Applicant criteria
- No specific age required
- Both
Opportunity criteria
The Department of Sociology at Yale University is offering a 6 years Ph.D. program in sociology.
The doctoral program in sociology prepares students for careers in research and teaching. While most of the graduates teach in colleges and universities, others hold research appointments in government agencies, medical and mental health centers, consulting firms, or other non-profit or research settings.
Graduate student work is oriented to one or more of the following departmental clusters:
- Comparative and Historical Sociology;
- Culture/Knowledge;
- Economic Sociology and Organizations;
- Family/Gender/Sexuality;
- Global, Regional and Transnational Sociology;
- Health, Medicine, and Biosocial Interactions;
- Law and Criminology;
- Methods;
- Political Sociology and Social Movements;
- Race and Ethnicity;
- Religion;
- Social Networks;
- Social Stratification;
- Theory.
Graduate students in the department often affiliate with one or more workshops, programs, and centers during their time in the department. This can be a ‘home within a home’ and can offer a center of gravity for the learning and academic community.
Some of the available centers and workshops include:
- Center for Cultural Sociology (CCS);
- Center for Empirical Research on Stratification and Inequality (CERSI);
- Center for Historical Enquiry and the Social Sciences (CHESS);
- Comparative Research Workshop (CRW);
- Human Nature Lab (HNL);
- MacMillan Center Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Society;
- The Policy Lab;
- Urban Ethnography Project (UEP);
- Yale Institute for Network Science (YINS).
Admission Requirements
- Between six and ten new students are admitted each year. Preference is given to applicants who intend to complete the Ph.D. degree.
- Typically, general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are required;
- Also, two writing samples are required. Writing samples demonstrate the student’s academic interests and their capacity for thinking sociologically. These are used to evaluate the ability and intellectual fit with the strengths of the department. Generally, two items of around 6000 words each use sociological theory and methods to make an argument or explain something about the social world. Samples are often coursework papers that received positive feedback from faculty; cut back versions of a lengthy senior essay or MA/MSc thesis; sometimes also papers or reports you have sent off for publication or even that have been published.
- Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores are required for international students whose native tongue is not English. For further information visit the Office of Graduate Admissions website.
- Although an undergraduate concentration in sociology is not a prerequisite, students applying for admission are advised to have taken undergraduate courses in the social sciences and statistics.
Course Structure
The curriculum is intended both to acquaint students with the discipline of sociology and provide training in fields of special interest.
Of the twelve required courses, four must be drawn from core courses in sociological theory, statistics, and research methods.
Students are given ample opportunity to specialize but the Faculty believes that specialization must be preceded by a thorough grounding in a wide range of classical and contemporary theories and proficiency in social statistics and a variety of research methods. The curriculum permits — and Faculty encourage — study in related disciplines.
Graduate courses offered in Sociology include both required classes and electives. The latter can change from year to year in a way that is responsive to shifts in faculty research and teaching interests.
Institutional Resources
The Department encourages students to pursue work in any instructional unit of the University which furnishes additional dimensions to sociological analysis. Also, encourage students to attend seminars and apply for research and training grants outside of the Department. A partial list of some of the many such opportunities within Yale include:
- The Institute for Social and Policy Studies
- The MacMillan Center (formerly YCIAS)
- The Yale Law School
- The Yale School of Management
- The Yale School Public Health
Tuition Fees and Financial Support
All accepted students are fully funded for five years. In the first four years they receive full tuition and a living stipend and in the fifth or sixth-year students are eligible for the dissertation write-up fellowship. In the third and fourth years, students are required to serve as teaching fellows to receive their stipend. In 2021-22, the 12-month stipend is $33,600.
Students who do fieldwork outside of New Haven are encouraged to apply to external and Yale-based research funds. Some recommended institutions are listed here: