All About The Bones

If you fancy coming to England then UCL has a great MSc in Bioarchaeology (I am just finishing it). It is a year as with all British masters programs. Here is a link to the program's site: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/masters/summary/msc-skeletal.htm There are also programs at Durham, York, Bradford etc but the UCL one is awesome and being in London is great. Ohio State is also very good for Bioarchaeology, but I dont know whether it offers a terminal masters. Hope this helps a bit

I got this also, mostly I am amused by it. I love the idea that you can put everything you need to tell them about your educational background and hopes and why you would be good for the program in a 350-500 word statement, and yet they say its crazy competitive and the statement is really important?! Hummm. Maybe if you write it in Haiku you get in? It really seems like they are sending it when you may have lost hope and be a bit desperate but it really doesnt seem great, as Lise says, seems like a way to make money. Maybe its best to just wait and look into all the options for next year and not spend loads of money. Just my opinion, there is better out there it seems.

Congrats on your place! I am going to get a car, but I am not intending to use it to get to campus so have been looking at where to live near Emory etc. I am pretty certain I want to move to Decatur as it has houses and condos, loads of restaurants and stuff. There is also a free Emory shuttle which goes from the MARTA station there quite frequently by the look of it. Also as there is a MARTA station it will be easy to get into central Atlanta without the traffic jams (I am from London so tube links are quite important to me and I am reluctant to have to drive EVERY where). Anywhere closer than that just seems quite expensive for the sizes and I am keen to get some space after living in a tiny London flat. As Coya mentioned there are the Briarcliff apartments. They look nice on the website, I think in the city guide section someone said they were ok. They are pricey though. I was thinking about cycling but people have said Atlanta is seriously hot in summer? I think I will find somewhere that doesnt require biking and then see how I feel about the weather! AGH, I am so excited :) Also, Coya, good luck house hunting if you are still intending to go in May

Thought we should have a general thread (no offence Rollins people!)....I got an offer a little while ago in anthropology but it only just became official I am massively excited about starting, really wishing away the months (I am also excited that I get to have a proper summer for once and get out of rainy England!). Was just wondering who else is going, what subjects, where people were thinking of living (Decatur looks good?) etc etc.... Congrats to everyone!

I spend most of my time genuinely having no idea why the program I got into decided to take a chance on me, and feeling massively, ecstatically, giddily grateful that they did. In my more critical lucid moments however I, like many others, feel that the reason I got in is the applicability of my interests to the program I applied to and my preparation for the work there. I only got into one program out of the four I applied to. It was my top choice and I spent way more time thinking and working on this app than the others and I guess it showed. I think my international status helped a little also in that the British university system is so specific so early on that the amount of experience I have in my field is high. However being international could also be a major reason for my rejection from a state school where my experience would have been great as well. I also contacted people at each of the schools I applied to and got into a great conversation with the professor I will be working with, who helped a little with advice during the process. My numbers are average, 1300 GRE and I guess around 3.7 GPA (high 2:1 in the UK) and no grade as yet for my masters as it is only one year. My current school is good, and 2 of my letters of rec were from awesome people in my field, so that could have helped too. I guess therefore if I throw in my 0.02 of advice, I would say that you should only apply to places that you would really want to spend many years of your life in, rather than adding others to make up the app numbers (my 'safety' rejected me after all). Spending time finding a program that is ideal for what you have already done and what you want to do gives a better chance of acceptance than applying to loads of programs. Thats just my experience though, and if I had to do it again I am not sure I would have the balls to only apply to one or two places! Congrats to everyone who was accepted, good luck to those still waiting and commiserations to those who didnt make it this year

I think it is best not to take something that relies too heavily on personal taste/ style, and also to take something that will not make you feel awkward when you give it, if you take anything at all. I am going to an interview weekend tomorrow, and am taking some chocolates with me. I am coming from London, so its kinda like a local thing (I have found that our British chocolate is certainly different from American chocolate, better in my opinion but I am biased!). I got some bars for my hosts and a box for the rest of the faculty as I am meeting with loads of people but spending more time with some than others. I just personally feel like I want to take something, maybe its a cultural thing? Good luck with your interview

For what its worth I would say yes. I dont think it will hurt at all. I have a similar experience in that I got an award for some of my research just before chirstmas and after I had handed in all my apps. I updated my CV and phoned to ask if I could change it on their systems. I was unsure whether to bother, but as my current supervisor put it 'the worst it can do is bump your application in their memories'. Maybe put it in some form which can simply be updated in your file, such as a CV?

It does provide a certain sense of being knowing that you are crazy, but others are too! I think I will stick around too (although I am currently feeling so pessimistic that just writing this is hard) and loiter particularly in the international students section as it would have really helped me at the beginning. I am looking forward to being able to sleep properly and not getting a stomach ache just thinking about the possibilities though! Although I am sure I will start fretting over the logistics of moving country straight away though. Good luck to all

I third all the international applicant crazyness Anita and Beck. Apps just dont work well if you have something non-standard. I was a bit luckier as the only one of mine that wanted an entire history just wanted it by school period ie. primary, secondary etc. However it did want any breaks you have between school and what employment you were in. I took 3 years out before starting uni so I had to put in my rubbish jobs at Starbucks etc. I also got mega annoyed at boxes not being big enough. On one of the apps specified how to enter English degrees: upper class second division etc. but I could not fit it in. Also there is such a range in one class but you cant put that down either because the number is a percent but not really out of a hundred, so it looks bad when its not. Grr. I never encountered the phone number issue, if I had it may have sent me over the edge! Also why make international students hand in an app earlier than everyone else if you are not going to look at it seperately?!

Right now I would totaly take a mass email over silence on all fronts. I submtted quite early, but one of my schools was really good about keeping me in the loop about what was going on. However I have heard nothing from any of the schools now since early December. It makes me feel like I should mail the professors I contacted just to remind them I exist but all I would be doing is going 'Hello, remember our great conversations about how you liked my stats and area of interest?' not cool and I am sure more likely to do harm than good, right?! AGH! Psychdork you are right about the messing with our minds!

I guess you are right about them not wanting to torture us! It is my own fault really that I am getting so stressed from waiting as I handed in all my apps at the beginning of November so they didnt interfere with my MSc. However, the waiting panicing mania is now massively distracting me from said MSc. You live and learn (although I am only doing this app thing once so I guess I live to pass the knowledge on) Again, thanks for everyones help

Love it! On a related but not note, at Cambridge university they give out the final exam results by throwing them off a balcony and you have to catch it. Of course you can wait until they put the up on a board for the whole world to see (this is also after they have read them out in grade order to everyone gathered). I love tradition. Thanks for everyones help, I have been looking at last years results, I was kinda hoping someone had some magic answers

I know there have been several 'how long must we suffer?' posts, but I thought I would add my own, and am wondering if any one knows when the committees start meeting now things are beginning to get up and running again? Does anyone out there who is already attending know? I am trying so hard to concentrate on my essays due horribly soon, but I keep getting distracted by trying to find timetables and the like. I thought starting a topic would at least give me something else to check on a regular basis! Good luck to everyone waiting

I am currently doing an MSc in Bioarchaeology and going for a PhD in physical anthropology. I really love them, as everyone else loves their subject (why would we put ourselves through this if we didnt?!) If I could go back and do everything again, I would go way back to ~15 years old and start all the requirements to do medicine, more specifically surgery or pathology. I dont know if I would actually be capable of it but thats not the point of this right? Or, like UnlikelyGrad, I would go for astronaut, that would be fun.

This is an amazing book, I first read it a couple of years ago and have re-read it a few times since. I have a couple of essays to do over the break and so am reading about bone growth and fusion and cranial development. However, I am also reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. This is an excellent book for restoring confidence that you dont have to be born a supergenius to do well at something, just the boost I need though this emotionally-confusing soul-destroying time

Hehe, its never too late really, just a little inconvenient! They are pretty awsome, last term was slightly better as I had variation and evolution of the skull and morphology and palaeopathology. My lecturers are amazing as they are the best in Britain for this subject. However, the awsome-ness ends in the summer and I want more next year, I am not very good at waiting!

I am on a one year British masters, so my next term is my last teaching term, but then I have to write my dissertation over the summer, so IF (touch wood) I get in to grad school, I will have to finish it early as its not actually due till Sept. 15th. My courses next term are great though: Dental anthropology Methodology and issues in Bioarchaeolgy and palaeoepidemeology Zooarchaeology Seems like not much but each course has quite a lot of work, and I have to start the research for the dissertation. Along with the three essays I have over Christmas it should keep me occupied and busy during this horrendous waiting period!

This is also how I feel, I want to know so I can start sorting things out, know what I am doing and which continent I will be in next year and hopefully repare the damage done to my stomach during the stress of waiting. However, when I find out I haven't got in anywhere, thats it dream over. I am so confused right now!

I am also fed up of people who dont understand the stress and chaos of this process trying to have an opinion on it. I have a couple of 'friends' who just keep going "of course you will get in" without really having any idea what they are saying or how horrible and hard and rubbish and unknown this whole thing is. I think next time someone says it I may well hit them. Also in support of the international applicants asking questions, it really is tough doing this from a different system. However, it is so obvious that 1560 is a good score so there really is no need to just ask about that, the stuff we really need to know about is something only the schools can help with, and they dont. And breath, really must get back to writing my essay so I dont fail this year.......

I have been lurking around this forum for a bit but this has made me really feel the need to post. I do think that this sounds like a good substitute for the current test. However, I think that the reliance on any kind of standardised test is insane. I am from the British system and found the GRE horrendous, but I studied, didnt do great but didnt find it as bad as I thought given that I have not dont maths in any way for 8 years. I think that the problem ultimately lies in trying to pick people to participate in a program that lasts at least 5 years on the basis of tests rather than talking to them! PhD programs in Britain always interview, and whilst I prefer the US system generally (hence applying to it rather than to anything in the UK) the general admittance system seems so much better, why would you not want to talk to the people you are going to be working with and relying on teaching the undergraduate courses?! Anywho, revision is good but will it work and be fair is the main issue, as at the moment that is not the case. Feel free to ignore of course Just my personal view