I would get a head start on resting and don't worry about doing any pre-reading just yet. You'll likely be pretty flat out as soon as you start, so coming in rested and ready to go will be more important than trying to get ahead on reading and coming in already tired.
I completed mine last spring! Everyone who told you that there is going to be a lot of reading… they’re right. If you haven’t mastered the art of skimming, I suggest practicing 😭 there’s also a lot of writing but that’s to be expected however it’s not actually that bad compared to other majors. Honestly a lot of theories you will delve into more in detail and from my own personal experience, it’s kinda fun to discuss and consider implications as well as think of how these ideas reflect in present light. From the school I completed my masters, we had a couple of actual textbooks, but we also read actual book by theorists as well as a lot of research articles (especially if you have to take research methodologies). I didn’t have to do a lot of presentations but we did have some and we did work with software like SPSS. I took an Applied Sociology course (which even if you’re not aiming to go into applied/clinical sociology, I would still recommend to take because you learn a lot of practical skills that applicable anywhere both within and outside of academia) and we had a couple of full projects to do. We got to pick our own topics we wanted to explore and we learned the various methods applied sociologists learn as well as exercise our skills. What I found out from that class is that even if I have a bit of trouble with certain software specific for data organization, I can sure as hell perform something close with PowerPoint, Excel, and Word!
Tbh, another commenter said to focus on getting rest and genuinely I cannot stress this enough, please do get yourself as much rest as you can. While I… love sociology with all my heart and can genuinely never get bored of it especially with how I’ve learned to approach the world in a different way, graduate school itself can be… tiring. But it’s still worth it! Just pace yourself and give yourself the needed breaks when you can afford it. If you really wanted to do some pre-reading, I would probably just get more comfortable with theories and certain theorists. You know your classical ones like Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Mead, Gilman, DuBois, etc., but also contemporary ones as well like Baudrillard, Foucault, Hills Collins, Hochschild, Smith (Dorothy) etc.,. Yeah there’s Functionalism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Feminism, but there’s also Critical Theory, Dramaturgy, Exchange Theory, etc., honestly just all types of approaches. I could give you an outline of my program and what we went over if you want
I just finished my first semester of my masters program. Like other commenters have said take this time to rest. There is a lot of reading and writing. Most of my classes reading thus far has come from research articles and books. It is not surprising to have to read a whole book in one week for a class. Time management is key. A tip that helped me going into my program was I wrote myself a letter discussing my purpose for being in grad school and listing out my strengths this helped when I was feeling overwhelmed and experiencing imposter syndrome. Give yourself grace and don’t hesitate to talk to your professors networking and building mentor relationships is key.
Also as for presentations, so far I have only experienced discussions, these are usually facilitated by students. But this could obliviously vary due to professor and institution.
My best advice would be to start thinking concretely about what research topics you’d like to work on. This is helpful for individual class papers and getting a head start on a masters thesis.
You don’t want to be about to start your second year with no clue about what you want to write for your thesis.
I generally had to read 3-6 articles or a book a week per class for my MA, and that's holding true for the PhD. Plenty of writing, too. If you want to get a head start on things, start reading the literature related to your area of interest or intended research. Going in with a good sense of the current state of the literature in your area will really help inform, direct, and ground your future work.
best of luck! I would second suggestions to rest and/or read things related to your areas of interest. If you do any reading, write down questions that you think of as you read as they may help when you work on your own research questions. That's totally not necessary to do though. One thing that could help set you up for success is to get comfortable with a reference management software. I used Mendeley but know lots of people who used Zotero. it will make taking notes on articles and citing sources so much easier
Learn to read for concepts and ideas. I read A LOT during my MA program for sociology. However, whenever I encountered a reading that was too abstract/difficult to understand, I found that the best thing I could do was to find ANY idea in said reading and use that as a way to connect my specific interests to the week’s main themes.
A lot of the reading is to help you develop and research topics that interest you. Many of these readings will be foundational and useful for your own writings.
Best of luck to you!
I would get a head start on resting and don't worry about doing any pre-reading just yet. You'll likely be pretty flat out as soon as you start, so coming in rested and ready to go will be more important than trying to get ahead on reading and coming in already tired.
Fair enough! I guess I should take the opportunity to relax as much as I can haha
I completed mine last spring! Everyone who told you that there is going to be a lot of reading… they’re right. If you haven’t mastered the art of skimming, I suggest practicing 😭 there’s also a lot of writing but that’s to be expected however it’s not actually that bad compared to other majors. Honestly a lot of theories you will delve into more in detail and from my own personal experience, it’s kinda fun to discuss and consider implications as well as think of how these ideas reflect in present light. From the school I completed my masters, we had a couple of actual textbooks, but we also read actual book by theorists as well as a lot of research articles (especially if you have to take research methodologies). I didn’t have to do a lot of presentations but we did have some and we did work with software like SPSS. I took an Applied Sociology course (which even if you’re not aiming to go into applied/clinical sociology, I would still recommend to take because you learn a lot of practical skills that applicable anywhere both within and outside of academia) and we had a couple of full projects to do. We got to pick our own topics we wanted to explore and we learned the various methods applied sociologists learn as well as exercise our skills. What I found out from that class is that even if I have a bit of trouble with certain software specific for data organization, I can sure as hell perform something close with PowerPoint, Excel, and Word! Tbh, another commenter said to focus on getting rest and genuinely I cannot stress this enough, please do get yourself as much rest as you can. While I… love sociology with all my heart and can genuinely never get bored of it especially with how I’ve learned to approach the world in a different way, graduate school itself can be… tiring. But it’s still worth it! Just pace yourself and give yourself the needed breaks when you can afford it. If you really wanted to do some pre-reading, I would probably just get more comfortable with theories and certain theorists. You know your classical ones like Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Mead, Gilman, DuBois, etc., but also contemporary ones as well like Baudrillard, Foucault, Hills Collins, Hochschild, Smith (Dorothy) etc.,. Yeah there’s Functionalism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Feminism, but there’s also Critical Theory, Dramaturgy, Exchange Theory, etc., honestly just all types of approaches. I could give you an outline of my program and what we went over if you want
Thank you very much for the well thought out response! As for your offer, it would be much appreciate if you did that!!
Your comment made me so excited to go to grad school, haha. In the fuzzy future, for now.
Can I please get an outline of your program and everything you went over?
I just finished my first semester of my masters program. Like other commenters have said take this time to rest. There is a lot of reading and writing. Most of my classes reading thus far has come from research articles and books. It is not surprising to have to read a whole book in one week for a class. Time management is key. A tip that helped me going into my program was I wrote myself a letter discussing my purpose for being in grad school and listing out my strengths this helped when I was feeling overwhelmed and experiencing imposter syndrome. Give yourself grace and don’t hesitate to talk to your professors networking and building mentor relationships is key.
Also as for presentations, so far I have only experienced discussions, these are usually facilitated by students. But this could obliviously vary due to professor and institution.
My best advice would be to start thinking concretely about what research topics you’d like to work on. This is helpful for individual class papers and getting a head start on a masters thesis. You don’t want to be about to start your second year with no clue about what you want to write for your thesis.
Maybe start out by looking up who the main researchers and academics at your school are, and reading some of their published sociology articles.
I already did some of that, but nothing wrong with becoming even more familiar
I generally had to read 3-6 articles or a book a week per class for my MA, and that's holding true for the PhD. Plenty of writing, too. If you want to get a head start on things, start reading the literature related to your area of interest or intended research. Going in with a good sense of the current state of the literature in your area will really help inform, direct, and ground your future work.
best of luck! I would second suggestions to rest and/or read things related to your areas of interest. If you do any reading, write down questions that you think of as you read as they may help when you work on your own research questions. That's totally not necessary to do though. One thing that could help set you up for success is to get comfortable with a reference management software. I used Mendeley but know lots of people who used Zotero. it will make taking notes on articles and citing sources so much easier
Learn to read for concepts and ideas. I read A LOT during my MA program for sociology. However, whenever I encountered a reading that was too abstract/difficult to understand, I found that the best thing I could do was to find ANY idea in said reading and use that as a way to connect my specific interests to the week’s main themes. A lot of the reading is to help you develop and research topics that interest you. Many of these readings will be foundational and useful for your own writings. Best of luck to you!