Sonia (sgiebel@stanford.edu) is a doctoral candidate in Sociology of Education and Higher Education at Stanford University. She is interested in how different dimensions of identity, including race and gender, are understood and deployed during key academic transitions, especially the undergraduate admissions process. She is a member of the Student Narratives Lab, where she is currently investigating how gender informs academic ambitions, how undergraduate applicants collectively understand merit, and the relationship between application essays, SAT scores, and household income. Her research has been featured in The Economist and the Wall Street Journal Opinion, among other outlets. She is additionally at work on multiple projects seeking to better understand the experiences of multiracial students in college. Sonia's work has been supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, and the Fulbright Program. Prior to Stanford, Sonia worked in undergraduate admissions, focusing on access and diversity initiatives and international recruitment. She holds a BA in English, with minors in Sociology and Education, from Haverford College.
