What schools are you applying to?

[fm0003]

@sciencegirl - word. i've generally been lurking, due to being crazy busy, but now that I'm nearing the end of the process (2 more apps to go!), I've decided to speak up. Also, I know what you mean about saving your money. I feel like I just donated $90 to Princeton...

my interests are: gender and sexuality, qualitative methods, and race and ethnicity (I also love visual soc, but tend to keep that one quiet)

my list is as follows:

UMass

NYU

UConn

U of Michigan

Northwestern

Rutgers

Princeton

Yale

As a nearly 30 year old person whose highest annual income was the time 6 years ago when I made $21k (and was nearly denied financial aid b/c of it), I'd be thrilled to make $55k. But then again, I'd be cool with making pretty much anything if I get to conduct research for a living.

[sciencegirl]

@mf3000 interesting how our interests are really similar, I'd add social inequality to the mix for my interests - and why do you keep visual soc quiet? It seems that it is a less studied field/methodology and in today's world of topics that seem overstudied (I'd add that my own interests in gender seem to now feel overstudied), advantages would seem to go towards those interested in areas that are not studied as frequently.

My list so far: Princeton, Northwestern, Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, and USC. I may back out of applying to Yale. I'm burnt out, would almost rather spend the $100 on holiday gifts for my family, and not sure about their reputation in Soc. Thoughts from those applying to Yale on this?

[ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid]

@mf3000 interesting how our interests are really similar, I'd add social inequality to the mix for my interests - and why do you keep visual soc quiet? It seems that it is a less studied field/methodology and in today's world of topics that seem overstudied (I'd add that my own interests in gender seem to now feel overstudied), advantages would seem to go towards those interested in areas that are not studied as frequently.

My list so far: Princeton, Northwestern, Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, and USC. I may back out of applying to Yale. I'm burnt out, would almost rather spend the $100 on holiday gifts for my family, and not sure about their reputation in Soc. Thoughts from those applying to Yale on this?

Well, I'm interested in theory and religion so I'm pulling pretty hard for Yale.

Yale's a top 20 but I don't know how well your interests are represented there.

[sciencegirl]

@TSISV You are right, I think Yale would be great for religion - not sure about my interests though.. trying to hear why other people are applying there.. I have read here about how they are rebuilding the program there after almost shutting it down a few decades ago. On the other hand, there are also a lot of postings from last year's forum about people really wanting to go to Yale, and I'm trying to just get a better sense of their program. Perhaps its the fact that its in New Haven that is making me shudder a bit (the rest of my schools are all in fairly urban settings - except for Palo Alto).

[allhandsonthebadone]

When I did my research on schools faculty ascertaining fit I saw quite a few faculty with a Ph.D from Yale. It seems that despite the low ranking in sociology in comparison to its overall prestige the prestige holds up well. If you really think Yale would be a wonderful place to go and considering how competitive your list is I personally don't think it would hurt to fire another shot.

[ohhello]

Programs I'm considering, in no order: University of Chicago, Berkeley, Wisconsin-Madison, Ann Arbor, Northwestern, Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Washington, Rutgers, Yale, NYU, UCSD.

My interests: science/knowledge, higher education, institutions, immigration.

Hi all!

[sciencegirl]

@allhandsonthebadone Thanks for the advice.. you are right. It's a very solid program and I think I just need to muster up the energy to fire up one more shot (and one that is more qual. than many other programs). I already spent over $ on sending GREs and my LORs spent time sending in their part. Their app is due Jan 1 so I'll tackle it after the Christmas weekend. Even though I'm only changing a paragraph really for each school, it takes up so much mental work. My guess is that most of you tailored your apps to each school? (There was a discussion forum on this already started by @avee I think). The person who compared this process to serial dating was totally correct...

[allhandsonthebadone]

When it comes to personal statements I absolutely did tailor them to each schools length and had them implicitly answer the questions each school wanted to be answered on the personal statement. My base personal statement was looked over by some professors and a Harvard grad and I altered it (often a lot) for each school.

My big worry now is that for my list of schools I do feel I am a good candidate. I just don't know if I am a great candidate. Research experience is my worry. I have done an undergraduate thesis and one of my LOR writers taught research methods classes and stressed my prowess for that but I don't know if that will be enough.

[sciencegirl]

@allhandsonthebadone I can't imagine that applying to as many schools as you are (though all in the top 20 right?) you wouldn't get into a handful of them.. unless you are being totally unrealistic about your stats. I think the process though is a bit weird when applying to the top programs.. it does seem that a handful of applicants become sort of "top choice" recruits: these people get into a bunch of programs with great funding - then there is a second tier that will either wind up on WLs or get into one or two of the top programs with ok or bad funding, and then there are a few posters who didn't get into any programs.

The weird thing though is that the separation between the three categories is hard to figure out since we don't have all the information (SOP, GPA, undergrad schools, GRE) that is needed -- and truthfully, I think it comes down to the SOP. I spoke with a few phD candidates who had sat on some committees for their top 10 programs who shared with me that so much of it was the SOP. They also stressed the importance of the first page of the SOP. It makes sense, if you have a hundred applications, you aren't going to be able to read all the SOPs, and you probably will read the first page, see if it the candidate hooks you in, and then decide if you want to continue with the rest of the app.

I think your research experience is what you make of it and its the quality not the quantity - and probably more important is the research you want to do in graduate school and how interesting and well prepared you are for it, not what you have done in the past.

Anyway, perhaps this info would have been more important a few months ago -- but its all stuff I learned myself in the process. I actually didn't meet or interact with many professors/POI, but e-mailed their graduate students and engaged with them instead. They seemed to be really accommodating and gave me great advice, and I felt that this was more beneficial than trying to get the brief attention of star professors. I also got a bit freaked out in the process when a graduate student shared with me that her advisor often weeded out applicants through e-mail exchanges and meetings.. that she would engage with potential students to gauge fit and interest, and most of the time, the potential students would strike out. The lesson here was that meeting or contacting a POI can be both beneficial and detrimental.

Being a bit on on the shy side, and already kind of intimidated by everything, I didn't reach out to profs at every school (though through their graduate students, I did interact with profs from 3 schools. and these interactions were really organic and came from a referral instead of a blind e-mail so I felt better about it).

Sorry for all this info coming so late. I guess I'm now on break and have all this free time!

[fm0003]

@sciencegirl - Yale is great for qual methods. They may not be known for gender/sexuality, but hey, it's Yale. If you get in and don't want to go, you may be able to use it as a bargaining chip. A friend of a friend is in the Yale soc program now (albeit with different research interests), and he is super happy there. I keep the visual soc interest quiet b/c in my experience, it's very hard to pull off in such a way as to be accepted by most sociologists. Maybe my apprehension is due to the extremely quant-focused university from where I got my BA. Even though they offered a visual class, I saw the eye-rolling from a few professors in the department regarding it. On another note, I am also really shy and haven't contacted ANY POI's. I've heard mixed opinions on the matter, including one of my letter writers, who vehemently recommended I do not write to anyone (I think that's her own deal, she doesn't want to be bothered)...

[sciencegirl]

@mf3000 Thanks so much for the advice - and after wavering on the application, I've decided to apply thanks to the wonderful advice from all of you here on the board. I actually spent the weekend with my parents who were mixed on applying to Yale... they are in California and are pushing me to move there so they are completely biased of course I also have an interest in visual ethnographic methods - but have somewhat downplayed it, probably for the same reasons you have. But a qualitative program is important. Weird how the whole process is almost over.. I think I'm on this forum almost every other day now since I'm going through application withdrawal or something. Strange to suddenly have free time.

[Roll Right]

Anyone apply to George Mason University? Only public sociology phd in the U.S!

[ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid]

Bump.

This board has a ton of lurkers who have made accounts but never post. If you're reading this now start posting! We're interested in where you're applying and what your interests are too.

I feel like I refresh this board 15 times a day to see (maybe) 2 or 3 new posts.

[SocHope]

Berkeley

UCLA

Penn State

UPenn

Princeton

After much agonizing and back and forth, took UNC, UM Ann Arbor, and Duke off my list. Briefly considered UT Austin as well. Can anyone tell what all but one of the programs I applied to have in common? If so, you can probably guess my research interests.

EDIT: Woohoo, got us to 3 pages!

Edited January 5, 2012 by SocHope

[Supernovasky]

Studying Social Research Methods...

UC Boulder

UT Austin

Washington - Seattle

Michigan - Ann Arbor

LSU (my home state school)

[Palito]

UT Austin

Brown

Columbia

Wisconsin-Madison

UC Berkley

UCLA

Vanderbilt

I'm very interested in relational approaches and network analysis, and would like to focus my research on Latin American societies, Brazil in particular. I developed my list according to these interests.

[sciencegirl]

@SocHope Immigration? Gender? Not sure the connections between them are but maybe its a big duh and I'm not seeing it...

[SocHope]

@SocHope Immigration? Gender? Not sure the connections between them are but maybe its a big duh and I'm not seeing it...

Haha, it's not really a big duh. Just that all the programs except UCLA offer joint degrees in demography as well. But definitely cool you picked up on immigration! That's one of my main research interests.

[Darth.Vegan]

Applying next cycle!

here is my preliminary list. Will be narrowing this down in March and April based on which faculty write me back and seem interested. Hope to apply to about 15 programs (12 PhD 3 MA). Research interests in social movements, environmental sociology and globalization.

PhD. Programs:

Stanford #5

University of Wisconsin-Madison #2

Harvard #5

UT-Austin #14

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor #3

NYU #14

Cornell (Development Sociology) #17

Boston College (automatic consideration for M.A. program) #41

Brown #25

Boston University #57

UC Santa Cruz #54

University of Oregon #57

U-Mass Amherst #31

Brandeis #48

UC Irvine #27

CU Boulder

M.A. Programs:

University of Chicago #5 (MAPSS)

Columbia #11

New School #57

[bubawizwam]

I'm interested in criminology/deviance.

University of Maryland-College Park (Criminology program)

University of Delaware

Ohio State University

Emory

University of North Carolina-Wilmington

University of California-Riverside

[tt503]

Applying next cycle!

here is my preliminary list. Will be narrowing this down in March and April based on which faculty write me back and seem interested. Hope to apply to about 15 programs (12 PhD 3 MA). Research interests in social movements, environmental sociology and globalization.

Cornell (Development Sociology) #17

If you have any questions about Dev. Soc. I can try to answer any. I just finished half of their required theory classes for incoming PhDs, but I'm not actually a student IN the dept.

[inwhatway]

Alright, I've been creepin' on this post for a while, so I guess it's time to add my own post. For context, my partner and I have family obligations that tie us to the Detroit metro area and I developed an interest in incarcerated women with minor children while completing a Master of Science in Justice Policy degree.

In order of preference, here's my list:

1. University of Michigan -- Social Demography
   
2. Northwestern University -- Sociology
   
3. Michigan State University -- Criminal Justice
   
4. Vanderbilt University - Sociology
   
5. University of Texas at San Antonio - Applied Demography
   

I nearly applied to the University of Toronto for Sociology, but decided it would be a waste of $120 either way. If Toronto accepted me, so would Michigan (my first-choice). If Toronto rejected me, so would Michigan, leaving me to attend a less prestigious program.

Best of luck to everyone this application season -- jeepers creepers, the wait is crazy-making!

[MashaMashaMasha]

I also only applied to one, so I'll keep that quiet until I hear something

My research interests are social movements, political sociology, and demography, with a focus on the former Soviet Union.

And yes, the wait is brutal. Something about waiting for some group of near-strangers to make a life-altering decision on my behalf just gets in under my skin. Once the decision drops, though, good or bad, I'll be able to *act* on it, which is the best part.

[RunMilw]

I applied to 9 with the hopes of focusing on gender/sexuality, culture, and the body

UC-Berkeley

UW-Madison

University of Chicago

UT-Austin

NYU

UC-Santa Barbara

USC

CU-Boulder

and UWM (MA - safety school)

Also, a heads up if any people are athletes, you should contact your schools about reimbursement for application fees. My undergrad university paid for all 9 of my applications. I guess there is some sort of NCAA fund for it, so it saved me $650...They don't advertise it very often.

[socihealth]

What do you guys think about the relationship between school ranking and job placement?