strudelle

True story! It's all good, really

Ucr rejected me before I had a chance to email them! Convenient, yet it kind of stings. Being rejected doesn't feel great.

My POI at one university contacted me and has been very "hands on" throughout the whole process, constantly notifying me of things before they happen. At another university, the POI never responded to my emails or contacted me at all, but I was accepted. At the third university, I had a meeting and some good email communication with the POI and I am pretty sure I got rejected (still haven't heard). I think it varies depending upon the professor. Everyone handles things differently and advises in different ways. I wouldn't say no communication necessarily means rejection. I also wouldn't say that communication necessarily guarantees admission.

I don't know what the results look like but you could do a screen shot of them maybe? Or copy and paste them? Also, thanks for doing this Sara. I wouldn't have thought to make a survey.

I have never heard of this before! Thank you!

I'm very curious to know what kind of funding people have been offered and what is considered a "good" funding package. I'm wondering if what I have been offered is standard, good, bad, etc. Would anyone be willing to share funding details? I am not particularly comfortable with publicly posting my funding details, so I don't blame you if you are not comfortable with this either. I would be more than happy to conduct discussions via PM. Please message me if you would like to swap funding package details. Maybe other people who are interested in learning about other people's funding packages can request PMs via this thread? I agree with everyone who has said that sharing funding info gives us a better idea of what we are receiving and empowers us as students to accept the best offers for us and to understand what we are being offered.

Thanks guys! Congrats scottg! Khannn - it sounds like you have a ton of good options. If it were me choosing, I would go with wherever has the best funding, research opportunities, and the faculty I want to work with the most. Maybe you should contact current grad students and see how they feel about each program? Might help you make up your mind

anthropologygeek - that makes perfect sense, actually. I agree!

Got my final funding offer today! Funny because I was so anxious about it this morning. I will be accepting my admission to UC San Diego! I'm very excited. It's my top choice and it's a great school and my POI is someone I really admire. I still haven't heard anything one way or the other from UC Riverside. Do you guys think I should email them and say "forget it, I've chosen another school," or just wait and see what happens? I would hate it if they accepted me and it took a spot away from someone else.

I also met my POI in person, but the meeting didn't go well. I was intimidated and seemed very unsure of myself. I am still getting used to being able to discuss my interests, and it's much harder on the spot than it is when you have months to tailor an SOP. I admire her work so much and I was so worried about making a good impression. I'm not sure if that helped or hurt me, but she and I have spoken a number of times on the phone since my acceptance and I am much more comfortable talking to her now. She also seems a bit like she may not remember meeting me before. But one of my recommenders was also someone very respected in the field with whom my POI has worked many times. So that may be a key factor right there! I'm curious, what is considered prestigious? I've always been a little confused about this. The program I was accepted to is ranked #10 in the nation for anthropology - but anthropology is also divided into sub-disciplines, so is this relevant for each sub-discipline? And is an ivy league more important than a "big name" in your field (like Michigan with anthropology)? Or is it more important who your POI is? We all know that really well known names in anthropology don't necessarily congregate at one school but are spread out.

So far I've been admitted to a "highly ranked" PhD program with very good funding despite my shitty GRE scores. They were never mentioned or questioned, and did not keep me from being nominated for funding as I had been told they would. I put highly ranked in quotations because ranking is not the most important factor in my opinion. But this particular program and POI do have very good reputations in the field which is definitely helpful. And it was my top choice. I have nowhere near the credentials FaultyPowers did - yet I was accepted anyway. It's really all about fit. It's also probably about some other random factors that we will never be able to determine so it's worthless to fret about them.

I still haven't heard anything at all from UCR. I was really expecting to hear from them because I had been in contact with the POI. I have seen a few UCR results on the board, so I'm assuming I didn't get in. I would just like to at least get a rejection letter. I also haven't heard anything at all about final funding or housing offers from UCSD - I've been nominated and am waiting to hear back. Also haven't heard anything about campus visits - I would like to know if they are doing these (my POI said they were) because if they aren't, I would like to call the current grad students and chat with them about the program. I want to hear back about these things before I make a final, definite decision.

Everyone has different priorities. The fact is that some people going into grad school don't have any money. For some people, including myself, funding is the only way they can attend graduate school at all. In my situation, I would not choose between funding and fit. It is both or it is nothing. Of course everyone wants to give themselves the best possible chance of success after graduate school, and for many people funding is a huge part of that because it enables you to focus on school, not have to get an outside job, and not have to go into more debt that you will have to repay later. But no matter how amazing the fit is or how prestigious the department, there is never any guarantee that you will get an amazing, highly paid job afterward. So you really have to think about how important fit AND funding are. If you have the financial ability to go to your dream program without any guaranteed funding, go for it. But everyone has different life circumstances so this questions of funding vs. fit completely depends on the individual. You will hopefully be applying for external funding for research no matter what kind of funding package you're offered, so I don't think that receiving funding is in any way related to an inability to learn to apply for outside funds. Especially if you have received a fellowship - which you do have to apply for separately most of the time.

That's awesome! Congratulations xstopfloating! So happy for you

Sarab I secretly hope you end up in San Diego so we can be there together. Go for the good weather!!!

Congrats Khannnn! What's your sub discipline? I haven't heard anything yet from UCR.

Whoa forsaken. I read the first half of that and frowned. Then read the second half and smiled. Nice surprise

Gradcat, you're awesome!!

Asking undergrad adviser/professors you admire or have worked with at your home institution is a great idea! I did that too and it was a major part of how I chose where to apply.

Sorry about all the rejections, friends. Hoping that everyone maybe has other options or can try again next year. A year is a good amount of time to pad your resume and work on things

Great question! The first step is deciding what you are most interested in studying. I learned a lot in undergrad, but wasn't able to significantly narrow down my interests until I did a lot of independent research and started reading scientific articles. Read about some stuff you're interested to get your mind working. If you are interested in the work of a particular author, google them and see if they are affiliated with a specific university. They may be someone you want to work with or someone who could advise you. Also, start looking at programs you're interested in. If you don't know where to begin, try choosing a place you would like to live and googling MA or phd programs in that area. Or google "phd programs for anthropology" or a specific type of anthropology you're interested in (if you like comparative study and politics, medical anthro, public anthro, or applied anthro may be of interest). And just start reading about each program. Go to the "faculty" page and read the biographies of phd-holding professors. Read articles written by those professors. Read about their current research. If you think they sound interesting and their interests align with yours, absolutely email them! The email should be concise "I am interested in your program. My research interests are XYZ. I have X experience and would like to continue with this field of study. I admire your work and was hoping to learn more about your research and to learn if you are taking grad students for X school year." Professors are busy and don't always reply. In this case, see if you can find a list of graduate students who work with this professor and contact them for their view of the program. Or contact the dept secretary and request more info. Whatever you do, don't fake your fit. You may actually find you become interested in whatever esoteric thing your potential adviser is intersted in. And that's fine. But remember, you will be studying this for many years and working with this adviser for many years, so it's important to enjoy what you're doing and to work well with your adviser.

Also pm'd!

Daisy, For the program I've been accepted to, I get funding from the university for the first four years. It's my understanding that this is typical (not necessarily for four years, but for a set amount of time after which you find your own funding) because most people who aren't coming from an MA program probably don't have their research focus completely settled before starting the PD. Then after that, I assume that I will have to find external funding. Which is the ideal situation in my opinion because I won't have to worry about funding until I'm deeper into my program and I will be able to get some guidance for finding external funding - and the fact that I am capable of GETTING external funding will show post-doc or tenure track positions that I'm capable of getting funding.

Sorry Daisy and Meso rejection never feels good *hugs*

Another person who got low GRE scores chiming in! I did poorly on the GRE as well but I was accepted to a great school with funding because I had a strong SOP, my research interests were a great fit with my POI, and I had excellent LORs. Work on strengthening the rest of your profile (which already sounds strong IMO), getting as much experience under your belt as possible, and making connections with professors who can recommend you. I don't know anything about Political Science, but I wonder if you might get some information on programs by posting your research interests here: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/36-political-science/