2023 Cycle Results & Applicant Profiles

[saffasrass]

I thought it would be interesting to borrow from the Poli Sci folks and start a thread for anyone willing to share about their results and overall profile for future applicants. If so inclined, use this guide for formatting:

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution:  
Major(s)/Minor(s):
Undergrad GPA:  
Type of Grad:  
Grad GPA:  
GRE:  
Any Special Courses:
Letters of Recommendation:
Teaching/Research Experience:
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances:
Rejections:
Pending:

Attending:

LESSONS LEARNED:

 

[saffasrass]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: California State University (Regional University)
Major(s)/Minor(s): Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.0 overall/3.8 major
Type of Grad: MA in economics & MA in sociology
Grad GPA: ~3.6 overall/3.35 economics/3.95 sociology
GRE: Didn’t submit
Any Special Courses: Lots of stats coursework in undergrad and grad school, including TA'ing for the grad stats sequence during the last year of my sociology MA. 
Letters of Recommendation: Sociology MA thesis chair (tenured) who I’ve also done research with, MA thesis committee member (untenured), and external thesis committee member who’s very well published and networked in sociology (tenured full professor & director of a university-wide research center) 
Teaching/Research Experience: 4+ years research experience as a research assistant and research associate at a policy research center. TA’d multiple undergrad and grad courses, including as a lab instructor for grad stats.
Other: 5 co-authored publications in economics journals and two MAs.

 

 RESULTS: 

Acceptances: Rutgers (originally waitlisted for funding) and Cornell
Rejections: UCLA, UCSB, Chicago (originally waitlisted), Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan, and Yale
Pending: N/A

Attending: Cornell

 

LESSONS LEARNED: Spend the majority of your time on your SOP, it’s definitely the most important part of your application. Next, spend a lot of time on researching departments to find ones with the best overall research fit that have at least two faculty you could envision serving as your advisor. For Cornell, since I knew they are big on methods, I really talked up my extensive knowledge of quant methods and how much I want to learn more about different methods. 

My experience is likely wildly different from the average applicant since I actually applied while already a PhD student at another university. I kept an open dialogue with my advisors on my desire to re-apply to a program with a better fit and funding early on, and because of that I think I was able to get really strong letters despite them not wanting me to leave. The primary things that changed between my first application cycle and second is that I wrote a much better SOP, I got stronger LORs, and I improved my overall grad GPA (from 3.34 to ~3.6).

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to DM! I’ll check back here when everyone starts applying next cycle and answer any questions to the best of my ability.
 

[ohnoherewegoagain]

i'll do this! 🤭💕 

Type of Undergrad Institution: private liberal arts college
Major(s)/Minor(s): sociology & gender, women's, and sexuality studies
Undergrad GPA: 3.5 overall, a 3.87 in sociology (i believe)
Type of Grad: one year at a large public university (more on this in the lessons learned)
Grad GPA: 3.5 at the time of applying
GRE: N/A
Any Special Courses: since i'm currently in graduate school, i've already taken two stats courses, soc theory, methods, and i have a couple of electives courses under my belt
Letters of Recommendation: two from professors undergrad, one from current graduate program director
Teaching/Research Experience: i've TA'ed all this year (75-100 students per TA class), but that's really it!
Other: i don't want to necessarily be a professor, and i stated that in my personal statement. i talked about how, rather than going into academia, i would rather go into think tank research/non-profit work/public affairs/public policy (lol very broad, but i'll also talk about this in lessons learned)

RESULTS:
Acceptances: university at albany, university of miami, syracuse university, university of nevada-las vegas, university of florida
Rejections: case western reserve university (surprising), boston university, university of virginia, university of oregon, university of colorado-boulder, university of maryland, university of arizona
Pending: N/A

Attending: SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY! i couldn't be more excited.

LESSONS LEARNED: i'm a relatively weird case, as i'm a first-year transfer applicant (aka, i've only completed one year at a program and therefore don't have a master's). the program i'm currently at is not a very good fit (research-wise and environmentally-wise), and my current program director could really see and understand that. i was really scared that my chances at any university would be abysmally low because i was in that weird phase where i wasn't coming straight from undergrad but also wasn't an MA transfer, but it honestly turned out to be fine.

when you apply, make sure that you are applying to programs that 1.) really fit your interests and 2.) are in areas you would be perfectly fine relocating to (for example, UVA, UO, and UArizona aren't really strong in my interests, and i would not be okay relocating to a public university in florida given the current political climate [which is lowkey why i'm transferring out of my current university]). also, START EARLY! START EARLY! START E A R L Y! had i started earlier, i would have applied to some other universities (such as UCSF), but i didn't get the applications in on time. starting early is, absolutely, your best friend. don't be afraid to ask for fee waivers, either.

i honestly knew i would end up at syracuse (had i been lucky enough to be accepted), and it's because my interests are so directly aligned with so many of the faculty members there, and the opportunities to conduct research based on what i want to study are extremely plentiful. it also helps that the sociology department there is located within the maxwell school, which is consistently rated as the #1 public affairs school in the country.

my last piece of advice, which may seem controversial, is to not really pay attention to rankings, and if you do, pay attention to them when it comes to what you want to study. syracuse is technically "ranked" lower than the program i currently attend (and it's ranked lower than ualbany), but like i mentioned before, my current university doesn't really have faculty affiliated with what i want to study, and ualbany just isn't in a location i wanted to move to (and their funding package was actually lower). how a university's program compares to other universities that actually offer what you want to study matters much, much more in my opinion.

good luck to future applicants! you've got this. 💕 

[youcandothis]

International applicant here.

Type of Undergrad Institution: AA + online undergrad program
Major(s)/Minor(s): English Lit
Undergrad GPA: 2.64 (AA degree), 3.9+ (BA in English Lit)
Type of Grad: QS top 100 university
Grad GPA: 3.4 / sociology (but I mainly took courses in public policy & philosophy in social sciences)
GRE: 320

TOEFL: 114
Any Special Courses: NA
Letters of Recommendation: 1 from MSc dissertation advisor, 1 from my business partner (who was a professor and has social science PhD, but still it was not an academic reference), 1 from the head of the organisation I've been volunteering with for 2 years. 
Teaching/Research Experience: Msc dissertation, research assistant for a year.
Other: I've been working for 15 years in education.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: University at Albany, Uconn, UMass Boston, University of South Florida
Rejections: Umass Amherst, Syracuse University
Pending: N/A

Attending: UConn

[kebechet]

Hi, I'm another international applicant!

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Internationally accredited private university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Sociology Major / Community Dev. & Organizing Minor
Undergrad GPA:  Overall 3.66, major about 3.8
Type of Grad:  N/A
Grad GPA:  N/A
GRE:  I took the test but chose not to use it for applications; my scores for Quant were lower than I'd aimed for.
Any Special Courses: I did work in non-formal education spaces as both a participant and facilitator, which really moves how I think of academia and pedagogy. I'm not sure how much of that impacted decisions, but I did discuss that background in my SOP. 
Letters of Recommendation: Three from undergraduate professors, and one from a professor from a European university who I'd worked with after graduating.
Teaching/Research Experience: I spent over two years as a TA with one of the professors who'd written my reference letter, and have been doing research work since graduating in 2019. I also have 3+ years of experience facilitating workshops and lectures as part of my non-academic work experience.
Other: There's definitely a lot of bias when it comes to who writes your LORs as international students, especially from the Global South; you'll find that some of your professors aren't "known" to admissions committees, and yet these are the people who know you and your work best. One of the professors who wrote my LOR is American, and another is European, so that was probably helpful. At the same time, I wouldn't recommend specifically reaching out to professors who are American / European for that purpose. I'd just say to reach out to people who know their fields well, and are familiar enough with your work and character that they can provide an honest reference.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Northwestern University
Rejections: University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, Northeastern University, Boston University
Pending: I was waitlisted for funding at Rutgers, but I asked to be removed from the waitlist before they sent me a final decision.

Attending: Northwestern University

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Applications are expensive and rejections are disheartening. It really helps to reach out to people going through similar experiences and try to ask as many questions as you can. I also really want to encourage new applicants to distance their characters and personal values from the decisions they'll receive, and to do their best to take everything in stride. When I started applying I told myself that if I wasn't accepted to any programs I wouldn't try again next year, that it was now or never. And then when I DID actually start receiving rejections, I'd reached a point (after talking to other prospective grad students and PhD candidates) where I felt like it was more of an experiment really and just something to learn from. There's possibly more to learn from yourself and your own response to rejection and "failure" than there is from whatever feedback you might get on your application, or at least that's how I feel.
• I knew absolutely nothing about how to apply and what was expected from me when I was starting out. It really helps to reach out to current grad students at your programs of choice and to ask them questions about the program, the process they went through, what to expect, and any advice or insight they had with regards to applying. This is honestly what helped me the most, knowing that I came out of this whole ordeal with a sense of community in a strange place. Another important question I asked was about what they wished they knew before enrolling in their program. I also reached out to professors I found interesting, and asked them whether they thought the department would be interested in the type of research I wanted to do. Sometimes that started longer exchanges, and sometimes I received very basic responses, but some people are quite generous with their time and it was lovely just getting the chance to talk to scholars and see their perspective on the department and field of work.
• For my SOP, I focused on one specific research interest and sort of constructed the statement around that. I spent a LOT of time writing and rewriting my statement, and asked for feedback from so many people which really helped me get out of my head and organize it better. I'd love to help anyone with writing their statement and I could share the basic flow / organization if anyone needs some sort of reference on how to get the elements together. But basically, I connected one primary research interest with my work experience, personal background, and ideas for projects I wanted to dive into.
• I honestly didn't expect any acceptances, and Northwestern was the absolute last place I thought would offer me admission. But I'm very happy with how things turned out. So I'd say to cast your net wide, even if the number of applications you can send is limited, and think also of where you'd like to live, and what things you'd like to do outside of research and coursework. Really think of it as a life for the next five or so years. I also recommend not applying to "safe" schools, or any school you'd be even slightly disappointed if it was the only program to offer you admission, but everyone's got a different philosophy on that 🙂

Good luck to everyone applying this year! Really wish you all the best, regardless of what happens. I'm also very happy to respond to anyone who has questions or just wants to bounce off some ideas, especially if you're an international applicant. I don't think I'm exactly knowledgeable about the process, but I can do my best to offer some kind of perspective.