Grad & Admissions Director AMA

[Haphazardsoc]

I'm an Associate Professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Sociology department. I'm currently Director of Graduate Admissions and occasionally Director of Graduate Studies. Feel free to ask me questions about the application process, either specific to UNC or more generally. I'm also happy to answer more general questions about getting a PhD in Sociology. 

[Beals]

Hello,

First, thank you so much for doing this!  The process is nerve wracking in large part because of the opacity, so having you field questions like this is both reassuring and very helpful. 

Some context before I get to my questions: I am an international applicant, with a BA (sociology) and MA (social theory) from a Canadian university.  I’ve heard over and over the importance of fit so I’m only applying to four US schools, all of which I think I have a very strong fit with.

My main questions are:

1     How important are publications and conference presentations? I’ve presented at three conferences, and have one sole-authored publication from a peer reviewed journal (European & relatively new, so no impact score).  Is this competitive?  If not, what is considered competitive?

2    Could you speak to the relative importance of GRE scores? Are they important enough to sink an otherwise desirable applicant? Important enough to compensate for weak areas of an application?

3     Are international applicants judged differently than domestic applicants? If so, how?

Any insight you can give is much appreciated.  Thank you for your time!

Edited July 11, 2016 by Beals
formatting

[Warelin]

Are BA and MA applicants to the PHD program evaluated differently? Do you prefer straight from undergrad applicants or do you prefer them to have a MA? What's the ratio of BAs to MAs?

[Haphazardsoc]

1 hour ago, Beals said:

 

1     How important are publications and conference presentations? I’ve presented at three conferences, and have one sole-authored publication from a peer reviewed journal (European & relatively new, so no impact score).  Is this competitive?  If not, what is considered competitive?

2    Could you speak to the relative importance of GRE scores? Are they important enough to sink an otherwise desirable applicant? Important enough to compensate for weak areas of an application?

3     Are international applicants judged differently than domestic applicants? If so, how?

1. I don't think publications or conference presentations are particularly meaningful. Having a great writing sample that demonstrates your ability to do sociology is important, but folks generally don't care whether it was presented or not.

2. GRE scores, along with GPA, writing sample, statement and letters of recommendation, are important. Which factor is most important likely varies by department and individual.  Good scores can probably help a mediocre GPA, but they won't compensate on any of the other factors. Bad scores can doom an application. In particular, if you can't do math, you probably aren't going to do well in graduate stats sequence. 

3. We don't judge non-US applicants any differently. For folks who did not do their undergrad at an English speaking institution, we generally like to see some additional evidence that the applicant will feel comfortable writing and speaking English.

[Haphazardsoc]

51 minutes ago, Warelin said:

Are BA and MA applicants to the PHD program evaluated differently? Do you prefer straight from undergrad applicants or do you prefer them to have a MA? What's the ratio of BAs to MAs?

It depends on what type of MA it is. Transferring from a peer PhD institution after getting an MA in Sociology is quite rare. Transferring from a peer PhD institution in another field, such as political science, is possible, but we would want to see evidence both that you succeed at your old program and that you would be a better fit over in Sociology.

More common are MAs applying from lower ranked institutions. Again, we would want evidence that the person excelled along with a kick-ass writing sample. This is hard to do in two years. I should note that in general, I think this is a bad strategy, since it is unlikely to work and you are likely to rack up some debt along the way. 

[krispykreme]

What do you consider a peer institution in soc? Is it risky (and therefore rare) to transfer between peer institutions because it may jeopardize relationships? Do family reasons simply not cut it? Or, would depts give serious consideration if it is a strong application?

 

Thank you so much for doing this!

[Haphazardsoc]

2 hours ago, krispykreme said:

What do you consider a peer institution in soc? Is it risky (and therefore rare) to transfer between peer institutions because it may jeopardize relationships? Do family reasons simply not cut it? Or, would depts give serious consideration if it is a strong application?

 

Thank you so much for doing this!

One of the reasons it is rare is that you (usually) have to start all over again. At UNC, you might get credit for the MA thesis, but you would still need to take a decent amount of courses. For most folks, I suspect doing PhD work away from campus is much better than starting over somewhere else. I don't think there's any stigma associated with an application, you would just need to demonstrate that you were a strong candidate and that there was a compelling reason for switching. Family reasons would definitely count as compelling. Unfortunately for the student, this sort of signaling is best done in recommendation letters ("I wish X would stay, but X's spouse recently began medical school in the Triangle..."), so it is somewhat out of your control. 

[Warelin]

Thanks for answering these questions.

 

On a side note, how do you determine fit? As applicants, there are things that we look for. Would having multiple professors in our area of interest be considered a stronger fit or is there something else?

[csot]

Thank you for answering our questions. 

I know this might vary by department, but for schools that have GRE cutoffs, are the cutoffs generally for verbal and quantitative COMBINED? Would you recommend retaking the GRE if you have a high verbal score and a low math score?

Edited July 12, 2016 by csot

[onehundredpercent]

Thanks for doing this!

What are the most common mistakes/errors you see applicants make?  What do you wish more applicants would do? 

[socapp2017]

19 hours ago, Haphazardsoc said:

3. We don't judge non-US applicants any differently. For folks who did not do their undergrad at an English speaking institution, we generally like to see some additional evidence that the applicant will feel comfortable writing and speaking English.

This is going to be a x-post, but Posselt's recent book, Inside Graduate Admissions (2016) paints a very different picture. What accounts for the difference? Example quotes:

"With a large pool of East and South Asian applicants who have high quantitative reasoning scores, many [admissions committee] participants came to set higher GRE score expectations of Chinese, Korean, and Indian applicants than of American and European applicants. 'If a kid from the PRC has not essentially...perfect scores on GRE exams...they're regarded as probably brain dead.'"

"Others distrusted the signaling value of the GRE for Asian applicants because it does not capture the work that they worry Asian students will struggle with in graduate school: open-ended, creative scholarship."

"The suspicion that cheating may be quietly prevalent throughout China was a major concern for some reviewers."

"Their expectation that Chinese students would have high quantitative GRE scores and weak English skills also reflected the troubling tendency to think of students from China not as individuals, but a profile of group averages."

"The composite stereotype that faculty held of Asian applicants was one of mathematically sophisticated test takers and status seekers with weak English skills, who are difficult to distinguish from one another."

[Haphazardsoc]

14 hours ago, Warelin said:

Thanks for answering these questions.

 

On a side note, how do you determine fit? As applicants, there are things that we look for. Would having multiple professors in our area of interest be considered a stronger fit or is there something else?

Multiple professors in the area is the best fit. There is a second, larger dimension to fit which is fit with a sociology PhD program in general. We are primarily interested in training folks to write a PhD thesis in sociology. If your primary interest is working to end poverty, many top programs probably won't be a good fit. If, on the other hand, you are interested in advancing our understanding of some specific components of poverty, with the understanding that your findings might help inform policy choices, a PhD in sociology might be a good fit.

[Haphazardsoc]

10 hours ago, csot said:

Thank you for answering our questions. 

I know this might vary by department, but for schools that have GRE cutoffs, are the cutoffs generally for verbal and quantitative COMBINED? Would you recommend retaking the GRE if you have a high verbal score and a low math score?

Varies, but I think most cutoffs are for each test.  A high verbal score won't do you much good if you have a low math score.   

[Haphazardsoc]

2 hours ago, onehundredpercent said:

Thanks for doing this!

What are the most common mistakes/errors you see applicants make?  What do you wish more applicants would do? 

1. Include a full writing sample, not just a lit review. I understand that because of when applications are, many folks don't have a completed senior project to show us, but something with data is always better, even if the stats is not super sophisticated. 

2. Make sure your statement is clear that you understand what you are getting into and that you have the necessary background. Have a faculty member you know look it over. 

[Haphazardsoc]

1 hour ago, socapp2017 said:

This is going to be a x-post, but Posselt's recent book, Inside Graduate Admissions (2016) paints a very different picture. What accounts for the difference? Example quotes:

"With a large pool of East and South Asian applicants who have high quantitative reasoning scores, many [admissions committee] participants came to set higher GRE score expectations of Chinese, Korean, and Indian applicants than of American and European applicants. 'If a kid from the PRC has not essentially...perfect scores on GRE exams...they're regarded as probably brain dead.'"

"Others distrusted the signaling value of the GRE for Asian applicants because it does not capture the work that they worry Asian students will struggle with in graduate school: open-ended, creative scholarship."

"The suspicion that cheating may be quietly prevalent throughout China was a major concern for some reviewers."

"Their expectation that Chinese students would have high quantitative GRE scores and weak English skills also reflected the troubling tendency to think of students from China not as individuals, but a profile of group averages."

"The composite stereotype that faculty held of Asian applicants was one of mathematically sophisticated test takers and status seekers with weak English skills, who are difficult to distinguish from one another."

I'll have to read the book. This hasn't been my experience.  

Probably the highest hurdle for non-US applicants is translating their GPAs and institutional reputation.  

[Warelin]

How do you determine your institutional reputation when considering US schools? What if the school has a terminal Masters degree but no PHD degree?

[Haphazardsoc]

22 hours ago, Warelin said:

How do you determine your institutional reputation when considering US schools? What if the school has a terminal Masters degree but no PHD degree?

For undergrad applicants, institutional reputation is largely driven by USNWRish rankings of the overall institution adjusted by any specific knowledge of the department (if the applicant was a sociology major). I don't have a great sense of the variation among terminal MA programs, so recommendation letters are often helpful in this regard when they state what PhD programs former students enrolled in and how the applicant compares to those students. 

[FertMigMort]

On 7/12/2016 at 11:49 AM, Haphazardsoc said:

Varies, but I think most cutoffs are for each test.  A high verbal score won't do you much good if you have a low math score.   

Hi Neal!

I'll chime in and say that on the committee I described in my AMA, the cutoff was for each test. We did not have a cutoff for the writing portion of the GRE.

[CWS2017]

Thanks for doing this! My main concern is that I was a History major (3.86 GPA), and my writing sample is my senior thesis for History, which isn't quant heavy at all. I've done a Fulbright ETA, worked on a Presidential campaign, and an organizer for different campaigns. It's all related because I want my research to be on social movements, and, particularly, white people's roles in the justice movement. 

How much does my academic background hurt?

Should I be looking into MA programs to better my SOC credentials?

Am I competitive applicant for some top tier programs?

 

Thanks again.

[pinoysoc]

I want to thank you for doing this! I do have a couple of concerns:

 

1. Will a low GRE score affect admissions? I've accumulated ~4 years of research as an undergraduate, post-bacc, and currently as an MA student. I've also done work as TA ~ 2 years.

2. Does addressing low GRE scores in the personal statement do anything at all? 

3. Lastly, does taking more quantitative classes  and using statistics in my thesis in my current master's program demonstrate statistical competence?

I really appreciate you for taking the time to do this and thank you so much for helping all of us out!