Is it worth applying? (Fall 2010 admissions)

[leere]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to start my final year of undergraduate study and am thinking of applying to Sociology PhD programs for 2010/2011 academic year. However i have two major worries about my applications to US schools:

(1.) My undergraduate degree is not in social sciences, i'm an international student (from the EU) and the best way to describe my undergrad is as a dual major in Jewish and Islamic studies and Film studies. Do you think this will significantly harm my application? I know many schools require some social sciences courses so those are schools i've necessarily ruled out. To clarify, i have absolutely no sociology courses on my transcript.

(2.) Lack of publications. Certainly within the departments that i'm in it's highly uncommon, if not completely unheard of, for an undergrad to publish anything at all. Co-authoring with professors is equally unheard of. I'm not sure if this is specific to my particular country and university or if it is a more general European thing. Will the admissions board know this or should i address this lack in my SoP?

Details of the rest of my application:

GPA i know it doesn't quite convert easily from EU scoring but i estimate it at about a 3.6 for the film studies portion of my degree and a 3.9/4.0 for the Jewish and Islamic studies portion (my university doesn't combine them into a final yearly grade). My university is the top in my country and within the top 40 worldwide.

References are all from lecturers in my departments and i expect them to be very good.

GRE scores aren't final as i'll be sitting the exam next month but from the practice tests i'm looking at around 720 V and 650 Q

My research interests lie predominantly in ethno-religious conflict with particular attention to identity and the role of state institutions and the media in the formation of this identity. I have a background familiarity with the Northern Ireland conflict and ethics of memory.

The schools i'm considering applying to are NYU, Columbia and Brown primarily but i'm open to suggestions. I'm hoping Columbia might work out because they have a couple of courses about Israel and perhaps my background in Jewish studies will help my application there.

Thanks!

[spaulding]

It would appears as though you're interests revolve around political and or economic sociology. Here are the rankings for that subsection: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... -sociology.

One can enter a PhD program in sociology without having a sociology undergraduate degree, however those that successfully enter those programs likely have the following courses on their transcript: theory, methods, and statistics (in any social science area, but sociology is likely preferred).

The best advice is to identify 10-15 top programs in the top 50 that you want to apply to (http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_r ... rea41.html). After you compile a list, make phone calls to the schools you KNOW you wouldnt go to that are similarly ranked and talk to the DGS. That way, even if you ask less than insightful questions, it wont come back and bite you.

spaulding

[leere]

The best advice is to identify 10-15 top programs in the top 50 that you want to apply to (http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_r ... rea41.html). After you compile a list, make phone calls to the schools you KNOW you wouldnt go to that are similarly ranked and talk to the DGS. That way, even if you ask less than insightful questions, it wont come back and bite you.

spaulding

Thanks for all that advice, especially about calling schools i'm not applying to, it's a great idea i'll definitely do that.