sociology undergraduate
QC Sociology’s undergraduate program is one of the largest in the United States. It houses 32 full-time professors, including several nationally recognized, award-winning scholars in the fields of demography, immigration, religion, criminology, education, medical sociology, and economic sociology. We have an extensive adjunct faculty comprised of promising early-career academics and seasoned real world practitioners from a range of fields, including lawyers, business executives and senior civil servants.
Sociology is useful in careers in which a deep understanding of society, culture and social forces can help people excel professionally. Our graduates often pursue careers in education, law, social work, marketing.
about us
Queens College is located on a beautifully landscaped 77-acre campus just ten miles from Manhattan. Located in Powdermaker Hall 252, sociology is one of nine departments in the division of social sciences at Queens.
Ours is one of the strongest academic units in the College. It has been regarded as one of the finest undergraduate sociology departments in the country. Sociology is regularly mentioned in the Fiske Guide to Colleges as one of the strongest programs at Queens. Our course offerings are many and varied; our faculty has a strong commitment to both teaching and research. We maintain high academic standards for student performance. Accordingly, previous sociology majors have gone on to graduate and professional study at Pennsylvania, Columbia, Michigan, Harvard, UCLA, the Mount Sinai Medical School, and many other prestigious public and private schools.
DECLARING A SOCIOLOGY MAJOR
The curriculum includes 27 substantive courses, among them The Modern Urban Community, Ethnic and Racial Relations, Deviance and Social Pathology, The Family, Education, Crime and Juvenile Delinquency, Mass Communication and Popular Culture, Drugs, Women, Human Sexuality, Gambling, and Health and Illness. The major requires a minimum of 32 credits, including five required courses (i.e., General Introduction to Sociology, Statistics, Analysis, Theory, Research Methods and a writing-intensive senior seminar). In contrast to most sociology departments that require less, our major mandates taking one theory and three skills courses. One advantage is that our students receive extensive lab-based training in empirical research. Students use the computer labs to learn data management and analysis, and conduct their analysis under the close supervision of a faculty advisor.
To declare your major in sociology, visit the sociology department in Powdermaker 252.
Fill out and submit a “Major/Minor Declaration Form” required by the Registrar and a “Sociology Major/Minor Concentration Form” for approval by a Sociology Faculty Advisor.
declaring a sociology minor
The minor requires a minimum of 20 credits, including three required courses (i.e., General 4 Introduction to Sociology, Analysis, either Theory or Methods). But remember, you don’t have to major or minor in sociology to take sociology course.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Minor requires 20 credits in sociology, including:
(1) SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology (3 credits),
(2) SOC 205: Social Statistics (4 credits),
(3) SOC 212W: Sociolgical Analysis (4 credits),
(4) SOC ___: Elective in sociology
(5) SOC ___: Elective in sociology, and
(6) SOC 381W: Senior Seminar (3 credits).
To declare your minor in sociology, visit the sociology department in Powdermaker 252.
Fill out and submit a “Major/Minor Declaration Form” required by the Registrar and a “Sociology Major/Minor Concentration Form” for approval by a Sociology Faculty Advisor.
FAQs
Sociology is the study of social relations. It examines the ways in which things like social networks, social movements, organizations, institutions and society-at-large shapes our thoughts, behaviors, habits and life experiences. Those who study sociology are generally interested in the ways that society affects us and the ways we can affect society.
This topic has a great deal of overlap with many other academic disciplines. Like psychology, many of us are interested in the roots and consequences of people’s thoughts, perspectives and personalities. Like economists and business scholars, many sociologists are interested in how economies, markets and organizations operate. Like political science and legal scholarship, some of us are interested in the ways that society makes, enforces and abides by rules. Sociologists are also interested in topics like how people learn, how people achieve personal wellbeing, how culture is produced and consumed, and a range of other topics. The main tie that binds us is our interest in social forces — how our interaction with other people shapes the outcomes that we study.
As you might guess, sociology can be applied to many fields. One way to get a sense of what is currently popular in this discipline is to look at the American Sociological Association’s list of current sections. These “sections” are specialty associations that represent and organize sub-groups of practicing sociologists who share similar intellectual or practical interests.
QC Sociology houses a large faculty with varying interests, which gives students the opportunity to interact with professors who specialize in topics that might be of interest to you. To learn more about these particular lines of research, their application, and the career opportunities that they provide, contact a faculty member who specializes in that sub-field. You can find them by looking at our list of full-time and adjunct faculty.
Choosing a major can be a difficult decision. You might choose a sociology as a major because you are interested in it and feel that you have the capacity to do good work in your sociology classes. Alternatively, you might choose sociology because you feel that it provides a good path towards a particular career. In either case, you probably want to know which types of careers are typically pursued by sociology majors.
A national survey commissioned by the American Sociological Association found that sociology graduates most often find themselves employed in these fields, among others:
– Teachers and librarians
– Social services, counseling, psychology
– Sales and marketing
– Business administration and management
– Social science research
– Policing and corrections
QC Sociology graduates often find work in these fields. Of course, your career prospects are not limited to these fields. DePaul University’s Career Center offers a much more comprehensive list of careers that sociology graduates often pursue. A simple Google search can provide you with many pages that discuss this topic. There are a wide range of careers open to people who can understand, work with, and work across cultures.
USING CAREER ASPIRATIONS AS A BASIS FOR CHOOSING A MAJOR OR MINOR
While it can be a good idea to set your sights on particular careers, remember that things can change. Careers with abundant job opportunities today can have severely diminished job prospects later. You will also change as a person over the course of your studies. Also, young people often find that the day-to-day experience of particular careers is very different than what they imagined while they were in college. For some people, it can be a mistake to get too fixated on a particular job before they fully understood what that job involves and whether it will be what they imagine.
Perhaps the best reason to choose sociology as a major is that you feel that you can achieve some level of excellence in this subject matter. In some respects, it is better to deliver high-quality work in a topic that you like than struggle to stay engaged in a topic that you dislike because you think that it will help you get a particular job.
If you don’t enjoy the tasks involved in studying a particular topic, you will probably not like the day-to-day experience of a job that relies on skills that you hated studying. Moreover, if you don’t like the day-to-day experience of your work, it is hard to stay engaged on the job. Staying engaged with your work is important for developing as a professional once you leave school.
In my personal opinion, the best reason to pursue a degree in sociology is that you love the topic and feel that you have some aptitude for it.
CURRENT COURSES
To get a current official listing of the sociology department’s approved classes, please consult the most current version of the Undergraduate Bulletin.
The sociology department will offer some combination of these classes. To see which we are offering in this and upcoming semesters, please consult CUNYFirst.
If we have not scheduled a particular class that you would like to be available, please let us know!
INTERNSHIPS
Students can gain work experience and earn credits toward their degree by working in a public agency or private business. In the past, students have interned in such organizations as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, homeless shelters, substance abuse treatment programs, youth recreation centers, libraries, police departments, probation departments, crisis hotlines, law firms, and marketing firms. Most students find their own internship placements, but sociology faculty may be able to offer some assistance. Faculty members engage in their own research may also offer internship possibilities within the department.
The Internship Program is listed as Sociology 325 (Field Work) for 1 to 3 credits. There are no regular class meetings, but students must meet, at times to be arranged, with a faculty advisor several times throughout the semester. Course requirements include 90 hours of field work (6 to 8 hours per week for the duration of the semester) and academic assignments related to the field placement (which may include readings, book reviews, research projects, term papers, etc.). Final grades will be calculated on the basis of academic assignments and an evaluation submitted by the internship supervisor.
Registration for Sociology 325 is by permission only.