• To be eligible for funding: January 15
• Last day to apply for fall admission: March 1

  If at all possible, applications should be submitted online and any supporting materials should either be uploaded electronically or be sent directly to:

  Graduate School
  The University of Akron
  Polsky Building, Room 469
  Akron, OH 44325-2101

  If you are unable to apply electronically, please send an e-mail request, which includes your name and current mailing address, to our Administrative Assistant at:

  Graduate Administrative Assistant
  Department of Sociology
  The University of Akron
  Olin Hall 247
  Akron, OH 44325-1905

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REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICATION

1. Completed online application (with box marked if requesting financial assistance from the dept)
2. $30 fee
3. GRE General Test scores
4. Three letters of recommendation (form)
5. Writing sample and statement of purpose (info)

Submit an example of previously written work related to your sociological interests. This may be a course paper, research report, or other document. For those wishing to enter the Ph.D. program, please submit a copy of your thesis proposal or thesis.
We pay careful attention to the example of your writing you submit. We look for organization, use of evidence, logic of argument, and quality of analysis, to say nothing of English usage and paragraph structure. We rely on you to select a writing sample that shows you at your best. Your writing sample should be uploaded and submitted online rather than sent as a paper copy.

The Graduate School guidelines included in the online application process describe the two-page statement as providing the admissions committee with useful information not included in your application or academic records. It asks you to include information about your academic preparation and goals, indicating how graduate work fits into these goals, and the reasons for selecting this field of study.

More specifically, we would like you to include information about the kinds of sociological topics and approaches that interest you, why you want to be a sociologist, and why you are interested in our department.  Other helpful information might be whether there are particular faculty or program areas of special interest to you, whether you see your research interests as well-defined or fairly open-ended at this point, and based on your knowledge and thinking now, what research problem(s) you would hope to pursue during your time in our program.

Your statement of purpose should also be uploaded and submitted online rather than sent as a paper copy.

Once the application materials are complete, the packet is sent to the department for evaluation.  The graduate admissions committee reviews the applicants, makes a decision and the packet is returned to the graduate school.  You will receive notification from the graduate school about the decision.  The progress of your application can be monitored online.  You will also receive a letter from the department’s Director of Graduate Studies.  If you have been selected to receive an assistantship, the letter from the department will include an assistantship contract and other employment forms.  If not initially chosen for financial assistance, you will be placed on a waiting list.