bioarch_fan

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.

What I would say is to do something that you will be interested in doing for the rest of your life. If you're extremely interested in maritime archaeology, then do the TAMU program. I looked into doing my Masters there but decided against it since they don't have as big of a bioarchaeology program. They center on maritime archaeology. If that's something you're interested in you could also look into University of West Florida. They have a big maritime program as well. And they have a field school in the Gulf every summer I believe. I'm slightly interested in maritime as well, but mostly as it pertains to skeletal material and how ship wrecks and osteology can tell us about the individuals on board. Something else you should think about though, is if you're wanting to do CRM that is not maritime and is strictly terrestrial, then maybe doing a program that was applied archaeology or something would be good. But you said that you've done field schools before, so that might not be as important. All you need to do is prove that you have excavation experience. I have a friend that specialized in bioarchaeology and she works at a CRM firm as an archaeologist because she did a field school at our undergrad school. Some CRM firms do have a maritime component to them too. It all depends on where they're at exactly. But when it comes to archaeology/anthropology organizations, I think that they would be viewed the same. If you're doing a Masters program that requires a thesis, or has a thesis option, you will be able to be RPA certified. That's a major thing if you want to do CRM or do fieldwork in the future. But in the end, you need to figure out what exactly you want to do with the rest of your life. Do you want to do bioarchaeology, archaeology, cultural, etc.? If you want to do archaeology do you want to do maritime, terrestrial, etc. in America, Europe, South America, etc.? There's a lot of things to think about when making this decision. I have been thinking about it for almost 2 years when I started my grad school search. The only person that can truly answer your questions is yourself though. If you want to do bioarchaeology, which I want to think you mentioned before, then you should really go to a program that has a bioarchaeologist on staff and do your specializing in that. Some programs have the option to where you can combine historical archaeology and bioarchaeology together. That's probably what I'll be doing since I love both. If you have more specific questions you can PM me anytime and I can try and help as much as I can. Like I said, I've been doing the grad school search for years now and my undergrad program doesn't have the best advising for future graduate students. So doing this on my own has opened my eyes that maybe some programs don't have that much help either.

What I usually do is I email the POI and talk about myself. Explain my interests and see what they respond with. After the initial email, I've gotten most of them asking what my GPA and GRE were. Haven't taken the GRE yet, so I can just tell them my GPA. If they ask you that...tell them the truth. If you have a good explanation as to why it's low, you can say that but it might not be too important. But in your statement of purpose you should definitely explain your GPA. The admissions committee will definitely read that and your POI might too if they're not on the committee. But whatever happens...just be positive and don't lie about anything like that. Your academic record will be sent to the program anyways and if you lied to them or didn't tell them the entire truth, it could be harder for you to get in. Since your GPA is lower than what most schools expect, I would suggest getting a lot higher on the GRE than the required minimum if at all possible. The high GRE, strong letters of recommendation, and your statement of purpose might be enough to show that you're a serious student that they should take into their program.

So I've been working on my applications and I'm finding it hard to find the length that the statement of purpose should be. Some of the departments have the length requirements on their website, whereas others don't. Does anyone have any tips on figuring this out? I don't want to make my statement of purpose too short or too long and risk the department not looking at my application because of this. Thanks!

I personally found emailing the professors a better use of my time than not. When I emailed the professors and discussed my interests and a possible thesis project, I was better able to see how I would fit in there. If they emailed back with just the general information and didn't seem excited to talk to me then I left it at that and decided to not apply there. But if I received very good feedback with a lot of excitement then those were the schools that stayed on my list. It's better to talk to the professors before you apply so you can see how their interaction with you would be. I also suggest emailing professors to even check to see if they are accepting graduate students. I had planned on applying to one school and after I emailed him I found out that he wasn't even accepting students for the semester that I would be entering. So that would have been a) a waste of time that I could have used to perfect other applications and b) money that could be used on other applications and other necessities. So personally, I say you should email them and talk to them. Get a feel for them as a person and definitely to check if they're even accepting students.

I'm not sure how common it is for schools to not require the GRE, but I've found two for sure. The first one, of which I am applying to even, is at George Mason University. They only have a MA program, so if he's wanting to get his PhD then he'll have to do the application process again in 2-3 years (after getting his MA). The other program is at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. They do have an MA and PhD program and I don't see anything on their website that says GRE scores are a requirement. The best thing to do in that situation is have him contact the school and check with them on the requirements. Most programs that I have come across only require one other language besides English. Some schools that do state that two foreign languages are required, usually has a note that if you're doing archaeology or biological anthropology then you can replace one of the foreign languages with another specialty, i.e. statistics, computer programming, or something else that would be beneficial for the student in the long run. Foreign schools are good and it wholly depends on the student's interest. If he's interested in North American archaeology, then staying in North America would look better for jobs later. Look at schools in Canada because they don't require the GRE. At least there it's a wider range of regions that they specialize in. Some schools have North American archaeology, some have South American, European, Asian, etc. And many programs specialize in numerous regions. So the first thing I would suggest, is to have him decide on what exactly he's interested in doing in the long run. Is he wanting to teach? Is he wanting to do CRM (Cultural Resource Management)? Is he wanting to work at a museum? Then figure out what type of archaeology he's interested in. North American? Southwest North America? Southeast North America? Mesoamerican? Andean? Ancient Roman? Medieval? And then finally he should figure out what types of techniques he's looking at specializing in. This could be regular excavation, dating techniques, paleobotany, etc. From there it would be easier to find programs that plays to his strengths and would help him narrow down the choices. After choices are made he should contact the professors at each of the programs he's looking at applying to. He should ask them if they're accepting students for when he's wanting to start. He should define his interests and maybe ask if they think he would make a great addition to their program. Something else to think about is that not all schools weigh heavily on the GRE. Most schools that I've seen look at the GPA, letters of recommendation, and the statement of purpose (which is definitely the most important part of the application). They'll only mostly use the GRE to help decide between students or to help decide on funding. Just tell him not to stress too much with the GRE and he'll do fine. If he doesn't do as well as he had hoped, he can try again after 3 weeks.

I personally say go for it. What do you have to lose? If you don't get accepted this year then you could always contact the POI there and ask if they have any tips for a future application cycle. And while you're getting your MA you can work on the tips that they gave you. But I think you sound qualified. I have independent studies, but I have never presented at a conference and you have 3 conferences. I didn't write a thesis, but I've written long papers. If you want to get a publication then you could use your honors thesis to work out a publishable paper. Talk to your advisor on how they would suggest doing it. I admit, I'm not entirely knowledgable about cultural anth, at least not as much as I should be since I'm an anth major, but if we can get publishable papers out of our theses then I'm sure any of the subfields can.

UNLV was top on my list of schools before I talked to Dr. Martin. I'm interested in studying violence in my specific regions (Ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt) but that's a secondary interest of mine. I'm more interested in isotopic analysis to understand their diets, how they differed from each other, how they differed from their provinces, and how they changed diachronically. But understanding violence might also help me to understand the changes in their diet and migration too. So I have no clue where I'm going to take it yet. Lol. Another tip that I've been told numerous times is to have an idea of what you might want your thesis to be on. That's why I'm narrowing mine down right now too. It's just good to show that you have an idea in mind that you want to study. And yeah, I understand completely about wanting to get away from the cold. I live in Ohio and was actually looking at MSU, but I don't want to go anywhere colder than here really. I actually looked at University of Alaska at one point, but then I read that they can have winters where it's -30 regularly and I definitely do not want that. :/ Maybe after I get my PhD and if they offer me a tenure track job I'll go there, but not while I'm finishing my degree. Most of my schools are in nice warm places (FL, NV, NC, SC) and only a couple in cold climates (McMaster ONLY because they have 2 professors there that are literally perfect for me to study under). So finding schools in locations that you'd want to live in for the next 5+ years is very important. Again, I know you want to get out of the cold but maybe you could look at Dr. Ventura Perez from University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Even if you don't want to go there because of the cold, you could look at articles he has written and see who he cites and follow that trail. Another tip that I received from people was to talk to professors at your program and see if they recommend anyone in particular and to even sometimes talk to professors at other schools. Most of them understand the idea that you need to cast a wide net for grad school.

A word of advice about two of those schools: Tulane- I talked to Dr. Verano down there and he's not accepting grad students to start fall 2016. Unless you talked to him and he said differently recently. I talked to him a couple weeks ago and he told me he wouldn't be taking on anymore grad students right now. UNLV- I met Dr. Martin at the AAA conference in Chicago 2 years ago. She's an amazing woman to talk to. But she told me that she won't accept bioarch students that don't make their main focus on evidence of violence. My interests only partially move into violence, so I decided to nix the program even though it's an amazing program. So when you do your statement of purpose for UNLV make sure that you talk about violence primarily in it and how you would like to do that kind of research and how UNLV will help you achieve your goals. That's just my 2 cents on those two schools. But overall, you sound like you have a good list going so far. Have you thought about looking at University of Alaska-Anchorage? They only have a MA program, but Dr. Ryan Harrod graduated from UNLV under Dr. Martin and he co-authored a book with her titled "Bioarchaeology of Climate Change and Violence." So I'm pretty sure that would match up with your interests pretty well. What I would do is find the book and look at who contributed to the book. See what they study and where they study. Maybe also look at University of Alaska-Fairbanks. They do have a PhD program and they have a bioarchaeologist on staff. I'm not sure what exactly he researches though, as my search through the page was quick, but I think anywhere in Alaska would be great to do research on the bioarchaeology of climate change. You could team up with an archaeologist on staff there that does arctic or subarctic archaeology as they could teach you a lot too. I'll keep thinking of others to send your way. Do you not have a specific region that you want to study? I have gone through every single department's website in the United States and parts of Canada looking for bioarchaeologists to study under and I've finally narrowed mine down to 10 schools. So I love helping others.

I agree with this statement, but also would like to say that some MA/MS programs do have funding for their students. It may not be as much as PhD funding, but it's a decent amount. I've found a couple programs that don't have much funding because they don't have out of state tuition, so it's cheaper there anyways. So when talking to professors, ask about the funding situation at the specific school.

She is definitely the biggest name that I am wanting to work with right now. Mostly because she does Roman bioarch and that's what I want to do. So working with her would be amazing. I need to work hard on my personal statement, but my interests match up with her's perfectly. So I'm thinking I shouldn't have too much of a problem. Just gotta work hard on studying for the GRE and get a high score...not too much pressure. Lol

Was that bio anth professor Dr. Killgrove? I've talked to her numerous times. She came up to Ohio to give a lecture to the classics department, anth club, and anyone else that wanted to attend last October. I wanted her to come up so she could give a lecture for the classics colloquium since not many classics majors know that part of the field. I've been in constant with Dr. Killgrove for a year and a half now. It's definitely top on my list of schools.

I would personally say if you don't want to go for your PhD yet then to just apply to MA programs. If you decide that you want to go the PhD route later and the school offers a PhD program, then you can apply to that program. I think it would look bad that you originally applied for a PhD but quit after a MA and then you want to try again.

Is anyone else becoming a nervous wreck doing all of the preparations and starting the applications or am I the only one?! I'm debating on knocking schools off my list to limit the amount of money I'm paying for applications, but I can't decide if that's what I want to do or which schools to take off. I've talked to most of the professors at each of the schools already and I've gotten positive feedback from almost all of them.

You should definitely try and state the exact program, or as close to the exact program, that you are going to be studying during graduate school. If you're going to be doing Neuroscience, I suggest making your proposal about Neuroscience a little bit so that you don't have to change later. You don't want to say that you're doing one graduate program when it's evident that you're actually doing something else. This will show in your proposal, as well as in your letters of recommendation. That's just my 2 cents at least.

I haven't taken a lot of science classes, but I've taken enough for me to understand the basics behind what I want to do. Graduate school will be for me to learn the specifics about what I will be doing. Most schools will teach you what you need to know or will let you take elective classes outside of your major to better understand the science of what you're doing. My school does have a biological anthropology professor, so I have been able to take osteology and forensic anthropology, both of which are necessary for bioarchaeology. So if you haven't taken those and your school offers those I suggest taking them before you apply. If your school doesn't offer them then I'd say check out the anatomy and physiology courses from the biology department at your school. They'd at least give you the basics of the human skeletal system. You don't really need chemistry unless you're doing stable isotope analysis like I am. Honestly, I haven't even taken chemistry in a very long time. But the schools I'm looking at have specialists in the department or at the school that I can learn from. For the Pre-Columbian era, it really all depends on where exactly you're wanting to work. If you're wanting to do the Andes area, check out Tulane University (Dr. John Verano does bioachaeology in Andean South America), Vanderbilt University (Dr. Tiffiny Tung does Peruvian Andes bioarchaeology), and George Mason University (Dr. Haagen Klaus does Andean South America bioarchaeology). I don't know of too many off the top of my head that does research in the area. But I was told by another POI that I should look at schools that have the methods that I want to do, not necessarily the specific regional interests. So I plan on applying to schools that don't have a specialty in the classical world, especially since there aren't many schools in the US that have classical bioarchaeologists. So for instance, you can apply to a school that has a professor doing bioarchaeological research in China, i.e. Western Michigan University's Jacqueline Eng, if they do the same methods (paleopathology, bioarchaeology, stable isotope, etc.).

Since you don't have too many professors that work in the area you're interested in, you could talk to professionals in the community, including archaeologists, museum personnel, or other professors at other universities. They could give you insight into what you could do. I'm doing the bioarchaeology side of things, but I have a love of the classics. Which is why I'm combining the two and doing classical bioarchaeology (especially Ancient Roman bioarchaeology, but I will do Ancient Greece and Egypt, as well as medieval Europe). So there are definitely ways to combine things that you like. That's the wonderful thing about anthropology, there's so much to do and love. I've been in love with archaeology since I was a little kid, admittedly from Indiana Jones, but after watching Bones I got into forensic anthropology and then one of my professors mentioned that I should also look in bioarchaeology. So professors can give you a lot of detail, even if it's not their specialty. Talk to your professors anyways and see what they say. Attend a conference and listen to as many talks as possible, that always helps to decide more about what you want to do. The Archaeological Institute of America national conference is June 6-9 in San Francisco, the American Anthropological Association annual meeting is November 18-22 in Denver, and the Society for American Archaeology is April 6-10 in Orlando. There are also many regional, statewide, and sometimes city-wide meetings that take place periodically. Check them out and see what sounds interesting. But before you decide on anything about graduate school you need to find out what you're interested in since this is the most important aspect of doing the dreadful search, I started with 30 schools and FINALLY dwindled them down to 10 that I'm applying to. So it's very much possible if you can find a specific interest that moves you.

It does sound like an amazing opportunity. You could always check with your school and see if they'd accept the credits as transfer. Sometimes they can find equivalent courses, my school did that for me when I transferred in. But you don't need to do that because it sounds like your GPA is pretty good. Most schools look at the last 2 years (Sophomore and Junior) when you apply from what I've heard. Plus your major GPA is perfect. So I don't see why you'd have a problem. Maybe try taking the GRE first and see where you'd land. What kind of graduate degree are you looking at getting? One in anthropology, museum studies, or what? That should be the first thing you figure out so then you can ask the right people the right questions. If you have doubt about whether you'd be a good fit for the program, you could also email professors from these universities and strike up a conversation with them. They're usually more than happy to help you if you ask for it. But again, with your GPA and with your experience doing internships and field schools, I don't see why you'd have a problem getting into a good program honestly.

Have you looked at Utah State University? They have a MS in Archaeology and CRM. So does Adams State University in Colorado. I'm not sure how good those programs are but they could be worth looking up.

There's actually a part about this in the instructions. This is what the NSF GRFP application says, it only says it once you start the application and get to the part where you choose your topic: Changing fields of study as Graduate Research Fellows: If awarded a fellowship, Fellows are allowed some leeway in changing their graduate study and proposed institution. It is acceptable for Fellows to shift the focus of their research while remaining in the same field. However, Fellows are expected to pursue graduate study in the general field designated on their application. Changing fields of study during the first year of the fellowship is generally not permitted. All changes of field must comply with the eligibility requirements in the Program Solicitation.

I have finally started preparing more in depth on my applications. I finished narrowing down the schools. I have contacted all of the professors that I want to work with at each of the schools that I am applying to (10: 5 MA and 5 PhD). I've already heard back from a couple professors, mostly positive with extreme interest in my research topics (hoping that's a very good sign). I have started studying for the GRE, plan on taking it next month. I will be starting my statement of purpose for each of the schools in the next week. I started my application for the NSF GRFP. I think I'm well underway for this application cycle...at least I hope so. Where's everyone applying to this season? I've got: University of Central Florida, East Carolina University, University of South Carolina, University of West Florida, North Carolina State University, McMaster University, Tulane University, University of Nevada-Reno, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and George Mason University That's just a tentative list since I keep taking some out and putting some in.

I have talked with faculty from Notre Dame, if that's the school you're referring to, and they have amazing guaranteed funding for all of their grad students. So you should have no problem at all if that's the school you're going to.

You're welcome! If you're applying to work with Deb Martin, you'll enjoy her. She's tough from what I hear but she's an amazing woman. I talked to her for a while and I'm still debating on applying there. I'm not 100% on the funding there though, the best thing to do is also talk to one of her grad students. There's a grad student there that I met while at the AAA conference as well. He can tell you a lot about Dr. Martin and probably give you more insider information about the program. If you want his name message me and I'll give it to you.

I talked with Dr. Deb Martin last year at the AAA conference in Chicago and she said that their program in bioarchaeology is centered around violence. Mine technically is not centered around violence, however I still plan on applying to their program next year since I can stretch my interests to encompass violence. I decided to stick to one more year with my undergrad instead of graduating a year early. But really think hard about whether your interests are associated with violence in bioarchaeology (if bioarchaeology is what you're interested in doing, which from other posts of yours it does).

I'm up in the air about going this year. Depends on my financial situation at the time.