Am I being too ambitious?

[SamajChinta]

I'm an international applicant with interests in gender, work and family (in particular- intrahousehold bargaining and resource allocation, child welfare outcomes), social networks, migration and remittances and social demography. I'm interested in mixed-methods research (more inclined towards quant methods, though). My undergrad GPA is 3.7 (engineering degree from somewhat obscure university back home), and I have a masters in development from a top school in the UK . I have almost 3 years of research experience at an econ policy research organization (one peer reviewed lead-authored publication, one under review, a couple in the pipeline, and one presentation at an international statistics conference). My GRE scores are V: 163, Q: 158 and AW: 5. I hope to have good references from a UPenn demography alum (my graduate supervisor), and a Cornell econ alum (my co-author and supervisor at work) and an Anthropology alum from Purdue (undergrad professor). I’m hoping to apply to sociology PhD programs at Princeton, Michigan, UPenn, UCLA, Brown, Cornell, UMD, UC Davis, Vanderbilt, North Carolina State and Michigan State. I was wondering if my choice of universities is too ambitious- especially since my quant score isn’t stellar.

 

Would love some candid opinions here-  if applying to top ranked schools isn’t worth it, I could save some resources (mainly financial) too ! Should I look into some more lower ranked universities (names, please) as well?  I’m really excited about the applications process, and really terrified at the same time!

 

Thank you!

[RandomDood]

Dear Samaj,

 

I think you are definitely not aiming too high. True, the GRE scores could be better, but as everyone on this board keeps repeating, they are just one part of the application, and I do not think that they are so low that they would put you in the "discard pile" of adcomms at the schools you mentioned.

The article(s) and presentation definitely will be a big plus; what I would do at this point is work on your personal statement as much as you can and make it perfect...I really think that a personal statement is what makes or breaks applications once they get on the review table. FertMigMort has amazing advice in his pinned post!

 

Concerning other schools you could look at, I know I am starting to sound like a professional advertiser, but give a look at CUNY Graduate Center. Pamela Stone and Cynthia Epstein do work on gender, work and family, and I think that the department definitely punches above its weight in immigration (with people like Alba, Foner and Kasinitz).

[Seeking]

Samaj Chinta,

 

Random Dood has given some excellent advice. Follow it. I don't think you are aiming too high. 

 

I would suggest also applying to IDS-Sussex, SOAS, Oxford and Cambridge in UK and the ISS Netherlands. They don't require the GRE, but are as prestigious as the top-ranking schools in the US.

[SamajChinta]

Thank you very much for your advice, RandomDood and Seeking! Yes, I suppose it all comes down to the SoP at one point. I will definitely look into CUNY, and some British universities as well

[SocioEd]

Personally I think shown/research ability + match are the main things that count. If the projects you've doing look interesting to sociologists, then you are already ahead of the vast majority of applicants--do aim at the best. And if the projects are more at the policy side, perhaps also take a look at social policy programs (e.g. at Harvard and Penn) too.

 

And since GRE scores can be selected nowadays, and quant scores are not that difficult to crunch (guessing from your background), perhaps it does not hurt to take another shot?

[SamajChinta]

Thanks for your suggestions, SocioEd.

 

I would've taken another shot at the GRE,  but I suppose it's too late now. Plus, all the slots in my country have been full since September in my country and it'd probably be crazy to fly out somewhere else at this stage to take the GRE