rising_star

If you really want to get out of Pakistan, why not apply for jobs in other countries (China, India, Europe, etc.)? That would solve your immediate problem and give you the work experience needed to get into a more prestigious program in the future. I wouldn't go to Cornell just for the name because the name isn't that well-known even within the US (there are the Ivy names everyone recognizes then the four that everyone forgets about and Cornell is in the latter group).

After reading all of this, I really think that you need to do a trial lesson (or maybe even a trial month) at each school. It could be that you "click" more with the adult students at one place, which is important since you like the camaraderie. I've also seen that some places are more accepting/open to students who are out of shape than others (a gym in my current town is known for kicking people out for being too fat/inflexible/out of shape, as mindblowing as that is). Consequently, trying it out in person is always ideal IMO. My experience with a very different martial art (capoeira) has been that it's all about the instructor and the others in the class. Unless I click with them, I won't go regardless of how convenient the class times are. During my PhD, I found time to go to capoeira 3-4 times a week for classes ranging from 1.5-2 hours depending on the day of the week. You might also see if one of the styles/schools is affiliated with your university as it's possible they offer classes through the campus rec program that you could attend. If there are, the schedule might be better suited to your own and/or give you extra practice time if you're concerned about not having open gym/studio time to practice outside of class. Good luck! Sounds like this could be a lot of fun.

If you can find published review papers on your topic or aspects of it, that would be the ideal place to start IMO.

Why pay that kind of money for a second MA? It would make more sense to apply more broadly next year and ensure you have a good research fit at each PhD program.

Some schools may consider your application incomplete and thus not review it if you don't have everything in, including the transcripts, by the deadline.

Congrats @lyonessrampant and @TakeruK! If all the recent grads want to collaborate on a job market realities post, I'll be happy to pin it to the top of a forum! In fact, we may even want to create separate ones for STEM, humanities, and social sciences... But seriously, congrats. It's been fun to follow all of you throughout your PhD journeys. (As a side note, there are several other users who have stayed active throughout their PhD... and I often read even when I don't post. If you click on my username, you'll see how long I've been around. Embarrassingly long.)

Are you going to hit a point in the museum world where you'll need additional postgrad credentials to move up? If so, then you may want to think seriously about when and how you'll acquire the master's or PhD that your career goals will ultimately require.

As has already been said, length is going to vary a lot by discipline. My guess, @andrew99 is that you were looking at dissertations from a number of different disciplines, even though the same methods were used. (I can think of qualitative methods and social theory being found in dissertations in education, political science, sociology, anthropology, and a number of area and interdisciplinary studies fields.) Some of the differences you'll encounter in terms of length are field-specific or even advisor specific. My PhD advisor had a preference for dissertations in the 200 page range. In order to fit this, there's a bunch of research I did (and that my committee knew about) which didn't make it into the dissertation. So, it's not entirely fair to judge the "quality" of the work in my PhD based solely on that document since there's other work which never made it into that. I think there's also a HUGE difference between book and non-book fields. In many disciplines (English, political science, and history all come to mind), at least one published book with an academic press is basically a requirement to get tenure. In some cases, there are limits on how much of that material can be published previously then reprinted in the book. There are cases where the dissertation is seen as a publication. In that case, it makes a lot of sense not to publish everything in the dissertation and save material for the book. The result may be a shorter dissertation because, again, the committee knows that other work has been done and is forthcoming (they may have even reviewed it in draft form already). Last but not least, I just want to reiterate the point that length is not an indicator of quality. I think of it as similar to academic works. I've read some amazing original academic books that are only about 150 pages and some boring ones with minimal contributions that are 300 pages. Dissertations are similar. Perhaps if you really want to look for a correlation between length and quality, you'll do a study using a specific methodology to evaluate each dissertation. That could be interesting for the rest of us to look at, though I doubt it'll change how any PhD advisor or committee handles their students.

Yea, I have a bunch of friends who do research with undocumented immigrants so these kinds of concerns are quite relevant to them. After reading this, I'm probably switching who I use for cloud backup...

What are you asking for advice about exactly?

@Eigen, the concerns are about the way in which DropBox does (not) encrpyt files. https://www.cloudwards.net/spideroak-vs-dropbox-is-it-time-to-switch-for-better-security/ See also: https://www.cloudwards.net/top-10-secure-dropbox-alternatives/

Lots of alternatives: Box, SugarSync, SpiderOak, Google Drive. Those are the first four that came to mind for me.

Is there any one else who could reasonably become your new advisor? I'm sort of wondering why you let this go on for as long as it has...

There are many ways to work on economic policy without a degree in economics. Is there a particular reason why you want to study economics rather than policy itself?

Personally, I'd read a bunch of books about the ocean (so things by Carl Safina and Paul Greenberg) and the environment (Rachel Carson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dorceta Taylor, Sylvia Hood Washington, Terry Tempest Williams, Linda Hogan). And maybe about the history of race in America (so Carol Anderson's White Rage, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, etc.). But that's just because it's what I'm interested in but never have time to read. Also, I'd probably browse recent ethnographies because I like reading those but never have time to really immerse myself in them unless they're related to my research. YMMV obviously.

I'll be honest. I didn't do any summer reading between my MA and PhD, instead focusing on wrapping up my thesis and moving (or preparing to move). It was a nice break before immersing myself into the PhD program.

Given your interests, you may want to look into the programs at Bowling Green (though that might be cultural studies and not anthro) and Michigan State too. I think both offer MA students funding, though honestly this isn't something I've looked into in a while.

Honestly, if you did want people to help you, you should at a minimum say more about what you're interested in and what you want to be studying... If it's archaeology, that'll be a different set of options than someone interested in cultural or physical anthropology. The ones I've seen mentioned the most around here (without considering the area of study) include Georgia State, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, UGA, University of Florida, Montana, and Portland State... You may also want to check out this thread:

@striped, you're not the first person to ask about funded MA programs in anthropology... Depending on your research interests, you may be able to get funding from the FLAS program to pursue a MA in either anthropology or area studies. You haven't said what you're interested in, so it comes across as you wanting people to do the legwork of going through dozens of anthro programs for you.

@striped, getting into a funded MA program would require you to take another year off, as you'd apply this fall to start in fall 2018. You've already said you don't want to do this so I'm not really sure what you want advice about at this point...

It's entirely possible that the "department stipend" is another term for the tuition waiver you're receiving...

I would ask the DGS if you can be added to the grad student listserve for the department and then send an email there about looking for housing. Current students will likely have a good sense of what's affordable, what's open, etc.

If you can't really afford it, then don't do it. Think long-term about what it will mean to pay that debt off and what future options won't be open to you if you do MAPSS. Were I in your shoes, I would take a year off, take a graduate course or two at a local university in the evening, and work on strengthening my application. I might try to present at a conference if there's a local one. Or, if not, try to attend a national conference that's not too far away. Next year, apply to a mix of funded MA and PhD programs, keeping in mind that you could get funding through an assistantship from something outside the specific department. Either way, going into a program you know you can't afford with no guarantees at the end is a risky proposition.

Hmmm... the MA funding thing means not to pay, it doesn't mean you have to get a position from the department. There are positions in Student Affairs, Residential Life, language departments, etc., which will provide a stipend and tuition waiver. If you want to pursue a MA, you really should think broadly about the possible ways to get funding. If you're able to afford MAPSS, then do it. Are you planning to take a year off after MAPSS so you can get letters of rec from the program? If not, it's value may be limited.

Buffalo is a really inexpensive city, just fyi. A quick cost of living calculator for Hartford vs. Buffalo shows that things in Buffalo are about 25% less than they are in Hartford.