PHD in Sociology?

[Social Scientist]

I won't make this too long. I finished a BA in Sociology and Philosphy with a GPA of 3.2. I am working on an MA program in Urban Affairs which will be completed by june of 2011. I have a GPA of 4.0. I only took 2 classes so far in the graduate program. The program is only 30 credits and they have 4 required classes. Three of them were wavied because of my Sociology degree. There is also no thesis requirement in this program. you just have to submit two papers you have done in any of the classes you choose. The program I am attending is at one of the schools in CUNY. I wanted to take the MA Program in Sociology but, it was a statistics based program and I am not very strong in statistics. I spoke with a few professors and they said that I can concentrate in "theory" for my phd and only have to take 2 statistics classes.

So, here is my question. I never went to high school or junior high school. I still haven't taken the GRE. Is it possible that I would be able to get into a phd program and is it possible that I would be able to complete a PHD program?

I would like to concentrate on "Sociology of Sport". Since 1995 I have been a professional Athlete in the sport of Table Tennis. I was an Olympic Qualifier, USOC Athlete of the year and US team member 10 times,4 time collegiate champion and a bunch of other championships. I recently applied for a Masters program in Social Work at Columbia University and was turned down. I was told that a phd program is much tougher to get in to than an MA program in social work.

One last question. If a program is not funded. Is that program easier to get into?

I was looking at the New School program for social research in sociology and they had a lot of requirements to stay in the program. It was suck to get in the program and then get kicked out. Do a lot of people get kicked out of PHD programs for not reaching the requirements? I read that the toughest part about the PHD is the first exam and the disertation.

Thanks.

[myln]

I won't make this too long. I finished a BA in Sociology and Philosphy with a GPA of 3.2. I am working on an MA program in Urban Affairs which will be completed by june of 2011. I have a GPA of 4.0. I only took 2 classes so far in the graduate program. The program is only 30 credits and they have 4 required classes. Three of them were wavied because of my Sociology degree. There is also no thesis requirement in this program. you just have to submit two papers you have done in any of the classes you choose. The program I am attending is at one of the schools in CUNY. I wanted to take the MA Program in Sociology but, it was a statistics based program and I am not very strong in statistics. I spoke with a few professors and they said that I can concentrate in "theory" for my phd and only have to take 2 statistics classes.

So, here is my question. I never went to high school or junior high school. I still haven't taken the GRE. Is it possible that I would be able to get into a phd program and is it possible that I would be able to complete a PHD program?

I would like to concentrate on "Sociology of Sport". Since 1995 I have been a professional Athlete in the sport of Table Tennis. I was an Olympic Qualifier, USOC Athlete of the year and US team member 10 times,4 time collegiate champion and a bunch of other championships. I recently applied for a Masters program in Social Work at Columbia University and was turned down. I was told that a phd program is much tougher to get in to than an MA program in social work.

One last question. If a program is not funded. Is that program easier to get into?

I was looking at the New School program for social research in sociology and they had a lot of requirements to stay in the program. It was suck to get in the program and then get kicked out. Do a lot of people get kicked out of PHD programs for not reaching the requirements? I read that the toughest part about the PHD is the first exam and the disertation.

Thanks.

A PHD program is a pretty massive undertaking, and you should probably be really certain this is what you want to do before undertaking it. If you're interested in social work, you might want to try applying for various programs, as the fact that Columbia turned you down doesn't mean others will. You also might want to work on your GRE, and see how that goes. If you do well, that might help you get into various programs. Hope this helps.

[Tahl L.]

Thanks for the response. Since posted this (I changed my name from social scientist to Queens College) I have still been in my MA program in Urban Affairs. I still have a 4.0 GPA. I am about to begin studying for the GRE. I will be applying for the CUNY PHD program in Sociology probably in January but, I might wait till July. I have begun to see that it is not a queston of completing the program but rather a question of getting into the program. I will respond again when I get accepted into a PHD program. I know of one professorwho get into a PHD program with out having to take the GRE. I will try that route first. (O:

A PHD program is a pretty massive undertaking, and you should probably be really certain this is what you want to do before undertaking it. If you're interested in social work, you might want to try applying for various programs, as the fact that Columbia turned you down doesn't mean others will. You also might want to work on your GRE, and see how that goes. If you do well, that might help you get into various programs. Hope this helps.