Meglet

My experience last year was that when other people heard back and I didn't, it pretty much meant I was out. Except... Last year I saw people get acceptances and rejections from Oregon, and I heard nothing. It ended up meaning that I was on the waitlist. They ultimately didn't have a spot for me, but at least I was in the running. So for those of you who haven't heard anything from Brown, I would guess you're on the waitlist.

Thanks, guys, this is super helpful! Unfortunately, none of 3 professors I've tried so far have lists of their grad students on their CVs, and the university libraries are less than forthcoming since I'm not an actual student yet. Thinking about work arounds and other strategies...

So, I've been wondering if there's a quick and easy resource for figuring out potential advisors' track record, citation statistics, etc.. Is there? Or is it down to googling the professor and asking the program and current students questions?

Thanks, everyone! I theoretically speak advanced German, but it's honestly pretty rusty as I haven't used it since college. Beginning to Lower Intermediate Arabic, which I mean to start brushing up on to get to a solid intermediate before I start my program. Basic Spanish and Italian...I suspect having a foundation in Arabic helps me, as does the fact that I can clearly do well with foreign languages in general. I also meant to mention that since finishing my MA, I've been teaching ESL for adults, scoring ESL tests, and for the past few years teaching high school history. The teaching experience is probably attractive to some programs. BUT, I don't really have much research experience. My MA had a dissertation (flipped terminology in the UK), but it didn't involve field work. I've never done any internships or anything, and I only took 2 basic anthropology courses through UNM online. So hopefully that's encouraging to some people coming from non-anthropology backgrounds, without research experience, etc. I feel like reading a bunch of anthropology books and going to the AAA conference this fall gave me a much better feel for how to write my SOP after last year's failures. And for my fellow applicants to Boston University, based on the past few years, we probably shouldn't expect to hear until the very end of February or beginning of March.

Now that I've gotten a second acceptance (Indiana!) and I know the first one wasn't just a fluke, I'll share. I'm pretty un-anonymous in my username, picture, etc, so I'm not too concerned about sharing. Undergrad: Pretty unrelated (technical theater, German studies, minor in Art History), respected small liberal arts college, 3.68 GPA, finished 12 years ago (ouch) MA in Middle Eastern Studies from SOAS in 2007, with distinction GRE: 170 V/156 Q/5.0 AW At the two schools where I've been accepted so far, plus two others, I proposed research on belly dance and cultural appropriation, and I'm a semi-professional belly dancer with 13 years of dance experience. At three of the schools I applied to, I proposed researching why Muslims in Scotland are highly likely to identify as Scottish, when very few of them in England identify as English, suggesting that it has to do with particular narratives of history and identity constructed to highlight their difference from the shared colonizer (England). I don't have much on my CV that ties me to Scotland, just a personal obsession and 3.5 years living in the UK, so it will be interesting to see if I get any acceptances on that project.

Broadly: Middle East, Muslims, Identity, Performance, History I proposed 2 different projects to the various schools I applied to, so it will be interesting to see if I get any acceptances for the other research proposal. Sadly I don't think it's that simple. I did a LOT of stalking the forums and results board last year, and here are a few of my conclusions: -Not all schools do interviews - e.g. I don't remember seeing any posts on the results about Berkeley interviews last year, just admissions in mid to late February. There were definitely a few schools I applied to that just sent acceptances and rejections without interviews. -Some schools do (Northwestern definitely seems to always interview) and if you see a solid history of interviews on the results board plus someone getting an interview this year, you can probably cross that school off your list. - Just because some people report acceptances from a school and you didn't get one doesn't mean you're out of the running. Some people report their POI emailing them about the department's recommendation to admit them, which isn't an official admittance yet, and can come at different times if notification is left to the whims of individual professors' schedules. Also, you could be on the wait list. Last year, I saw people post acceptances and rejections from University of Oregon, and I heard nothing until I finally emailed them in early April, at which point they told me that I had been waitlisted (but they forgot to tell me), but they could now tell me that all applicants had accepted and there was no spot for me. I really wish there was more definitive information out there, or some way to make our waiting less tortuous.

2 calicos. Some day I'll be a true crazy cat lady with more than that, but not until we own a house. And thanks everyone!

Does spending the evening with my cats and looking at real estate porn count?

An acceptance! I got into University of Arkansas! Funding is TBA, but after straight rejections last year, this is super exciting!

As one of the people who was frequently commenting on last year's thread...I feel much better about my applications this year than last year. There's also been more going on in my life, which hasn't allowed me much time to be on the forums. This year's posts also seem less social, and people are asking less advice/opinions. I have been successfully distracted, but now I'm starting to get nervous...

And done with my applications! This year I've had no time to spend on the forums while I worked on the applications, but I have a feeling I'll turn here for support/co-dependency now that the waiting has begun.

Oh man...here I am again. I applied last fall and, although I was wait-listed at one school, I ultimately didn't get in anywhere. This turns out to be good because I needed to stay where I am for family reasons. Anyway, I am reapplying to some of the same schools as last year, but not all of them, and thinking about 2 schools that are good fits but got axed from last year's list partially because of their location. Still trying to refine the list, and I think I want to apply to less schools and spend less money. I do dream of Berkeley, but I am on the fence about how good a fit it is for me. I emailed all of the professors I was interested in working with last fall, and overall didn't find it very helpful or productive, BUT... When I didn't get in at my top choice school, I emailed that professor again asking if she could give any feedback on how to improve my application, and she was very helpful. Because of that, now I am trying to get through a massive reading list to change the framework of my proposed project, because I have a deficit in anthropological theory - BA in Theater and German and MA in Middle Eastern Studies. At least I don't need to retake the GRE.

I called the department contact person last Thursday, and they haven't called me back. I called the Grad school, they called me back, and said that the department was holding off on certain decisions and couldn't tell me anything. Hmmm...

Does anybody have any idea why the Duke Cultural Anthropology decisions are taking so long? It sounds like it's much later than they ever anticipated, since the website says they usually invite admitted applicants for a visit in March. March is almost over!

I applied to Ford, but I don't qualify for NSF because of my teacher certification.