Do I need to transfer to a better university for a better chance of PhD program in Sociology?

Graduate School
1

Hi and thank you for clicking in.

I am now a freshman from University of Minnesota Twin Cities majoring in Sociology and intend to declare a major in MATH or STATS. Currently I have 28 credits with GPA of 3.9 or 4.0(depends on my performance in final weeks…).

With a GPA of 3.9+ I can transfer to a better university in USA(I am considering about UMICH or UNC or U Wisconsin) and I do not know if it worth.

Pros: 1.More better professors, more resources to do some researches. I want to do research in Chinese society in the future but UMN does not have strong enough background in Chinese Studies.
2. More opportunities to exchange to Honking or Taiwan, especially for university of Wisconsin.
3.Better peers. I am from China and I can hardly find people around have same interests with me. Social sciences are not popular in China.

Cons: 1.I love my life style at MN. I made good friends (I did not expect I could meet someone like her before I came here).
2. UMN has a really outstanding Chinese professor and I am quite interested in his research area . He does not know me yet but I plan to do take classes and some research with him. Networking is important in social sciences PhD application.
3.I am afraid if I cannot get involved in the new university. With GPA becomes 0 after transfer, I will feel unsafe in my grade. Honestly it happened in the beginning of this semester…

I love sociology and I really want to do something great within sociology in my future. Sociology PhD application is really elective and my B-plan is Law School.

I am really entangled…

And I will appreciate any suggestions!!

2

It should be Hong Kong…not Honking…

3

The University of Minnesota is an excellent university - I wouldn’t put Michigan, UNC, or Wisconsin too far above it, not enough to be meaningful in any way.

A little bit of poking around on the Minnesota website revealed the [Chinese Flagship](Chinese Flagship | Chinese Flagship) program. If you’re already Chinese you likely don’t need the great intensive language training they offer, but they also have (admittedly limited) coursework in Chinese literature and culture. You can spend your junior year and/or summer abroad in China and take Chinese cultural classes at a Chinese university.

However, Michigan and UNC (and perhaps Wisconsin) do appear to have more robust programs/coursework in Chinese cultural studies, as opposed to just Chinese language and literature. That said, you don’t have to have studied your future topic in depth in undergrad.

If you’ve connected with a Chinese professor and you’re interested in his research, and your life is good at UMN, I think you should stay put and make the most of the opportunities you have at your current campus. Think about the option of studying abroad and/or doing a visiting semester at one of those other universities.

Also, law school is not a good plan B.

4

You say you intend to major in Math or Stats so why is the quality of the Chinese program relevant? You need to do research in Mathematics for a graduate program. Minnesota is an AAU school as are the others you mention. it is a major research university and I am sure you can find everything you need thereto prepare yourself for graduate studies. In addition, you like it there and that simple fact will help you do well in your studies. Just stay there.

5

Sorry for not stating it clearly, I am currently major in sociology and I am really interested in doing researches related to Chinese society. Thank you for your advices!!

6

Thank you for your advices!!! I really appreciate it! And could you tell me more about why law school is not a good plan B? I have to admit that I have a really limit knowledge about law school. Thanks again!!

7

Because the bottom has fallen out of the law market, and there are far more lawyers than there are jobs for them. Because of the oversupply, law salaries have been depressed. So unless you go to a tip-top law school - top 15-20 at least - your chances of making a salary large enough to repay your law school loans are slim.

[Above the Law](The 2015 ATL Top 50 Law School Rankings - Above the Law) has really good info and commentary on this. 40% of students who graduated from law school in 2014 did not get a job as a lawyer. Out of the 60% remaining, most of them do not work at the large law firms that pay the big salaries - most are working at smaller law firms, solo practices, nonprofits, government, freelance, or other kind of work that doesn’t allow them to repay $150K worth of debt.

Let’s take a case study: Boston University School of Law, class of 2013 graduates. They are ranked #26 by U.S. News and #21 by Above The Law, which is another trusted ranking source. So either inside or just outside of the top 25 law schools. There are 206 ABA-approved JD-granting law programs, so even being 26 makes BU in the top 13% of all law schools.

First of all, only 56% of their graduates are working in jobs that require bar passage, and just 40% of their graduates are working in private law firms. That’s disheartening since most people go to law school presumably to work as a lawyer in a job that requires you pass the bar. BU’s overall average salary is $139,000, which sounds great - but it’s super misleading.

A look at the breakdown of their graduates shows you have to be working in a law firm with 100+ attorneys in order to make close to that much - otherwise, you’re making much less. Medium-sized law firms’ (50-100) average is around $116K, and small law firms’ (less than 50) average is $70K or less. But only about 27% of BU’s law grads are working in a law firm with more than 50 attorneys. And the ones who work in non-law jobs (even the so-called “JD Advantage” jobs") aren’t even breaking six figures even for the maximum salary in the non-law part of the class. The average salary outside of law firms are about $53-67K depending on the industry.

So over 70% of the class of 2013 from BU is making less than around $70K a year. BU’s total cost of attendance is $203K after 3 years of law school. Repaying $203K on even a $150K salary sounds like a stretch, but on $70K? I make about $116K now and let me tell you, I am not prepared to repay anything resembling $200K. That is life-crushing debt.

And this is for the #26 ranked law school. Can you imagine going down the list a bit?

Do some reading on Above the Law, Third Tier Reality, Inside the Law School Scam, etc.

Also, your backup plan should never be anything you don’t know much about - your backup plan should be just as thoroughly researched as Plan A. A good backup plan for grad school is to go work for a few years and figure out what else you might want.