University of Chicago Sociology Ph.D.

The University of Chicago Department of Sociology is among the great sociology departments of the world. Founded in 1892 as the first sociology department in the United States, Chicago has a proud tradition of creative and foundational work. 

Chicago graduates and faculty have shaped sociological subfields from stratification and demography to deviance and urban studies. They have originated methodologies from path analysis and log-linear modeling to urban ethnography. Diverse in interests, methodologies, theories, and politics, faculty and students at Chicago are unified in their intensity of intellectual commitment, in their attempt to combine rigorous inquiry with mutual intellectual respect, and in their aspiration to continuously reimagine sociology as a framework for social inquiry.

In an academic division with some of the best social science departments in this country, Sociology encourages cross-departmental course registrations, cross-departmental topical workshops, and M.A. and Ph.D. committees that cross traditional divisional boundaries. To that end, prospective students considering work at Chicago should also examine the web pages of other departments and schools within the University – e.g., Political Science, Economics, Anthropology, Public Policy, the Graduate School of Business, and Social Service Administration.

Applications for graduate study in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago are due on December 1st each year. All documents required for your file should arrive by that date.

For more information, please visit the University of Chicago Divison of the Social Sciences website.