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bioarch_fan

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  1. bioarch_fan
    Thanks for your response. From what I can tell I'm doing well in my classes and I'm actually ahead of most people that are in their second year. My program has the requirement to have a completed and approved thesis proposal by the end of your second year. I have already submitted my abstract and outline to my chair and co-chair and they have given me the go ahead and start writing the proposal. So I don't think it's that they are kicking me out of the program. Plus my advisor keeps asking which classes I'm taking in the fall. I think they pulled my funding to give to two new students next year. So that might be my way to fight the decision. They accepted a total of 4 new students for my discipline when they knew that they couldn't fund everyone completely. I'll go to the meeting on Thursday next week and see what they have to say. The DGS asked me not to seek information from any professors until that meeting, but I'm still really wanting to ask my advisor what happened because I'm taking 2 of her classes this semester. So as of right now it's hard to be in her class and not feel cold towards her and I think she can feel it too. But thank you again for your response! It's nice to hear from other people about what I can do and how to handle this type of situation. That sucks!!! I'd be furious about that too. That's kind of my situation right now, but mine's not that the funding was cut by the university, but they just pulled my funding to give to a new student next year. I'm going to fight it for sure though.
  2. bioarch_fan
    I have a friend who got into the program this season to work with Michelle Hamilton.
  3. bioarch_fan
    I almost applied to George Mason for bioarch but decided against it because funding isn't as easy to get there. Ole Miss might be easier to secure funding. Ole Miss is also about an hour and a half from where I currently am for grad school. I don't know much about it's anth department but the university is one of my school's main rivals. But I would say talk to both departments and figure out who can fund the best. Also, it's important to think about where George Mason is. Fairfax is not a cheap place to live. I used to live about 45 minutes away and it's still not even cheap the further away from DC you get. That should be another thing to think about when thinking about schools. A 1 bedroom basement apartment in Fairfax runs from $800-1200. It's rare to find any cheaper than that.
  4. bioarch_fan
    Oh, also the department head told one of his students (my friend who told me that I should double think soliciting emails of support from students) that hers would be a 2-year assistantship also. And she actually was renewed for her 2nd year, as was another of my friends.
  5. bioarch_fan
    Our conversation about the funding was over the phone when we talked the first time because she told me that she didn't like to accept students who she couldn't fund for the two years. I do have an email from the grad student that I replaced that says it is for two years though. And yes, every other student in my subfield who has been a TA has been renewed for their second year. I haven't talked to the senior TA about this yet since I just found out. But I talked to her last week and she said that every TA as far back as she knows has been renewed for 2 years.
  6. bioarch_fan
    I need some help here. I learned today that my assistantship will not be renewed next year. When I initially accepted my program's offer, I accepted it with the understanding that this will come with a 2-year fully funded assistantship, obviously based upon satisfactory job performance. My acceptance letter only stated that it was 1-year, but my POI and another grad student that I was replacing said that it was a 2-year assistantship because my POI doesn't accept students that they couldn't fund for 2 years. So, I accepted my program with the idea that I would be funded for these 2 years. Is there anything that I can do to appeal this? I have a meeting with the grad director, department head, and the two professors I work under next week to discuss why I wasn't renewed. I have students who said that they really enjoyed the lab last semester, learned a lot, and was sad that the semester was ending already. I've thought about soliciting letters of support from my past students, but was told by a friend (also a first year) in my department that it might not be a good idea. So I wanted everyone else's opinions on what else I should do.
  7. bioarch_fan
    It's very rare to find a funded MA anywhere in the States. I'm in one of the few programs that actually funds most of their MA students. One of our professors actually left last year and went to Texas State, so he might have been able to bring some of his grants with him (though I've heard that it's very hard to take any type of funding with you to another university unless previously negotiated). So yes, talk to all of your POIs now and ask them about funding. They'll tell you upfront if you could possibly be funded in their program. If not, then you can also ask around at other departments that take on GAs. Our ITS takes on GAs each year and 2 of our MA students, both of who are in their 3rd year (it's a 3 year MA program with all of the requirements), worked there. So it's worth a shot to check out other departments, both academic and educational (ITS, library, etc.).
  8. bioarch_fan
    Cincinnati is an amazing program for Classics!!! Good luck.
  9. bioarch_fan
    There are many programs that do interviews, but there are also quite a bit more that don't do them. It really depends on the department. My program invites potential students to come down for a couple of days to meet current grad students and talk to professors and see the campus/town (it's actually happening this week). This is a sort of interview but if you don't go then it's okay too (I didn't get to attend mine for numerous reasons including a snowstorm). So best to do is just wait it out. Once it gets closer to mid-February you could start emailing admin assistants from those departments that had earlier deadlines (like December 15 deadlines) and see where they are in the process of admissions.
  10. bioarch_fan
    Also I just noticed that you applied to Boston University and Boulder. I have a friend who did her undergraduate in archaeology at Boston University. She loved it there. And I currently have a friend at Boulder doing his MA in classics. He's mostly a classical philologist though.
  11. bioarch_fan
    I did my undergrad at Ohio University. Majored in anthropology and double minored in history and classical civilizations. So I took quite a few classics classes while at OU. I think you'll enjoy it. Again...it's one of the top graduate programs in the US for classics.
  12. bioarch_fan
    Congrats!!! University of Cincinnati is one of the top programs in the US for classics. Two of my undergraduate professors have a house in Cincinnati and both are classics professors and one worked at Cincinnati at one point. Cincinnati was only about an hour and a half from where I did my undergraduate work.
  13. bioarch_fan
    Personally I didn't list ANYTHING on my CV that wasn't anthropology/archaeology/bioarchaeology/museum related. Anything that doesn't have to do with anthropology was completely left off. Obviously this just depends on the person reading your CV, but I would prefer to not list non-academic items on my CV. Maybe ask them if you can send both a CV and a resume since they're different things and tell completely different stories? That might help a little bit.
  14. bioarch_fan
    I actually have two friends at USF. One is an undergrad and the other is a current grad student. They both love the program. I know that many of the professors are amazing in their fields. While not biomedical anthropologists, Erin Kimmerle is a top forensic anthropologist and has done A LOT of work in Florida, especially with the boy's school that closed a couple years ago. They found a lot of unmarked graves and Erin identified the remains to allow them to be sent home to their families. David Himmelgreen, is a name in biomedical anthropology, but I honestly don't know much about his work since I don't study medical anth. His research sounds amazing and the fact that he takes the complete applied approach rather than the research approach is perfect for medical anthropologists. Honestly if you're wanting to get your PhD, maybe you should think about just staying there for their PhD/MPH program. It's a well-respected program that many people love the option of. This is the same type of work that Paul Farmer (one of the biggest names in medical anthropology) does and I believe the same type of degree too. But either way, if you don't want to get your PhD there, you should be able to get into a good PhD program elsewhere. But it truly depends on how you do while in the program. Good grades. Good research. Good papers. Good experience. Most likely a good chance of getting in most places. But again...we can't answer that since you haven't started the MA program there yet.
  15. bioarch_fan
    I have a friend from my undergrad school who got an interview for Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) too. Her focus is more of the paleoanthropological route though. She already got an acceptance into University of Arkansas (A LOT sooner than I thought it would happen).
  16. bioarch_fan
    One program that you should definitely look at is University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. They fund most of their students and they have an anthropologist that focuses on HIV/AIDS. Mississippi State University (my current graduate program) is also really good at funding their students and we are currently in the process of hiring a new medical anthropologist with a specialization in HIV/AIDS. The program that I am in has a STRONG focus in the biocultural approach (my advisor is a bioarchaeologist but did her PhD at Emory with George Armelagos, who was one of the founders of the biocultural approach). You might want to look at Emory also. They don't have professors who do research on HIV/AIDS, but they do have 3 medical anthropologists on staff. They're also really good at placing students to work/intern at the CDC (my advisor did an internship at the CDC during her PhD). If you have any questions about my program or about any of the others then feel free to message me. I'll be happy to help!
  17. bioarch_fan
    I'll literally be there the entire week from Monday through Sunday. Conferences are fun...I went to the AAA conference a couple of years ago and that was awesome. This will be my first PPA/AAPA conference though. But it's in New Orleans and a lot of my friends from my summer field school will be attending, so it should be a lot of fun.
  18. bioarch_fan
    Huh. Well I've never heard a single person, classics or not, say that anthropology was a waste of space. If you apply somewhere and they say that or they put off that feeling then maybe it's not a good fit at all. All disciplines can work with each other and learn from each other quite easily. So by saying that another discipline, in which the original discipline has some similarities with and the other is larger and more broad, it takes away the interdisciplinary connections that makes academia so revered. Almost all disciplines work with at least one other discipline in some way or form. Most of the programs that you're applying to are great programs at least. You'll have a great fit in most of them. I looked at Brown's program because I still love classics and I would have wanted to find a way to get both degrees (Classics and Anthropology). Maybe I'll get another MA in Classics later. But I have absolutely no background in Latin or Greek (only German). My undergrad didn't have a classical language requirement for minors, only majors. So I might not be able to get into a classics program at all ever unless I can get at least 2 years of Latin under my belt. Well good luck with your applications all the same. I'd be happy to talk to another classics nerd if you ever need me.
  19. bioarch_fan
    I was also an anthropology major, but only minored in classics. I have many friends who did the double major of the two and they loved it. I just didn't have the time to do that sadly. So I had a major and double minor. Lol. My interest is still in Ancient Rome though...so I still plan on doing research later on with the Roman Empire. I do have a friend that got into UC-Boulder for Classics and he loves it there. His girlfriend his looking into graduate programs in both classics and anthropology because she can stretch across the two disciplines pretty easily. But I think the main reason there aren't as many classical archaeologists on this forum is because anthropological archaeology is drastically different than classical archaeology. Their methodologies are slightly similar, but their theoretical frameworks are different. But it is nice to have a classical archaeologist on here too. I think you'll do fine honestly with your programs that you applied to. Many of them are very competitive schools to gain admittance to, but you'll never know if you can get in until you try!!! Viel Glück für diese Saison!
  20. bioarch_fan
    Awesome! Yeah, a couple of people in my department are going too. Sadly the only other bio anth person in my cohort said that she likely won't be able to go. But I'm trying to convince her to go at least for 2 days. Plus I'm supposed to meet up with people from my excavation this past summer. So it'll be fun. You're not far from NOLA either at least (you're really only an hour and a half from me). Lol. Surprised our departments don't do much together. Though my thesis co-chair and Keith are friends...so that's kind of awesome. Hoping to use the meetings for professional networking as much as possible. I'm hoping to present at the PPA meetings, but still waiting on abstract approvals to come through.
  21. bioarch_fan
    Hey bio anth peeps! Anyone else planning on attending the PPA/AAPA conference in April? I'll be spending the entire week in New Orleans for the conference since I'm only 4 hours away. Maybe we could start a meetup or something for us all to meet each other and talk about how grad school is going for us, our research interests a little more (possibly making some future collaborators), and if you're not currently in a graduate program then maybe we can help answer some burning questions that you just haven't posted on the forums yet! If anyone's interested I can start a meetup or something for us to talk about it a little more. I hope to see many of you there!
  22. bioarch_fan
    From what I can tell all it says under special requirements is "GRE General." So I'm assuming that they don't require a writing sample. If you look at other programs, such as History, they have the writing sample under the special requirements tab. But I agree...contacting the DGS is the best option and they might tell you that it could help your application if it's a strong writing sample.
  23. bioarch_fan
    I honestly had something similar happen when I was applying to my current MA program. My now advisor called me and told me NOT to accept any other school's offer before talking to her. She said that if another school offered me more funding then they can work with the funding offer. So I kind of had a feeling that I would get in here. So congrats and hope that it works out for you.
  24. bioarch_fan
    Forgot to mention this also, your GRE scores really aren't that bad at all. Most anthropology programs don't use the GRE to weigh admissions that much. You usually have to meet a university-wide threshold and that's it. Some universities don't even have a threshold, they just want you to take it and that's it. So don't worry too much about your GRE scores. The rest of your application should be strong enough. Admissions committees weigh your SOP, grades, letters of recommendation, and writing sample (if required) the most. With all of your extracurriculars, you should be good on applications.
  25. bioarch_fan
    Ok. So just a couple of things from someone who just went through this process. Don't find someone that is focused on the specific region that you're interested in working with but focus on methodologies and theoretical frameworks that you could possibly use for a thesis/dissertation. For example, in bioarchaeology I am interested in paleopathology and stable isotope analysis (migration, diet, etc.). I wouldn't decide to choose a school that didn't have someone who focused on these specialties. So the first thing you want to do is figure out what in bioarchaeology you want to look at. Also, I know that ASU is considered one of the top programs in the US for bioarchaeology only because of Jane Buikstra, but I have heard a lot of negative things about the program. Funding is next to impossible to get or is extremely competitive and the atmosphere is extremely uptight most of the time and there is a lot of in house bickering between graduate students. That's not something that you want to worry about during your graduate career. There are A LOT of amazing bioarchaeology programs out there that can give you what you want. If you want to work in the US and especially if you want to work on sites in Central/South America, you probably don't want to go to graduate school at UCL. I looked into it and I really do wish I would have applied there just to see if I had gotten in, but my interests are centered around European bioarchaeology. But my program is amazing, so I'm happy with the choice I made. If you want to PM me with your interests, I can give you a list of schools that might match your interests a little closer.
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