Questions from a sociology minor

[Rose22]

I posted the following in the application section and was told I might get better answers here, so here it goes.

Hello,

I am an American who will be applying to Canadian masters programs in Sociology, but I'm a little worried. Most of the schools I've looked at say you need a bachelor's in Sociology or a related discipline. I don't think my major can be considered 'related', it's a BA in Modern languages with an emphasis in Spanish.

I do, however, have what I consider to be a strong minor in sociology. At the time of application, I will have completed eight upper division courses in Sociology, including statistics, sociological methods, and sociological theory.

The semester after that, my last semester, I will be enrolling in 3 more courses, including a senior research seminar, but this will be after my applications have been placed.

I have the following questions:

• Will the 8 courses at the time of application be seen as substantive enough for consideration?
  
• Would I stand a better chance by waiting a year and having those three extra courses? Is the opportunity cost worth it?
  
• If not, can I at least make mention somewhere in my application of the final 3 courses
  

[cogcul]

If you have done well in the sociology courses, and especially if you have a sociology professor that knows you well and can write a reference-letter for you, then I don't see any problem with applying in the next application-season.

You can mention what courses you are taking in sociology in the spring 2013 semester together with your interests in your statement of purpose.

You should know that it's incredibly competitive at some sociology-programs in Canada for international students. Often they can only admit one international student, and they tend to get as many international applications as they do domestic applications. For this reason I would apply broadly, not only at UofT and UBC. University of Alberta I know is quite respected in Canada, so is obviously McGill (but I have heard mixed things about their program), York is especially good for radical sociology, and there are many other good universities too.

[Rose22]

If you have done well in the sociology courses, and especially if you have a sociology professor that knows you well and can write a reference-letter for you, then I don't see any problem with applying in the next application-season.

You can mention what courses you are taking in sociology in the spring 2013 semester together with your interests in your statement of purpose.

You should know that it's incredibly competitive at some sociology-programs in Canada for international students. Often they can only admit one international student, and they tend to get as many international applications as they do domestic applications. For this reason I would apply broadly, not only at UofT and UBC. University of Alberta I know is quite respected in Canada, so is obviously McGill (but I have heard mixed things about their program), York is especially good for radical sociology, and there are many other good universities too.

Thanks for your advice.

I have done well, 4.0 in my sociology courses so far and I expect to be able to maintain it. I'm sure I could get several sociology professors to write an LOR. I do plan to apply broadly, as broadly as possible. In addition to sociology, I'm also applying to two Latin American Studies programs, which I think I might have a really good shot at and it would combine my Spanish major with sociology. The two programs in LA studies that I have chosen are heavily sociologically oriented, so I think in the case of those, my background is probably really advantageous.

My main concern is that I don't want my minor to be treated as a lesser being by pure sociology programs. I have worked genuinely hard in sociology and I haven't shied away from the methodology/theory courses that weren't required for minors but that I took anyway.

Edited June 23, 2012 by Rose22

[cogcul]

I wouldn't be too worried, but I would try to get to know one or two of your sociology-professors well by going to their office hours as often as you can. Letters tend to be very important to separate you from all those others that have done everything right. Since you are doing a senior research seminar, perhaps you could try to do some preliminary preparation for it, and ask one of the profs that you get along with well for advice on it? This would give them an idea of your interests, and would let them know that know that you are serious about sociology, which would help them write a good letter for you.

[calamaria]

I don't know what you are interested in. But if you plan to study demography and family, your Spanish background might be a very strong, competitive weapon for your application.

[jacib]

I am a current sociology PhD student at a top ten school. In my cohort, fewer than half the people completed an undergraduate sociology major (other majors: economics, anthropology, political science, women's studies, interdisciplinary social sciences). But the economist is doing fancy quantitative things, the anthropologist is doing indepth ethnography, the woman who did women's studies is looking at gender (and how it intersects with her previous career), etc. I have a religious studies undergraduate degree, but I think that counted for rather than against me because I still look at religion now, just now as a sociologist. Honestly though, I took literally one sociology class as an undergraduate (in which I believe I got a B+), and only a handful of others in political science or anthropology, three or four at most. (My transcript was not the strongest part of my graduate application). If you're studying Latin America or immigration from Latin America, I am sure your Spanish degree will be appropriate. Often, I believe the "related" is to your project specifically rather than "sociology" as a broad field. If you are unsure, just send the director of graduate admissions a short email to confirm that your degree counts.

I recently joked with my adviser about this, and I told her that when I was applying to graduate schools, sociology programs responded well to my research interests, and religious studies departments responded, "That sounds interesting but..." Her response was basically, "Well, duh. Your interests are too sociological for them. Of course you ended up here." Just make sure that when you apply, someone can say the same about you. Really sell yourself as a "serious sociologist" with "serious sociological interests". Be sure your statement of purpose sound compelling while fitting into established subdisciplines and debates.

[surefire]

I ended up double-majoring, but I started my undergrad as a single-major in English Lit. I didn't take Sociology 100 until my second year (and it was the ONLY Soci course that I took that year). My third and fourth years were totally crunched as I squished together all of the requisites along with interest courses (like you, I didn't shy away from avanced theory courses or research seminars, you are right to pursue these challenges, they will speak to your research potential). I'd take a cue from jacib and reflect on what your Modern Languages/Spanish emphasis brings to a unique sociological scope. Jacib's examples re: other majors are great, let me add: to make sense of my English Lit. component, I cultivated strengths and experience in critical discourse analysis, which I applied to my sociological inquiries. It's all about making sense of your narrative. In this sense, you could wait to be finished the three courses to have the benefit of time and reflection, but I also think that you could (as cogcul mentions) have some in-depth discussions with profs and put together a case for yourself now.

To address your concern re: your other focus being treated as lesser by "pure" sociology programs, I would suggest looking into faculty publications and interests to get a grip on what the departmental culture at different schools looks like. This will give you an idea about how receptive they may be to your experience (this would be, of course, in addition to the research that you're doing regarding finding some supervisory "fit"). U of T, for example, is known for some quanitative slants. York is a very large program with incredibly diverse faculty interests that are largely cross-appointed to a multitude of different departments (in my experience, they also tend to be quite "holistic" in their application process and supportive of non-traditional or alternative paths to academia).

I'd also recommend touching base with/looking up posts of the GC member DustSNK. This individual is an American applicant who applied to a bunch of Canadian Soci MA programs and, I believe, ultimately and happily chose Brock. They could give you some insight on the competitiveness for international programs!

Suerte!

Edited July 4, 2012 by surefire

[penpen]

I wouldn't worry too much about your background. I got a minor in sociology while my bachelors degree was in engineering.

I still got into a couple of top 20 grad programs in sociology. Like the others have mentioned, LORs are important as well as a strong personal statement.

[sciencegirl]

Don't worry about what your diploma says (humanities major here) - but just make sure you can show that you can write and think like a social scientist. I got into multiple top-10 programs without ever taking a "sociology" course (and yes, it was embarrassing for some apps when they ask you to list your sociology courses taken). I did however, take two months to write a completely new 20-page writing sample on a topic in sociology, doing new research and reading on my own -- and learning ASA formatting.. because all my writing in the past had been in English/Cultural Studies and in Chicago formatting, and I knew that I had to prove somewhere that I could think and write like a social scientist. And the nice thing is that I'm hoping to continue working on that essay/new writing sample in graduate school so it wasn't a wasted 2-months.

[noodles.galaznik]

Don't worry about whether or not you have a degree in sociology. In undergrad, I double majored in anthropology and history, and now I'm in a MA program for sociology. I took ONE undergraduate course in sociology, so my background in that area was really, really sparse. I know in my department, people have backgrounds in biology, anthropology, religious studies, economics, philosophy, and art criticism. I think a lot of it really depends on what kind of work you want to do and how your interests fit within sociology. I've found that programs seem to be enticed with people who have backgrounds that aren't sociology, but are still very related and relevant.