Shaiya

Funding offered by the program? Wow, I'm surprised because I was under the impression that master's usually serve as cash cows for universities. Are you aware of any programs that offer funding for sociocultural anthropology master's?

I'm leaning towards a master's as well although I'll apply to a couple of PhD programs too. The factor I'm concerned about is the fact that there is no way I can afford a master's. The fees are double or more for international students. There's a couple of external scholarships I know about but generally, scholarships are few and hence competitive. Even if I get into a master's, without funding I can't attend grad school. Do you mind sharing your SOP with me?

Hey sorry, I thought I posted a reply but apparently I didn't. Here's the link to it: http://ls.berkeley.edu/files/statement_of_purpose.pdf This is for a history school, though. I can see why she got in, it's very well thought out. I still haven't written anything down, I'm currently obsessing about my GRE (next month).

I have these moments of internal crisis and I think maybe I should forget a PhD and go for a master's instead. I'm having one of those moments right now. I found a sample Berkeley SOP that was very concrete with the specific research project the applicant wanted to pursue. While I know what areas I want to concentrate in, I don't have a concrete project in mind.

I'm actually feeling a little overwhelmed too just thinking about the SOPs I'll have to write! When it actually comes to it, I think I might just apply to fewer programs. However, I'm simultaneously worried about not getting into my chosen schools. My regional specialization is South Asia and my undergraduate professor recommended going into a school that has at least one professor in my regional specialization. It's usually the bigger, more prestigious (hence, more competitive) schools that have them. I'm concerned about being rejected because my academic profile is not exceptional. I'll have to write an exceptional SOP to make up for it. Do you have any sample SOP that you consider well-written? I would love to see it. I'm mainly interested in how people talk about their research interests - some people say they include anthropological theory or relate their work to works of other anthropologists in their SOPs therefore, I'm wondering if (and if so, how) I should go about that route. Ah, well you've been quite helpful so, thanks! That's good to know, I've usually heard that they are too busy to reply to e-mails. What branch of anthropology are you pursuing? Maybe we can help each other out with our SOPs, if you're down for that. I know I'd like to get different people to read mine before I send it.

Thank you for your detailed post! It really helped clear the issues out in my head. I feel a little more prepared on how to write my SOP. And 50% acceptance is really good! I'm prepared for some rejections, but I would like to have a little bit of wiggle room when it comes to finally selecting where I'm going to spend at least the next 5 years of my life. I read some posts about people getting rejected from everywhere and panicked. I don't think I could survive that (figuratively speaking); kudos to those who do! I love doing research and definitely want to pursue it as my career, so grad school isn't a decision I'm making lightly. I'll be sure to highlight that in my SOP. And I'll start contacting professors, as soon as I condense my 30-something school list into something smaller. Should I contact multiple professors per school or my top advisor choice from each school? (I'm planning to apply to 8-10 schools) And a bit off topic, but do you have any pointers on how to write the Personal (Diversity?) Statement that is suited for a PhD candidate? Thanks again for your help!

This is a somewhat long post but please bear with me. I need guidance. I'm new here but I've spent the last two hours scouring this forum and now I feel a little stupid for not realizing how near impossible it is to get into grad school, especially PhD. A couple of people around me who have applied of PhDs have generally gotten into great programs and I guess that gave me a false sense of security. But that's all gone now and replaced with pessimism So basically, I'm applying for a PhD in social/cultural anthropology in the US. I graduated in May with a BSc in Sociology and Anthropology and recently finished a fruitful month long RAship with a tenured professor from SUNY, Buffalo. I've conducted a good amount of fieldwork and written several research papers for my courses (easily 6-8 research projects/papers, if not more). But I've never published or attended conferences or presented a paper anywhere. Getting ANY form of research experience is so hard in my country, because anthropology is still very new here and research isn't valued (it's all about going corporate). My CGPA is 3.43, major GPA 3.7. The fact that I have nothing published concerns me. I feel like I have more to prove as an international student. Second. My research interests are diverse and I can't seem to pin down what I want to put down in my SOP. For sure, gender and sexuality is one and the interplay of religion and culture, but my undergraduate research has been quite diverse (globalization, fundamentalism, food). For this reason, I don't know how concrete I can make my SOP. I do definitely see myself pursuing gender and religion but because I've done a lot of different things, I think I lack the depth to tackle these topics in my SOP. I mean, people say they cite theories and authors and stuff when talking about future research. I don't know if it's that clear in my head I suppose my questions are: 1. As a student with no published research nor a lot of non-coursework research experience (with little to no chance of getting it in the future), how can I still present myself well? I can possibly volunteer in an NGO but I live in a small city and NGOs here are few, meaning that they don't match with my research interest. 2. How to streamline my haphazard research interests at the moment and make it come out on the SOP as clear, convincing and well-thought out? Thank you, for whoever survived reading the muddle that my brain feels like right now.