So very lost

[brinut22]

I am very new to this grad school process and currently overwhelmed to the point of tears.

 

I graduated from Stony Brook with a degree in Sociology in 2010. I was also admitted to Alpha Kappa Delta that year. I was a teaching assistant for 2 classes and had a 3.28 gpa overall but a higher gpa in just sociology.

 

I took time off to earn money and just give myself a break. I work as a babysitter, make pretty decent money, and I enjoy what I do but I want to go back to grad school now. I have no research experience, I am currently studying for the GRE, reading up on some information and I honestly don't know where to start or if I have a snowball's chance in a furnace of getting in anywhere.

 

I would like to go back Fall 2014 (giving myself time) and I am looking at programs like Cornell, Rutgers, and Syracuse (probably more as time goes on) and thinking the only way I am getting into any of those is if the faculty has pity on me. I feel I am intelligent and could do grad work, I just don't know how I can prove to admissions I can so they will let me in. I'd really like a Ph.D but if I have to start off with a masters to get into the school, I will. Although my fear of asking this question is currently taking over since I fear someone will squish my dream of grad school like a slow moving spider, if I don't ask, I won't be able to go forward since I don't know where to begin...

 

Honest advice or information would be much appreciated. I want to go to grad school and I am willing to find ways to make that happen, just no idea where to begin.

 

Thank you so very much ahead of time...^^

[RefurbedScientist]

The most important thing you can do is start early, which you're doing. So, good work so far   

 

Nothing about what you've told us so far makes me think you're chances of getting accepted to a PhD program are bad. Here are the things you could do in the next 6 months to get you on track for the next admissions cycle:

 

1) Make a timeline. That is, get letters of recommendation lined up by X date, take the GREs by Y date, draft a statement of purpose (SoP) by Z date. Don't stress about these dates, just have a 12 month plan or so.

2) Get back in touch with your undergrad profs. Don't worry that it's been a couple years. Helping out former students is kind of part of their job (it was really hard for me to accept that, but now that I'm on the inside, it totally makes sense). Pick one or two who you had a relationship with (maybe from TAing), remind them who you are, what classes you took with them, and let them know you're interested in a PhD. These people will be useful in a few respects. First, talk to them about your general interests in sociology. They will be able to recommend readings and scholars for you to look into, and maybe even programs. Then, assuming you do decide to apply for a PhD, ask them to write letters of recommendation (in the August or September of the year you apply, i.e. next Fall). You'll find that younger (i.e. 50 and under) professors might have a better sense of the profession and what the application process is like, whereas older professors (50+) might have more time on their hands and name recognition if they're tenured. So be strategic and get lots of second, third, and fourth opinions on everything.

3) Try to do some sociological (more or less) research. This is not a necessary prerequisite for getting into a PhD program, but it will give you something to talk about in your SoP and perhaps a writing sample. You're GPA isn't stellar, so it will help round out your application profile. Doing research is really not as daunting as it sounds. Volunteer to do some interviews or data analysis for a local non-profit. If there's a college or university nearby, see if they have RAships you can do in the summer when students are gone. 

4) Study study study for the GRE. It's not the determining factor in the admissions process, but it's hugely important. And, the GRE is very learnable. Get yourself a few study guides and work through them. I actually recommend getting a couple and working through them both. They'll be slightly different, and one will suit your particular style more. Plus, more practice the better. Flashcards are also key. Study partners help too. Some people take classes. I didn't, but I was able to devote an hour a day for like two months and then quit my job to study full time for two weeks before the test (random timing of a job transition worked perfectly). If you're not a great test taker by nature, I recommend giving yourself at least two months to prepare for the GRE. A good score there can help make up for your low GPA. 

5) Start reading sociology. This will help you decide what your specific sociological interests are, what the state of the field is, who the players are in your area of interest, what programs have what specialty areas, and it will improve your SOP. Also, down the line (say, the September before you apply), you can reach out to some profs whose work you've read and introduce yourself as an applicant. 

6) Adjust your internet time-wasting habits to be pro-sociology. That is, periodically get out the ASA website, the Orgtheory.net blog, and these boards. Follow sociologists on Twitter (seriously, it helps). These are small things that will add up to a lot more academic and professional knowledge.

7) Over the summer, start researching programs more intensively. Look at faculty CVs to see what kind of work they publish. Look at graduate student CVs and webpages. See if departments have classes, workshops, or research centers that interest you. Compile what you find into a spreadsheet, then think strategically about what programs are the best fit for you. Consult with your faculty friends. They'll appreciate that you've done all this research when you ask them for letters of rec. They'll like being able to say "So-and-so will make a great sociologist of gender/crime/development/etc...." if they have a good sense of your goals.

 

I'd say your chances are as good as anyone else's. But, above all, think hard about why you want a PhD. There's is virtually no (career) reason to get a PhD unless you want to go into academia. Many people do go into other kinds of jobs nowadays, but the training is explicitly academic and departments are looking for students planning on going into academia. So if you're certain you want the life of an academic, then go for the PhD. If not, maybe you want another degree. You can always do the PhD later (assuming you were 22ish when you got your BA in 2010, then you'll still be on the young side of an entering cohort in 2014). Also, think hard about why you want to do sociology. I seriously wrestled with doing a degree in anth or comm instead, and I think many people deal with overlapping interests in these fields, economics, policy, public health, and other fields. 

 

Also, just noticed you're located in New York. Not sure if its possible for you, but the ASA national conference is in NYC this August. If that's doable, there's no harm in checking it out. Go to some panels, maybe try to get coffee with profs or grad students at programs that interest you (keep in mind, people will be suuuuper busy). Going to ASAs is not a normal thing before being in grad school, but there's little reason not to if you're in the city.

 

All in all, stay positive. Seems like you're in good shape and thinking ahead. It can feel overwhelming, but that's why this board exists. In many ways, we'll only make it more stressful, but we do try to be as supportive as possible too   Good luck. 

Edited February 24, 2013 by SocialGroovements

[La_Di_Da]

SocialGroovements covered all the bases, and has provided excellent advice. I most certainly would recommend the same and likewise urge you to "think hard about why you want a PhD," since doing so will not only help you determine whether a PhD is the right path for you, but also, if it is the right path, help you craft your statement of purpose. It's a good place to start. Good luck!

[socgrad2013]

^That's really good advice.

 

If I were to supplement it, I would advise the following:

 

Regarding (2), do get in touch with one or two professors to start, but remember that you will need three letters of recommendation for the vast majority of programs. Letters that are not from faculty in the social sciences tend to be taken less seriously -- since LORs are universally glowing, the ones that count are from people who can speak authoritatively on your potential for social scientific research.

 

Regarding (3), sociology graduate programs are a little anomalous in that being familiar with the discipline is not really a prerequisite since the substantive and theoretical footprint of the discipline is so vast and eclectic. However, for applicants with weaker "stats" (e.g., GPA and test scores, but also other roughly quantifiable assets like the prestige of your undergraduate institution), you have a lot of ground to make up on the SOP and writing sample. If you want programs to take a chance on you, you have to show them that you're ready to take on sociological work without the conventional signals -- meaning you really want to impress them with your grasp of the logic and methods of sociological research. My advice is to get involved with a research project right away.

 

Regarding (4), cosign. GREs already matter more to sociologists than you'd maybe expect, but they matter so much more for applicants with sub-3.5 GPAs.

 

Finally (5): read, especially, sociological articles in AJS and ASR. These are exemplary models of the kind of work you'll be taught, cajoled, and pushed into producing as a graduate student, namely focused inquiries into specific puzzles or questions that are theoretically grounded and empirically substantiated. Articles have a modal form, i.e., they have an intro section, a lit review section, a methodology section, a data analysis section, and a discussion section and conclusion. Try to understand why sociological research is patterned in this way and use it as a guide for formulating your own research ideas. Although it's not the only way to organize research, it will show programs that you are capable of consuming information that is in this format (90% of sociology) as well as fitting your ideas to it.

 

PS., it might be a really good idea to get a master's first, since you face a bit of an uphill battle with your GPA (nothing that can't be mitigated with some time in a graduate program) and lack of research experience. My advice, though, is to get a master's in something other than sociology which will require you to acquire specific research skills -- for example, I think Columbia and NYU both have MA programs in quantitative research methods for the social sciences. You can learn many of these skills in MPH and MPP programs as well. The discipline as a whole is moving in a more quantitative direction and it's worth taking a year or two to show that you can move with it (not to mention that most sociology departments have quantitative requirements anyway, so you'll also signal that you're able to fulfill these -- a not-insignificant concern for adcomms when it comes to sociology majors).

[brinut22]

Wow...Thank you! Thank you all so much!

 

Knowing that I am not doomed really helps. I'm going to really concentrate on the things you mentioned above to make this happen. My gpa was something that scared me so it's nice to know I still have a chance. I started out as a philosophy major which annihilated my gpa and by the time I entered Sociology, a lot of the damage couldn't be completely fixed. My last two years (especially my last year) I did great (So I've been told), but those first two year...ick. >.<

 

The ASA national conference would be doable since I am about 1.5 hours from the city. Research is still difficult considering where I live, not a lot of research opportunities going on, and if I was to go to the city for opportunities, it would really cut into my ability to work which I can't really afford right now.

 

I am 24 and I've been told that is on the young side for grad school but it's worth a shot anyways. I've been focusing on Urban Sociology (one of my favorites and one of the classes I was a TA),  Culture and Cognition and Medical Sociology. I've also found some other topics such as the Sociology of food and the culture of videogaming that has caught my eye.

 

After a bit of research, I found professor at Rutgers (Paul Mclean) does have an interest in the culture of videogaming yet I am not sure how I would reach out to him without sounding like a babbling idiot. I wonder if I should even bother but it is a subject that really interests me.

 

Although some parts of the responses I've read scream, "Give up now", I feel a little better overall about moving forward and I will try to stay positive. Most of the colleges I am looking at don't offer Masters degrees so I am a bit bummed about that I guess I will have to wait and see.

[sociologo]

If you haven't already, see if you can get your hands on one of the ASA Guide to Graduate Departments of Sociology: http://e-noah.net/asa/asashoponlineservice/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=ASAOE702G12 . Your former department should have a copy, or you might be able to get a slightly older edition online somewhere. This book was invaluable to me in finding departments with my research interest areas when I was first applying to grad school a few years ago and feeling extremely overwhelmed. 

[La_Di_Da]

After a bit of research, I found professor at Rutgers (Paul Mclean) does have an interest in the culture of videogaming yet I am not sure how I would reach out to him without sounding like a babbling idiot. I wonder if I should even bother but it is a subject that really interests me.

 

My personal opinion is that before you contact Professor McLean, you should, as much as is possible within your given time constraints, familiarize yourself with the stated sociological topic of interest, videogaming, by conducting a preliminary review of the lit and forming a thesis question. If you've formulated a striking research question, write within the vernacular of the discipline, and refer to these in a brief email that poses a pertinent question (e.g., "Am I a good fit?"), I believe you'll be more likely to garner interest and further instruction.

Edited February 24, 2013 by La_Di_Da

[RefurbedScientist]

PS., it might be a really good idea to get a master's first, since you face a bit of an uphill battle with your GPA (nothing that can't be mitigated with some time in a graduate program) and lack of research experience. My advice, though, is to get a master's in something other than sociology which will require you to acquire specific research skills -- for example, I think Columbia and NYU both have MA programs in quantitative research methods for the social sciences. You can learn many of these skills in MPH and MPP programs as well. The discipline as a whole is moving in a more quantitative direction and it's worth taking a year or two to show that you can move with it (not to mention that most sociology departments have quantitative requirements anyway, so you'll also signal that you're able to fulfill these -- a not-insignificant concern for adcomms when it comes to sociology majors).

 

One thing people do is apply for PhD programs and MA programs in the same cycle. You might surprise yourself with the programs you get accepted to, but never underestimate the competition in admissions. My view is that, if you know you want a PhD, don't pay for a masters unless you've already been rejected from PhD programs. @socgrad's advice of going for a professional degree or a applied research degree makes sense to me, and often programs will bump you to these MA tracks if they reject you from their PhD program. Put simply, don't assume you can't go straight into PhD and don't assume you definitely will. Applying to a couple MA back-ups is a good strategy. People around here have done that, and you may want to search around for past threads.

 

Just on videogame culture, I recommend you seriously look into communication programs. They'll be much more amenable to the culture of videogames than sociology is (unfortunately). Even Anth programs would be more open to that, if you found a department with sociocultural digital anth people. Sociology is, in my opinion, way way behind in anything related to technology or the internet. 

[brinut22]

It's a shame that they are. Sociology could definitely benefit learning more about technology. I did take a course called the Sociology of Technology as an undergrad, but it was more of a review of the history and technology that shaped New York. It was a bit of a let down.

 

Chatrooms, RPGS, Larping, video games in general and so much more are all things that could easily fit in the realm of sociology, I just find it surprising that this is the only professor I could find that did some research in it.

 

Regardless, I have a lot of work to do. ^^

 

Thank you so much again (especially SocialGroovements for once again keeping me from giving up). I truly appreciate all the help I can get.

[faculty]

While I agree that communication (or anthropology) might be better places to look, there is actually other sociological work on online environments. You might check out the work of Simon Gottschalk on "SecondLife" and "Videology" (both in Symbolic Interaction), Mary Chayko, or Dennis Waskul for starters. It's a good idea to acquaint yourself with some of what is going on. You can read through their references and see who they cited and use scholar.google.com to figure out who cited them. Even though many of the people working in the area might not be at places with grad programs (save Gottschalk, who is at UNLV), looking over some of that research will help you get a lay of the land and learn some of the key search terms in the area.   

[jacib]

While I agree that communication (or anthropology) might be better places to look, there is actually other sociological work on online environments.

All of SocialGroovements advice is partically solid.  I agree that there are ways you can do work on sociology, but you'd have to frame it in a certain way to make it "sociological interesting," which these days means finding something that can be "generalizable" about it (the easiest way to do that is what Mark Chen does below--deal looking at it as organizations).  If I don't care about video games at all, what would make your work interesting?  What does it say about how society works?  I have a colleague who is looking at collaboration online, for example, and some of it is tying into the economic sociology literature on innovation, stuff like that.  All that said, you might run into less restinence in (certain) communications or anthropology department, and if you really want to look at this specific subject, you shouldn't necessarily cross them off your lists.

 

If you're doing internet/computer stuff, here are some people to look at: Eszter Hargittai is a sociologist at Northwestern (PhD from Princeton), but in their Communications Department.  Wikipedia says she was DiMaggio's student.  Since a lot of what she's doing is so new, a lot of work her work is just descriptive and categorical (I'm thinking specifically of her work on the "digital have-nots").  I-School at Berkeley is a place you may want to look at for doing a PhD.  danah boyd got her PhD from there, she's one of my big intellectual crushes, because she's just so smart.  Media Culture & Communication at NYU, where she teaches, might also have a PhD program.  Further, she's affiliated with Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, which is another bunch of top people on the internet computer stuff front, meaning it would be good to see if you could get into one of Harvard's programs.  Boellstorff at UC Irvine (anthropology) has Coming of Age in Second Life (he did his thesis work on gender/sexuality in Indonesia, unrelated to digital anything).  Again, his work isn't great because he's just sketching out what you could do.  I was disappointed with the book, but anthropologists seem to like it. Bonnie Nardi (also at UCI anthropology) has a book about World of Warcraft called My Life as a Night Elf Priest (haven't read it).  Mizuko Ito I just realized is also at UCI anthropology (realize she was boyd's adviser).

 

Mark Chen wrote another book on Warcraft called Leet Noobs.  This book is cool, seeming, I've only read the review of it in Savage Minds, but it seems cool because it seems like it could be taken as about more than "video game culture" and much more about how organizations work (his argument seems like it could be reframed slightly as the expertise one gains as an individual needs to succeed is different from the expertise one needs working with others, hence those who are "leet" enough to be brought into guilds are actually "n00bs" at working within the organizational framework--hence making them the "leet noobs").  He did his PhD in Educational Technology/Learning Sciences, College of Education, University of Washington, and has said that he had to do "basically a lot of stuff on his own".  At many programs, you might end up in a similar boat.  His whole dissertation is up for free online if you have access to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database (full title: "Leet Noobs: Expertise and Collaboration in a 'World of Warcraft' Player Group as Distributed Sociomaterial Practice"); it may have a more extensive lit review than the published book.  You as an individual don't, but if you know someone with an ID that works at a big research institution (like SUNY) they should be able to get access through their library.

 

MIT has that PhD program in the "History and Anthropology of Science, Technology and Society (HASTS)", which might also be interested in that kind of thing.  Look also into various other STS (science and technology studies) type departments because they might have similarly open-minded programs that are open to ethnography like this.  In the country where I do field work, I met another American, from a communications department, who was trying to do an ethnography on "how conservatives use the internet."

[RefurbedScientist]

^^ Great stuff from Jacib, but it all kind of points away from sociology. Even Hargittai, who was trained at a preeminent sociology program by a preeminent sociologist, has very much "turned away" from sociology. I mean not that she's turned away from sociological questions related to inequality, for example, but away from the discipline and its catchings (citing only sociologists all the time, for example). 

 

I gave experience with one of the above-mentioned institutions, and can say from experience that the dialogue between sociologists and these scholars of the internet is mostly non-existent.* One of the internet sociologist explicitly told me to go into Comm. I ignored the advice.

 

As Jacib said, any work is possible so long as it's sociologically interesting. When you're in grad school, you will be asked at some point "What is this [your research] a case of?" This cliched requirement is a way of forcing grad students to make their empirical work theoretically relevant and tied closely to a body of literature. It's also a pragmatic way of helping you get hired some day. It descends from epistemological currents that require us to explain processes and/or infer causality. Description is insufficient. In my mind, this is bad for sociology. There ought to be more studies that begin with "What the hell is going on at LARPs?" But, alas, such is not on the cards.

 

However, if you can force your substantive interest in gaming culture into a mainstream sociological debate, then it's as viable as anything else. Start reading sociology and see if you can figure what gaming culture is "a case of" in the sociological literature. If it's a case of something, then that's your statement of purpose. If it's not (or a case of something not in soc literature), I strongly recommend you look into the names and programs Jacib mentioned. 

 

 

*Edit: But increasing, thanks in part I think to the supposed role of social media in Occupy and the Arab Spring and the slow but sure coming-around of sociologists to big data. It's ironic that we don't look much at gaming, though, considering Simmel gave play and games great attention. Hey, there's always a first person to study something. 

Edited February 25, 2013 by SocialGroovements

[La_Di_Da]

"It's ironic that we don't look much at gaming, though, considering Simmel gave play and games great attention. Hey, there's always a first person to study something."

 

I was also thinking of Simmel. And interactive, multiplayer gaming worlds could provide great fodder for a micro-sociology study. In addition to applying Simmel's ideas on the play-form of association, I can easily imagine framing these gaming networks as forms of free association (Tocqueville), a 21st century version of the 1970s bowling league, a cultivar of social cohesion and solidarity, which may sprout agentic nodes of social action. Now more than ever we are virtual, digital citizens, and much to my chagrin, all too often digital citizens foremost.

[brinut22]

Looks like I really need to start reading. I really want to tie in Sociology and the culture of video games and it seems like a lot of the material you all provided will help me get started. LARPing is so fun to watch too. FTR I am not a gamer, but I love learning about them and the people who play them. This could work to my benefit (being more objective) but could also work against me. It seems like I may have sparked an interest with some people so if anyone wants to join in, please do!

 

But I really want my PhD too, so if I can't make it happen for grad school, there's always medical, cultural, cognition and urban sociology (and I can do gaming in my spare time).

 

I really appreciate all the help and couldn't be happier with finding this site. Another quick question is, does meeting with graduate professors of the program you want to get into a good idea or a waste of time? Of course, a lot of that depends on if you have something to say that is relevant as well as other things, but is it recommended or does it do nothing in the long run?

[AaronM]

In regards to sociology and video games, William Sims Bainbridge wrote "The Warcraft Civilization" and its pretty much an enthnography of the World of Warcraft. So while it'd be tough, it does seem doable to study video games from within sociology. Also, you'd get to write the most awesome grant proposals ever "Why do I need money to play WOW 20-40 hours a week? Well, let me tell you"

[ohgoodness]

You could look into these projects and see if it still interests you and then read from there: 

 

http://virtualworlds.sociology.su.se/index.eng.html

 

http://graduatestudies.concordia.ca/SIP/researchcurrents/currents/gamestudiesanddesign/

[brinut22]

Sweden AHOY!

 

Concordia looks interesting too. There are so many places to apply, unfortunately don't have the money to apply to them all. >.<

[sociologyinthepast]

Looks like I really need to start reading. I really want to tie in Sociology and the culture of video games and it seems like a lot of the material you all provided will help me get started. LARPing is so fun to watch too. FTR I am not a gamer, but I love learning about them and the people who play them. This could work to my benefit (being more objective) but could also work against me. It seems like I may have sparked an interest with some people so if anyone wants to join in, please do!

 

But I really want my PhD too, so if I can't make it happen for grad school, there's always medical, cultural, cognition and urban sociology (and I can do gaming in my spare time).

 

I really appreciate all the help and couldn't be happier with finding this site. Another quick question is, does meeting with graduate professors of the program you want to get into a good idea or a waste of time? Of course, a lot of that depends on if you have something to say that is relevant as well as other things, but is it recommended or does it do nothing in the long run?

 

In my experience, you shouldn't discount programs if they don't have people who specialize in the substantive area you're interested in (and I'm not saying you're doing that; you sound like you're totally on the right track). My advisor and grad director at my first doctoral program, along with many fellow grad students, held the opinion that strong theoretical and methodological training are more important than shared substantive interests. Of course, faculty shouldn't think your research is nutty, but in general I think you can research practically anything and be respected if it's well-couched in the theory and method of the discipline.

 

In regards to sociology and video games, William Sims Bainbridge wrote "The Warcraft Civilization" and its pretty much an enthnography of the World of Warcraft. So while it'd be tough, it does seem doable to study video games from within sociology. Also, you'd get to write the most awesome grant proposals ever "Why do I need money to play WOW 20-40 hours a week? Well, let me tell you"

 

(Not to derail this thread entirely, but man, this book bothered me to no end. In my opinion, it made a pretty big fundamental error - it wasn't an ethnography of the social space created by an online video game, it was literally an ethnography of Azeroth. And kind of a simplistic one. Bainbridge failed to apprehend many of the most basic things about the digital world - as far as I can tell, an awful lot of his "participation" in the space was sitting by himself in Theramore making up stories about his character. Which, to be fair, is part of what people do in online spaces. But it does miss the point badly.)

 

In general, I'll echo the sentiments in this thread. If you're looking for substantively interesting work on digital culture that is couched in the language and theory of sociology, you are (currently) SOL. The best thing I've read (and now it's sort of outdated) is Lori Kendall's ethnography of a MUD (called Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub). You have to get interdisciplinary to find much, and even then it's all so new that lots of it is simple description and catalogue.