Help! Should I reapply this year?

[socapp16]

Hi Everyone!

This year I received offers from multiple top 20 PhD programs in Sociology (with great funding!). I am now working on making a decision between these programs. However, my initial goal was to get into top 10 PhD programs in Sociology but that didn't work out. I am thinking about reapplying this Fall (make my SOP stronger, get better GRE score) for admission next year in hopes to get into some top 10s - what do you all think?

[rising_star]

Why did you apply to programs outside the top 10 if you aren't actually willing to attend them?

[faculty]

I would seriously consider one of the Top 20 programs you got into rather than going through it all again, especially if you feel you have good offers in departments that you could flourish in.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a sociology department, even at the very top, that doesn't have faculty who earned their PhDs from outside the Top 10. In my own department, it's impossible to tell the difference between those of us who were trained in the Top 10 vs. Top 20. In fact, the people in the latter have a better record of getting tenured than those in the former. 

[proctorvt]

On 2/28/2016 at 7:12 PM, faculty said:

I would seriously consider one of the Top 20 programs you got into rather than going through it all again, especially if you feel you have good offers in departments that you could flourish in.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a sociology department, even at the very top, that doesn't have faculty who earned their PhDs from outside the Top 10. In my own department, it's impossible to tell the difference between those of us who were trained in the Top 10 vs. Top 20. In fact, the people in the latter have a better record of getting tenured than those in the former. 

Agreed. Being good at what you do is seriously underrated. Though I don't mean to suggest the academy is a meritocracy, there is an extent to which folks seem to imagine great grades and an Ivy pedigree ensures that you have anything interesting to say in your subfield--and in general, for that matter. I find this not to be the case.