jdsj Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Feel like I gotta vent here for a moment. I'm feeling pretty despondent. I've received 3 rejections, and I only applied to the 5 schools where I felt my fit was strongest. I have excellent GRE scores and a publication in a sociological journal, which I wrote independently after undergrad. I know these are competitive programs but I thought I'd get into at least one of them. Not sure what else I can do to improve myself other than getting a MA first, which is what I'll aim to do now. Thanks for reading :/ Definitely get the MA first. You will be able to add more to your sociological tool belt and hopefully land more publications. I have received only positive news, but my mentors also contacted program directors. Further, I made contact with each department I applied to several months in advanced. Keep your head up.
jdsj Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 There is a good amount of arbitrariness to the whole process of admission. I think the best way to short-circuit this (to whatever extent possible) is to have your professors make phone calls and write personal emails to people at the programs you're interested in. I know that this was a crucial aspect for my acceptances. Also, I believe it is important to have numbers on your side. Applying to only five programs is risky (because of the arbitrariness) and perhaps, if you don't get in this year, you might think about applying to 10-13 programs next time. I do not believe applying to more schools is going to help at all. Having 5 very strong, tailored applications to specific programs increase your odds drastically. 10-13 applications are bound to be weak because you cannot possibly spend as much time on them as is needed. I only applied to 3 programs and have been accepted to each with funding. CeeB, brokenwindow and Anonymona 2 1
CeeB Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Feel like I gotta vent here for a moment. I'm feeling pretty despondent. I've received 3 rejections, and I only applied to the 5 schools where I felt my fit was strongest. I have excellent GRE scores and a publication in a sociological journal, which I wrote independently after undergrad. I know these are competitive programs but I thought I'd get into at least one of them. Not sure what else I can do to improve myself other than getting a MA first, which is what I'll aim to do now. Thanks for reading :/ Hang in there! This whole admission process can come down to luck of the draw. I talked to a friend who is at one of the programs I applied to, and they had an unprecedented number of students from ivy league schools with several publications, and close-to-perfect GRE scores apply this year.. Of course, not many of us can compete with that! Honestly, getting your MA might be a good idea if you want to get into those top programs. I know getting my master's gave me really valuable research/teaching experience and it shows them that you can succeed at the grad school level.. Or, you could always take a year off, publish a couple more things, attend/present at some conferences, improve your SOP (have everyone and their mother proofread it), and re-apply to more programs next time around..
Anonymona Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) I'm sorry Philly, it sounds like you're a really excellent candidate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you this round, and I hope you do try again next year should it come to that. Have you considered contacting members of the admissions committees of the schools you were rejected from? I haven't done it, but I know some people on this board have asked how they can improve their application next year and gotten honest feedback. Sometimes it's hard to sort through all of the advice that gets thrown at you during this process, and if I were you I would try to get feedback from people who are familiar with your entire application (perhaps mentors or fellow soc students as well). Edited February 13, 2015 by Anonymona theoryoftheories 1
howlx Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Anyone accepted to UIC??? I've been waitlisted.
Hydra_89 Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 I've been waitlisted. I got in to UIC. Biggest hole in my application was my quantitative GRE score (a sorry 147) but my verbal and writing were good. Other parts of my application were strong too, including strong LOR's. I have yet to hear back from Santa Cruz and CUNY!
letstalkshop Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 I do not believe applying to more schools is going to help at all. Having 5 very strong, tailored applications to specific programs increase your odds drastically. 10-13 applications are bound to be weak because you cannot possibly spend as much time on them as is needed. I only applied to 3 programs and have been accepted to each with funding. Your 100% acceptance rate is awesome, congrats. But I do think that given the fact that applying is generally a crapshoot, applying to 7 or 8 programs or more is wise (as long as you're not stretching yourself too thin and sacrificing the quality of your applications). I know plenty of absurdly qualified applicants who had to apply multiple years in a row because of the competitiveness of the process. brokenwindow, Starbuck2015, rlb and 1 other 3 1
MaxWeberHasAPosse Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Your 100% acceptance rate is awesome, congrats. But I do think that given the fact that applying is generally a crapshoot, applying to 7 or 8 programs or more is wise (as long as you're not stretching yourself too thin and sacrificing the quality of your applications). I know plenty of absurdly qualified applicants who had to apply multiple years in a row because of the competitiveness of the process. I agree, letstalkshop, the crapshoot factor mixed with how competitive this is makes for a difficult situation. I really think playing the numbers is smart. Of course, it is important to apply to the right programs and to have awesome Statments, etc...
theoryoftheories Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) Feel like I gotta vent here for a moment. I'm feeling pretty despondent. I've received 3 rejections, and I only applied to the 5 schools where I felt my fit was strongest. I have excellent GRE scores and a publication in a sociological journal, which I wrote independently after undergrad. I know these are competitive programs but I thought I'd get into at least one of them. Not sure what else I can do to improve myself other than getting a MA first, which is what I'll aim to do now. Thanks for reading :/ The admissions process is wholly arbitrary bordering on random, as everyone here as rightly pointed out. Having suffered lashes at the whip hand of academic politics I feel like I should add that you must pay very close attention to the power structure of the department(s) you are applying to. Unfortunately this almost impossible to gauge as an outsider. I think what can go further than anything is to find a member of the department that you want to work with that can give you an idea of what it looks like on the ground there and, possibly, proactively vouch for your application. In the past this has been the most fruitful approach for me (although, obviously an not entirely successful one!). Edited February 13, 2015 by TheoryOfTheories
anonymous_soc Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 For anyone that got into UC-Irvine that hasn't received a letter of admission with funding info, check to see if it has been posted on the online graduate app tracker. I still haven't received an e-mail from Irvine with funding info, but the letter with it was online. Just thought I'd pass this along.
MBDT Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Your 100% acceptance rate is awesome, congrats. But I do think that given the fact that applying is generally a crapshoot, applying to 7 or 8 programs or more is wise (as long as you're not stretching yourself too thin and sacrificing the quality of your applications). I know plenty of absurdly qualified applicants who had to apply multiple years in a row because of the competitiveness of the process. I absolutely agree with this. I applied to 14 programs at 13 schools -- which is obviously a huge time and energy commitment. Given my current commitments (I'm a full-time master's student and work two part-time jobs), I was only able to apply to this many programs because I made sure to start the process super early (and because, given my socioeconomic background, I qualified for a lot of fee waivers). I wrote my first essay drafts last March, and spent a few hours each week revising them until I submitted them in December/January, nearly a year later. I don't necessarily think everyone should apply to 10+ programs, but at least 7 or 8 seems reasonable. Like others have said, the admissions process is hugely arbitrary, and adding more options to your list can only be helpful. brokenwindow 1
global_latam Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 For anyone that got into UC-Irvine that hasn't received a letter of admission with funding info, check to see if it has been posted on the online graduate app tracker. I still haven't received an e-mail from Irvine with funding info, but the letter with it was online. Just thought I'd pass this along. You're a life saver. Thanks for the heads up! anonymous_soc 1
howlx Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 I got in to UIC. Biggest hole in my application was my quantitative GRE score (a sorry 147) but my verbal and writing were good. Other parts of my application were strong too, including strong LOR's. I have yet to hear back from Santa Cruz and CUNY! My GRE scores were terrible (I only applied to a couple of American schools and didn't really spend much time preparing for the GRE) but I had a high M.A. GPA (not in sociology), strong reference letters, conference presentations, and a couple of peer-reviewed articles.
crookedletter Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Anyone else anxiously wondering if Northwestern will release decisions today?!?
breaks0 Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Hydara and Howl, has anyone heard back from Santa Cruz? What is their deal? And I think all of us not admitted to CUNY are waiting on them (was anyone rejected yet?). My quant GRE was only a little higher than yours Hydra, so terrible percentile. See my comments on the gre over on that board. lol My GRE scores were terrible (I only applied to a couple of American schools and didn't really spend much time preparing for the GRE) but I had a high M.A. GPA (not in sociology), strong reference letters, conference presentations, and a couple of peer-reviewed articles. I did what you mbdt, except I didn't go for many top programs. I entirely tailored my apps to my interest factor which I hoped would be percevied as fit and i tried hard to argue that in my statements. I tried, so far w/little success. And partly as a result I only applied to a few top 20 schools and only a few more in the 20-40 range. It's very hard to find Marxist departments, the kind of sociology just is rare now, has been since the 80s cultural turn, unlike every other country I hear about re: socioogy. And re: fee waivers, honeslty the only schools I've seen that are income sensitive to app fee waivers are the UC schools and perhaps Oregon. Wisonsin didn't have one, CUNY's app fee is kinda outrageously high and waiver only for a vet (why would I join the military?) and every private school I've run into, very difficult to get it, except perhaps Stanford, but even there it's hard to get. it's a real catch 22, I think you do need to apply to a dozen or more programs, but who has the money especially to do that, it's hell of expensive and most of us I believe are poor, no? I absolutely agree with this. I applied to 14 programs at 13 schools -- which is obviously a huge time and energy commitment. Given my current commitments (I'm a full-time master's student and work two part-time jobs), I was only able to apply to this many programs because I made sure to start the process super early (and because, given my socioeconomic background, I qualified for a lot of fee waivers). I wrote my first essay drafts last March, and spent a few hours each week revising them until I submitted them in December/January, nearly a year later. I don't necessarily think everyone should apply to 10+ programs, but at least 7 or 8 seems reasonable. Like others have said, the admissions process is hugely arbitrary, and adding more options to your list can only be helpful.
JSelfChicago Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Feel like I gotta vent here for a moment. I'm feeling pretty despondent. I've received 3 rejections, and I only applied to the 5 schools where I felt my fit was strongest. I have excellent GRE scores and a publication in a sociological journal, which I wrote independently after undergrad. I know these are competitive programs but I thought I'd get into at least one of them. Not sure what else I can do to improve myself other than getting a MA first, which is what I'll aim to do now. Thanks for reading :/ Sorry to hear about that. My advice is build relationships with professors as much as you can at the programs you really want to go to. That makes way more of a difference than people realize.
CeeB Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Sorry to hear about that. My advice is build relationships with professors as much as you can at the programs you really want to go to. That makes way more of a difference than people realize. That's good advice, I think. Although for me, personally, the only program that has accepted me so far is the only one (out of 5) that I had zero contact with prior to applying. Lol. I definitely agree with others that this process feels so arbitrary.
JSelfChicago Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Congrats on your acceptance. Generally, for PhD applications, I don't find the process as random as many people think. It's more cryptic. Each school has it's own culture and only 8-10 slots to fill with 300-400 applicants. Many people don't realize it, but at least 6 of those slots are filled before the committee even looks at the applications. Those 6 have started the informal process of relationship building way before they started the application process.
sdn915 Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 For anyone that got into UC-Irvine that hasn't received a letter of admission with funding info, check to see if it has been posted on the online graduate app tracker. I still haven't received an e-mail from Irvine with funding info, but the letter with it was online. Just thought I'd pass this along. How do you access this page?
Socbr Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) Feel like I gotta vent here for a moment. I'm feeling pretty despondent. I've received 3 rejections, and I only applied to the 5 schools where I felt my fit was strongest. I have excellent GRE scores and a publication in a sociological journal, which I wrote independently after undergrad. I know these are competitive programs but I thought I'd get into at least one of them. Not sure what else I can do to improve myself other than getting a MA first, which is what I'll aim to do now. Thanks for reading :/ I'm in the same boat. I'm trying to understand why I got rejected by all of the PhD programs I have applied for. My GRE is 157/157, and my undergrad GPA is not great, but that is because I have done a lot of relevant research in my undergraduate years, which have resulted in two co-authored books and some presentations (experience that I thought would balance the GPA and verbal grade). I feel that the LOR's and SOP's were also strong. I thought that the professional experience would weight on my side. Well, now I am down to the lack of a good M.A (seems like people that got accepted to top 10 schools had one, right?) and will try to enhance the GRE. Any other thoughts? Thanks for the help. Edited February 13, 2015 by Socbr
jdsj Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 I've been waitlisted. I just founded out there was a glitch in their system that did not allow me to upload my transcripts properly. If you haven't heard back, I'd check with admissions.
anonymous_soc Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 How do you access this page? You should have gotten an email from the School of Social Sciences shortly after you applied with details about the system. I believe it is called GATS.
Anonymona Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 Has anyone heard from UCLA about funding yet? The wait is killing me.
randoperson Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) Anyone else anxiously wondering if Northwestern will release decisions today?!? Obsessively checking GATS and the results page every couple hours until they release decisions. They admit people and then send out rejections a couple days later, so that adds to the tension of the whole thing. Realistically though, I know I'm not going to get in, I just want it confirmed. Edited February 13, 2015 by randoperson
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