lurkingnomad

hmm so someone heard back from yale huh? iiiiiiiiiinteresting...=/

I have been unbelievably happy about the UCLA acceptance for the past few days, but I honestly don't think I was any more qualified than others on GC. Probably my strongest point was that my academic record/research/work experience etc were super coherent and focused, so my resume and transcript clealrly matched the stuff I outlined in my SOP. Took some time off after graduation and got a cool work experience abroad, double major (anthro and one other relevant to subfield), strong language background, might be some of the things that helped. Meh well...dunno. The admission process is so mysterious I really don't know if this is what the school liked about. Perhaps medical anthro might have been more competitive since they have a good med school there...In the end, though, it just seems that I got lucky. I'm not religious but I tagged along with my friends and went to a Christian church AND a Buddhist temple in one week. Maybe that was it (?) Other stats: -Didn't really have one professor with a PERFECT research match, but instead had several professors that had some kind of overlap with my interests. -Last summer I did email one POI with the strongest match, who seemed to know well & think highly of my undergrad advisor (LOR writer) Undergrad was sort of a "brand name" school too... -I think my SOP was solid - showed it to one anthro prof who told me it was good. Been working on it since last June and rewrote like... 40 times >_< -Submitted excerpt from honors thesis as my writing sample. Wasn't really published or anything, but all the anthro people I've shown it to thought it was awesome. So...I guess it was good? -GRE/GPA were mediocre (GRE barely in the 1300s but not a native speaker, GPA 3.7 seems good, but not really with grade inflation) This is actually my only notification so far...absolutely NOTHING from the 6 other schools I applied to! (judging from the results search, a lot of likely rejects - I applied to Michigan/Duke/Harvard but haven't heard back). I really don't need any other offers though - I know I'll be really happy here =)

...Reminded me of this >_< http://dealbreaker.com/2009/10/jeffrey-chiang-will-be-receivi.php Oh the scary world of bankers...I mean it's indeed unethical faking it and the applicant shouldn't have done that, but it's also really sad how the whole story/email was spammed around and ended up online Profs can't be that mean...right? ...right?? (then again, grad school application is pretty much like finding a job anyway..)

Another Broadway fan here...Waylance, lol your list is soooo perfect Reminded me of... How do I go back to college? I don't know who I am anymore! I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door! Ohhh... I wish I could just drop a class... Or get into a play... Or change my major... Or f*** my T.A. I need an academic advisor to point the way! We could be... Sitting in the computer lab, 4 A.M. before the final paper is due, Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner, And seeing the rest of the class there, too! I wish I could go back to college! How do I go back to college?! AHHHH... (also from Avenue Q)

aww I like this thread I like it so much that it made me come out of my lurking (for the past...3 months..) Good: parents, massive online spamming (emails to LORs, etc. fb status would be along the lines of "omgomgomgomgomgomgomg=D=D=D=D" and then wait for comments like "what happened?" "good news?") Bad: commit online suicide (i.e.turn off my internet) and probably not tell anyone for the next month until I recover

btw UMich says Statement of Purpose (1000-1500 words) Personal Statement (1000 words maximum) so seems like it would be around (little less than) 2500 total as well... When they ask for longer statements like this, I'm guessing they want both the gradschool-ish "research proposal" section AND the more personal/casual part like the undergrad admission?? hmm

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*