AKJen

Just received notification of honorable mention. I'm pretty happy with that. My application was uneven. I'm not sure I'll apply for the predoctoral fellowship again.

Anyone know if percentiles are available anywhere? I've got my ratings sheets, but a few other places have mentioned this percentile. I'll be attending my first year in the fall, so I'm really excited to have gotten one. My undergrad GPA was 3.72, GRE 770Q, 640V; NSF REU and 3 years of research experience as a co-investigator on NIH grant. No publications, but 9 presentations at national conferences (mostly healthcare related). Ratings were E/E, E/E, E/E. I think my success is mostly related to the last three years of proposal and grant report writing. Well, that and I've been working in a Native community for many years and my proposal continues that work.

Yes! I knew the last three years of proposal writing would pay off someday!

I'll be at UPenn this fall. I got into half of the programs I applied for and it came down to University of Oklahoma vs. UPenn. It was actually a hard decision, since OU really has the best Native health focus in the country IMO, but in the end, UPenn is a much better fit for me overall and it has amazing resources. It's going to be really hard leaving my current job though.

I spent a semester there in 2007. They were a decent place to live for a short time. It's very 70s and the rooms reflect their age. I had one of the single rooms with shared bathroom. The room itself was a decent size and it was high enough in the building for the street noise to be negligible. It's very institutional, and if I had to do it again, I'd bring my own bed. But they are very conveniently located. Also, for graduate housing, there sure are a lot of undergrads.

Just committed to Penn this morning. I spent a semester there as an undergrad, so I'm sort of familiar with the area, but I was living on campus, so I'm in the same boat as far as finding a place to live. Really looking forward to it though.

Well, I got into one top school for anthro, but I'd imagine my cv is pretty different from most others. GRE: 640 V, 770 Q, 4.5 AW. UGPA 3.71 with a 3.63 in anthro major. With three different schools attended over 9 years to finally receive the degree. So, definitely not a traditional academic background. I did two internships during undergrad, one with a federal health agency and one at UPenn's museum of archaeology and anthropology. So I am super familiar with the faculty and resources available at Penn and I think that is what really helped me. My references are from my undergrad degree school which is a tiny public liberal arts college with almost no name recognition. But one of my references is also good friends with some UPenn people, so that may have helped. Probably my most unique attribute is that I've spent the last three years working in research for a Tribal health organization in Alaska with my community of interest. So, I think it's just a case of right experiences at the right time.

Just Brown. But regardless of the response, I think I know where I'll be.

Just got the rejection email seconds ago. Guess I'm not waiting anymore!

Anyone heard anything more from Princeton? This whole waiting thing is overrated.

Anyone heard anything lately?

Yes. I'm waiting to hear back from two other schools, but I can't imagine getting a better offer. I do have two fellowship applications out, so there is the possibility that I'll get outside funding and there might be a spot opened up because of that, but I'm not sure how they decide those things.

I heard on Saturday morning. Best wake up call ever. I think they're taking one person from each subfield and the prof I talked with said there were 170 applications for cultural anthro. I'd heard earlier this year that they were only taking 4 students, so I knew it was a complete longshot, but somehow the stars seem to have aligned for me. Sorry to all that didn't get the call, but we all have our disappointments. I didn't get an interview for the MIT HASTS program which had been one of my top choices.

I took a class in cedar weaving last month. I think I'm addicted. If anyone is familiar with Northwest Coast Native art, it was in the Haida-style. Sort of like these baskets but mine are not at all pretty. It's a very good hobby for someone that wants to really focus on one thing for a long time. It's really let my brain turn off which I totally need.

I'll be working, like I've been for the last two years. Two of our biggest grants have finished the data collection phase so we're frantically writing up results. There's some interesting things happening, so I hope it distracts me from the whole waiting process. I'm up for a anthro book club! I haven't had much of a chance to read anything but stuff related to our projects in a long time. Though I did just join an Alaska Native issues focused book club here.

The graduate student housing, while convenient (next to WaWa!) was very barebones and dark compared to the undergrad housing on campus. It served its purpose, I suppose, but its atmosphere was not conducive to studying in my opinion. However, the rooms were large and were all pretty much singles with shared bath or shared bath/kitchen. If you did go that route, I would try to get in one of the suites with kitchens. I was without for the semester, so it was dining halls for me. Which were actually not that bad, but there wasn't one in the grad housing. And really, grad housing is a misnomer, since a lot of the people in there are undergrads. I will say the noise level wasn't bad. The laundry facilities are in a very depressing and creepy basement. If I had to live there again, I could deal, but it's my impression that there is affordable housing near the campus. Probably not in Center City, but very close to the campus.

I did an REU project at the museum, so I can answer general questions about the department. I've been in touch with several of the faculty members that I worked with previously and I do think there is some activist and/or applied things going on, though it doesn't seem to be a departmental focus. We only worked with a few of the grad students, but there did seem to be a lot of things happening on campus. There's also a lot of opportunities for collaboration within the museum especially. From what I've heard, the funding situation is still the same, though the number of students accepted may be smaller than in previous years. All PhD students are offered a fellowship with teaching obligations and a liveable stipend. I lived in the grad student housing on campus which was very convenient but not the best situation. I started the topic to hopefully get impressions from others outside the department re:reputation. I'm a little close to the department.

I just finished my application this afternoon! It was down to the wire, but I managed it with hours to spare, which is quite a feat since right now my work is insane. My primary field is social science - cultural anthropology. Now it's just poking my reference people to get those letters done!

Hey far_to_go, I was considering the Javits fellowship but the due date was just a little bit too soon. I'm still waiting for transcripts and my GRE scores just arrived yesterday. But I am applying for the Ford diversity fellowship and the NSF GRFP. I might try for the Javits next year.

Is anyone going to be at the AAA conference in December? I've been thinking about attending, but it is pretty late in application season. To those who have attended, what is the atmosphere like at this conference? Most of the academic conferences I've been to have been relatively small and focused on a very small topic (i.e. ELSI issues related to genomic medicine, indigenous health research, Alaska Native research). Is there time in a conference this large to set up meetings with potential advisors, professors with interesting work, etc.? I won't be able to visit programs but if I'm in Philly, I could check in with people at Penn and possibly Princeton.

It was a happy surprise yesterday to open my email and see a message from a potential advisor asking if we could set up a time to talk about their program and how I could best put together a strong application. It's at one of my reach schools, but I'm very familiar with the department and faculty since I did an NSF REU at their museum of archaeology and anthropology. Anybody been in this situation? What are the types of questions I should be asking?

I'm looking at PhD and MPH/PhD programs. I think I've got my list of schools narrowed down, but I'd hate to rule out anything at this point. How many programs do people in Anthropology usually apply to?

Ooh, thank you. I hadn't looked at Wisconsin, but I will now.

Anyone have insight into this program? I'd love to hear other people's thoughts.