Math and Sociology/ Demography / Population Studies

[panasic]

I am interested in studying social demography with an emphasis on im/migration, race and ethnicity. I am applying to a few sociology departments and a sociology-demography program (UCB). I know population studies is heavily based in statistics and I am afraid I am coming short on that.

I am a strong researcher, writer, and speaker. I have background in spatial analysis and statistics, but no formal training in statistics. In fact, I withdrew from a statistics course in college, because it wasn't a good fit for me (I missed the 2-week cut-off and had to get a W on my transcript.)

Math has always been a challenge for me. I am not bad at it, but not amazing. I am confident I would do OK in a methods course in graduate school. I am familiar with R and SPSS as well as statistical applications of Excel.

Some background:

I received a less than satisfactory quantitative GRE score: 77th percentile

Verbal was fine: 94th percentile (English is not my first language)

Writing: 5.0

GPA from an Ivy League school: 3.63

Major: A social science, but not sociology

I wrote an honors thesis in undergrad and received the high honors distinction.

I had an internship with a demographer at a think tank; another 6 months of research experience with a political science prof; and the thesis. As I mentioned, I have done substantial work in spatial statistics and analysis. I know: R (starting to learn), SPSS, ArcGIS, Excel (VBA and statistical applications).

Can anyone speak to how heavily math is weighed in sociology admissions, especially in degree programs with a demography component like Berkeley's Graduate Group in Sociology and Demography? Will my other strengths make up for less than stellar quant GRE score and academic record in math? What are my options and what do you suggest I do in order to strengthen my applications?

Thanks for your time.

[barilicious]

If you don't mind stating, where else, besides Berkeley, are you thinking of applying? Berkeley lists their average GRE scores, and obviously, they are pretty high, but again, GREs are only 1 part of the admissions process.

[panasic]

77th percentile is ~740 on the old scale, which fits nicely in the average for selective sociology programs... it's the demography part I'm nervous about. UCB joint Demog-Soci program does not list statistics for standardized tests. I am applying to Stanford as well.

[SocHope]

I'm interested in the same things! Besides UCB's joint Sociology/Demography program, I'm also applying to UPenn, Penn State, and Princeton, the other 3 schools with similar joint programs.

I also considered Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, UT Austin, UM Ann Arbor because of their strong population studies research centers. I've heard Brown is also very strong in demography, but didn't research them very much - don't think there's much going on there in migration.

We have similar GRE scores - you have a slightly higher quant, and slightly lower verbal than me. I wouldn't stress the statistics bit too much - you have other applied research experience which should speak to your ability to understand and conduct research. Anyone can learn the by-the-book stuff - you just need to know how to apply it to your research. My two cents anyway! Good luck!