Fall 2016 Acceptances, Interviews, and Rejections Thread

[goofylemon]

13 minutes ago, sociologyapp2016 said:

My point wasn't that NYU/UCLA are "better" than Brown as much as that they shouldn't be dismissed so suddenly just because you got into Brown. As you put it yourself, NYU/UCLA is, at the very least, not any worse than Brown. So there's really no rush to tie yourself down to Brown so quickly. No, I did not apply to Brown.

Thank you very much. I did not mean to criticize you for saying that, and I appreciate different viewpoints. >.< I am sorry if my tone seems getting different.

The only reason I tied myself so quickly to Brown, is the faculty members there are very good in my fields of interests. Plus, more importantly, I found a really good adviser I would like to work with. These reasons are rather personal. I am not recommending anyone to tie to a school so quickly as I do unless they are in the same situation. I will now at least to wait from Yale and UCLA. I am pretty sure though there is no compelling reasons to wait for programs such as UNC-CH and NYU (though, this is just my case).

For reference purposes, I would roughly describe my situation as: (1) have very, very strong interests in working with POI; (2) research interests unlikely to be changed; (3) do not care to know the outcome of the applications to the programs that unlikely to commit assuming the current offer(s).

Edited January 29, 2016 by goofylemon

[DaisyGamble]

53 minutes ago, 2016Applicant said:

Those with interests in criminology, mind sharing or messaging why you selected a sociology program over a criminology program? While my current interests lie at the heart of criminology, my concern is that I may be placing unknown future limitations on myself by choosing a criminology program over a sociology program (I applied to both). Crim is essentially a facet of sociology and if 10 years from now, my interests shift to some other aspect of race that isn't criminology focused (i.e.: education) I would be limited in how i could approach that topic. Has anyone else thought this a dilemma??  Have any advice to share? Ideally, I would like to attend a sociology program, but it seems it might be the case that I only get into those in the 20-40 rankings. Thus, is it better to attend a top 5 criminology program over a sociology program not ranked in the top 20? 

My interests are Gender and Sexuality, not criminology,  but I had a similiar conundrum.  Ultimately,  with the input of several PhD professors, I decided to apply for Sociology not a Gender Studies PhD because it allows for a much broader range of intersecting identities and future research. However, I only gave serious consideration to schools that have a designated WGSS emphasis/certificate with kick ass women's studies programs that work closely with thier sociology counterparts. IMO, the deciding factor is how broad you want your scope to be. Race, class, crime, gender, sexuality, and ability are so intertwined for me, I just don't think I can stick to one for my whole career. 

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

33 minutes ago, 2016Applicant said:

Also, any idea where I, or others, may find more reputable sources of ranking rather than US News?? Please forgive my ignorance here.

the orgtheory rankings are good. It's not based on any objective measures but rather on faculty opinions. They asked sociologists from departments around the world "what department is better x or y" and based it off of that. https://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/sociology-department-rankings-for-2013/

[tiptoe]

has anyone NOT heard from stanford?

[faculty]

I give this advice every year, but I highly recommend that people visit as many of the programs that they are accepted to as possible. I was convinced of where I was going to go to grad school - for a wealth of reasons - until I went on campus visits. Those visits shifted my ranking significantly and I opted to attend one of the programs that was at the very bottom of my list. Not only because I learned more about the faculty and what they were actually doing (or not doing) and who was leaving or who actually worked with students, but also about the grad students and the culture and what my life would be like as a graduate student, beyond classes and research projects. Departments vary. Your potential cohort does too. Cities that you know nothing about hold all kinds of pleasant surprises and even those you grew up in might not be worth returning to on a grad student stipend. Grad school is such an all-encompassing enterprise. I know people do a lot of research before applying, but it is just as important - if not more - to do other types of research before making the final decision. Selecting the program that I thought I'd never choose was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

[KimchiRamen]

32 minutes ago, goofylemon said:

I think a much better resource to consult is your professors. Ask professors in your fields of interests about their opinion. Share with them your GRE/GPA/ rough experience and let them know which "rough level" of programs you should get into. They know both you and programs much better than the rankings. To Avoid bias, ask more than one.

You made me realized I should withdraw from UMass since I`ve gotten accepted into a program that better suits me overall.

As for your recommendation to seek professors for a more reliable source of information, I think it is worth noting that many applicants have left academia for quite a while and/or majored in a different field. Both of these conditions apply to me. For those applicants like myself, do you or anyone else have any idea where we can get reliable information about programs? In my mind...the only place would be the sociology websites of the school we are applying to and, if admitted, the school visit. Admittedly, I chose the program I applied to base on reputation, the information I found on their websites, and how excited I am about the ongoing research projects in their program. I seriously don`t really know who is more well-known in this field and which program is up and coming for what subject. 

I would welcome more information on reliable resources!

[lioneironaut]

1 hour ago, goofylemon said:

Although I will withdraw many of my ongoing apps (see my signature), I have really decided to ask the AdComm in Wisc for the reasons to reject my apps. Different from another school I was rejected (UT-Austin), where I think I am writing a lukewarm SOP and having a mediocre fit to, Wisc is considered the best fit to me. I really question why my apps got denied. I suspected it is because a first-sight kill of my undergrad GPA. If so, I will report it to this forum and hope it will be helpful for the applicants of the following years.

If you ask what I hate most for the grad application process, it is the so-called "first-round filter". It filtered "out" many promising applicants with stellar rec letters and publication records but lower GPA/GRE. Some people are just not good test takers (importantly, standardized tests are evil even I scored good on them). For GPA, it really depends on school and the course difficulty. I have math background besides my sociology major and took so many darn-hard mathematics courses. That is the primary reason to pull down my GPA. If I hear the AdComm rejects me straight out of my GPA. It will really sounds disappointing.

I don't really care the excuse saying "uhhh.. we receive something hundreds/thousands applications and we cannot read every file that carefully". Come on! The application fee is so darn expensive and you told me my application was just worth one-time read? for 90/100/110 dollars?

I don't think there is a rigid GPA cut (other than the 3.0 grad office minimum), although there does seem to be more evidence for a GRE filter.. My overall GPA was significantly lower than yours, and I still got into UW. My perception is that Brown is actually a more difficult school to get into for our interests (mine are vaguely similar), given that it's a much smaller program and sends students to at least as good placements. My guess is the reason for your UW rejection is something more nuanced, at least, given your amazing credentials—I hope you get good feedback from them through asking. Congrats again on Brown 

Edited January 29, 2016 by lioneironaut
cant type

[goofylemon]

14 minutes ago, KimchiRamen said:

You made me realized I should withdraw from UMass since I`ve gotten accepted into a program that better suits me overall.

As for your recommendation to seek professors for a more reliable source of information, I think it is worth noting that many applicants have left academia for quite a while and/or majored in a different field. Both of these conditions apply to me. For those applicants like myself, do you or anyone else have any idea where we can get reliable information about programs? In my mind...the only place would be the sociology websites of the school we are applying to and, if admitted, the school visit. Admittedly, I chose the program I applied to base on reputation, the information I found on their websites, and how excited I am about the ongoing research projects in their program. I seriously don`t really know who is more well-known in this field and which program is up and coming for what subject. 

I would welcome more information on reliable resources!

I am sorry for the lack of consideration about this case - I apologize. I neglected the fact that I am in a very good sociology program already and imagined the situation solely in my perspective.

If you are not in this major for your undergrad and have no access to reliable faculty members, I would consult different rankings first to get a sense of how different programs are approximately placed. For example, a program ranked #50-ish or after might not likely be the leader in any of the major field you have ever heard. Then, I will probably look through their websites and read the articles of your POI in that program carefully. Believe it or not, I am very sensitive to people's writing styles. The feelings about the articles they wrote as sole author have made an important contribution to my rankings of the programs I am applying to.

You may also contact people from your program of interests, either grad students or faculty members, to get a 'rough feeling' about the people there. You do not want to work with people with personalities you do not like, anyway, right  

I'll second what many people have said, school visits are important.

Edited January 29, 2016 by goofylemon

[goofylemon]

17 minutes ago, lioneironaut said:

I don't think there is a rigid GPA cut (although there does seem to be more evidence for a GRE filter). My overall GPA was significantly lower than yours, and I still got into UW. My perception is that Brown actually a more difficult school to get into for our interests (mine are vaguely similar), given that it's a much smaller program and sends students to at least as good placements. My guess is the reason for your UW rejection is something more nuanced, at least, given your amazing credentials—I hope you get good feedback from them through asking. Congrats again on Brown 

Thanks! I am saying this definitely not because I feel like I am more qualified than the admitted cohorts. I know many of the admitted candidates from this forum, and I think you guys/gals are really great! 

I just cannot think of a significant reason why my application is rejected. This kind of curiosity is killing me, if it is not because of GPA. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by goofylemon

[oakoak]

3 hours ago, 2016Applicant said:

Did I read correctly that someone was wait listed at UCI? Does that mean its safe to assume all those who haven't been admitted or wait listed, have been rejected? :/

I posted that status. I am not that hopeful though. I asked the coordinatior about the status of my test scores (that still appear as not received on the website) and was told that I am wait-listed. I am not sure what that means either. But, as far as the results page suggests, admisson off the wait-list is very uncommon. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by oakoak

[gingin6789]

Thank you all so much for your congrats! Today was so busy that I haven't even had time to process all of this! 

Congratulations to all the other acceptances today! 

And everyone who didn't hear back today... *hugs and gives you some candy*

Still working on catching up with all the posts in the thread! 

[goofylemon]

42 minutes ago, gingin6789 said:

Thank you all so much for your congrats! Today was so busy that I haven't even had time to process all of this! 

Congratulations to all the other acceptances today! 

And everyone who didn't hear back today... *hugs and gives you some candy*

Still working on catching up with all the posts in the thread! 

Gingin, do you mind sharing who is your POI?  I am not applying UC-Davis but happened to know a few people there. I am just curious.

P.S. I'd like some M&Ms lol~

[Port Lake]

7 hours ago, tiptoe said:

has anyone NOT heard from stanford?

I haven't heard anything yet. Has anyone got an acceptance yet? I couldn't see any reported on the results page.

[KLPLANTER]

can we get keep this on topic or start a new thread. Very nerve wrecking to see fresh pages and none of it be information that is supposed to be here.

[oedipus]

omg princeton whyyyyy what gives.

[goofylemon]

1 minute ago, oedipus said:

omg princeton whyyyyy what gives.

Are you admitted to Princeton??!!

[gingin6789]

2 hours ago, KLPLANTER said:

can we get keep this on topic or start a new thread. Very nerve wrecking to see fresh pages and none of it be information that is supposed to be here.

you're more than welcome to start a conversation thread! I did try, but it went down in flames. D:

[oedipus]

3 minutes ago, goofylemon said:

Are you admitted to Princeton??!!

no, just lamenting that there still isn't any news.

this time last year they had reported already

[goofylemon]

15 minutes ago, gingin6789 said:

you're more than welcome to start a conversation thread! I did try, but it went down in flames. D:

I don't really think we need another thread. Currently, I think most people are comfortable with this style of decisions+discussion.

If only a generic message of "I am rej/admitted/waitlisted by XX school" is what all desired, why don't just look at the results search page? Why bother even start a thread?

[redhillgirl]

Any predictions for this lovely friday?

Weird for me to ask in Europe.  Almost dinner time. 

[nowayjose]

4 minutes ago, redhillgirl said:

Any predictions for this lovely friday?

Weird for me to ask in Europe.  Almost dinner time. 

i want to see some p-ton news. i also would like to be a part of that good news. if not, then i don't want to see any p-ton news

[Port Lake]

15 minutes ago, oedipus said:

no, just lamenting that there still isn't any news.

this time last year they had reported already

And the year before, they reported TODAY! I hope we hear something before the weekend.

[HopefulSocPhD]

5 minutes ago, redhillgirl said:

Any predictions for this lovely friday?

Weird for me to ask in Europe.  Almost dinner time. 

It seems like today might be a likely day for some movement from Berkeley. The last three years they notified their first acceptances on Jan-28, Jan-31, and Jan-30.

 

1 minute ago, nowayjose said:

i want to see some p-ton news. i also would like to be a part of that good news. if not, then i don't want to see any p-ton news

LMAO, AMEN! I feel the same way about Berkeley... and pretty much everywhere else I applied.  

[oedipus]

6 minutes ago, Port Lake said:

And the year before, they reported TODAY! I hope we hear something before the weekend.

would be great to hear back before the weekend

[BoomSoon]

5 minutes ago, HopefulSocPhD said:

It seems like today might be a likely day for some movement from Berkeley. The last three years they notified their first acceptances on Jan-28, Jan-31, and Jan-30.

I think this is a good guess.

It is the last working day before February, so I wouldn't be surprised if at least a few places were eyeing this day as kind of a cut off for getting announcements out.