rising_star

This is going to sound harsh but hear me out. If this is your attitude toward your undergraduate anthropology courses, you're not going to like grad school in anthropology, especially at a top program. If you aren't interested in modern, postmodern, postcolonial, and poststructuralist approaches, then you need to stick to bioanth at best, or no anth at all more realistically since the intro courses will force you to engage with that stuff. Calling your professors crackpots makes you seem completely unprofessional and unprepared for graduate school. In fact, that sounds like something a pissed off, petulant sophomore in college might say, not someone applying to do graduate work at some of the best anthropology graduate programs in the country. And, if you aren't prepared to get back work with tons of red on it, then you aren't prepared to do a PhD. I hope you figure that out before you go to grad school, rather than once you're there.

Ummm, not unless your interest is in physical geography. If you're interested in human geography, then think about taking courses in anthropology, sociology, history, political science, and any sort of theoretical or methods course (so statistics, GIS, literary theory, historiography, etc.).

Having two academic letters is generally preferred. Do the scientists at the biotech company have PhDs? If so, and if they can attest to your research experience, then you should be fine.

I mean, it's a better idea but it's still not great. You still don't have a thesis statement. The links from these writing centers may help you: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/ http://www.duluth.umn.edu/~hrallis/guides/researching/litreview.html http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html There's lots more you can find through a simple web search.

You're seriously sweating the difference between a 3.8 and a 4.0 (so between A and A-)? Wow, you need more stuff to do! It seriously is not a big deal. I rarely give As to undergraduates so, to me, a 3.8 is about as good as it can get.

Three things come to mind. 1) Definitely consult with your current faculty about whether you should pursue this. You're in the coursework stage so returning to a previous project may take away from time you could be spending either on your courses or on your current/future research. 2) There's no disadvantage to publishing outside your current research project. It shows breadth of research, which may appeal to search committees later on. 3) Book chapters are typically deemed less valuable than journal articles because the peer review process is less rigorous, in general. This is just something you should keep in mind as you decide about this. The advice I was given early in grad school was not to publish anything in a book chapter that you want to be read widely or cited because people tend to prefer the peer-reviewed literature (aka, journal articles). If it's something you were considering sending to a journal, then you should do that instead.

Here's my advice: 1) Trust no one. 2) Don't send them more than they ask for. Think of it this way. If you send 5 recommendations and they only choose three to read, can you guarantee that each of those three will be equally strong (and better than or as strong as the two they don't read)? If not, then you shouldn't send so many recommendations.

1) How do you not have an advisor if you're at the point of taking comprehensive exams? This boggles my mind. 2) No one ultimately cares whether you get a high pass or a low pass. It's not going to be on your transcript in all likelihood. 3) If you're so worried about saving face, then why not wait a semester so you have time to study and prepare? 4) Have you gotten a chance to look at sample questions? Have you done practice exam questions yet?

How far is too far is really person-dependent. I hate driving so driving an hour each way would make me miserable. By comparison, my brother does that every day and doesn't mind it. Whether or not there will be traffic depends on a lot of things. Typically, if you're going out of a major city to a smaller area in the morning, then there will be less traffic.

Your plan is to write a very high school / 1st year of undergrad style literature review. A good literature review tells a story about the literature. It doesn't go into the details of each study reviewed.

@AshDarling, if you know you need to narrow down your interests, why are you so set on applying now? If your interests are vague and you don't have the relevant language preparation, it's highly unlikely that you'll get a funded slot in a PhD program. So, in that sense, the year might be "wasted" anyway. Why not wait until you can put forward a strong, competitive application?

You should do a few things, at least in my opinion. 1) Get an appointment to see a therapist/counselor ASAP. It's important to see if your anxiety is a medical issue which can be treated with medication. It's also always a good thing to get an outside perspective on everything that's happening and to have someone which can serve as a voice of reason or reality check. 2) Take a day to not work and do something for yourself. Read a novel, do some yoga, get a massage, go for a hike in the woods, etc. How do you feel after doing this? A leave of absence isn't a terrible idea but it's also something you really shouldn't do in the middle of the semester. A lot of people feel burnt out in the first year so it's really a matter of getting a handle on your feelings about the field, the department, graduate school, TAing, etc. That's why I recommend talking to a therapist.

The best thing to do, imo, to get more comfortable with public speaking is to practice, practice, practice. Practice so much that you can do it with your eyes closed while still making it seem like you're not over-rehearsed (yea, it's a tough balance to strike). Try speaking more in class to get more comfortable with public speaking in general. Good luck!

I teach a couple of writing-intensive courses and I do have a problem with students hiring someone to proofread. Part of what I'm trying to teach them is how to revise and edit their own work so, hiring someone to do that defeats the point. They're welcome to get help doing it themselves by going to the Writing Center, coming to my office hours, or exchanging drafts with a classmate but, they definitely cannot just hire out that work to someone else. If they do, they fail the assignment and, potentially, the course.

I would tell your PI in person, not via email. It's common courtesy.

The other option is a GradPLUS loan but the terms are less favorable than those of a Stafford loan. There used to be Perkins loans but Congress recently eliminated the program. As an undergrad, you probably got offered subsidized Stafford loans. Congress eliminated those for graduate students a few years ago.

Why would you mention that you applied years ago? How does saying that enhance your application or strengthen your SOP? I wouldn't mention it.

I mean, you'd be able to take out unsubsidized Stafford loans pretty easily, but that's because almost everyone can unless you've had a felony conviction or didn't register for the draft. That said, the interest rate on Stafford loans is pretty high right now in comparison to other loan options. But, private student loans may want a co-signer or for you to offer some sort of property as collateral...

Longer isn't necessarily better since they may not read the whole thing if it's really long. I try to keep mine to a page or maybe 1 1/4 pages in length.

Honestly, the adcom isn't reading that part of the application very carefully, if at all. They're looking at your CV, transcripts, SOP, and LORs (not necessarily in that order).

Eigen, I read the writing a draft as writing a draft of one's research proposal, so there might not be any data yet. But that then sounds like it should be more like what GeoDUDE! said, in that there should be lots of references to the relevant, related literature. tachik, I think fuzzy and TakeruK are right on track here. If you're using someone's data tool, you have to cite that. You also want to explain why it's useful for what you want to do and how your ideas are different from what's already been done. At the same time, your ideas need to be clearly grounded in the extant scientific literature, which means citing the ideas, findings, and tools you are building on. For reference, my research methods students have to have at least 15 peer-reviewed references in the introduction to their research papers (based on an experiment we do). You, as a graduate student, should have far more.

I doubt anyone will remember that you applied several years ago. The bar wouldn't be any higher than it would be for any other applicant at this point.

Here's a recent related post.

What stage of the PhD are you talking about?

I didn't go into psychology, so I don't know how helpful that would be for you. I was just trying to let you know that it is possible to switch fields for grad school, provided you can convince others of the reasons for the shift.