CIIP

A lot of the answers depend on the subfield. What is yours?

Congrats, StudyMom!

Haha, awesome, thanks! I don't have any specific questions in mind at the moment, but if anything comes up... I was just surprised that I didn't run into more people online who are applying to SUNY Buffalo, in any field. It's a big school, so I thought I'd see more applicants.

1. If the school made clear (in my department acceptance letter) when the funding decisions would be made, and by what means (post), should I just wait, or should I contact someone? The letter said the dept. would start making decisions in late March, so of course I was hoping to hear right away! 2. Not a question, but more of an irritation is that everything is in the balance right now with me waiting for funding, but to make matters worse, I am watching people with funding in place make plans to move and all of the big prep stuff that comes with starting at a new school. Frustrating. It makes me feel inferior to them that I don't have any clue about funding, even though I know it's just a difference in the way our schools/programs are run.

Good advice on what to address in the initial contact; thanks! So, along these lines... my advisor is on sabbatical until next fall. Normally I'd prefer to call, but if he doesn't have any classes this semester, I'd probably have better luck reaching him via email than via office phone, don't you think? I just don't want to receive a nasty email! N.B. - I had been in contact with a faculty member during the application and asked him to be my advisor, and then the school assigned me a different advisor. His research looks interesting, and I'm sure I'll be able to work with the other faculty member, but I'm not as jazzed about advisors as I was at the beginning of this process. Which is why I still haven't contacted my advisor (but I plan on doing so this week.)

I only applied to SUNY Buffalo (archaeology, Ph.D.). I'm in, but I'm still waiting for funding. Right now I'm trying to decide if I will go if I don't get funding. Let's hope I don't have to make that decision! I didn't see anyone else applying to the program at SUNY Buffalo on this forum or, well, anywhere that nervous, potential grad students congregate online. But, does anyone know of any friends or acquaintances that applied to the anthro program there? I'm just curious.

Thanks for the advice, but I've got it under control. I am not packing my bags to move to the school just yet, and I realize that waitlisting and no funding are real possibilities...

Yeah, I figured that was why they were saying decisions might be made so late. I'm not particularly worried about it, because they said they wouldn't start making funding decisions until late March. If I don't hear anything by mid-to-late April I'll assume I am waitlisted for funding, but as far as I know now, no one in the department has received notification of funding.

Archaeology; primarily North American archaeology (complex societies) and a focus on ethics, US law and collaborative archaeology. How about you? Here's hoping for getting funding soon. :wink:

In my field, it's pretty rare to be accepted to a Ph.D. program without some sort of funding. English Ph.D. programs are more popular than anthropology, so I'm sure that might up the chances of acceptance w/o funding. But when my friend's husband went straight from undergrad to grad school for an English degree, he was rejected or accepted to MA programs if they didn't have funding for him, rather than accepted and then turned down for funding. It's not true across the board, but it might make you a bit more hopeful.

Congrats. I did my undergrad at Pitt, so I might be able to answer some of your questions, though obviously not too much about graduate school. It's a good school, Pgh. is a great and relatively cheap city. Lots of nice neighborhoods and really friendly people. Feel free to ask any specific questions you might have!

I know. Plus, instead of the usual April 15 decision deadline, they want a confirmation by April 1. Oh, and the earliest I might hear is late March, so they basically expect every student to give intention with funding still up in the air. If my application process hadn't been so painless and if the staff and faculty hadn't been so prompt and just generally wonderful, I'd be seriously upset with this stunt.

I applied to only one school (stupid move!), and luckily got accepted, but now I'm waiting for funding info... they said decisions might not be made until May. MAY! :cry:

Just bumping this up; I think a lot of departments haven't given notice of financial awards yet (including mine... frustrating!), so there's probably lots of "potentials" just waiting until they know about funding.

I have a similar problem with my parents. I happened to be born to two college drop-out/slacker type that both happen to come from families of college educated parents and siblings. My parents understand college, understand the graduate school thing, because they lived through their siblings doing it, but still don't care. At all. When I called my mom to tell her I was accepted to a Ph.D. program, she said, "Congrats." And that was it. No excitement or even questions. She didn't even tell my father! (I mentioned it a few days later and his reaction was, "Oh, you got in?") Of course I'm not shocked, as that's been my entire college career. Applying to undergrad without parental input was so bewildering and frustrating that I was reduced to tears more than once. Like someone else mentioned, my undergrad professors were wonderful during my grad school application process, otherwise it would have just been a repeat of the undergrad situation. My parents value autodidactism, but I think organized education is the dullest thing they can imagine. They can't fathom why anyone would want to put themselves through 9+ years of unnecessary schooling. They'd be prouder if I was living in the mountains, building a house out of scraps of garbage and growing weed. They are pretty proud of my college drop-out brother that makes his living by busking.

Anyone? During my wait for a decision, I was all over grad boards and didn't see many other people applying to SUNY Buffalo. I'm 99.9% sure I'll be there; anthropology Ph.D..

Here's my situation, and I'd like opinions, if you'd be so kind. I wrote a detailed SOP, did not name any specific faculty members in the statement, but I had one in mind. I emailed him and asked if he would be my advisor; he agreed. When I received my acceptance letter from the department, they did not assign me the professor I have been emailing. That's fine, and I knew I was taking that chance when I didn't request a specific advisor from the outset. However, it's been less than a week since I've been accepted, and the school's website does state that students can request an advisor. It doesn't say this needs to be done before or during the application process. Additionally, the advisor I was assigned is on leave this semester. I am thinking that contacting him just to discuss things is going to be a little difficult. So, I was thinking of contacting the graduate coordinator and saying something like, "I was assigned Professor Y, but I have been in contact with Professor Z and he agreed to be my faculty advisor. I was just wondering if it is possible to switch advisors at this point, and if this switch is possible?" Sound good? Anyone else thinking about switching advisors? Anyone done it before? Thanks!