Any chance at sociology Ph.D ?

[miesiao]

I am an internatioal applicant for 2011 Ph.D sociology program.

I am not sure how much chance of being accepted.

My brief background:

I had BA MA and with awarded thesis.

undergraduate GPA: 3.2 major:3.6

graduate GPA: 3.8 Major:4.0

GRE: V 640 Q 680 A 3

main academic interests: politic sociology, culture, and urban sociology.

work experience: congressional assistant, NGO activitist, research assistant

publication: none, only one is in preparation

My prosepctive schools are Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, U Penn, NYU

UC Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego, CUNY, Vanderbilt, Rutgers.

Any way, thanks a lot for releasing my anxiety.

Edited November 17, 2010 by miesiao

[jacib]

I am an internatioal applicant for 2011 Ph.D sociology program.

I am not sure how much chance of being accepted.

My brief background:

I had BA MA and with awarded thesis.

undergraduate GPA: 3.2 major:3.6

graduate GPA: 3.8 Major:4.0

GRE: V 640 Q 680 A 3

main academic interests: politic sociology, culture, and urban sociology.

work experience: congressional assistant, NGO activitist, research assistant

publication: none, only one is in preparation

My prosepctive schools are Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, U Penn, NYU

UC Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego, CUNY, Vanderbilt, Rutgers.

Any way, thanks a lot for releasing my anxiety.

No one here is an expert and can tell you with much certainty. Your GRE scores are good but not great. Your undergraduate GPA was obviously low, but I had similar stats (I think mine was 3.26 and 3.57 respectively or something along those lines). Your graduate marks are obviously good...but what kind of graduate degree has a major? Your work experience, especially as a research assistant, will help you a lot, I believe. I think only one person in my entire PhD cohort had a publication (I I think one or two more people in this year's masters cohort did), so I can't tell you how much that will help or not. My sense is that if you're not the PI, it will be seen similar to be classed with research experience. But that's honestly a guess.

I recommend you look at this post: http://forum.thegrad...ogy-applicants/ for more information on applying; I think it will give you a better idea of where you stand. Look at the GRE advice starting on the second page thread I linked to above to get a better sense of how your GRE scores compare. The degree your research topic fits with a professor, and the degree that your topic interests a professor, are as important if not more important than grades, scores, experience, recommendations and writing sample. Contact potential advisers via email and ask them if they think your interests would be a good match for theirs. Most will be honest. Just do not assume that interest means a guaranteed admission. Honestly though, these numbers -- any numbers -- can tell you very little about your actual changes of admission. Ask any professor and I feel they will say the statement of purpose and generally the writing sample are the two most important parts of your application. Notably unquantifiable categories. This is a very qualitative process, based a lot on matching. The conventional wisdom developed last year seemed to be that, while bad numbers might keep you out, good numbers will not get you in.

In your particular case, I trust you have a reason to apply to those wide range of schools (Berkeley is one of the very top departments in the country, and CUNY is likely not in the top 25). Prestige is important in our business, of course, but it seems like you're applying to mainly schools in specific geographic regions. If you l you're applying to mainly top ten programs and programs that hover around 25 or lower. Notice that you're missing a lot of schools in the top 10-25 range; take a look at them and see if they fit your interests. Yes, I know that the rankings are a problematic measure of what a degree from any school will be worth now, never mind in five to seven years. Yes, I know superstar professors at a lower ranked school (my mental example is always Talal Asad in CUNY Anthro) will probably have better outcomes for their students than the other professors' students from the same schools. Yes, I know there are many reasons not to care about rankings at all, especially if your dream job isn't teaching at a top research university (my dad teaches at a small program that only takes 2 or so students a year, and therefore is ranked in the 40's at best. His students are happy with their outcomes, I think). Still, I think rankings do show something, and it does seem like you're mostly skipping over a large class of schools in your application process, especially non-UC public schools.

Edited November 18, 2010 by jacib