How to get into a PhD program.

[DallasLama]

Hey there everyone, 

 

A while back, I decided that in light of my love for sociology, and my absolute lack of interest in anything else, I aspire to become a professor of the discipline. I'm beginning my honours program in sociology in September (going into my third year of undergraduate study), and I am quite nervous to say the least! My grades have been good thus far throughout the course of my first two years, as I have maintained an A average in all of my courses. However, I know that grades are not everything if one wishes to be accepted to graduate school (although if someone could tell me what grades would be sufficient, I would appreciate that ). Does anyone have any advice to give on what I should do over the next few years to ensure that I can be accepted into a Masters program and then ultimately a PhD program? I live in Canada, but I'd be willing to go just about anywhere for graduate school  

 

Thanks everyone!

[ello_pomelo]

One thing you should definitely try to do is research! Do you have credit room in your degree program to complete a senior thesis, independent study, or even assist a graduate student with their research? You don't necessarily have to publish anything, but getting your foot in the door will be both informative for you and smiled upon by an adcomm!

Another thing to consider is what subfields you're interested in. I would personally advise you to try as many different areas as possible as you fulfill credit requirements, but consider taking upper level courses in the subfields that interest you the most.

Lastly, it is never too early to begin preparation for your application. I'm not sure if Canadian schools require the GRE or other testing systems, but if so, studying in your junior spring is advisable as it leaves ample time for potential retakes. You can also start researching institutions and faculty members with whom you would like to study!

And of course, keep those grades up! It depends on the school, but consider a decent absolute cut-off to be a 3.5, with a greater likelihood of acceptance in the 3.8-3.9 range.

Best of luck!

[guest56436]

Simple steps:

- Start cultivating your LORs now. Ideally, all three should be from profs you have worked one on one with (independent studies, honours thesis, RA work, TA, ect.). You need to start (if you're not already) regularly attending office hours (but use them effectively).

- Ask the profs you know the best if you can get involved in their research, ideally as a RA.

- Do an honour thesis.

- Do independent research courses with profs.

- Do quantitative classes. At least differential + integral calculus, plus intro to statistics. Ideally, also other math classes.

- Take as many upper level, and if you can, graduate classes as possible in your junior and senior years.

- Find some broad/narrow research interests that you want to pursue for your own projects.

- Present your thesis or something else at one conference (can be a grad student conference or something).

- If you want to apply to American programs, start prepping for the GRE (take it a year+ before you need to get to know it).

Edited July 7, 2017 by Comparativist