Meet and greet thread for those applying this round?

[captiv8ed]

Well, it is heading towards application time. Thought it might be good to have a "howdy" thread for those of us going through the app process together.

I am a 38 year old undergrad. I am a non traditional student and go to a non traditional school, which makes this process a nail biter! I am married and my hubby will have a year of undergrad left when (if) we move. I also have three boys who will be in elem and middle school.

I have been working on which schools to apply to, and I think I have it narrowed down to 7.

My interests are sociology of religion, social networks in relation to stratification, cultural capital, and gender, mostly in relation to body image issues. I have a bit of an interest in immigration and labor issues as well.

I am planning to apply to Princeton, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, UIC, Indiana, and Penn. I had a few CA schools on the list, but their budget issues are too scary for me.

I am so happy to meet all of you! We are in this together.

[lastdazeman]

I am a 38 year old undergrad. I also have three boys who will be in elem and middle school.

My interests are sociology of religion

I am planning to apply to Princeton, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, UIC, Indiana, and Penn. I had a few CA schools on the list, but their budget issues are too scary for me.

Hi,

I'm 52. I double majored in Sociology and Anthropology back when, got a BA and went on to get a BS in Computer Science. I worked in that field most of the next 25 years. Now I am eager to get back to studying my first love. My major interest is in the Sociology of Religion, interfaith stuff, ecumenical movements, social movements, faith driven social change (Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, etc.), community building n a diverse, pluralistic society.

I"ve got a lot of good advice here already and I've only been at it for a month.

I am hoping I can figure out how to get applied to the University of Minnesota, Stanford, Baylor, Rice, maybe Emory, and maybe Chapel Hill.

I am going to the ASA meeting in San Francisco in a couple weeks. Our youngest is 17, high school senior and wants to check out a school out there before the Annual Meeting of the American Sociologists and then she will hang out with her cousins who live north of San Francisco. Some one on this formum advised me to head out to San Francisco for the meeting and I am now committed to the adventure.

We also have an almost 21 year old with one more year of undergraduate in Economics (major) and Political Scence (minor). We have a 22 year old married daughter (psychology major and music minor) taking graduate courses in psychology. She was headed for a Music Therapy program but...

I thank you all for all the good advice I've received here and I've only been at it for a month.

[D.Locks]

Hey guys,

I'm a little late at replying to this, but I have been lurking this message board for a few days and decided to seize an opportunity and post up. This was especially important since you both are interested in religion, my main research interest. It's pretty hard to come by people who name it as their main interest.

I'm coming from a bit of a different circumstance than the both of you. I am 23, and I just graduated (August) with my MA in Applied Sociology from the University of Central Florida. Currently I am preparing for the whole application process, and have some of the schools you guys mentioned in my top (good mention on Baylor, especially if you have a research interest in religion). Anyway, I presented at the ASR and ASA this year (they were both in San Fran during the same time), too bad I hadn't found this site before then. Sounds like we all have our doubts, yet are aiming quite high.

I guess I should stop rambling (save it for an 'advice' post or something) and say GOOD LUCK to everyone applying.

[coqui21]

I just want to throw it out there that Purdue University is also a very solid place to study the sociology of religion. Fenggang Yang and Dan Olson are both great scholars who have developed impressive reputations in the field. They're also fairly young (both associate professors) and are committed to working with students. Purdue is supposed to hire another soc. of religion scholar at some point over the next two years to replace Jim Davidson. If you're interested in religion, I'd look into Purdue. The website is very informative and if you have any additional questions, feel free to PM me.

Notre Dame and Duke are also great soc. of religion schools that I haven't seen mentioned. Best of luck in the applications process.

[captiv8ed]

Hey everyone!

LDM, how did the conference go? Are you still feeling this is your track?

D. Locks, not too late. The application round is just starting! I just posted the thread early. How funny that we are all interested in religion. What aspects of religion are you interested in? I want to study religion as a consumer driven market and also religion as a social networking tool.

I did look into ND and Purdue as well as Duke. The economy in and around ND was too scary for me. I am married with kids, so I have to be really aware of the fit for the entire family. I don't remember what put Purdue into the no category but something did. Duke is just too intense an environment. I am pretty sure Princeton may be too intense as well, but their program is absolutely my favorite.

[socialcomm]

Bumping this!

I'm 31. My background is in Psychology and Communications and I have almost ten years of experience in marketing communications and marketing research. Now, I'd like to return to school to study social movements. I don't consider my chances great, as I'm limited geographically to where I'm willing to apply. Currently, I'm looking at UC Riverside, UC Irvine, and USC. And yes, the CA budget situation doesn't help me either!!

Good luck everyone!

[EdPolicy]

Hi all,

I'm applying this round as well - my interests are broadly in social policy-related topics (education, etc.), as well as inequality/stratification. I'm 24 and have a BA in soc and economics, and I've worked for 2 years as a statistical programmer at a social policy research firm. I've gotten good research experience, but I'm pumped to go back to school and dive right in. I'm still working on where to apply (see my other "evaluate my profile" thread where I'm freaking out a bit), but I'm hoping to go somewhere with a solid policy school in addition to a good sociology program.

Great to meet all of you, glad this source of support is available! Best of luck to all.

~EdPolicy

[newday123]

Thanks for starting this thread. Glad to see a few thirtysomething applicants here (I'm 33). Broadly speaking, my main interests are social psychology and life course, with a secondary interest in religion/spirituality. I am applying to a broad range of schools: some top ten's, a few top 20's, some top 30's, and two applied programs. Currently twelve schools are on my list; this is a daunting number since I know that we need to individually tailor our SOP for each school. A few schools have additional essay requirements as well.

How competitive was last year's admissions process? I read on a fellow poster's signature that s/he applied to six schools and got into one (but s/he's reapplying this year). So I'm hoping that I can get into at least two schools out of twelve. Is twelve too many?

My GRE scores and sociology GPA are competitive. The only thing that I am truly worried about is my UGPA (darn those premed courses!). My transcript is definitely not blemish-free and wonder whether admissions committees would put more weight on my recent scholarly achievements and my "maturity."

By the way, Stanford has a few professors specializing in social networks so you may want to look into this school.

[Jang]

Hey local guys, I'm international applicant this year. You all have a wonderful record!!

I will be graduated from BA program in sociology in 2010, and haven't yet contact with proferssor so far.

The only thing cheers me up is my papers, hope they help.

Do you have any recommendation for medical sociology or health sociology? It's my primary concern, I guess I would do it combined with social network analysis, maybe epidemiology too. Basically, I chose Duke, OhioSU, SUNY SB, FSU, Columbia now.

I have really been depressed these days because of the damned application. I don't see if there's chance or not. The worst thing for me is I don't know much of graduate system as you guys do, and how they operate in selecting applicants.

[captiv8ed]

Hey local guys, I'm international applicant this year. You all have a wonderful record!!

I will be graduated from BA program in sociology in 2010, and haven't yet contact with proferssor so far.

The only thing cheers me up is my papers, hope they help.

Do you have any recommendation for medical sociology or health sociology? It's my primary concern, I guess I would do it combined with social network analysis, maybe epidemiology too. Basically, I chose Duke, OhioSU, SUNY SB, FSU, Columbia now.

I have really been depressed these days because of the damned application. I don't see if there's chance or not. The worst thing for me is I don't know much of graduate system as you guys do, and how they operate in selecting applicants.

The application process is horrid. And each app is a bit different and there are so many parts on so many applications. I am kicking myself for not being more on the ball this summer, as I wanted to be.

I have a friend who is doing her dissertation on medical anthropology at Michigan, but that is as close to the area as I get! Sorry!

[homesickalien2]

Hello everyone!

I'm a Sociology and Political Science double major about to graduate from a good public university.

My main areas of interest are the labor movement, class consciousness, economy, culture, and knowledge. I am also a very qualitative oriented researcher.

I'm still trying to finalize which schools I will be applying to; having a tough time. So far, I've got Berkeley (dream school!), OSU, UCLA, UCSB, UCSC, UC-I, Vanderbilt, and possibly UChicago and NYU.

Is anyone else having a tough time with the number/choice of schools?

I've heard it is best to apply to several, but my bank account is going to be hurting for quite some time!

Also, if anyone knows good programs for labor/economy studies, feel free to share your knowledge

[pea-jay]

Thought I would add here. I'm applying to just three schools now, all in NYC. I will looking to narrow the focus down in the next two weeks to what exactly I will be applying for but my general focus is on public administration/public policy for urban areas. I've had 13 years of work experience in the education, (energy) utility and municipal planning sectors and am looking for the masters degree that will allow me to package my experience and avoid getting stuck in a professional rut. I'm kinda putting all my eggs in the NYC basket as it offers an excellent program, decent job prospects and proximity to family. I started out considering more schools-in Chicago, Boston, Providence, DC and out here in CA but in the end the Big Apple made the most sense. Since this involves a move, my family has some sway and NYC was the most appealing for them too.

[Lev Bronstein]

Hello everyone!

I'm a Sociology and Political Science double major about to graduate from a good public university.

My main areas of interest are the labor movement, class consciousness, economy, culture, and knowledge. I am also a very qualitative oriented researcher.

I'm still trying to finalize which schools I will be applying to; having a tough time. So far, I've got Berkeley (dream school!), OSU, UCLA, UCSB, UCSC, UC-I, Vanderbilt, and possibly UChicago and NYU.

Is anyone else having a tough time with the number/choice of schools?

I've heard it is best to apply to several, but my bank account is going to be hurting for quite some time!

Also, if anyone knows good programs for labor/economy studies, feel free to share your knowledge

CUNY?

[captiv8ed]

homesickalien2, I am having a horrible time with the school application balance.

I was planning to apply to 10, but the cost and the feeling of overwhelm had me tick it back to 7. Then I threw an 8th on. Now I am trying to decide whether to pull Penn off the list or not and if so, what to add.

Have you checked out Michigan for labor studies? Also possibly Yale and Princeton.

[Maya]

Wow homesickalien2, it looks like your research interests are pretty much exactly along the same lines as mine! I've limited myself to schools in the Northeast, but if I had had better GRE scores I would definitely be applying to Berkeley......sigh

I agree with Captiv8ed about Michigan...take a look at their website

Edited November 6, 2009 by Maya

[newday123]

homesickalien2, I am having a horrible time with the school application balance.

I was planning to apply to 10, but the cost and the feeling of overwhelm had me tick it back to 7. Then I threw an 8th on. Now I am trying to decide whether to pull Penn off the list or not and if so, what to add.

Eight is a good number. Ten was recommended to me. It will cost you even more money if you apply to too few schools, get in nowhere, and have to re-apply next year.

[jacib]

Eight is a good number. Ten was recommended to me. It will cost you even more money if you apply to too few schools, get in nowhere, and have to re-apply next year.

This hasn't been used in a while, but I thought I'd add to this: 24 years old, applying Religion graduate programs, Sociology programs with strong Sociology of Religion (Berkeley, Princeton, Yale... probably not Chicago [i'm applying to the Divinity school's "Anthropology/Sociology of Religion" program] but maybe Harvard even though I'm applying to its Religion program), and maybe two Anthropology programs (CUNY if I could work with Talal Asad and Berkeley if they don't mind me applying to its Sociology program as well). I hope to focus on Secularism, specifically secularism in Turkey.

[luar de ouro]

I've been mostly lurking the forums, but I guess I'll introduce myself too.

I'm 22, and I just graduated Rutgers with a BA in English and Visual Arts. Cum GPA 3.56. Took the GRE twice this summer first time was V630 Q740 AW4.5, second time was V700 Q690 AW4.5.

I'm interested in doing Sociology of Culture and Ethnography with a focus on Chinese Immigration in the U.S.

So my numbers aren't too great, but I still decided to apply to some very good schools: Northwestern, U Chicago, Princeton, Rutgers, NYU, Columbia, and Harvard because they're all pretty good fits for me, and don't have an overt quantitative focus (many highly rated programs did, so I decided not to apply at all, since this process is eating so much funds right now).

My top choices are Northwestern, Princeton, and Rutgers...I wonder how much more competitive it is to get in now with so many applicants and so little money to go around.

Good luck to all of you, the painful waiting game is right around the corner.

[maximus82]

Hello everyone,

I'm 27 and have been working for a nonprofit in DC for the past three years. I applied to a few schools last year (with GRE Scores like this: V43/Q730/AW4) and got waitlisted at two of the four schools I applied to. I took the GREs again this year and scored 630 in the verbal, 780 in the quantitative, and 3.5 in the Analytical Writing (bummer, I know).

This year I'll be applying to Duke, Princeton, Cornell (Development Sociology), Indiana, Northwestern, and who knows where else. My interests are in Sociology of Religion, Immigration and transnational communities, and population change in big cities. If you think of other schools where I should apply please let me know. I am looking for one or two safeties to add to my list.

Good luck to everyone.

[jacib]

Hello everyone,

I'm 27 and have been working for a nonprofit in DC for the past three years. I applied to a few schools last year (with GRE Scores like this: V43/Q730/AW4) and got waitlisted at two of the four schools I applied to. I took the GREs again this year and scored 630 in the verbal, 780 in the quantitative, and 3.5 in the Analytical Writing (bummer, I know).

This year I'll be applying to Duke, Princeton, Cornell (Development Sociology), Indiana, Northwestern, and who knows where else. My interests are in Sociology of Religion, Immigration and transnational communities, and population change in big cities. If you think of other schools where I should apply please let me know. I am looking for one or two safeties to add to my list.

Good luck to everyone.

I'm also looking at Sociology of Religion. Princeton is obviously tops, but Chicago has two or three people (Omar McRoberts is wonderful; his book sounds like something you might be interested in. Riesebrodt is nice but very very German; people I know who worked with him liked him) and Harvard are both often mentioned right after. Berkeley is essentially my dream school, since it is the only place with a PhD program that has a sociologist studying exactly what I want to study and it has tons of people working on religion and/or nationalism, plus there are a two really cool anthropologists working on modern Islam there. Yale is a top 20 program with two or three religionists (that doesn't exactly make it a safety). Of the schools I'm not applying to, consider Brandeis as well (I only know about it because my father teaches there); it has a small program, but the sociologist of religion there is Wendy Cadge and she's quite cool and really really helpful. I don't know if there's anyone who's into your other interests, but if you're a good fit there, definitely apply. They are small enough that they accept mostly based on fit. I think they only accept two or three students a year. UVa has quite a few sociologists of religion, but they're all very Christian/America-oriented, which I am not so I didn't even really look at it. I got advice very much based on not wanting to look at those things, so if you are studying religion and Christianity in America, then there are obviously schools I'm missing.

Where did you apply last year? Was it with the same topic? Did you study sociology undergrad? That I think is going to be my biggest weakness: I took exactly one and a half sociology classes undergrad, and none of the places that I'm interested in offer stand alone masters.

[coqui21]

Hello everyone,

I'm 27 and have been working for a nonprofit in DC for the past three years. I applied to a few schools last year (with GRE Scores like this: V43/Q730/AW4) and got waitlisted at two of the four schools I applied to. I took the GREs again this year and scored 630 in the verbal, 780 in the quantitative, and 3.5 in the Analytical Writing (bummer, I know).

This year I'll be applying to Duke, Princeton, Cornell (Development Sociology), Indiana, Northwestern, and who knows where else. My interests are in Sociology of Religion, Immigration and transnational communities, and population change in big cities. If you think of other schools where I should apply please let me know. I am looking for one or two safeties to add to my list.

Good luck to everyone.

Fenggang Yang (Purdue) has done a fair amount of work on religion and immigration. Texas might be a good fit for you. They have some strong religion scholars and I believe they're known for a strong demography program (I could be wrong).

[newday123]

So my numbers aren't too great, but I still decided to apply to some very good schools: Northwestern, U Chicago, Princeton, Rutgers, NYU, Columbia, and Harvard because they're all pretty good fits for me, and don't have an overt quantitative focus (many highly rated programs did, so I decided not to apply at all, since this process is eating so much funds right now).

U Chicago seems to be quite quantitative. For one thing on the supplemental application it asks us to list math courses separately.

[newday123]

I'm also looking at Sociology of Religion. Princeton is obviously tops, but Chicago has two or three people (Omar McRoberts is wonderful; his book sounds like something you might be interested in. Riesebrodt is nice but very very German; people I know who worked with him liked him)

I corresponded with Prof. Riesebrodt recently. He told me that he's retiring next year.

[jacib]

I corresponded with Prof. Riesebrodt recently. He told me that he's retiring next year.

Oh no! He was nice and pretty helpful... very German though. Luckily, I was more interested in Malika Zeghal anyhow. Ha, I totally didn't even consider retirements a fact--especially with someone like Riesebrodt who I didn't think was that old!

[luar de ouro]

U Chicago seems to be quite quantitative. For one thing on the supplemental application it asks us to list math courses separately.

I did notice that in the application too, however a lot of faculty members have cultural sociology in their interests, plus they encourage developing specialization by affiliating with other department.