Brigham Young University College of Family, Home & Social Sciences

1. Brigham Young University College of Family, Home & Social Sciences Library JFSB

2. BYU Sociology Graduate Program: Master of Science Degree Graduate Coordinator: Mikaela Dufur

3. The question everyone asks: What can you do with an MS degree in sociology? • Get into PhD programs • Chicago, Northwestern, Princeton, Wisconsin • Michigan, Arizona, Harvard, etc. • Get into law programs • Stanford, Michigan, etc. • Become a researcher/data analyst • Study a problem; come up with solutions. • Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Education, • CIA/FBI, etc. • Become a management consultant • Help companies run better • Work with a nonprofit or development organization • Evaluate programs; Change the world.

4. Findings From ASA Surveys of Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD Recipients • Provide information on sociologists’ participation in the non-academic job market. • “What Can I do with a Master’s Degree in Sociology?” • 3 year longitudinal survey starting in 2006 Roberta Spalter-Roth Director of Research American Sociological Association

5. Table 3. Where Are They? Master's Degree Recipients: 2009 Working Full-Time Jobs 40% Research Assistants, Associates, Directors Program Coordination & Management Case Work & Counseling Attending Graduate School 60.0% Source: ASA Research Development Department, What Can I Do With a Master's Degree in Sociology? 2009 • The majority of master’s program graduates were attending graduate school during the 2009 short follow-up survey. • The 40% who were working in full time jobs clustered into 3 types of occupations: Research, Program Coordination and Case Work/Counseling.

6. Even though 2/3 of jobs require technical skills including computer, organizational, and report-writing skills, master’s graduates report that “people skills” are the most widely used skills in their jobs.

7. Recent Graduates • RaechelLizon Juvenile Court Report Card to the Community: Juvenile Court Research Analyst, Salt Lake City. Juvenile Court Report Card to the Community: Race and Ethnicity Details • Sachi Jensen • Sachi received a joint Master of Arts in Public Policy and Juris Doctor (MA/JD) degree from Stanford. • She currently works for Freedom Now, an international human rights nonprofit and the law firm Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C.

8. Recent Graduates • Matthew Colling Program Director, Help International, a non-profit that sends over one hundred students and young professionals around the world annually on humanitarian missions. • Paul Harris Currently a PhD Student in Criminology at the Florida State University. Worked on Real Victory project at BYU.

9. How is graduate school different from an undergraduate program? • Attend small seminar classes (usually 4 to 10 students) where you discuss course topics and readings. • Take fewer classes: 9-10 credits per semester. • Classes: theory, methods, electives on substantive topics. • Work with faculty doing research, writing and teaching. • Complete your own research project.

10. MS Degree Program Purpose • Know the research methods, computing and statistical skills, and qualitative techniques. • Understand the principal theories of sociology and how these theories may be used address key questions and frame research. • Understand the current state of sociological research and theories on at least one substantive topic: • e.g., crime and delinquency, family, gender, community, race and ethnicity, education, migration, organizations, religion, etc.

11. Why get an M.S. in Sociology at Brigham Young University? • We have a track record of getting our students into top PhD programs, law programs, and careers in development and research. • Special area strengths: • Community, Demography, Education, Family, International Development, Race, Research Methods (including applied methods, assessment research), Criminology, Criminology. • Good financial support • Usually 20 hours/week in RA/TA work

12. What are the prerequisites? • Bachelor’s Degree in sociology (or related field) • Soc 111: Introduction to Sociology • Soc 300: Methods of Research in Sociology • Stat 121: Basic Statistics • Soc 310: Classical Social Theory • Soc 311: Contemporary Social Theory

13. How do you apply? • Application includes: • Official transcript(s) • 3 Letters of Recommendation • Statement of Intent • Honor Code commitment • Earned 3.0 GPA in last 60 semester hours • Submit GRE scores • Submit an Academic Writing Sample About 8 -12 students are admitted each year.

14. Before applying, you should ... • Assess your own skills, interests and experience • Research graduate programs that include your interests • Find out what they want – their “wish list” of qualifications for competitive students • Match yourself to the program’s criteria and provide of evidence that: • CAN do graduate work (ability) • WANT to do graduate work (motivation) • Will FIT into the program (your interests match the program)

15. The Law of Personal Statements? Look like a graduate student already.

16. Statement of Intent Break your statement into four sections: • Skill/Competence “As I hope my application conveys, I have the skills to be successful in your program.” • Interest/Commitment “Throughout my schooling, I have maintained a commitment to understanding the cause of inequality, from the conception of an idea, to the presentation of original research.” • Evidence “I have focused on acquiring the research skills necessary to excel in graduate school. I have taken four upper division research methods courses, presented original research six times, and submitted three manuscripts for publication.” 4. Fit “The graduate problem at XYZ University is a perfect combination of life course research and demographic analysis for the research agenda I am eager to continue.”

17. Risk-Reduction • Superlatives are a sign that you lack evidence! “This is the best program in the whole world!” “I love! love! love! sociology” “Ever since a was a small girl…” • Avoid: passionate, excited, fascinated, rivited, frantic type language • Replace subjective language with objective evidence. Action (behavior) speaks louder than words (attitude). • Don’t be lured by the “personal” in “personal statement”.

18. What is the application deadline? For BYU Sociology MS: January 15th • This means putting together your final application during the previous Fall Semester! • Don’t wait until that Fall Semester to build relationships with professors. (See the July 2009 “Dear Professor/Dear Student” blog on professors and letters of recommendation.) Take classes that require you to write a term paper. Give yourself enough time to schedule and take the GRE.

19. How Many Credits? • Credit Hours: 35 • 29 course hours • 14 required hours • 15 elective hours • 6 thesis hours • Soc 699R • 2 hours must be taken during the semester that you defend your thesis • Required Courses • 598R: Pro-Seminar (1+1) • 600: Advanced Research Methods (3) • 604: Ethnographic Techniques (3) • 605: Regression & Computer Analysis (3) • 610: Seminar in Classical Social Theory (3) Time-frame: 2 years (3 maximum)

20. Departmental Funding: Assistantships • Research Assistant • Interviewing, coding, data analysis, organization, scanning, transcribing, etc. • Work on projects, e.g., Transracial Adoption Study, Neighborhood revitalization study, Provo After-school program evaluation, etc. • Teaching Assistant • Grade papers, help students, hold review sessions, etc. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Marie Cornwall

21. Additional Examples of Faculty Research • Real Victory • Evaluating a program to help offenders succeed at probation and parole • Utah County Immigration Project • Examining various processes of integration experienced by immigrants and their children in Utah County (including policies and responses to them) See sociology.byu.edu/research.dhtml for more information on these and other projects.

22. What is a masters thesis? A masters thesis is a long research (or theory) paper, which you do as a culminating project for your masters program. You choose what it is on, as long as someone in the department can mentor you on that topic/method. A thesis involves: • Designing research • Gathering qualitative and/or quantitative data • Analyzing data • Developing theory/explanation of results • Writing.

23. Master of Science Degree: Thesis • Select faculty advisor & graduate committee • Thesis Prospectus • Present research plans to your committee; if approved, proceed with your thesis • Thesis Defense • After you finish writing your thesis, your committee will decide if it’s ready for an Oral Defense. At the defense, your committee questions you and then votes on the acceptance of your thesis.

24. Who should be the faculty advisor/mentor for your thesis? If you are a research assistant, you can develop that research into your thesis, working with the same professor. Or, you can choose to do your masters thesis on a different project with a different professor. You must have a faculty mentor. • The thesis must be one that someone in the department can mentor. • Develop good relationships with faculty, so they will be willing to do this.

25. Research Examples • Jaylyn Hawks • An Examination of Eating Styles and Body Dissatisfaction among Urban Filipino Women • Paul Harris • State Wide Social Institutions and Their Effect on the Disparity in the Incarceration Rates of Blacks and Whites

26. sociology.byu.edu

27. sociology.byu.edu/graduate.dhtml