Virginia

[mlb86]

Hi everybody! I'm going to be at UVA for sociology in the fall, and I was interested in hearing from and getting to know other people who are going to be there. As for myself- I did undergrad at UNC-Chapel Hill and I'm interested in gender and family issues. Even if you aren't going to Virginia, I'm interested in hearing anyone and everyone's perspective on its sociology program.

Thanks!

[misterpat]

I was interested in that department when I was considering applying to sociology programs (instead of history). I really like James Davison Hunter.

On the other hand, they also have Donald Black. I've read a bunch of his articles, and I think his whole "pure sociology" concept is a gimmick and probably a bunch of non-sense. Maybe I just don't get it, but to me it seems terribly pretentious and mostly useless.

[jschroed]

Hi! I'm going to UVA in the Fall and took a visit there and got to meet Hunter. He was really amazing, the Center for the Advanced Studies in Culture seems like a great place. Didn't get to meet Black but get the feeling that he's not very available to students and isn't very active in the program anyways. Otherwise seems like a really interdisciplinary and welcoming place, not interested in pigeon-holing students into research areas but in letting them explore their first year until they find something that feels right. I'm excited about going! Let me know if you have any questions, or if you have any housing advice...trying to figure that out now : )

[CowtownKid]

I visited Virginia and am interested in studying family as well. I was impressed by the department. The professors with whom I spoke (Wilcox, Pugh and Roksa) were both engaging and seemed genuinely interested in my research. And the grad students were incredible: down-to-earth, intelligent and passionate about their areas of research. The one drawback for me--and the reason I will not be attending--was the lack of quantitative training. I would say that if you are interested in theory work or qualitative study of gender and family issues, Virginia would be a great program. If your orientation to research is more quantitative or demographic, you might find better training in other programs. Still, even if you decide you want the additional quantitative training, it seems that the professors will help you to make it work--i.e., by creating an individualized curriculum from Statistics and Psychology courses.