Am I competitive thread - Sociology PhD Program - International Student

[nobobaaddiction]

Hello!  I am applying to political science and sociology PhD programs in the U.S. (I chose the programs based on the faculty of interest) and would love to hear your advice on my school choices. Thank you!  

Schools / Programs: Top 20 programs (PoliSci: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Georgetown, UCSD, Cornell, Yale, UCLA; Sociology: Stanford, Berkeley, JHU, UCSB, UCLA, NYU, Emory, NW...) 

Undergrad: Top 3 in Asia 

Degrees: B.A. in Sociology 

GPA: 3.85 

GRE: Q169, V169, A 5.0 

Research Experience: I have worked as a RA remotely for professors at top U.S. schools, but my work was quite elementary and my contact with the profs was quite limited. 

Policy Area of Interest: Authoritarianism 

LOR: 3 U.S. professors I worked for, with 1 strong letter and 2 med 

International Experience: 

• Exchange program in the UK and the US
• Research experience in Hong Kong, the UK, and the US 

Quant Experience: 1 quantitative course, working on R and basic statistics through self-study 

Now I have finished a batch of applications, I was wondering if I should apply to schools on the lower tiers (e.g. CUNY-Albany, Penn State, etc.)? This is my second time applying and I don't want to face all rejections again  

Thank you and I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! <3  

[letsgetit21]

I'd definitely suggest diversifying applications across department rank. In the top 20 programs, hundreds apply for 10-15 spots in the final acceptance pool. Of course, departments may have an even more limited number of positions for international applicants, though I don't know this for sure. The best piece of advice I got about applications was to choose 3-4 schools in each tier of rank (tiers as top 33%, middle 33%, bottom 33%). (The most important factor here is department fit with your research interests - see below!) Most applicants apply to departments in the upper tiers, which have a ton of competition between applicants. Middle and bottom rank tiers have a lot less applicants thus better securing an opportunity for admission. 

I'd also be sure to thoroughly research departments and make sure there are experts in the field you want to study. You want to study authoritarianism, so you wouldn't want to apply to a department without any professorial expertise in that area. 

You sound like a competitive applicant, but remember most people applying to these programs are also competitive. Your research experience will definitely help, even if its minimal. 

[nobobaaddiction]

9 hours ago, letsgetit21 said:

I'd definitely suggest diversifying applications across department rank. In the top 20 programs, hundreds apply for 10-15 spots in the final acceptance pool. Of course, departments may have an even more limited number of positions for international applicants, though I don't know this for sure. The best piece of advice I got about applications was to choose 3-4 schools in each tier of rank (tiers as top 33%, middle 33%, bottom 33%). (The most important factor here is department fit with your research interests - see below!) Most applicants apply to departments in the upper tiers, which have a ton of competition between applicants. Middle and bottom rank tiers have a lot less applicants thus better securing an opportunity for admission. 

I'd also be sure to thoroughly research departments and make sure there are experts in the field you want to study. You want to study authoritarianism, so you wouldn't want to apply to a department without any professorial expertise in that area. 

You sound like a competitive applicant, but remember most people applying to these programs are also competitive. Your research experience will definitely help, even if its minimal. 

Thank you very much for your solid advice! I will check out my research fit in programs on the lower tiers

[porosarecute]

Hiya! I see the title is a thread and since I also am an international student (applying to the US), I will also post here asking what you all think about my profile! 8)

I am applying to sociology programs in the U.S. and I'd love to hear what you all think!

Schools / Programs (first three are my top choices): UCSD, Northwestern, NYU, Wisconsin-Madison, Toronto, Yale, Princeton, LSE, Indiana

Undergrad: BA in Sociology

Grad: MA (expected) in Sociology 

undergrad GPA: 2.7 - horrible, I know, but I took an extremely rocky road to get to sociology from my initial entry program (biomedical sciences), notable improvement into the mid-high 80s and 90s by the last two years

grad GPA: 3.9 

GRE: V 157 / Q 154 / W 5.0

Work/Research Experience:

• I was a RA for a summer in undergrad.
• Undergrad honours thesis - qualitative: did recruitment, interviews, and analysis with ethics board approval
• Grad thesis (in progress) - quantitative: comparative-historical analysis using two publicly available datasets (one of which was compiled by a professor I really wanna study under)
• TA for intro sociology, TA for theory course

Policy Area of Interest: Comparative-Historical Sociology, Marxian tradition, welfare state

LOR: 3 professors: undergrad thesis supervisor, grad supervisor, and close professor

• To note, I've known my undergrad supervisor for many years and she also supervised independent study courses
• I've also known my grad supervisor for quite a few years and took courses with him. Grad supervisor also supervised undergrad and grad independent study courses.

Quant Experience: Did a summer session of the ICPSR summer program with UMichigan in 2020

My main concern is my undergraduate GPA. I'm hoping that if reviewers look past the first few years, they'll notice the upwards trend. I did, however, end my graduate coursework with pretty high grades. My second concern is my GRE scores as I do think they're on the lower end. 

I appreciate anyone reads and/or responds to this! Also, I hope everyone stays safe! 8) 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by porosarecute

[yhs]

Hey! Just stumbled upon your post and I glad to meet someone who's in a really similar spot! I am also a sociology phd applicant with a Bachelor's from HK (I am assuming you are in one of the HK top-3s judging from your profile) interested in authoritarianism. And with our similar interests it's really likely that we ended up meeting each other in our future careers lmao.

Anyways, similar to the first reply, I believe you are in really a comfortable spot. I cannot overstate how enviable it is to have 3 US letters as an international applicant. (This is 80% of the reason why international students commit to a US MA)  The 3.85 GPA is quite high considering you are from HK, which certainly does not suffer from gpa inflation. The GRE scores are insanely good as well. My only (tiny) worry is that since all of your LORs are from US professors during your exchange, they do not know you as well as the professors you likely interacted much more frequently in HK. (If I have the choice, I would swap a med US letter with a strong letter from a HK professor) But given how competitive apps are due to COVID and the sheer amount of competitive applicants, you probably just need good luck provided you have a strong SOP.

My personal situation is obviously a little different. I have a BSc double majoring in (pure) mathematics and philosophy before deciding to pursue a MA in sociology at a top terminal MA so-sci program in the US.

But the bottom line and the tldr is that, I think you are in a spot which your competitiveness should be the least of your worries. 

Good luck! (to me as well)

[nobobaaddiction]

On 12/28/2021 at 5:59 PM, yhs said:

Hey! Just stumbled upon your post and I glad to meet someone who's in a really similar spot! I am also a sociology phd applicant with a Bachelor's from HK (I am assuming you are in one of the HK top-3s judging from your profile) interested in authoritarianism. And with our similar interests it's really likely that we ended up meeting each other in our future careers lmao.

Anyways, similar to the first reply, I believe you are in really a comfortable spot. I cannot overstate how enviable it is to have 3 US letters as an international applicant. (This is 80% of the reason why international students commit to a US MA)  The 3.85 GPA is quite high considering you are from HK, which certainly does not suffer from gpa inflation. The GRE scores are insanely good as well. My only (tiny) worry is that since all of your LORs are from US professors during your exchange, they do not know you as well as the professors you likely interacted much more frequently in HK. (If I have the choice, I would swap a med US letter with a strong letter from a HK professor) But given how competitive apps are due to COVID and the sheer amount of competitive applicants, you probably just need good luck provided you have a strong SOP.

My personal situation is obviously a little different. I have a BSc double majoring in (pure) mathematics and philosophy before deciding to pursue a MA in sociology at a top terminal MA so-sci program in the US.

But the bottom line and the tldr is that, I think you are in a spot which your competitiveness should be the least of your worries. 

Good luck! (to me as well)

Thank you so much for the encouragement and kind advice!!! And your profile looks amazing for sure (most sociology undergrads I know, including me, have a weak quant background so your math background would definitely stand out)! Best of luck to you Would you like to exchange contact? :)))