bellabean

@cbsag123, I would be loath to say that Michigan is not as prestigious as the other schools; they consistently rank in the top ten for most concentrations...
Frankly, prestige for admissions is null if you don't have the grades, writing skills, experience, and letters of recommendation. Stop concerning yourself with "brand name" schools, and focus on what you have to offer a graduate program and what you want to achieve with a graduate degree.

Hey guys! I've finally been accepted to a doctoral program!
 
CUNY accepted me this morning. Now I have some serious decisions to make.

After 4 rejections I was contemplating alternative careers, then today I find out I'm accepted to UNC Chapel Hill and waitlisted at Tulane!

I'm really sorry to hear that Emma. Know that you still have our support. I send you many hugs and good vibes.

I've been making a pro & con list for my top two schools, it's really helpful, I've also been thinking of 'what ifs' to try and stretch my understanding of my motivations and get a clearer picture of where my instincts are coming from - like:
 
"What if I didn't have to worry about prestige?"
"What if my SO wasn't a consideration?"
"What if the funding was exactly the same?"
"What if the schools switched places, would that change things?"
"What if they were both in the same city?"
"What if I was 90, on my deathbead and looking back, what would I think?"
"What if my POI left, got fired, retired, moved away, passed away, how would the department look to me?"

Just got a totally unexpected letter by email from University of British Columbia.
 
"I am pleased to inform you that we are recommending your admission into the PhD programme in Anthropology..."
 
and then it gets even better:
 
"Due to your outstanding academic record, you have been selected as a recipient of UBC's premier Four Year Doctoral Fellowship...."
 
Funding includes all tuition & fees and living expenses, and any TA money is on top of that. I'm floored.

I always take offense to being called a part of the "entitled" and "lazy" generations. I have worked so hard to get to where I am today. I am self-motivated and give everything academic related, 100%. I'm not trying to sound pretentious, but I don't take lightly to being lumped into that category...

Wow DigDeep, thank you! I'm not good making charts, so thank you for that. We make a good team

Here are some preliminary results, I added my MA to make N=25.
 
I realize I left stuff out, but I don't have too much time to waste on this! ha! Perhaps I can do more later.
 
Enjoy! 
 
N =25 Participants
19 (76%) Participants entered PhD Program 6 (24%) Participants entered MA Program Field of Study
9 (36%) Participants applied to Cultural Anthropology  3 (12%) Participants applied to Linguistic Anthropology 11 (44%) Participants applied to Archaeology 1 (4%) Participant applied to Biological Anthropology 1 (4%)  Participant applied to Medical Anthropology  
 
Funding:
Average funding package = $16,610 Maximum award package = $36,900 Minimum award package = $0 19 (76%) students had tuition waived 6 (24%) students did not receive tuition remission   

 
 
Funding Continued:
Average amount of years funded = 3.5 Maximum years funded = 7 Minimum years funded = 0
 
Health Insurance:
10 (40%) of participants received full coverage 6 (24%) of participants received no coverage 5 (20%) of participants unknown 4 (16%) of participants received partial coverage

This is really great Sarab! Thank you so much for setting up the survey and compiling all the answers, I'm sure it'll be useful not only to us, but also to students in future years!  

What's everyone's advice on contacting a school if your partner got in and you're waiting for word? Thinking something like: I'm really excited to work with you and the school remains my top choice. In addition I'm excited about moving there b/c my partner was admitted to this other program there.
 
Good, helpful, harmful, neutral?

Just got off the phone with one of my POI. Things are suddenly looking up!

What an awesome wake up!!! Congratulations!!
 
I woke up this morning all like, "Good morning world, any news for me?"  And when she said no (she being Siri, not my anthropomorphized world) I felt the distinct inclination to spike my coffee. 
 
Sarcasm. but only just. 

Congrats to all who have been accepted!

I am happy to report that I have decided to accept an offer for the MA program in social anth at Simon Fraser University. They offered a very generous funding package which will also allow for me to gain TA experience. Now I'm just waiting on the SSHRC decision - fingers crossed!

Just found out that I was awarded a Social and Behavioral Sciences fellowship at OSU! Very excited!

Boy, am I happy to see this thread - it means major admissions decisions are FINALLY happening! I've been accepted to two programs, rejected from two, and haven't heard from the last three (though I imagine Chicago is a rejection, I just haven't received it yet). The wrench in my machinery is that I am trying to coordinate my decision making with that of my SO, who is still waiting on medical school decisions. I'm heading up to Brown this week to check out the campus and really, the only school I would have considered over it was Harvard but alas...
 
My SO is currently wait-listed at Brown, but I think he has a fairly high chance of getting in off of the wait-list given what we know about the process there. The only real downside is that we will continue to be across the country from all of our friends and family in the Pacific Northwest for the foreseeable future. A U. of Washington medical school acceptance could be a game changer for him (he has yet to hear back), but staying in the same place is a huge priority for us and I just don't see myself choosing an unfunded MA program over a fully funded PhD program from such an amazing school. 

Hi all... I've been following this forum and posting here & there, but not a reg. I applied to a mix of anthro & history programs, as I'm majoring in both as an undergrad and couldn't decide. I was hoping that this process would choose for me, and indeed it has.

I was admitted to 2 PhD programs: SUNY Albany (archaeology) & UC Riverside (Latin American history). I've decided to go with UCR because I'm fully funded for 5 years and I'll still be close to my family, with a minimal moving expense. I'm a parent so this is important for me.

I'm still waiting for my official rejections from Michigan & Chicago, and I've already turned down Albany because there was no funding. Sucks, cuz I was really excited about Albany's program. Oh well, here's to history :-)

I hope you are accepted off the waitlist.

I was wait listed at Rutgers!    I am so excited to have gotten an answer other than "NO!"  There is hope for this cycle, though told not to expect anything for a few weeks, but to keep an eye out.  I tried to get a little more info re: wait list in general and what I can do to improve my chances (there was some talk of securing my own funding, so I'll be getting a metal detector and hitting the beach I guess) and I will let you know if I hear anything else useful. 

ETA: Rutgers maintains a ranked wait list of 5, which I'm not on. The next batch is unranked, and that is unfortunately where I am, though a POI did tell me they do regularly admit beyond the ranked list.  They also only admit students that are fully funded, so there goes my digging for change plan.  Hope that helps!
 
 
 
You are totally right, and I feel exactly the same way about Yale.  UGH!
 
 
We all got such different responses!  I mean, my POI told me she couldn't say anything and they were still deliberating.  In my dreams, I guess. 

Everyone has different priorities. The fact is that some people going into grad school don't have any money. For some people, including myself, funding is the only way they can attend graduate school at all. In my situation, I would not choose between funding and fit. It is both or it is nothing.

Of course everyone wants to give themselves the best possible chance of success after graduate school, and for many people funding is a huge part of that because it enables you to focus on school, not have to get an outside job, and not have to go into more debt that you will have to repay later. But no matter how amazing the fit is or how prestigious the department, there is never any guarantee that you will get an amazing, highly paid job afterward. So you really have to think about how important fit AND funding are.

If you have the financial ability to go to your dream program without any guaranteed funding, go for it. But everyone has different life circumstances so this questions of funding vs. fit completely depends on the individual.

You will hopefully be applying for external funding for research no matter what kind of funding package you're offered, so I don't think that receiving funding is in any way related to an inability to learn to apply for outside funds. Especially if you have received a fellowship - which you do have to apply for separately most of the time.

Anthrogeek, you are a bully. I don't know why you feel the need to take cheap shots at people you don't know anything about to try and make a point. You know nothing about me, my research or my self confidence. None of which is relevant to this conversation.
 
I wouldn't got to grad school without some type of funding offer. That is my decision and my opinion.

Just got an acceptance e-mail for UMass-Boston, Historical Archaeology MA. My jaw dropped when I saw the funding package--definitely did not expect to see exceptional or even decent funding for an MA program. If I end up having to go the MA route, I will definitely be going there.
 
Stunned.

Sarab I secretly hope you end up in San Diego so we can be there together. Go for the good weather!!!

Thanks, Forsaken! I'm really happy with how this season has played out thus far. Congratulations to you on your acceptances, as well! as a UW alum, I'm biased, but they have amazing resources for research 

Yeah, I'm thinking it must be the anthro department... Like Forsaken in LA, I tried contacting them several times (e-mail and phone), both in December and January, and received no response. Since I provided my unofficial transcripts via PDF, my application has been marked for review, so I hadn't been terribly concerned about the "official receipt" status. But with my impending rejection on the horizon, I feel the least they could've done was update my application. I put a lot of time and money--of which I have very little--into their application and feel a little disrespected by their inability to update my page or even respond.
 
But honestly it's okay! I'm trying to not dwell on how much I spent applying; I am trying to accept the total costs as a necessary step to get to where I want to be.