Fall 2018 Applicants

[pinoysoc]

(INFORMAL) Penn Update:

The graduate coordinator is currently in the process of reviewing all applications (whatever that means!).  It's a very informal update since my application portal is saying it's still incomplete even though my GRE scores have been sent a month ago... and my very long first name didn't fit so my GRE registration name doesn't match my application name. FML. HAHAHAHA. 

Also, what are your thoughts on sending out recommendation requests even after you told the people writing them that the LOR requests two weeks ago were the last ones?

I'm just a nervous since I decided to apply to  two more programs that should be a shoe in despite my horrendous GRE scores.

<3 XO

[qeta]

54 minutes ago, pinoysoc said:

Also, what are your thoughts on sending out recommendation requests even after you told the people writing them that the LOR requests two weeks ago were the last ones?

I think they would understand that you've made a last-minute decision to apply to some more schools. They already have the letters, so it's a matter of just uploading them.

[KevinJHa]

SUBMITTED ALL MY GOD DAMN APPS.

Can't wait to start hearing the good news yall. We worked hard for this and FINALLY the application phase is pretty much wrapped up.

You guys are awesome and I'm hoping for successful admits from all of you!

Stay tuned~~

[mfafiction2019]

I had some temporary stress due to GRE score mix ups and schools claiming not to have received them when ETS said they had been received, but luckily, that's all been solved and all my applications, save for one that's due in January, are submitted.  Now comes the waiting...

Edited December 21, 2017 by qualsoc2018

[abenz]

Having a bit of a mare everyone! One of my schools requested official transcripts, which were due with the application on 15th December. I’ve submitted the app about a month ago and just moved country yesterday, so assumed everything had gone okay and was too busy to check everything. However when I checked the portal today I saw that they haven’t received the official transcripts, but the other university that requested them from me has. I’ve emailed the graduate coordinator who is (obviously!) on leave now for Christmas to ask her to confirm if they actually haven’t arrived or whether the portal is wrong, but will this harm my application? I’m pretty nervous but I know some schools are more flexible than others on this and I hope the department might be more forgiving than others when I explain everything??

[syza]

Holy shit I just submit my last application. Holy shit! It's all in... 

[mfafiction2019]

I just submitted my last application too, even though the deadline is in two weeks...but it was my last one and I just wanted to be done with applications.

[abenz]

Hi again! Wisconsin-Madison came back to me and said it was fine, they were still sorting out the received documents so no need to worry. They did say they had 250+ applicants ? and that decisions would be made around early Feb. 

[pinoysoc]

3 hours ago, abenz said:

Hi again! Wisconsin-Madison came back to me and said it was fine, they were still sorting out the received documents so no need to worry. They did say they had 250+ applicants ? and that decisions would be made around early Feb. 

That's good to hear! It seems this application season the way programs are contacting us is much slower! Usually, HSS @ UPenn sends out their invites then PSU professors start contacting students they want to interview! I'm SERIOUSLY getting anxiety attacks at night that I can't sleep!

[KevinJHa]

20 minutes ago, pinoysoc said:

That's good to hear! It seems this application season the way programs are contacting us is much slower! Usually, HSS @ UPenn sends out their invites then PSU professors start contacting students they want to interview! I'm SERIOUSLY getting anxiety attacks at night that I can't sleep!

This is why I've been taking nyquil or melatonin every night to sleep 

[pinoysoc]

4 minutes ago, KevinJHa said:

This is why I've been taking nyquil or melatonin every night to sleep 

I feel ya! I have melatonin at home, but it stopped working because I had a period where my anxiety/depression kept me so much I kept taking it! Lol. And i'm so close to throwing my phone way because I keep checking/refreshing it as if it'll magically appear out of nowhere! 

[KevinJHa]

 

7 minutes ago, pinoysoc said:

I feel ya! I have melatonin at home, but it stopped working because I had a period where my anxiety/depression kept me so much I kept taking it! Lol. And i'm so close to throwing my phone way because I keep checking/refreshing it as if it'll magically appear out of nowhere! 

Haha damn man you gotta find a way to keep yourself busy!!

Random tidbit my mother told me that make me feel better: 'You want this so bad, and you've been working hard to make your application perfect. If you don't get accepted, who will?'. It really made me less anxious about the upcoming decisions and if you want this as bad as I think you do, I'm sure this applies to you as well

[pinoysoc]

6 minutes ago, KevinJHa said:

 

Haha damn man you gotta find a way to keep yourself busy!!

Random tidbit my mother told me that make me feel better: 'You want this so bad, and you've been working hard to make your application perfect. If you don't get accepted, who will?'. It really made me less anxious about the upcoming decisions and if you want this as bad as I think you do, I'm sure this applies to you as well

Well, I've been watching Netflix once I get home from work! And your mom is so wise! My mom told me something similar in previous years. But I think the pressure of feeling of not "being good enough" is weighing me down and I'm slowly working on it! Thank you for those kind words!

[KevinJHa]

13 minutes ago, pinoysoc said:

Well, I've been watching Netflix once I get home from work! And your mom is so wise! My mom told me something similar in previous years. But I think the pressure of feeling of not "being good enough" is weighing me down and I'm slowly working on it! Thank you for those kind words!

Netflix and video games have been my best friend as of late haha. I totally get that feeling and I cope with it constantly. Of course we're here to support each other!

[MintChocoChip]

On 12/28/2017 at 5:49 AM, abenz said:

Hi again! Wisconsin-Madison came back to me and said it was fine, they were still sorting out the received documents so no need to worry. They did say they had 250+ applicants ? and that decisions would be made around early Feb. 

I'm so glad it worked out for you. I had a feeling it was Wisconsin-Madison because a similar thing happened where I didn't have a check mark next to the official transcripts until later. I wasn't sure what to say to you before because I didn't know if I just missed the mark on my first look or not. Crossing my fingers for the both of us!

Still working on applications, but I'm down to two SOPs. I'm anxiously waiting for a letter of rec writer to submit before the January deadline and fixing some other stuff for another app, but technically I just have two more to go. 

On another note, I just want to say I like our cohort here so far. You all seem like an awesome helpful bunch and I'm happy I decided to stop lurking. 

[pinoysoc]

Is it me? Or is it just slower this year as the departments haven't sent out interviews, contacts, etc.? 

This dreaded week between Christmas & New Year's is usually the start of freak out seasons since some departments start contacting prospective students! 

LOL.

How's everyone doing?

[R1001]

Finally got my last applications submitted. It feels like a blessing and a curse. I don't have to work on them anymore, but now I have nothing constructive I can do when I start getting anxious about hearing back. Good luck to everyone that applied!

[geedowg]

12 hours ago, pinoysoc said:

Is it me? Or is it just slower this year as the departments haven't sent out interviews, contacts, etc.? 

This dreaded week between Christmas & New Year's is usually the start of freak out seasons since some departments start contacting prospective students! 

LOL.

How's everyone doing?

Yeah that’s a good point. Not sure what’s happening here.

either way, this is making me pretty nervous. Not sure if I should start stopping cold turkey with this forum or just regulate my lurking. Being on here just constantly keeps me thinking of my applications, which is definitely not relaxing. 

[pinoysoc]

Just wanted to wish all of you guys a very happy new year! This week between Christmas & NYE is so stressful! I know that once the clock hits midnight & come Tuesday morning, it'll be freak out season for all of us. 

Unlike past application cycles (that I participated in any way) I feel like this is the most supportive of all three! 

I am looking forward to talking to everyone more as the application season progresses. It's been one heck of a ride!

Can't wait for the wonderful news!

[socihk]

Hi everyone

I am new to thegradcafe and an international applicant from Hong Kong. I just want to look for some comments on my profile.

I got my BA and British-style MPhil degrees from a not so famous university in HK, both in sociology.

My undergrad overall gpa was 3.70. The school doesn't give any "majoy gpa," but I took like 20 sociology courses during my 3-year undergrad with only 2 of them being not in A range grades. I don't have a GPA for my MPhil degree. It's more focused on independent research and thesis writing under supervision of a faculty member, and although I had to take some courses, those courses only had pass or fail result.

After completing my MPhil I've been working as RA in another University in HK, which is ranked like top 30 to 40 globally and top 5 in Asia. I have co-authored two articles with my boss, the professor in charge of the research project I'm assisting. One submitted to a regional peer reviewed journal (me being the 2nd author) and one submitted to a University press in HK as a book chapter (me being the first author). Both are under review.

I have 7 years of community services in 4 different NGOs, all about providing social services to impoverished immigrants.

My research interests therefore relate closely to immigrant incorporation, citizenship, social (ethnic, gender, and class) boundaries, xenophobia, etc.

(My SOP is mainly about how these experiences led me to study theories and empirical researches relating to immigrants during my undergrad, to formulate my own research in immigrant incorporation during MPhil, and how this process generates new research questions that I wanna answer pursuing a PhD.)

I got a really really bad GRE result, 154 V, 158 Q, 4 A, and kind of a moderate toefl result, total 104, reading 29, listening 28, speaking 22, writing 25

But my LORs should be strong (I assume), as I have very good relationship with all faculty members in my alma mater, and they always say to different people that I am one of the best and outstanding students in the department (though it can be some kind of "politeness" to me only), and all my LORs are from them.

School applied this year: harvard, princeton, yale, toronto, boston U, UConn, all Sociology phD program

Is my profile too bad for applying to these schools?

Nice if I can hear some comments from you guys! Thanks!

 

[European Lumpi]

Hey @socihk,

Look your profile seems good with a few exceptions, but no one is going to be able to tell you anything specific. And given that you've already applied, it does not really matter anyways  A few thoughts nonetheless:

• Given your test scores Harvard and Princeton would probably be a long shot
• Your relatively weak Verbal, in combination with okay (but not great) Toefl scores might raise some eyebrows. From what I hear, Asian applicants can occasionally suffer from bias during the admissions process and concerns regarding your English abilities could exacerbate that problem.
• Other than that your research experience seems great! Having co-authored two papers should be regarded highly. Depending on the people on the AdComms fit, writing samples, and your experience might be able to make up for mediocre scores. 

Right now, no one knows what to expect and we're all in the same anxious boat. I'm sorry that I'm not able to alleviate your concerns, but the only people able to do that are hopefully looking at our applications as we speak.

Best of luck. 

[2733amh]

jumping in on this with everyone!! applied to Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Duke, UNC, Northwestern, NYU, Vanderbilt, Emory, BC, and Penn...interested in crime and deviance and urban sociology...undergrad GPA was 3.9 and GRE scores were subpar...but have top tier and prestigious softs and extras in my app. was recently admitted to Georgetown Law so I am feeling pretty relaxed since I will be going to a great school no matter what happens with these decisions. wishing everyone luck + sending positive vibes!! 

[qeta]

On 12/28/2017 at 2:49 AM, abenz said:

Hi again! Wisconsin-Madison came back to me and said it was fine, they were still sorting out the received documents so no need to worry. They did say they had 250+ applicants ? and that decisions would be made around early Feb. 

Phew! You must feel so relieved to have that sorted. Thanks also for relaying the application pool size and decision timeframe info!

[abenz]

You’re welcome @qeta! Hoping that we all share news from the adcomms as it comes in ... it’s internet karma right?

@2733amh interesting group of schools! Are you applying for sociology at all of them, and is Georgetown a JD?

[qeta]

5 minutes ago, abenz said:

You’re welcome @qeta! Hoping that we all share news from the adcomms as it comes in ... it’s internet karma right?

@2733amh interesting group of schools! Are you applying for sociology at all of them, and is Georgetown a JD?

@abenz I am hoping that we will both get good news from our common departments (Berkeley, Brown, Wisconsin)! It would be fun to meet face-to-face during prospective student visits, although I remain unconvinced that I'll make the cut this year. Your profile sounds incredibly strong, so I'm sure you have very good news coming your way.

Edited January 2, 2018 by qeta