rbargiel

No problem! Also, University of Kentucky is a good place. Lisa Cliggett comes to mind- I almost went there to work with her.

Yeah, for sociocultural you'll definitely want to strengthen your writing score. All of the possible prompts are online; the best way to approach it in my opinion is to familiarize yourself with what they're looking for. I don't know what kind of writing background you have, but my undergrad institution had us writing constantly. When it came time for the GRE, the writing section was a piece of cake. Historical/economic anthropology isn't my focus (I'm an environmental/landscape anthropologist). I'm at OSU and we do have one economic person on faculty (Jeffrey Cohen), so maybe take a look at him. Indiana University also has a few economic anthropologists. If you peek there I'd look at Ed Brondizio and Richard Wilk.

I would definitely recommend a retake. No offense meant, but a 3.5 is not a particularly good writing score, and it's pretty easy to improve your essays. Most programs want you to have at least a 4.0, but I would recommend going even higher. Your verbal and quant scores are fine. I'm not sure about the elite schools, though, given your profile- you may want to look at some other high-ranking programs that aren't as competitive. I can't speak for you on this, and I say that if it's what you want to do you should definitely give it a try.. What subfield are you looking at?

Definitely. If GRE scores are too low the first time around, retaking is beneficial. My first GRE score was 306, mostly because I didn't study enough to brush up on my quant. The second score was a 315, which made me eligible for fellowship funding. So, $185 now could be $20,000 or more down the road. ... That said, it's obviously best to do better the first time. haha

It's all about fit. Select the programs that best suit your research/academic interests, and email professors with whom you'd be interested in working. My relationship with my advisor was established very early on, and that was what helped me get in to my top choice school. It's not always a guarantee though- I had early contact with a professor at a school that didn't accept me, as well. Figure out where you could best see yourself and put your resources there.

Although Ohio State's anthropology program doesn't much cover this, there's a good comparative studies department here that works with a lot of your interests.

I presume that you meant 310 and not 210? haha Regardless of typos, hj2012 is right. Verbal and writing is the most important, but quantitative does matter to an extent. For the best schools, you'll want to be at least a 310, if not 315 or 320, and your writing score should be at least a 5.0

Hi Anthrosoul, I'm a first year anthropology grad student specializing in environmental anthro. While I know virtually nothing about programs in California, here's a list of some of the schools I checked out/applied to: - The Ohio State University - University of Maine - University of Hawaii at Manoa - University of Georgia - University of Texas at San Antonio - Oregon State University - Washington State University - Colorado State University Ohio State is where I'll be attending, and they're very strong with human ecology and evolution from a biological perspective. Georgia is widely regarded as the best, but they have difficult admissions. UTSA is sort of a rising star. Maine has limited admissions and has an applied policy approach. As for Hawaii, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, each of those have at least one or two faculty members who work on environmental anthropology. Colorado State is currently MA only. What subfield are you interested in? I assume sociocultural? Hope this is helpful.

A place like New York City is bound to be a bit of a skewed perception though, don't you think? I've heard that CUNY and NYU are among the worst abusers of adjunct labor.... though the trend is certainly not limited. My undergrad institution is facing threats of repealed accreditation at the moment because we currently have more than 50% of our classes being taught by adjuncts. Not a pretty situation. I'm heading to Columbus in just a few hours to meet with the department. Hopefully they can provide me with some more answers in terms of funding. Wish me luck...

True- hence why I mentioned the family member. My Grandpa cosigned my loans after my parent's bankruptcy. He's 83 and knows he won't live to see the time my loans are due in full 15 years from now, and so he's allocated enough so that I can pay the loans he's signed for me.

anthropologygeek's comment reminded me- I should be honest and say that I chose an undergraduate institution that has left me with another kind of Ph.D- "piled high and deep"... in debt. I won't specify how much debt I'm in because it's a source of contention for me, but it's too much. The good news is that I have plans to pay it back. I have a family member with a generous will that will assist with some of that repayment. Plus, also remember that academics are eligible for public employee loan forgiveness- tenure track or not, and this includes non-profit private schools as of 2009. Granted, you have to make 120 payments before the rest is washed away, but the point remains that it's not impossible.

Canis, I've actually received some different advice from many of the professors with whom I've spoken. First off, keep in mind that I am technically funded- a tuition award is still more than what many PhD students get going into OSU, and I have a strong chance at another assistantship. The reality is that at a place like Ohio State, the big funding packages are university-wide competition. I wasn't eligible for this (Your GRE percentile average needs to be 75 percentile or greater; I missed this by a mere point) but I do know that I'm entering with more than a lot of people have, especially for this department. One of the positives that I'll mention is with regards to the sciences: the department I'll be working in requires at least two courses each in the three major subfields (physical, archaeology, cultural). Though I'm specializing in cultural, I have research interests that are integrative to an extent, so this doesn't concern me as much. My goal is a combination of research, writing, and teaching, but I also want to be able to use my work to inform policy. There are plenty of job opportunities outside the Ivory Tower, especially for anthropologists. And to be frank, I'd be okay as an adjunct instructor at the right institution, though I genuinely think that I have what it takes to do something a little better for myself than that. A plan helps, yes, but you can have the best plan and the most perfect everything and still not be able to find a job. I've made the assessments and for me personally I think that it's worth it. Will I have to take out a little bit of money in loans to live this year? Probably. But I'm okay with that, to an extent. Obviously I don't want to take out $20,000 to live, so I'm weighing options. I'm not totally sure that such a cut-throat approach focusing on money as the driver is what academia should be about. While it's true that we're puppeteered by organizations like the U.S. government, it's also important to think outside the bank (my lame take on "think outside the box"). Maybe I'm too optimistic in believing it, but I think that academia should be more about what in_theory is referencing, and I HAVE done all of the research you describe and more. The point being, academia should be about the benefit of human society as a whole. We research to advance the world, not to advance ourselves. Being foolishly altruistic and taking on massive debt to achieve this goal is a bad idea, but so is squeezing oneself into a tight little box in order to accommodate the string pullers. Let them tug you and they'll just keep on doing it. I'm sure my cultural ecology background is showing in that... :-)

Canis, I'll agree to disagree with you on most of this article. While well-intended, I disagree with the underlying philosophy of much of it. Thanks regardless for your insights. It's definitely something I've kept in mind throughout the process. I ended up accepting Ohio State's offer and declining University of Kentucky's. My POI at OSU has been really great about everything throughout the process and so that really draws me in. We're going to hash out some funding things later this week when I have a chance to visit the department, but I'm confident. If not, I have a backup financial plan with minimal loans. I'm feeling a lot more confident now than I was a week ago.

Thanks! UK's deadline is actually earlier though. They need to know by March 28th, and I have until April 15th for OSU. I'll probably reject Kentucky, honestly, but I'm going to stretch out my acceptance from OSU until I either a) get more solid funding or reach the deadline.

Hi all: So, I'm currently weighing my options in terms of funding, and want a little advice. I was accepted to two universities for a Ph.D in cultural anthropology, OSU and UK. The prof with whom I'd like to work at OSU was very helpful during the application process in terms of answering questions, discussing interests, and even as far as providing some revisions to my personal statement. She called me personally back in January to congratulate me and notify me that I had been accepted and nominated for funding. When funding was announced a couple weeks ago, she also emailed me personally before I had even received official notice to tell me I had gotten the award. The university has also been great in terms of everything- I've been in contact with two other faculty members, they're hosting me for an official visit in a few days, and it overall seems like a perfect fit. (I'm especially happy with this kind of treatment, since I have zero formal background in anthropology.) The problem is that the award I received is tuition and fees only. While this is a great opportunity and I'm super grateful for it, it leaves me worried about cost of living. I've been in contact with the department to express my concerns, and they're looking into the possibility of an RA position for me. The prof I'd be working with does research nearly identical to what my interests are, but that chance all comes down to a grant she's waiting to hear back on. I have yet to receive any notice on funding from Kentucky, and they have not been nearly as helpful. (I tried to set up a visit with them, and never received a response to my email.) I've read elsewhere that an acceptance without funding is a polite rejection. In terms of OSU, it doesn't seem this is the case: I technically am funded, but only for tuition and fees. From what I've seen, this is normal for their first year students since it's such a big university and funding is extremely competitive. I'd really rather not seek out a part-time job or take out more student loans for living expenses, and the prospect of "soft money" is somewhat reassuring, but not fully. I'll also add that while Kentucky would be a great opportunity, I'd much rather go to OSU. It's also concerning because there's that "what if"... what if Kentucky offers me full, guaranteed funding for my program and this is the best OSU can do? So, fellow anthropologists: what would you do? They seem to be making an effort to recruit me, which makes me feel like I'm wanted. They also have a good track record of funding through RAships and TAships in the second year. It's this first year slump that I'm concerned about. Any advice?