Graduate Study at the University of Illinois

Every major sociology department can and does make many of the same claims: a quality faculty, a range of stimulating courses, an ongoing program of research and publication, a set of other graduate students interested in and excited by the learning opportunities, financial support, and future career opportunities. So why should you take a special interest in the UIUC? We invite you, in these pages, to learn why.

The intellectual life of our program, while centered in our department, is enriched by visitors and research centers else where on campus. In our department, we have an ongoing informal seminar series in which invited speakers, our own faculty, and our advanced graduate students present their ongoing research and get feedback on the work they are developing. Elsewhere on campus, distinguished scholars in every discipline speak at the university on an almost daily basis. Our faculty and students can and do participate in lectures series, seminars, working paper series sponsored by the numerous research centers on campus. Some of these centers include the Unit for criticism and interpretive theory, Center for African Studies, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Center for Global Studies, Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center.

Our graduate program is relatively small and very individualized with small classes and one-on-one “independent study” courses. Graduate students even help shape their own comprehensive exam. Our faculty and graduate students are friendly and interesting.

Almost all of our faculty and graduate students are in residence and available to chat on a daily basis in the hallways and local coffeeshops. Our faculty and students come from a wide range of countries: New Zealand, Canada, India, People's Republic of China, Taiwan, South Africa, Russia, Turkey, Japan, and Korea, as well as many states in the U.S.

We provide financial support through graduate assistantships for most of our students for their first two years. More advanced students work as research assistants or instructors. Many of our students have obtained fellowships from the UIUC Graduate College, from one of the centers of research on campus (including those listed above), national funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, and national organizations such as the AAUW to help them complete their dissertation research.

We encourage you to visit before or after you apply to our program, and if you do we'll see that you meet both students and faculty. We'll also arrange for you to spend the night at someone's house or apartment.

Additional Information