also waiting for other 10+ programs that I have applied to (most of them are strong in urban/political/development, which I am interested in), congratulation to those who have been accepted and hope for the best.

[socszn_28]

On 1/16/2021 at 12:10 AM, SleeplessInSomewhere said:

Anyone claiming the U Chicago interview result / did anyone else get an interview notification?

I didn't post it but also got an interview email from a POI. I didn't realize there would be interviews at all for the programs I applied to be honest and am feeling very unprepared. If anyone has interview tips I would appreciate! 

[gforgreat]

Did anyone apply to USC? If so has anyone reached out from the dept for an interview?

[SleeplessInSomewhere]

2 hours ago, socszn_28 said:

I didn't post it but also got an interview email from a POI. I didn't realize there would be interviews at all for the programs I applied to be honest and am feeling very unprepared. If anyone has interview tips I would appreciate! 

It seems that a lot of programs who didn't do interviews in the past are opting to do so this cycle. It is probably because of the high number of applicants and the need to find an additional way to filter down the candidates.

 

I've had three interviews so far and supposed to have a fourth this week, so I'll mention some of the common questions that came up:

1) In a 20 minute interview with four faculty members, I was asked the following:

- Why do you want to do a PhD in Sociology?

- Why do you want to do a PhD in Sociology at this department?

- What characteristics should a graduate student have?

- There was also a fourth question but I can't remember it...

I answered the above in 7-10 minutes so we had about ten minutes left for me to ask any questions. As I'm switching from another social science discipline, I had to also justify that switch and how my previous education would complement my upcoming training as a sociologist. I familiarized myself with the department faculty, the graduate student handbook, the facilities on campus and gave a specific answer about why I wanted that particular department.

I do suggest having questions prepared from your side so it isn't an awkward ten minutes and so they don't end the conversation early because you don't have any questions. Do your homework, study their website, their graduate student handbook, their faculty profiles - come with specific questions so they know you're keen and committed. I asked about resources (facilities, workshops, centre affiliations etc), and the general stages of progression through the PhD.

2) In another interview that was more casual (lasted about 45 mins), the faculty member referred to my CV and SOP to ask for more details about my past research and work experience and how it can tie into my work as a doctoral student. We found that there was a lot of overlap in our interests so the conversation kind of carried itself. For this call I also came prepared with questions, so it was a back and forth type of conversation rather than a formal interview.

3) In a fifteen minute interview with four faculty members, the committee had emailed me the questions prior to the interview and asked me to come prepared and to be concise in my responses.

- What is your anticipated dissertation project?

- What is the importance of your project for the field?

- Why would this university be a good fit for you?

- Talk about something you are most proud of accomplishing, or an academic or personal challenge you faced, how you handled the situation, and what you learned from it. 

 

Key tips from my experience so far:

Be confident and friendly. Smile, sound enthusiastic. They are judging your character as well as your intellect.

If it's a video call, choose a place that is presentable, and look presentable. Your space should be tidy and you should dress formally (blazer, nice blouse, etc)

Log in to the call at least one minute before. They are often doing back to back interviews so it's your time that is lost if you are late. Check your Internet connection and so on beforehand so you don't have any glitches.

Know your proposed dissertation project well. Practice if you need to, so you know how to intend to speak about it briefly. What is it, what's its importance, what methodology do you have in mind, and whose expertise will you draw on to conduct it?

If they share names of the committee members with you prior, get to know their profiles and their areas of research so you can find relevant topics of conversation and so you have an idea of what pikes their interest.

If they ask you any questions similar to the one above about personal challenges, don't make them too personal. I still think this is kind of a trick question, so you have to find a balance between sharing a personal challenge that is 'admirable' and 'inspiring' but at the same time not something you should only be sharing with your therapist - respectfully. I think it's also useful to try and tie in whatever personal challenge you faced to your current desire to become a sociologist/study the area that you want to study, and how that challenge motivated you to pursue it.

 

If anyone has any other advice to share/questions they were asked, please do post.

Good luck to everyone!!

Edited January 20, 2021 by SleeplessInSomewhere

[glee1111]

Can anyone confirm interviews with UChicago professors?