2022 Fall Application: Chat, Share and Support One Another

[CinnamonCream]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I see application threads created roughly around this time of the year for a new cycle and thought of creating one myself. I'm currently drowning in applications and could use some support. Please feel free to share your background, schools you're applying to, how your application is going, your thoughts and concerns, and perhaps results at a later stage!

[S.Shine]

15 hours ago, CinnamonCream said:

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I see application threads created roughly around this time of the year for a new cycle and thought of creating one myself. I'm currently drowning in applications and could use some support. Please feel free to share your background, schools you're applying to, how your application is going, your thoughts and concerns, and perhaps results at a later stage!

Hi, I am also new here. I am an international medical graduate and joined this forum to look for anyone applying for MPH programs. I did not start any application yet but open to any suggestions. Thanks for starting this thread.

 

[QWERTYMNB97]

18 hours ago, CinnamonCream said:

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I see application threads created roughly around this time of the year for a new cycle and thought of creating one myself. I'm currently drowning in applications and could use some support. Please feel free to share your background, schools you're applying to, how your application is going, your thoughts and concerns, and perhaps results at a later stage!

Hi! Fall 22 applicant here. Good to meet y'all

[FuturePhDPls]

also a Fall 2022 applicant! good luck everyone!

[TrešnjaMonkay]

Hello, sociology applicants

 

[CinnamonCream]

Thanks to every one who replied! A brief self-introduction: I'm an international student applying to 13 programs in sociology. My research interests are gender and sexuality, ethnographic methods, and health. Would anyone be willing to share the number of programs they are applying to and their research interests?

[FuturePhDPls]

hello! I'm applying to one sociology program (UC Irvine) and 5 public health programs. My research interests are social networks and adolescent/young adult health.

[lkaitlyn]

Hi! Not applying this year but just wanted to crash the thread to say my inbox is open if anyone has questions about UC Irvine, the app process (I applied pre-COVID, though), scholarship negotiations, etc. Not an expert but always happy to try to help. Good luck to all of you!

[FuturePhDPls]

On 11/25/2021 at 1:54 PM, lkaitlyn said:

Hi! Not applying this year but just wanted to crash the thread to say my inbox is open if anyone has questions about UC Irvine, the app process (I applied pre-COVID, though), scholarship negotiations, etc. Not an expert but always happy to try to help. Good luck to all of you!

hi! I'm currently doing my masters at UCI and applying to the Soc program as well! I'll dm you!

[Fatkiller]

Good luck, y'all.

Just submitted some of my applications and will submit the other tonight. 15 programs in total, and I actually have a feeling that I will need to do another round in the next year as some of my friends (who work as an admissions counsellor or director in universities) told me that the number of applicants this year is crazy. So... finger crossed and good luck, every one!  

[glee1111]

I heard this cycle will have fewer applicants. At a top 15 program right now. 

[glee1111]

2 hours ago, Fatkiller said:

Just submitted some of my applications and will submit the other tonight. 15 programs in total, and I actually have a feeling that I will need to do another round in the next year as some of my friends (who work as an admissions counsellor or director in universities) told me that the number of applicants this year is crazy. So... finger crossed and good luck, every one!  

May I ask which schools?

[Fatkiller]

1 hour ago, glee1111 said:

May I ask which schools?

Columbia, UCLA, Duke, Cornell, Ann Arbor, Toronto, McGill, UBC, NYU, Wisconsin Madison, Rutgers, Indiana Bloomington, McMaster, Alberta, and Iowa.

[Fatkiller]

2 hours ago, glee1111 said:

I heard this cycle will have fewer applicants. At a top 15 program right now. 

Really? Because last year was so crazy? My "CI" told me that she believed that there would be even more applicants this year because she had more students consulting her this year than last year. But there indeed is chance that some students decide not to apply after they consult and know about last year. 

[THS]

Heads up that a lot of programs will be taking on big cohorts (this is good for getting your foot in the door, bad if you want personalized attention from the department).

That said, Washington State University will be taking in a large cohort- if you are interested in quantitative methods, environmental sociology, sociology of gender and work, or experimental methods it might be a good program to look into. The program has also moved away from academic only prep and is really starting to focus on applied/sociology for industry preparation for graduates. Don't go there if you want to study qualitative methods (only 2 profs do this, very little support) or racial/ethnic sociology (the support/knowledge base just isn't there). Also don't apply if you aren't ok living 2 hours from a Target. Otherwise, beautiful hiking/fishing/outdoors activities, low cost of living, and great beer for when you aren't buried in work. Good luck on your apps and hopefully this post is helpful to some of you! 

[FuturePhDPls]

@THS this is great news!! Can I ask how do you know that a lot of programs will be doing so?

[THS]

On 12/2/2021 at 8:16 PM, FuturePhDPls said:

@THS this is great news!! Can I ask how do you know that a lot of programs will be doing so?

Almost every program in the country had some people reevaluate why they were there AND had students MA out or finish their PhD. AND many also didn't take cohorts last year. This has resulted in a labor shortage in a lot of departments that rely on graduate students to TA, RA, and teach. I know in my department because phd candidates are being forced to TA this spring when they have been teaching or RAing due entirely to this labor shortage. 

[letsgetit21]

Hey everyone!

I applied to PhD programs last cycle and was part of the brutal back to back rejections most of us seemed to get. In the course of one day, I was rejected by 6 programs almost back to back in February! And rejected from the rest of programs later that week (with the exception of 1 wait list - which turned into a rejection in April!). I turned to applying to MS programs and was accepted into each program I applied to. I accepted a spot in a funded masters program.

I don't like my geographic location (like absolutely loathe it) and I know I want a PhD, so I've reapplied to a much narrower group of departments this cycle. We'll see how it goes. 

Similar to what @THS mentioned, other departments on my campus are searching far and wide for people to TA courses (mine is medium sized and the MS students cover most TA needs). Though, I'm not sure about departments taking more students. This is a logical conclusion, though! 

Since most grad students are already working, some departments are turning to grad students in related disciplines and even hiring advanced undergrads to TA. Most of this issue stems from HUGE freshman intro courses which typically require TA support. (And graduate students are exploited laborers due to justifiable low wages - but that's a topic for another thread!)

[Fatkiller]

10 hours ago, letsgetit21 said:

Hey everyone!

I applied to PhD programs last cycle and was part of the brutal back to back rejections most of us seemed to get. In the course of one day, I was rejected by 6 programs almost back to back in February! And rejected from the rest of programs later that week (with the exception of 1 wait list - which turned into a rejection in April!). I turned to applying to MS programs and was accepted into each program I applied to. I accepted a spot in a funded masters program.

I don't like my geographic location (like absolutely loathe it) and I know I want a PhD, so I've reapplied to a much narrower group of departments this cycle. We'll see how it goes. 

Similar to what @THS mentioned, other departments on my campus are searching far and wide for people to TA courses (mine is medium sized and the MS students cover most TA needs). Though, I'm not sure about departments taking more students. This is a logical conclusion, though! 

Since most grad students are already working, some departments are turning to grad students in related disciplines and even hiring advanced undergrads to TA. Most of this issue stems from HUGE freshman intro courses which typically require TA support. (And graduate students are exploited laborers due to justifiable low wages - but that's a topic for another thread!)

That is actually good to know! Thank you and @THS.

My follow-up question is that if they decided to hire MS/MA students or advanced undergrads to do the TA/RA job this year, It appears to me that they could continue hiring those students for the jobs in the following years because doing so should be much more cost-efficient than funding a larger cohort of PhD students, assuming that the MS/MA students and undergrads did their job well, correct? I do not have much experience in the US academia though, so I'm wondering how much the labor shortage would contribute to the decision of accepting/funding more PhD students. Perhaps they could offer more semi-funded MA/MS opportunities with TA/RA rather than accept more fully funded PhD students? 

[letsgetit21]

11 hours ago, Fatkiller said:

That is actually good to know! Thank you and @THS.

My follow-up question is that if they decided to hire MS/MA students or advanced undergrads to do the TA/RA job this year, It appears to me that they could continue hiring those students for the jobs in the following years because doing so should be much more cost-efficient than funding a larger cohort of PhD students, assuming that the MS/MA students and undergrads did their job well, correct? I do not have much experience in the US academia though, so I'm wondering how much the labor shortage would contribute to the decision of accepting/funding more PhD students. Perhaps they could offer more semi-funded MA/MS opportunities with TA/RA rather than accept more fully funded PhD students? 

Good question. In general, Professors prefer working with grad students. In the US grad students are viewed as more mature, dedicated to research, and committed to the discipline. Also, in most funded programs, funded students are not, technically, allowed to work anywhere except within the department. This is typically a condition of the assistantship and dedicates the student solely to studying and the assistantship. Generally, undergrad hires aren't help to the same standard and are, then, more free to say no or take on other projects.  

Additionally, developing graduate students in TA roles leads to them being able to become an Instructor of Record (IOR). This allows departments to offer more classes to the undergrads at a lower cost than hiring a full professor line. In the US, depending on the accreditation agency, student IORs typically must be at least a second year grad student (> 18 credit hours earned)  to be an instructor.

Could departments focus on undergrad labor? Certainly. But its unlikely given the propensity to have grad students teach their own courses later in the program.

[Fatkiller]

7 hours ago, letsgetit21 said:

Good question. In general, Professors prefer working with grad students. In the US grad students are viewed as more mature, dedicated to research, and committed to the discipline. Also, in most funded programs, funded students are not, technically, allowed to work anywhere except within the department. This is typically a condition of the assistantship and dedicates the student solely to studying and the assistantship. Generally, undergrad hires aren't help to the same standard and are, then, more free to say no or take on other projects.  

Additionally, developing graduate students in TA roles leads to them being able to become an Instructor of Record (IOR). This allows departments to offer more classes to the undergrads at a lower cost than hiring a full professor line. In the US, depending on the accreditation agency, student IORs typically must be at least a second year grad student (> 18 credit hours earned)  to be an instructor.

Could departments focus on undergrad labor? Certainly. But its unlikely given the propensity to have grad students teach their own courses later in the program.

Thank you! Now having a larger cohort of PhD students sounds more logical to me, also because not many MA/MS students would dedicate themselves into assistantship either.

Finger crossed for this cycle! 

[reallytryingmybest]

Hi all,

I am applying to criminal justice and sociology PhD programs. I will say I am entering the application season quite pessimistic. I graduated high school and college early so I am fairly young. No publications, but one (international) presentation. I guess all I'm saying is does anyone else feel like they are throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks?

[socigrad]

12 hours ago, farfromhome said:

Hi all,

I am applying to criminal justice and sociology PhD programs. I will say I am entering the application season quite pessimistic. I graduated high school and college early so I am fairly young. No publications, but one (international) presentation. I guess all I'm saying is does anyone else feel like they are throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks?

That's all grad school is, to be honest, is throwing things out and seeing what sticks! Perhaps your accelerated study will be a benefit, but don't be afraid to apply to MS sociology programs. They're a great way to get research experience!!  (And publications too)

Best of luck though! I'm happy to help with any questions :)

[FuturePhDPls]

Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well!  Has anyone heard back from any schools yet? I've seen a huge influx of status updates for many schools, albeit different departments, and was curious to see if any Soc applicants have heard anything!

[CinnamonCream]

3 hours ago, FuturePhDPls said:

I've seen a huge influx of status updates for many schools, albeit different departments

Are you on Reddit? Lol. I think there's been some interview invites and final decisions for the sciences and engineering programs. But in general PhD programs in the humanities and social sciences would get back to us in late January, February, or March. 

If by status updates you mean completeness check--then I received a few notice from the graduate schools or departments stating that my application is complete and ready for review.