My chances in a Sociology MA in the US/Canada

[peguim]

Hello there,

Hope there is someone who might be able to help me choose a good university for me to choose to apply for the academic year of 2013/14. I am currently finishing my BA in Sociology at the University of Essex (UK) and I hope to apply for a Sociology / Political Sociology masters degree in the USA / Canada.

I will finish my degree with a first (= 3.8-4 GPA). I have pretty good letters of recommendation (one of them coming from one of the best academics on my field) and I have increased around 5 points of my average marks (british system) at every year of my degree. Ohh and I have done an exchange year abroad in Japan... In addition to this, I am only 20 years old. I am Portuguese so maybe I could also play the international/diversity card hehe. I haven't done the GRE test yet.

I was considering applying to Toronto / UCLA / Brown / Purdue / Vanderbilt / Wisconsin. Do I have any chances of getting in? Am I aiming too high? Could I do better? What other universities do you think I should consider applying?

Any comment at all would help! I am really in need of help right now! Thanks in advance!

Edited May 27, 2012 by peguim

[peguim]

Anyone?

[margarets]

I can tell you that being Portuguese will make no difference re: diversity here in Toronto. There are LOTS of Portuguese people here (I live in Little Portugal) and it is a very multicultural city anyway. I don't think most Canadian universities have specific policies about student diversity, or if they do, it's more likely to be about attracting First Nations applicants or applicants with disabilities or maybe applicants from developing countries. But an English-speaking (white?) European would not attract special notice.

That said, your grades and references sound competitive.

[peguim]

Hahah thank you for your reply margarets! I didnt mean to give so much importance to the fact I am Portuguese. I do think however, that the fact that there is such a big Portuguese community in Toronto can be an advantage to my work as they are the perfect sample for many of my possible research projects.

[margarets]

Keep in mind that they are Portuguese-Canadians, mostly immigrants (and their children and grandchildren) who came here in the 1950s-70s, so their perspectives are different from the Portuguese in Portugal. I dated a Portuguese-from-Portugal guy who spent a few years here, and he always called his cousins "Canadians" because they were born and grew up here, had different beliefs, styles, etc.

If you do end up coming to Toronto to do sociological research here, I highly recommend you read up on the multicultural and immigrant issues of Toronto and keep a very open mind. I happen to know a fair amount about this topic (long story); it's extremely complex.

[peguim]

I don't understand what made you think I was planning to approach them as being regular Portuguese-from-Portugal folks. As any decent sociologist who attempts to research in a good university like Toronto, I know that I would have to read and form a solid background knowledge before jumping in and doing my field research. As I said... it CAN be an advantage to know that I will have a significant sample so near for a topic I might choose.

[margarets]

_{This remark:}

_{I am Portuguese so maybe I could also play the international/diversity card hehe.}

_{gave me the impression that you don't know much about the communities you are thinking of joining - at least as far as Toronto is concerned (I don't know about the cities/towns where the other universities are located). A quick look at wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia....hics_of_Toronto) would make it pretty clear that the city is already extremely diverse.}

_{Then this comment:}

_{a big Portuguese community in Toronto can be an advantage to my work as they are the perfect sample for many of my possible research projects.}

_{You didn't say anything in your original post about your research projects. What would make Toronto's Portuguese population "perfect"? If your research requires a large population of Portuguese, why are you interested in the other universities, whose communities may not have such a population?}

_{Your posts give the impression that you are considering all these schools and communities in a very superficial way. But since you asked for advice, I'm giving it.}

_{Remember, I LIVE in the Portuguese-Canadian community. I can even tell you which local bars used to be more Portuguese and now tend to have more Brazilians, what time of day the bakery runs out of pada, what flowers the Portuguese plant in their front gardens, which butcher has the best prices and so on. So when someone breezily says "great, they'll be perfect for my research", I have an idea of how easy or not that will really be.}

Edited May 29, 2012 by margarets