Sociology Programs/etc

[hawk]

So I just started looking at sociology programs, I am interested in a few others (Political Science, for instance) -- if something else comes to mind when you look at this feel free to let me know.

I am interested to know what schools I should be looking at and what relative chances you think I might have here:

Majors: Political Science, Philosophy, History

GPA: 3.75

GRE: Not taken but will be over 700/700/no idea on writing

I have publications forthcoming in Rhetoric and in Literature (2 separate), I've spoken at conferences in various things, edit a political journal and the newspaper which I also write for. Also 2 summers working at a large media conglomerate and 1 summer doing research on a research stipend (this upcoming one).

The University I attend is a large research university, letters of recommendation will be absolutely stellar from extremely prestigious faculty but none of them will be in sociology. I think this might hurt me a bit.

What I am interested in: Power and its interaction with society, oppression (educational power and oppression, governmental power and oppression), globalization, and genealogies of these things (so that would be comparative and historical?).

Programs I am currently looking at are: Duke, UNC, Princeton and Harvard (but its a bit too cold at these ones)

I fear that my complete lack of any sociology courses at all might be seen as a negative but I really just don't have any time with the other majors. However, it seems like sociology is the only program which allows me to study what I am interested in...

do let me know, and thanks

Edited December 31, 2009 by hawk

[Roll Right]

So I just started looking at sociology programs, I am interested in a few others (Political Science, for instance) -- if something else comes to mind when you look at this feel free to let me know.

I am interested to know what schools I should be looking at and what relative chances you think I might have here:

Majors: Political Science, Philosophy, History

GPA: 3.75

GRE: Not taken but will be over 700/700/no idea on writing

I have publications forthcoming in Rhetoric and in Literature (2 separate), I've spoken at conferences in various things, edit a political journal and the newspaper which I also write for. Also 2 summers working at a large media conglomerate and 1 summer doing research on a research stipend (this upcoming one).

The University I attend is a large research university, letters of recommendation will be absolutely stellar from extremely prestigious faculty but none of them will be in sociology. I think this might hurt me a bit.

What I am interested in: Power and its interaction with society, oppression (educational power and oppression, governmental power and oppression), globalization, and genealogies of these things (so that would be comparative and historical?).

Programs I am currently looking at are: Duke, UNC, Princeton and Harvard (but its a bit too cold at these ones)

I fear that my complete lack of any sociology courses at all might be seen as a negative but I really just don't have any time with the other majors. However, it seems like sociology is the only program which allows me to study what I am interested in...

do let me know, and thanks

I really couldn't tell you. If you're published in academic journals in your undergrad, I don't think you'll have a lot to worry about.

[rising_star]

Apply to some geography programs. You will find your interests well received and be able to study the things you want.

[jacib]

Northwestern has plenty of political sociologists, as does Berkeley. It'd obviously depend exactly on your project. Northwestern has a lot of people who do Political and Economic sociology. Chicago probably has some too, but I don't know, I didn't look at their sociology department because I was more interested in the resources at their Divinty School. I know nothing about the big state schools besides Berkeley, because they tend not to have religion, but I know many of them have excellent programs and should be examined.

I am applying with one undergraduate sociology course in which I got a B+, and perhaps two anthropology courses. I have seen people at elite sociology programs with undergraduate degrees in engineering (okay, one person I definitely noticed), but a sociology undergrad is not a requirement for any program I saw. Social Science backgrounds (including Poli Sci) are "encouraged" but even those are not required.

When applying to sociology departments, don't mention that you're also applying to non-sociology departments. They tend to see this as the mark of an "unserious" student who doesn't know what they want to study (a position I disagree with). I am applying with the exact same research project (I literally don't think I changed more than a sentence for the actual proposed research part of my project between the two types of programs, though I changed all of the stuff that came before that part), yet still, this is "unserious". My sociologist father warned me about this, and a guy at Harvard confirmed it. Sociologists tend to think of you joining the field, not you studying a project (several religion programs I applied, on the other hand, boasted of their close ties with other departments, including sociology), so you are expected to be interested in studying and being capable of teaching several subfields of sociology, it seems (you seem to have this covered though). There are exceptions to this sociological purity, Northwestern being one, but it was definitely a different experience applying to the two set of programs, with the two sets of possible advisers having completely different ideas of what a good match is.

[hawk]

Well that was a really helpful reply actually -- one of the reasons I was led to sociology despite a complete lack of background in the field was the interdisciplinary nature of my studies and research thus far, which seems to be a strength of sociology (not that it bridges gaps in actual fields ie bringing people together from political science and philosophy, but that it seems to ignore metaphorical or abstract 'lines in the sand' I have noticed drawn in other departments or fields of study). For instance, I am interested in things like: Literature (and my focus here changes from time to time but I have published articles on certain authors and works), Medieval history, Religion, Political Theory, and how all of these things impact and interact with society. I have spoken at conferences combining one, two, three, or four of my interests and speaking to how they play on society, and my interest in political science (and thus application there) is only a new interest but again will play into my broader conceptual framework regarding society and power etc. It seems like sociology would be the best place to combine all of these ideas, but my concern is that sociology is not taken seriously and therefore programs are not rigorous and it would be difficult to place in a faculty position afterward. Which pushes me more in a political science direction, if you take my meaning, because many of my interests could be studied in political science, though perhaps with a different angle, if you take my meaning.

Does that make some sense? I think this might shed some light on the concerns of many potential sociologists in my shoes; but if not, not.

[jacib]

On 1/3/2010 at 1:04 AM, hawk said:

Well that was a really helpful reply actually -- one of the reasons I was led to sociology despite a complete lack of background in the field was the interdisciplinary nature of my studies and research thus far, which seems to be a strength of sociology (not that it bridges gaps in actual fields ie bringing people together from political science and philosophy, but that it seems to ignore metaphorical or abstract 'lines in the sand' I have noticed drawn in other departments or fields of study). For instance, I am interested in things like: Literature (and my focus here changes from time to time but I have published articles on certain authors and works), Medieval history, Religion, Political Theory, and how all of these things impact and interact with society. I have spoken at conferences combining one, two, three, or four of my interests and speaking to how they play on society, and my interest in political science (and thus application there) is only a new interest but again will play into my broader conceptual framework regarding society and power etc. It seems like sociology would be the best place to combine all of these ideas, but my concern is that sociology is not taken seriously and therefore programs are not rigorous and it would be difficult to place in a faculty position afterward. Which pushes me more in a political science direction, if you take my meaning, because many of my interests could be studied in political science, though perhaps with a different angle, if you take my meaning.

Does that make some sense? I think this might shed some light on the concerns of many potential sociologists in my shoes; but if not, not.

Two issues here: 1) I actually think sociology is relatively robust right now, in terms of job markets. I know several people (admittedly, sociologists) who advised me to study sociology over anthropology mainly because of the job market. I think its taken relatively seriously in the Academy. It depends on what kind of sociology--very quantative sociologists are refered to by economists and political scientists and psychologists and whatnot relatively often. The social sciences in general, and sociology in particular, seem to be holding their own right now (not expanding like business, health, anything bio, but not contracting like many of the humanities--MSU just got rid of the classics department). The crisis for sociology came earlier, in the 70s when Washington University in St. Louis (WashU/WUSTL) shut down its department and University of Rochester did the same, and Yale University almost did.

2) Sociology, especially again quantitative sociology, when it is applied to "serious subjects" like religion, politics, economics, health/illness, poverty etc. (as opposed to "unserious subjects" like culture*) it is generally taken quite seriously. I have no idea what the political science job market is, except that it is easier to get a non-academic job with a Political Science PhD than with one in Sociology. But in terms of university hiring, Sociology is an area where virtually every institution is going to have a department (sometimes as a Sociology and Anthropology department); I don't know if this is the same in terms of Poli Sci. Social Science, including sociology, has been cited in Supreme Court cases since 1954 (Brown v. Board) if that is any evidence of how seriously it is taken. That is one of the reasons I have been more attracted to Sociology--how seriously it is taken right now. I know a sociologist of health and illness who has been published in medical journals; this might not be common, but I don't think its rare either. Sociologists of religion are again commonly enough published in journals of religion--in fact, most of the recent theories of religion (rational choice, secularization) have come mainly out of sociology. Sociology does have a lot of cross over with other fields because it is a set of methods, really, rather than a field. But I think as far as academics go, it's taken seriously. I don't know, find a political sociologist (maybe one of the guys at Northwestern University) check one of their well-respected books on Amazon and see who cites their work. Jstor, if you have access to it, could be equally useful (for older articles) in seeing who cites what, and in which journals.

*Not a jibe at sociology of culture, I think that shits fascinating and its one of the reason why I want to be a sociologist. I spent a spring break devouring all the literature on punk rock.