Canis

Yeah, I'm officially on-board to label this the dumbest part of the entire admissions process - that they can't just email us the letters as soon as they have the decision. SO ANNOYING.

I'm still waiting for the details on funding - but now I'm deciding between the freezing cold of Western Mass - and the ARCTIC cold of Newfoundland. It's my own fault for not applying for any programs south of New England.

Just got a very nice email from Memorial University in Newfoundland that they're recommending me for admission, it was really sweet and gave the names of my adviser and committee who are all my POIs. Yes, I kind of want to move out there because it's so remote and strange and such a unique landscape! And because they have great funding packages - but waiting to hear what mine is.

What I love about Oregon is that it's green all year, and you're an easy drive to the beautiful coast, or the sunny central high mountain desert. I'm really uncertain about more time with these long, grey, dead tree northeastern winters! Depends on how quickly I can get through the PhD if I'm in western mass. Regarding where to do your MA, be careful because a lot of schools don't want their own MA students, so it's not usually a good idea to do a terminal MA at the school you intend to apply for PhD.

This is a great question. Part of the problem is just that you are best able to write about the research you have done. I had this issue with my MA, when applying to PhD programs I could really only write convincingly about my MA research. you'll have the same issue when applying for post-docs and for jobs and for teaching positions.

anyone care to claim the Canadian York admit? and congratulations!

Still waiting to hear from schools but should have all results in the next two weeks. I'm really excited about UMass because during my first year I would be able to spend 1 semester doing funded field work overseas to work out dissertation ideas. I'm hoping for a few more good offers before deciding though. Regarding the above post, I would so much rather live in Corvallis than anywhere else, such a beautiful area and state! I wonder how much location is figuring into everyone's decisions? PS and Washington also, so beautiful in the Pacific Northwest!

Talked to York anthropology and they'll be making first offers next week, then a week after students who aren't admitted will hear back by mail. Wait-listed students will only hear after the students offered places decide.

https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Great idea for an MA, but CUNY doesn't fund anthro MAs anyway - but for a PhD, no way. There's next to no chance of a real job after an anthro PhD anyway, taking any debt to get one is a pretty rotten idea. There is a school out there who will offer a funded position if you keep trying.

One thing that Grad Center does, also, is admit students who can pay their own way. So, they will ask you if you can afford to just pay, and historically have even made admission offers to people because they knew that student wouldn't need any aid. So, it's possible that those other students have other scholarships, grants, or just come from money. Or they expressed a willingness to go into crazy debt...

Anyone else apply to York for Anthropology? Last year they met and sent first acceptances this week - wondering if anyone has heard anything or reached out to find out the timeline. Thanks!

It's a wonderful department - the faculty are amazing and some are at the top of their area. But historically the funding has been terrible - and students have had to work so much they don't have time for much else, while still being on food stamps. Now, the funding packages are better for sure - so that's a big improvement - but I've spent a while living in NYC and it's only getting more expensive here every day. The average studio apartment is at LEAST $1300 a month. If you're lucky and you find shared housing you can make it, I was paying $360 a month to share a room in a 4 bedroom apartment, but it was 1 hour commute from school. For the city I would budget minimum $700/month for rent (and that's pushing it and assuming you're sharing a place and living at least 1 hour from school), at least $100/month for your MTA (subway) pass, $15/month internet, $20/month electricity, a few hundred each semester in fees that the don't waive, let's say $600 year. With a 25k package, that's 2083/month, minus the expenses above that leaves $1198/month for food, books, technology, etc. It can be done - but rent is the real killer - finding the cheapest rent possible is the only way to survive as a student in the city. And you run the risk of trying to live off of meals you eat when you're out teaching or at school in midtown - where everything is low quality bagels and pizza OR insanely expensive for the high quality stuff. Find cheap rent and ALWAYS bring your food from home, and you might just make it.

The reason CUNY accepted so few is that they're now giving a $25k/ 5 year package to every incoming student. So they probably have 13 of those to give for anthro this year. They're trying really hard to get people to finish more quickly by funding better. But honestly $25k in NYC is like $15k anywhere else. Before they started giving out these $25k packages to every student, almost 1/2 the cohort was unfunded. Currently students are teaching 4-5 classes a year for their support - but they're cutting that back to 2 classes. If you get one of the fellowships you're set for 5 years at CUNY - but as a result they're dramatically cutting back admissions. I got my MA at CUNY and was actually discussing this with a current student in the anthro PhD program there today. I can also tell you that CUNY's grad student union is awful because it doesn't exist. It's all under PSC-CUNY, the faculty union, and grad students get totally shafted. They're fighting as hard as they can, but they are abused and used as contingent adjunct labor in a really awful way with very few rights. Hopefully the situation will be a bit better with these new funding packages.

If you want the most flexibility, get another Mac. You can dual or triple boot Windows, Linux and Mac OS easily and have all three operating systems available if needed. In my experience the majority of anthro faculty may have a university provided PC on their desk, but their personal machine is a mac.

I noticed there was another acceptance for UMass on the list. I would love to talk over things, share what we're learning from POIs and students and so on about funding, living there, etc as we make decisions. Anyone care to chime in here? Also feel free to PM me!

There have been five UofT anthro rejections posted. I posted one of them - if you have questions I'd be happy to answer! If they're about identifying info, just PM me.

Noticing the CUNY acceptances with fellowships - are you guys getting the 5 year fellowships? How much are they offering? Anyone who cares to share details, It would be really interesting to know how all the offers are comparing (In fact I think sharing details about offers empowers us to make better decisions, to negotiate more, and so on, but that's another post!)

Considering it!

Any other UMass Amherst acceptances out there? Got my funding letter and would be interested in comparing the offers to see if it's standard - also anyone with UMass experience, please PM me - It seems like the funding has gotten much better, but I would love to talk to any current students. Thanks!

I wonder what's up with the Amherst rejections? I'm really curious why they're doing rejections before acceptances...

True - I've had really close relationships with my POIs and they were really enthusiastic - so I've been holding back to give them time to figure things out. Of course if it's an outright rejection, you're right, it's good to just know! Wish all the schools would post the decisions online!

My University of Toronto status changed online today to "Decision Made" - but I haven't received anything in the mail and the online doesn't tell you. For those who applied - I noticed some folks were getting rejections by mail (which might take a while) - have any of you heard about waitlisting?

Got my first acceptance today! UMass Amherst, my POI confirmed the acceptance this morning and said I should be getting formal offer/funding info soon.

ditto. mine still says 'under review' and I'm not sure if that's a rejection or a waitlisting...