bioarch_fan

You also should remember that most university offices are closed starting December 24-January 4. So if you have applications due on January 1, then it would be best to contact those departments and tell them the situation. I had to do that with two of my schools because my grades were due this past Wednesday but the transcript wasn't going to be sent out until either Friday or this coming Monday, which means the schools wouldn't receive the transcripts before the deadline. So I contacted my departments, told them, and they were understanding since I wanted to wait until grades were submitted for Fall semester. If the applications aren't due until January 15, then you should be fine. I know how my school operates is they'll send the transcripts out and it'll take a couple days for the graduate school to receive the transcript and put it in my file. I would suggest calling the graduate school on Monday and see what they suggest. But if you have any due on January 1st, you're also going to have to contact the department and see what they say.

Both of those programs are pretty amazing period. UF, like your undergrad program, is VERY strong in forensic anthropology. Penn State is very strong in demography since it has the dual program. But saying that, just as long as you have faculty members at any university that you apply to that does research similar to what you are interested in, then you would be fine. Most departments will want to see that you have experience in all of anthropology though, so if you're accepted into a program and don't have specific classes (mostly the intro classes) then they'll just have you take those before you're taken off probationary status. I will say this though, both programs are extremely high on the list of best anthropology programs in the US. So if you get into either program and do well while you're there, then you'll be pretty set after graduation. I don't know much about your research interests since I'm the bioarchaeology and forensics side of bio anth, but if you're looking for more programs to apply to (which I honestly would suggest more than 2 schools) then I would look at your POIs from both UF and Penn and see where they received their degrees. Maybe their advisors are still there, if not then maybe they have other professors at those schools that might interest you. What I did when I was narrowing down my list was went through every single department in the US that had graduate programs and looked through their faculty list to find professors that did research similar to my own. If you're content with just applying to 2 schools, then I would say you shouldn't worry about your program being strong mostly in forensics. Just as long as you can state in your SOP why you would make a strong applicant for those programs and you have strong letters of recommendation, GPA and/or GRE (not all programs weigh the GRE that heavily), and possibly writing sample then you'll be fine.

I actually know someone from my undergrad who did CRM and is at Kent State now too. Think we might be talking about the same person actually. Lol.

There's actually a website that tells you most of this information. I found it a couple years ago but not all of the schools have the acceptance rate on it. Sadly UIUC doesn't report their acceptance rate on this website. But if anyone has schools they want to look at the website is: www.petersons.com

What are you mostly interested in and where did you apply, if you don't mind my asking?

Oh ok. That's completely opposite of me. I am more interested in the Old World bioarch and I want to become a professor and researcher. I enjoy teaching and having the ability to show people what can be learned from studying skeletal material. I know plenty of people that do New World bioarch (mostly in South America too), so if you want some contacts let me know. I can see who I have been in contact with. It's hard for me to find bioarchaeologist that work in Europe here in the US, so I might have to do a PhD program with someone in a totally different region of the world or go outside of the US. The closest one I know of is McMaster University in Canada and they have 2 professors that work in my specific region. So the next stage will be very difficult. I have a full potential thesis project already laid out in my head and once I start talking to professors more and hear any acceptances come in, I can start talking to them about my ideas. Currently doing a search for field schools for this coming summer. I have yet to actually do one and one of my programs requires a field school for their archaeology/bioarchaeology students either during the program or before the program. This is becoming extremely stressful too since this school is one of top schools on my list.

Oh ok. So we have literally no schools in common then. Lol. Was kind of worried that we'd have a school in common But congrats on the funding decision already!!! What part of bioarch are you interested in?

Congrats!!! I'm bio anth focusing on bioarch and forensic anth as well. If you don't mind my asking, which programs have you applied to??? And congrats on already hearing back from a program. That's extremely quick and early. I have fully submitted one with references all submitted, so I am just waiting on hearing back from them. But still waiting on finishing the other program applications now. Fully submitted 3 and waiting to confirm that all of the letters have been submitted to these schools too.

You have a much better chance than I do. I didn't do as well on the GRE because I'm horrible at math and when I see the type of math that was on the GRE I freeze up completely. Just how I've always been. But I did well on the verbal and writing...so I'm hoping that'll be better. Thankfully most of my schools don't look at the GRE that much...they mostly look at my grades, letters of rec, and statement of purpose. So I should be solid there. And yeah I agree, after the first one it is easier...what took the most time was the SOP. I went through 5 revisions until I came out with one that looked good. I had a professor read over mine and tell me her opinion on it. So now I just have to change very little things in the SOP itself...mostly about the individual schools. Yeah...this is my senior year. But I'm a non-traditional student. So I'm hoping that also helps a little bit. Finals will be coming up for us in just over a week. This week I have presentations and papers to finish though. :/ This is such a bad time for me to do anything. Thankfully I have a while until the other apps are due.

How's everyone's application season going so far? My first one is due on Tuesday. Already submitted it...just waiting for my letter writers to send their letters in. It feels nice to have my first application finished. Plan on finishing more in the next couple of days. The next one isn't due until January. So I have time...but I wanted to get my letters finished sooner so my writers don't have anything else to worry about for me.

Most people I've talked to said 4-5 programs is ideal...but I disagree with them. I prefer taking the concept of casting your net wide when doing applications. Who knows what I'll catch by applying to 7 schools? I could get into no programs or I could get into all 7 programs and some of them with funding. So I'm hoping that by applying to 7 schools it'll make my chances higher for being accepted into any of the programs I've applied to. Honestly, it's totally up to you on how many schools you want to apply to in the end.

I've been working on mine as well. In my SOP I've mostly just stated the broad field being bioarchaeology and my specific areas including paleopathology, violence, migration, and diet. That's enough for them to know my specific interests and why I'd fit into their programs perfectly, but open enough to be flexible. I also noted my specific era being classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, but I didn't specific a specific location. If you have any questions or want to swap SOPs I'll be more than happy to send you mine to read and I could possibly give you ideas for yours. I've had one of my professors in my current dept. read over mine and she has given me a lot of feedback thus far. My first application is due in 13 days, so I need to get her last feedback so I can finalize it and submit it. Thankfully my letter writers already have my latest copy of my SOP to work with and I'm not planning on changing much in it...just small things here and there.

I'm applying to 7 schools total. I was originally going to do 10 but I thought that would be too many schools since the cost would have been close to $800. Now I'm under $600...so that's a lot better.

My ultimate goal is a PhD as well, so it wouldn't matter getting your MA first. Actually many professors I've talked to prefer to accept students that already have a MA, this shows that they can tackle graduate level classes and other responsibilities associated with a graduate program (i.e. dissertation). I'm only applying to one PhD program this fall, but it's a MA/PhD program, so I'd be accepted as a MA student first anyways. So it's actually encouraged to get your MA before applying to PhD programs. About the SOP, mine's a little more specific than many other students'. Mostly because I already have a topic picked out for my thesis research. So I want to talk about that so professors know of a possible research topic already and that might show how serious I am about the project and getting my MA/PhD.

I would actually say this isn't entirely true anymore. I have found NUMEROUS MA programs that are funded. You just have to search for them. Most of my programs are funded in someway or another. Sure it's competitive, but most of them won't admit students they can't fund. One school in particular said she's only accepting one student because that is all she can actually fund.

I'm an anthro major too, but mine's in physical anthro and I'm not too strong in cultural but maybe I can provide a little help anyways. I don't have a lot of outside practice in bioarchaeology (my main area of interest), so my SOP is focusing on the stuff that I read, why I want to study the things I study, and what I have done to prepare me for the field (i.e. classwork, projects, etc.) This would be beneficial for all anthro subfields I think, and more than likely any other discipline entirely. I would focus on a) what made you want to study anthropology; b) what has led you to where you are today in your studies; c) what you want to study exactly and if you have a general idea of where you want to study that too; d) why you chose to study that specific topic; e) what exactly you can bring to the discipline and why your research interests matter. Make sure that you tailor the SOP for each individual program (at least when it comes to your research interests). You want to find a school that has at least the same theoretical framework (violence and peace studies for example). If they have a regional basis in the program that would be better, but from what I've been told by numerous professors is to make sure the theoretical framework is there because if it's not then the program isn't good for you. Hope that helps!

From my understanding, it usually depends on the professor in question. Most of them probably won't be willing to take on graduate students but will be willing to sit in on the committee or something of the sort. I'd say just email them and ask if they are willing to accept graduate students or participate in another capacity.

I know exactly how you feel. I've always hated writing about myself, just as I always hate writing in first person on anything academic related. I've been trained to write strictly in the third person and it's so hard to move towards the first person, even when I'm taking cultural anthropology courses where the professors prefer us to write in the first person. Lol. I'm going to start my SOPs next week...so I guess we'll see how it goes.

I personally think 155 is reasonable, especially for anthropology. From what I've heard by numerous people, including professors, is that verbal is weighed a little more than quantitative. But I think it might depend on the sub-discipline. For archaeology and biological, I would think they'd need to be pretty equal because they both deal with a lot more statistics than cultural. I was told by a POI that the quantitative isn't as important for me since I'm not the best at math, but I'm biological so I think it'd still be pretty important in the end. From what I've seen, if you get at least 300 combined then you should be fine. I'm shooting for around 310 if possible...taking it at the end of the month.

While I'm not in grad school yet, from what I've heard from numerous people is that they're not as important. Most schools will use them as a determination between candidates and as fellowships/assistantships. So I wouldn't worry too much if it's a low score. From my understanding, the most important aspects of your applications would be the letter of reference, writing sample (if required), SOP, and to an extent your GPA. People can explain why they have a poor GPA or a poor GRE. But it's hard to explain away a horrible reference, writing sample, or SOP. So just as long as you focus very heavily on those aspects you should be fine.

This is literally right before the AAPA meeting (by two days) or else I would definitely attend.

Ok. Thanks everyone!!! This is beginning to be stressful already trying to do actual school work this semester and doing these applications. Taking the GRE at the end of October, so I've got to continue preparing for that too. Ugh this semester is going by WAY too fast already. :/

I actually know PLENTY of MA/MS bioarchaeology programs. Since that's my specialty I have gone through every single university in the US looking at their programs. So I've become better acquainted with the schools. Lol. I'm applying to 6 MA/MS programs that have bioarchaeologists on staff, a couple of which the programs are tailored to bioarchaeology. University of Central Florida has an amazing program with 5 bioarchaeologists/forensic anthropologists (only 1 forensic anthropologist) on staff. That's definitely one of the most bioarchaeologists I've ever seen on staff at a university. I'm applying there this round and it's one of the top choices on my list. University of Indianapolis has a MS program that specializes in bioarchaeology. I'm not sure how good it is, but I know that it's decent from what I've read. Plus they don't have out of state tuition. University of Alaska-Anchorage has a MA program. Their bioarchaeologist studied under Dr. Debra Martin (an extremely big name in the field) from UNLV (one of the best and largest programs in the US). North Carolina State (as well as a couple universities in the UNC system) has a MA program and it's pretty amazing. One of the professors on staff is D-ABFA certified (that's being board certified in forensic anthropology) so that means she is extremely experienced in skeletal materials. Florid State University is starting their grad program again next year (accepting applications this year). It originally closed down because of funding from the state, but it is finally opening back up. They have two bioarchaeologists on staff, but I'm afraid to apply there since it's sort of a new program. I could keep going on and on about the programs I know of, but it'll take me forever. If you want a more detailed list of all of the programs, I can send it to you via PM. Sadly I don't know much about the Rice University program at all. I can ask around and see what professors can tell me though.

William & Mary is a great program. I looked into it but decided against it because it is in historical archaeology and I really want to focus mostly on bioarch. So I decided to look elsewhere. But the department seems amazing. And it's close to where my mom lives, that's what I originally looked at it. But I also want to be away from family and experience life away from everything and everyone I know for a while. There are numerous MA/MS only programs. I have a list of 6 and that's not even half of the programs. Look at Brandeis University, they have a MA and PhD program and it is a great program from what I heard. Maybe look at a couple programs in the UNC system as well. I know that the UNC system has a couple MA/MS programs too.

Yeah I understand exactly where you're coming from. Since you don't really want to relocate, that does limit the school choices drastically though. Especially if you're wanting specific things out of a program. If you ultimately want to do anything bioarchaeology or zooarchaeology related, then you should definitely find programs that have professors dealing in those as your POI. You can add other professors to be on your committee in other areas that you're interested in working for a thesis. That's what I plan on doing with mine at least. I'll have my major professor as my thesis advisor and then other faculty members, either in the department or outside the department that have expertise either in my region or in my topical areas. So when looking at programs, find schools that have every possible thing you might want to do. Look around the university in history departments, classics departments, art history departments, etc. and see if there are professors in those departments that can possibly help out with a thesis. If you don't have cities you want to live in around the ocean then I would honestly nix the maritime programs unless you are more willing to move to those areas in the future. But there's something else you should think of. Maritime doesn't always mean around an ocean. It could be a river, i.e. the Mississippi, or a lake, i.e. any of The Great Lakes. You also wouldn't necessarily HAVE to live around a body of water like this to do maritime archaeology. I think you'd just have to travel more to do your research or field schools. But obviously being around a body of water for maritime might be more beneficial than not. On the topic of not having much help at your current university, I would say talk to scholars at museums or if your university has archaeologists in the history department or a classics department then talk to them. They can still give you a great deal of information. If your department can't help much, they can also give you ideas of who you could talk to that could help more. Talk to your advisor and see what they say. If they say they can't help too much since its not their specialty then you should ask if they recommend doing something else to get help.