If I put this sentence in my statement of purpose, would I be more or less likely to be accepted?

[oceantheorem]

It's like stalking data leopards through a cellular jungle, with only a Western Blot to defend myself.

Comments

[either-or.livejournal.com]

i think it would be AWESOME.

(i came across your journal through the applyingtograd community. i applied to last year and now @ UCSF - PhD program in medical sociology, not a "real" science like yourself - and i noticed that you're interested in the school. anyway...)

it might make a good title for your SOP. most people don't name their SOPs, but i think they should.

[oceantheorem.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think I am going to use that sentence; I rearranged it a bit and worked it into one of my paragraphs. Hmmm... or maybe I will title it. I'll have to think about that.

Yeah, UCSF is my fist choice and I'm DYING to go there. It just seems... perfect. What do you think of it, now that you've been there for a little while? Also, I don't know if you've looked at my other posts, but I think I've pretty much decided that I'm moving to SF in June whether I get accepted to school or not--if I get rejected, I'll just take a year off and apply again next year, and maybe end up somewhere else... But I want to live in SF for a while.

[either-or.livejournal.com]

i am very impressed with UCSF in general. my program is a bit lacking, but i think that other grad students have it much better (especially those based at the new mission bay campus). funding is really great for those in the life and biomedical sciences, too.

SF is a neat place (i don't live there, personally) and i think it really benefits people right out of college to live there for a while on their own (my ex-boyfriend moved there for no real reason right after college and it absolutely changed his life in many good ways).

getting back to UCSF, it is very unique and that was one of the main reasons i chose to attend.

[oceantheorem.livejournal.com]

That's exactly why I want to move to San Francisco--I think there are a lot of ways that it could change my life, and I'd like to have new experiences. I love the city and have never been able to stay in it for very long, so I think living there for a while would be nice.

Thanks for the info on the school. Everything I've heard about it so far has been wonderful. The only problem I've encountered is the fact that I have virtually no chance of getting in, just based on the acceptance rate. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high.

What sorts of programs does UCSF have? I was under the impression that it was mostly medical and biochemical research, but you said you're in sociology. What does a medical sociologist do?

[either-or.livejournal.com]

most of the programs are professional programs (nursing, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry) and academic graduate programs in the health and biomedical sciences. there are also PhD programs in health policy (through the school of nursing), sociology (administered through the school of nursing, but the graduate division confers degrees) and medical anthropology (administered through the school of medicine) there is a program in the history of health sciences, but they are not accepting applications right now (not that you really care)...

in medical sociology we look at the social, economic, cultural, and behavioral factors that influence health. a good number of the people in my program are interested in things like aging, health policy, and such. personally, my interests are in minority health, women's health, and health behaviors. i'd like to study how the family (it's structure, communication within it, and so forth) influence the health behaviors (and subsequent health outcomes) of latina women and teens...especially as they pertain to sexual and reproductive health. of course, there are policy implications for this, my interests right now are on the social structures themselves. and the way we (myself being a member of my group of interest) talk about health, sexuality, and the importance of medical screenings and interventions.

wheeee!

anyway, despite the fact that it is a health sciences campus (personally, i'm in the department of social and behavioral sciences, which i believe has a place in that framework), there is a vast array of interests represented within the school. a number of the research centers @ UCSF are inter- and multi-disciplinary, integrating aspects of the medical, the basic scientific, and the social into their work.

i'm not happy with commuting to campus (i live in sunnyvale) or with my theory classes (just not my thing), but i am super proud to be going to UCSF. just like...if you go to the website and read "University of California, San Francisco. A public university dedicated to saving lives and improving health" (or something like that)...it's really inspiring. you know? i feel like i am a small part of a huge and important thing.

(on the downside, i'm glad to not be personally linked to things like questionable animal research practices or pharmaceutical company funding, but that's just me. a biomedical researcher usually has no choice but to deal with those aspects of a university. by the way, and i'm sure you know this, but students in any "real" science @ UCSF are really well-funded. my program...not well-funded at all. but you kids are really fortunate! so if you get in, you're set. of course, most other science programs fund their students, too, but the stipend @ UCSF is really awesome (again, not mine personally, but most academic graduate students are pretty much set)).

...ah, and as for what medical sociologists *do*...personally, i'd really like to teach in some capacity, or run some sort of health organization, but will probably end up *just* doing research for a while once i finish this thing, if only to pay off a few very large debts. some medical sociologists go into public health, work as professors, do international stuff...