Hi Anthro people!!
First post here - thought I'd say hi after all these lurking around. Wow, haven't used internet forums for a loooong time (brings back memories of collegeconfidential madness back when I was applying to undergrad, and Harry Potter forum madness wayyyyy back in....the 90s...). Anyways, good to know there's a place where I can freak out together with fellow anthro applicants I'll also be applying for Fall 2010 - Ph.D. and some MA (Cultural Anthro...eek I'm seeing a lot of competition/enemies...I mean colleague/friends on this board...)
What I have done so far:
*SOP draft - spammed friends to proofread. Most of my friends are science and engineering though, and they find my SOP very...hazy and abstract. I decided to focus more on my conceptual interests (along the lines of transnationalism) rather than concrete research topic at a specific place (my region of interest is kind of...all over the place and getting out of control...hence the "nomad" username) so I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. meh. I might spam you guys for ideas next time I get the writer's block
*secured LORs (not TOO confident about how strong they would be...but should be okay)
*registered for some school's online application (just setting up passwords and filling out name and address...and stuff. but makes me feel like I'm doing something productive)
*emailed a bunch of potential advisors - not much response. some heartbreaking replies like "aww, I'm not taking students" very positive reply from my absolute TOP choice, but super competitive program so can't be too happy about it =/ I probably should email some more professors though. I've heard mixed opinions about this, but it seems like establishing contacts with professors is very important indeed...
*took the GRE: V high 500s (um...international student, is my excuse, but I was getting 600+ for powerprep! wahh) / Q low 700s (lack of math education for the past 4 years, mixed with my Asian "inherent" math instinct) / awa 4.5. gah! screw you awa! - overall, somewhat mediocre, especially for some of the top programs I'm considering. But after massive googling and lurking on thegradcafe, I've decided against retaking it - at least for now. I don't think I can improve my scores that much anyway...
*read all 38 pages of last year's official freaking-out thread. ugh I realized I'm a little too optimistic and calm right now...it gets ugly around February huh.I need to go over the list of schools and add some more safeties...
hehe anyways, that was my brief (?) introduction. Nice meeting you folks! I'll be around
*goes back hiding underwater*