FAQ
Contents
Can I apply for a Masters degree?
What are the interest areas in the department?
What is the deadline for application?
What are the requirements of the program?
What are the average GRE scores among students who are admitted to the program?
What should I emphasize in my application?
What should I include in my statement of professional objectives?
How may I obtain additional information about the program?
How can I present the strongest possible application?
Is there any additional advice for international applicants?
Can I apply for a Masters degree?
The Department of Sociology offers an M.A. and a Ph.D. degree but students are not admitted to receive terminal Master degrees. All students are admitted to the M.A./Ph.D. program under the assumption that they plan to pursue a Ph.D. In other words, all applicants are evaluated relative to their ability to complete the requirements for the Ph.D. The M.A. degree may, but need not be, earned en route to the Ph.D. degree.
What are the interest areas in the department?
Faculty in the University of Minnesota Department of Sociology have diverse interests, which can be broadly grouped into the following categories: Family and Life Course; Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender; Law, Criminology, and Deviance; Organizations, Work, and Markets; and Political Sociology and Social Movements.
What is the deadline for application?
The Department of Sociology only reviews application for admission once per year. The deadline for application submission is December 1 of each year for the program beginning in the fall of the following year (i.e. Dec. 1, 2007 for the program beginning in the fall of 2008). Applications are submitted using the ApplyYourself system.
What are the requirements of the program?
Ph.D. students are required to take five basic courses, or their equivalents:
- Sociological Theory
- Sociological Research Methods
- Advanced Social Statistics
- Sociology as a Profession
- Research Practicum
In addition, Ph.D. students complete at least one semester of advanced methodological training (through an advanced statistics course, or an independent research training experience), take 12 credits in sociology, and at least 12 credits of coursework in related fields. Inter-disciplinary work is fostered through related coursework and through graduate minors (e.g. Minor in Population Studies, Multidisciplinary Minor in Family Studies, Feminist Studies Minor).
The Graduate School requires that all Ph.D. students pass written and oral preliminary examinations. Preliminary examinations cover specific subfields (e.g. stratification, gender, deviance) to orient the dissertation research. These examinations are usually held in the third year of study. Students also defend their doctoral dissertations in a final oral examination.
What are the average GRE scores among students who are admitted to the program?
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores of admitted students vary from year to year. However, on average, successful applicants to the program have average GRE scores of 600 Verbal, 650 Quantitative, and 5.3 Analytical. When reviewing these averages, please bear in mind that GRE scores represent only one of the many factors that we consider when choosing students for our program. Considerable variation occurs around these averages. We review every applicant's completed file very carefully before deciding on extending admission offers to the program.
What should I emphasize in my application?
All applicants to the graduate program in Sociology submit GRE scores, transcripts from undergraduate and (if relevant) graduate institutions, three letters of recommendation, a statement of professional objectives, and a sample of written work. The Admissions Committee will carefully review everything that you submit. The committee looks for evidence that you have the academic preparation and skills to succeed in the program, and that the program can offer you the training that you desire. In keeping with the latter, the Admissions Committee will evaluate how well your interests match with the interests of department faculty. Do not feel that you have to identify specific faculty with whom you would like to work (although you may do so, if you like). But do provide some idea about the areas of sociology in which you have interest so that we can evaluate our ability to train you in those areas.
The Admissions Committee evaluates applications in total. Hence, no one part of your application will make or break your case. For example, GRE scores are important, but the committee will discount low GRE scores for students who submit strong writing samples or whose letters of recommendation describe strengths in the areas in which students received low scores. In general, the best advice is to identify the weakest areas of your application and draw the committee's attention to those parts of your application that either compensates for the weakness or that speak to the inadequacy of the indicator for evaluating your competency. For example, if your quantitative GRE scores are low, point out high grades that you have received in math or statistics courses, or discuss relevant quantitative research experience that you have had, as a way of arguing that the Admissions Committee should pay less attention to the low score. You can make such points in your statement of professional objectives.
What should I include in my statement of professional objectives?
Most statements are 1-2 pages in length. Statements vary tremendously in content; only you know how you came to be interested in sociology and what you want to accomplish by receiving a Ph.D. in sociology. Your statement should tell the Admissions Committee something about why you want to study sociology at the graduate level. You should be specific about your core areas of research/teaching interest within the field (do not worry if your interests end up changing; the members of the committee know this is a common occurrence). If your research interests are not yet formed, at the very least, you should convey why sociology is attractive to you as an intellectual discipline. You might also think to include a paragraph about what sociology offers you as a discipline that related disciplines do not. Based upon your statement, the Admissions Committee will try to evaluate whether sociology seems like the right "home" for you--will you be able to accomplish what you want to accomplish through sociology, or would you be better served by pursuing a graduate degree in law, public policy, social work, history, etc.?
The only information that the committee will have to make this evaluation is your statement of professional objectives. They will consider the evaluation of the match between your intellectual goals and the program we offer important because we want to make sure that the training we offer in the department will actually help you achieve your goals. If it will not, they may suggest that you consider a different sociology department or a different, but related discipline.
How may I obtain additional information about the program?
Please contact the Graduate Program Associate, Robert Fox, at 612-624-2093 or <robfox@umn.edu>. Robert manages the Graduate Program Office and can explain to you the program policies and procedures, the program timelines, the admissions process, the typical funding packages, and other pertinent information. Questions can also be directed to Professor Penny Edgell, Director of Graduate Studies, at <edgell@umn.edu>.
How can I present the strongest possible application?
Submit a strong sample of your written work. The written works most often submitted are term papers or Master’s theses. Your written work should deal with an intellectual problem related to the social sciences and should demonstrate your analytic abilities. It should not be a book review or a summary of others' thinking. Faculty readers will consider the level of sociological sophistication, abstraction, creativity, organization, and writing style.
Provide a short one- or two-page statement of your professional objectives that clearly indicates your goals and commitment to sociological training. This statement could address potential deficiencies in your standardized test scores, statistics and/or sociological theory preparation. It is also the place for you to indicate how you fit in with the program and why you chose to apply to the U. of M. department. Provide information about the schools for which you submitted transcripts, as well as your standing within your graduating class (if helpful to your case).
Have your recommenders submit their letters before the December 1 deadline. You may have them do this in one of two ways: have them mail their letters directly to the department or have them submit their letters online through the ApplyYourself system. When asking your recommenders to mail their letters to the department, it is often helpful if you provide your recommenders with a pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelope. There is no specific form or format for letters of recommendation submitted via the mail. While completing your Graduate School Application, you may choose to have the ApplyYourself system send an email to your recommenders which will provide them with directions on how to submit their recommendations electronically. This system of recommendation letter submission does have a specific form that may be completed by your recommender, but at the present time, the completion of that form is optional. The required letter of recommendation can be uploaded to the system and will be forwarded to the department of sociology. Your recommenders should have earned a Ph.D. or a similar terminal degree and will be most helpful to you if they specifically address your academic work and professional experiences. It would be wise for you to provide them with your statement of professional objectives so that your comments are complimentary and relate to each other.
The Graduate Admissions Committee evaluates each applicant's prior academic performance including the location, quality, and strengths of the applicant's undergraduate and/or graduate program(s). The undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of recent top applicants has been 3.6 on a 4.0 scale. Graduate applicants typically have GPAs of 3.9 on a 4.0 scale. If your GPA is not of this quality it will behoove you to address this deficiency in your Statement of Professional Objectives.
The Committee also evaluates applicants’ scores on the general test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Considering average scores received by applicants admitted in prior years, the department prefers students with consistent verbal and quantitative scores of 650 or better, and analytical scores of 5.0 or better.
In general, when making admissions decisions, the Committee is looking to reduce risk to the department resources. Each year countless hours of time and professional/academic support are devoted to each student in the program. Further, financial support of up to sixty thousand dollars per student per year is covered by the department. The committee wants to feel confident that the students to whom they extend offers of admission will see the program through to completion, be successful in the program, and go on to be an exemplary representative of the program. Tailor your application in such a manner that you will stand out as a “safe bet.”
Is there additional advice for international applicants?
The Department of Sociology recommends that you submit your application to the Graduate School six weeks before the December 1 application deadline to ensure that you have enough time to fix any errors in your application submission. When submitting your application, please do not confuse the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of Minnesota-Crookston, etc. The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities is where the sociology PhD program is offered and if you apply to any other University of Minnesota school, your application may not be reviewed.
The Graduate School will not begin to process any application without the application fee ($75 US for international students, submitted by credit card once you have completed your online application). If you do not have a major credit card or cannot use a card belonging to a friend or relative, the department can help you make the payment through a Western Union money order. Contact Robert Fox, <robfox@umn.edu>, in order to find out more information about this option. In extremely rare cases, the department has paid the application fee for exceptionally promising incoming international students. In these instances, it is vital that prospective students contact Robert Fox before November 15.
Prior to matriculation, The Graduate School requires that international applicants have their transcripts sent directly to the Graduate School from the applicant's previous school(s). Transcripts that are provided to the student and then forwarded to the Graduate School will not be considered official. When possible, international applicants should submit to the Graduate School an official English translation of their official transcript(s).
Discuss with the persons submitting your letters of recommendation the importance of providing specific information about your academic work and professional experiences. It is a good idea to provide your recommenders with your statement of professional objectives so they can refer to it when writing their recommendation.
The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a general requirement of the department. It is one way that the Admission Committee evaluates students from differing undergraduate schools, countries, and majors. The department's policy is that in cases where taking the GRE test imposes unusual difficulty, for example, in countries where it is not regularly administered, an applicant may petition for waiver of this requirement. If you do not have the ability to take the GRE and wish to submit a petition to have waived the GRE requirement, you must write your request on a single sheet of paper and send it to the department of sociology (not the Graduate School). There is no petition form. It will be wise of you to also include with your petition additional material that addresses your quantitative abilities as well as your written communication abilities. This additional information could be the methodology portion of a paper, an exercise from training in advanced mathematics, a detailed discussion of how results of a survey were analyzed, or similar examples of proficiency. The admissions committee will decide whether your petition (and the supporting materials) is strong enough to warrant waiving the GRE requirement.