fossilfinder

I was rejected from all the Ph.D programs (5) that I applied to in 2012. I was in the process of finishing a combined BS/MA from a well ranked anthro program, had good GRE verbal/quantitative scores, but a very poor writing score. At the point of applying, I did not have my master's thesis ready to send as my writing sample and used a term paper from a graduate level course instead. I also submitted an NSF GRFP app. I ended up getting 2 interviews but ultimately no acceptances. While I had contacted all the POI's ahead of time, it turned out that at least one thought they could take a student and then couldn't. I intended to apply to more places this year (2013), but only ended up finding 4 that I liked, 2 of which had rejected me the year before. I hastily retook the GRE, but only minimally improved my writing score. However, I had my finished thesis and a job doing research in my subfield and had done a conference presentation. I set up visits to two schools that I applied to (which I did not have the means to do last year), and had a formal interview with one school. I tightened up my personal statement, got the same people to write me letters of recommendation and crossed my fingers. This year, thankfully, I got into my top choice program which had rejected me last year. My tip is to contact POI's, get your name on their radar whether it's an email, phone call or visit.