Are there any successful applicants who did not major in sociology here?

[socialhunts]

I do want to know how those who did not major in sociology acted in the application. Thank you very much.

[Paul Allen]

I do want to know how those who did not major in sociology acted in the application. Thank you very much.

Yeah, I was poly-sci and had some success.

[Prospective Soc Student]

I was a policy major and got into several top schools. I didn't address it in most applications, but when I was asked to do a "why sociology" bit, I just talked about how I was more interested in research and academic discourse than policy analysis. My major was pretty sociological, though--I wasn't a hard science major or anything.

[lexicana]

Neither my undergrad or MA is in sociology. With that said, I can't say quite yet if I have been succesfull since I've been waitlisted at 3 of the 4 schools I applied to. The fourth one straight out rejected me. As I consider why I have been waitlisted I believe that not having a background in sociology is hurting me. Additionally, I took a non-traditional path to education working full-time while going to college part-time. It took me six years to complete my undergrad. My strenghts are that I have done research and have 4 published articles. I also have professional experience in education, though I am not sure if that is helping or hurting me. If I end up not getting accepted I'm not sure how to improve my application since I can't change what I believe is hurting me. Hopefully soon I will be able to say to claim success!

[socialcomm]

My background was psychology/communications. Basically, I showed that my research interest falls into sociology, which is why I was making the change.

[fields&charts]

my undergrad is Film Studies / Philosophy. My MA is in the Social Sciences (interdisciplinary, but sociology primarily).

Because my graduate experience is in the field to which I applied for doctoral study, I don't feel that it was much of an issue. That said, I've had more than a few folks raise their eyebrows over my undergrad major despite the fact that my MA is squarely within the discipline.

From my experience this makes grounding your interests in the current concerns of the discipline even more important for your SOP. Link your interests to current debates or a particular trajectory of research in the discipline in order to show that you're reading journals regularly (and if you aren't, then now is a good time to start) and that you're dedicated to studying (and producing) sociology.

[greenwheel99]

I majored in US Race and Gender studies... which was pretty closely tied to sociology but did not require any of the core sociology courses like Soc Theory. Things have been working out decently for me so far, but I do wonder if going with pure sociology would have helped at a few places.

[smaturin]

I majored in religion. I took only one sociology course in my four years of undergraduate studies, but I read a great deal of sociological literature that pertained to religious studies. I have good credentials and applied to seven programs. Six of those are solidly in the top ten in the country; I was rejected from all of those. The remaining department is in the next tier; I was accepted there.

[boki]

I was a biology major in undergrad but took several sociology courses as well. I have been successful in applying. Just take a good amount of time in your personal statement explaining the reason for your change in interests, what motivated it, what you're interested in now, and why that fits into their specific program. I also had 1.5 years work experience post-undergraduate, and was able to talk about how the parts of that job I enjoy would support sociological study well.

[SheWrote]

My background is Organizational Development. I can't say whether I would have been successful anywhere else because I only applied to one school and I got in (accepted into the MA portion of a MA/PhD program)

[apppk]

My background is haywire ;-) I did engineering for undergrad and then a post graduation in management and worked in corporate for a few years. I had statistical courses and one course in industrial sociology during my post grad. Other than that, I think, the lack of back ground in sociology was a slight hiccup. What helped me was that I got myself research experience and thankfully it was in the area of my interest. This also got me some publications although not in peer reviewed journals. But I think, my SOP was in good shape, and was quite grounded and was based on my research experience. I also had clear research questions in my SOP. But then things could have been better. I applied to 8 schools and got admitted to one. I am still in waitlist for funding in one and waitlist for admission in another.

[Burchak]

My undergraduate degree is in Business with concentrations in Marketing and Accounting. However, my M.A. is in Sociology. I applied to 10 schools and was accepted to 7.

[hoobers]

My undergrad is in a STEM field, and I think it actually helped me a lot during applications. Most social science undergrad programs have laughably bad math/stats training. Since a deep understanding of quantitative methods requires (at least) calculus, probability theory and linear algebra, a STEM BS is probably a better preparation for sophisticated quantitative social research than a sociology BA. As long as you're not applying to be trained as an ethnographer, this should give you a big boost during admissions process. The only caveat is that you might have to try a bit harder to show that you (1) know what sociology is and (2) have really committed to being trained as a sociologist.

Edited March 30, 2011 by hoobers

[lambspam]

In undergrad, I majored in political science with minors in sociology and history. My master's is in sociology. Of five sociology Ph.D. programs, I've gotten into two so far, been rejected from one, and am pretty confident about the last two (they're Canadian, so they notify very late in the game).

[EDWF]

I, like many of the others in this thread, majored in political science. I studied urban policy and political theory as an undergrad, so switching to social theory and urban sociology is not terribly different.

I applied to a few schools, only got into 1, but I don't think the major had any impact on that.

[Milkman95th]

Interdisciplinary undergrad. In my app I did the traditional proposal, but also attached a one page write up explaining how well I was prepared for sociology (any projects I did related, intro soc. books I had read, and of course name dropped some famous and obscure sociologists – had my bases covered). Needless to say, I got it.

[noodles.galaznik]

I'm a little late, but...

I majored in anthropology and history, and the one grad program I applied and got accepted to is Sociology/Criminology.