AKJen

From what I know of my bioanth cohort mates, their work is much more dependent upon being attached to a lab than some of the other subdisciplines. It's much more like a traditional bench science degree, especially with molecular work, so I'm not sure it's something that could be done part time, unless your other job is at a lab where you have some time to devote to your own research. But if you're looking for that, you might as well bite the bullet and do the full time degree. I don't think part time residency programs (or at least reputable ones that would lead to you finding a job afterward) exist in the way you are hoping. One of the biggest problem with anthro programs is the very long average time to degree; that time would be compounded greatly (and often is) by insufficient funding that necessitates part time work. If the goal is to get work, a part time residency program is only going to make you delay your start longer. Another benefit to being attached to a lab full time is that your own research is bound to be pretty expensive; having an advisor who can help with the costs of analysis and materials is key to being able to finish your dissertation. Have you looked at programs close to your family?

postit, it was in the president's comments at the very bottom of the email after the actual reviews. How many reviews did people get?

I had a 2.7. This is my first time applying and I got really useful feedback, but I'm having so much trouble making myself finish up the reapplication. I know parts of my lit review were really undertheorized, but now I feel like I'm going way overboard. I'm not sure what the cut-off is. I've heard 1.5 is likely to be funded, but anything over a 2 is a maybe (though a 2 is probably unlikely to be funded). Also, the president of Wenner-gren also is able to choose a few of the lower scoring grants, if she really wants to see them funded.

Re: museum studies My understanding is that a museum studies degree is somewhat like a degree in library sciences; it's a practical degree for people that want to be in the business of working in museum collections, conservation labs, administration, etc. If you're interested in collections management, it could be for you. If that's really what interests you, you should also look at what degrees the people who have your dream jobs have. Our anthro program is in a museum and most of the curatorial staff seems to have research degrees while the more hands on people have a variety of experience/degrees. I think volunteering at the Field Museum is a great idea. There's also a few museum related REU and other NSF sponsored programs for museum anthropology and other types of research, if you have time. I did the Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History and it was fabulous.

University City is generally okay. There's a lot of grad students, but also a lot of professors. It's quite suburban-y. For safety, stay below 50th Street, which is the area that has been Penn-trified. Center City is expensive, but can be nice. There's also some great places in Graduate Hospital (which is across the South Street Bridge from Penn) and Queens Village near Old City. Really there's a lot of nice neighborhoods, but you'll probably want to see where the place is located in person; neighborhoods can change from one street to the next. Realistic rent depends on where and when you look. I'd say $700 to $900 for a one bedroom in nicer areas, though there are deals to be had if you're willing to settle on neighborhood or find it at the right time.

Anything from funding review is happy news! As far as I know, everyone who gets one of those emails receives the funding. There's a slight possibility of non-funding if every single person eligible has no other funding, but I think that's a fairly rare occurrence. I'm interested in the score issue as well, SarahKat. Did people who received the funding review email also receive a score?

Congrats, craftylandshark!

Not in spam this time, but from funding decision. If you get the almost certain acceptance email, it should come from funding review. How many reviews do people usually get?

Back to the drawing board! Just got my reviews back.

Penn runs an off-campus housing site that includes reviews of a lot of landlords. While there are a lot of larger property management companies, I think the best deals are found through small companies and independent landlords. The larger apartment buildings around campus are, on the whole, not that great and mostly populated with undergrads. Most people live in older rowhouses that have been divided into apartments at some point and many of those are managed by small companies or independents. Try reaching out to the people in your future department, often they have the best leads on livable places. If you contact them now, they might know of people that are planning to move whose leases you could take over. I came to Philly a week before the semester and stayed in a hotel for a week while I hit craigslist hard. I don't advise renting something sight unseen. You can get a great deal in a good location, but it takes a bit of searching. http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/offcampusservices/

I've not heard of post-master fellowships. There are a lot of post-doctoral fellowships. Post-docs in the social sciences/humanities do generally give you time to transition your dissertation into a book with varying degrees of teaching and/or service required. A lot of the historians I know get funding through the archives they work with, but that seems to be more short term.

The past few years, they've notified rejections and likely funded folks on Mondays and Tuesdays around the 9th of April. The official acceptance comes soon after by mail. My guess is it'll be in the next 10 days or so. Can't come soon enough! I just want enough time to reapply, if need be.

I don't know that they do too much checking, unless your internship is funded through a federal grant. I have heard of people who get into other NSF programs in the summer (NSF EASPI) having to use those funds as opposed to their NSF GRFP. I've worked during several summers while on tenure; I think in the official rules, you're allowed outside employment/internship/whatever, if it furthers your research endeavor, but I've never heard of anyone having to actually get approval from NSF. From your program, yes, but not NSF.

It could still be a good sign, ferret! At least they are allowing you to make revisions instead of tossing the application out. We're still in this!

No budget revision request here, ferret. Was it a revision request or did they request information about what other funding you've received? Because I know the latter is a very good sign. If they've asked about your other sources of funding, it generally means you're being seriously considered.

I agree with Mesoholic. It's fine before the deadline. I'd add, it's not very nice to the program you decline to pull out after the deadline and leave them scrambling and potentially unable to fill your slot. I'd let the other department know before the deadline if at all possible. But then, you do have to do what is best for you.

In our program, very few MA courses transfer. Even people who did the MA program at our school and are accepted to the Ph.D. program take the same amount of units as someone coming in with a BA. There are several reasons for this beyond just transfer of credit. First, it allows MA students more time to develop their projects. Second, you're required to do a certain number of semesters of TAing. And third, having full-time status (before you're ABD) is a requirement of the funding. I suppose you could be ready to take your orals early and get to dissertation status, but that doesn't work as well in my discipline.

ferret, I'm not sure, but check your spam folder. Gmail put mine in there and I only saw it because I was looking for something else.

Me too! Phew! Now more waiting. Congrats, Anthro14!

According to their website, about 50% of applications make the first cut: Stage One: Applications are screened against the General Criteria for Evaluation. All applicants will be notified as to whether or not they are successful at this stage, generally 3 months after the deadline. Approximately 50% of all applications are successful at this stage Stage Two: Successful applications are sent to an external panel for academic review. Applicants will be notified within 6-8 months of the original application deadline. Approximately 33% of Stage Two applications are successful I'm already planning my reapplication. I just want to get some feedback at this point.

They should be making the first cut within the next two weeks. I'm a little bit nervous because I found an error on my cover sheet. But it wasn't a budget problem, so I'm hoping it's overlooked.

PhDreams, are you applying for the dual degree in education and anthro or just Anthro? I'm a current Penn student if you have questions.

Lorna Rhodes at University of Washington does work on prisons in the US. She also has a review article that might be helpful, "Toward an Anthropology of Prisons." (2001) Annual Review of Anthropology 30:65-87.

I think you were getting at something in your question there when you mentioned funding. While it probably shouldn't be a research consideration, many good sources for research funding aren't available for anthropology students working in the US (Fulbright, FLAS, etc.). That being said, about half the people in my program are working within the US.

There's at least two people in my program with UK masters and I don't think either had a fellowship. I think it's very similar to any other masters program; if you make the most of your program (do good research, get a good rec from your advisor, try to present/publish, etc.), it will be seen as a plus. I'd also say doing a research degree, as long as it relates to your proposed Ph.D. research, is good evidence for your ability to finish a large, independent research project, which is something very attractive for most programs.