Meglet

I can't speak to Oxford, but I got my MA at SOAS (University of London) a few years ago. Here's what I know: 1. Nope, at least SOAS didn't for MA programs. I don't remember exactly when I found out, but I think it was May or June. I had only applied to the one program, so it didn't screw me up too badly - either I was going or I wasn't. Part of this was that they did rolling admissions with a pretty late final deadline. If your Oxford program has an actual deadline around the same time as US programs, maybe it will be different. 4. Within academia, I'm not sure. When I was finishing up my degree, the UK started a new scheme to give 1 (and then 2) year work visas to graduates of UK universities at any level. I stayed as long as I could, but ended up temping and teaching English. I found a lot of people were hesitant to hire me when I couldn't guarantee how long I would be in the country and stay at a job. Ironically, they would have just had to hire me and pay me more than 20k per year to qualify me for another visa, but nobody seemed to be OK with that. 5. Tricky. I guess distinction if you can't leave it blank. http://www.ten-percent.co.uk/conversion-table-for-us-gpa-to-uk-class-degrees

Let's do it via PM. Mine's ready.

A lot of the transcript requirements I look at say something along the lines of 'every institution you attended full-time for a year or more, or where you earned 12 or more credits'. Especially since the classes aren't related to your application, they're not going to know or care.

I see a lot of ads for professors looking for expertise in visual anthropology, but I'm not sure how newly emergent that is.

This blog has links to overall program rankings, plus an explanation of how they work and why they aren't all that meaningful. But the NRC rankings will give you an idea of which schools have good reputations for anthropology in general, which can be a good place to start. http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology/2010/10/01/national-research-council-rankings-anthropology/

I don't have indiscretions in my academic career, although I do have a lot of indecisiveness. And I'll be 33 in a few weeks, so I'm going with 'it's never too late'. You'll never know if you don't try.

I think it depends on what you want to do. I did an MA in Middle Eastern Studies, with only a vague idea that I wanted to increase intercultural understanding. Without a political background and internships, the degree wasn't enough to get me into think-tank, NGO, or government jobs. I really wanted to be a professor, but couldn't admit that to myself at the time, so now I'm applying to PhD programs in anthropology (with a focus on the Middle East). If you have the other background to do what you want to do, a degree might pay off, or it might not be necessary. Or it might be worth getting a degree in a more traditional discipline but focusing on the Middle East - I figure that gives me more options for finding jobs, because I qualify for 2 departments. I'm not sure what my PhD chances would be if I hadn't done the MA, but the whole thing is definitely less of a financial risk if you can get your degree paid for, which is more likely at the PhD level. But if you don't want to be a professor, a PhD might not make the most sense. If you don't know more specifically what you want to study and/or what you want to do career-wise, the suggestion to take (or audit) a few classes at a local school might help you figure it out, as well as strengthening your application if you decide to go that route.

For me, the Manhattan strategies on reading comprehension helped tweak my scores up the last couple points I wanted. Just because we're smart and know how to read doesn't mean we know how they want us to approach the questions, unfortunately. I think the strategy stuff on vocabulary and math was also helpful, but to me it was the inference questions that needed to be approached in a way I wasn't used to. If you're not sure where your scores are lowest, the Manhattan practice tests give you break downs that help you figure out what to target. Maybe do one a week and focus your studying on the things you scored worst in.

That's an interesting way of thinking about it - thanks!

You are not stupid! I know ETS has a whole department to try to prevent cultural bias, but those tests still really aren't fair to people who don't speak English as their native language and/or come from other countries. I don't know about how helpful prep courses are - I have a friend who teaches one, and when she gave me some tips this fall I found that most of her information was outdated. If you decide to retake it, try the Manhattan prep study guides? I found their strategy stuff helpful, because part of it is also knowing what ETS is looking for and how they want you to approach questions - especially the reading comprehension.

I mean, Statement of Purpose is kind of a misnomer for what most of them are actually asking for. Maybe it's different in sciences, but all of the anthropology apps are generally asking for a statement of what you want to study and how your background is relevant to your research interests and plans. I'm not saying I think we'll get a common app - I know it would be hard to get people to give up their little quirks. And I'm not having any trouble managing my time, but when I go through 8 applications that do ask for almost exactly the same thing, it feels stupid and inefficient.

I am applying to Stanford. Didn't see a GRE minimum - I saw Magoosh's post on averages for students admitted to the top 10 social science programs (165 V/155 Q) and decided that was all I needed to know.

Maybe they figure all that writing will be good practice. Or scare us away?

I've just started all the applications I'm planning on submitting - I have time while I wait for feedback on my SoP, and I want to make sure there's nothing extra that's going to catch me off guard. I'm glad I did, by the way, because I need to submit a short essay for FLAS with my Berkeley app. And also because applying to BU for undergrad WAY back in 1998 is creating complications in creating an application account that may take a few days to resolve. So start all the online applications early, even if you're not going to upload your statements until the last minute! Anyway... They all want almost exactly the same information - name and contact info, education history, transcripts, a little work history, CV, writing sample, statement of purpose, 3 letters of rec...we really should just move to a common app system where the SoP only talks about your background and research interests/plans, and then for each school you have to submit a short addendum about why their program is right for you.

Manhattan has some really helpful tips about reading comprehension questions, especially the ones that deal with inference: They're not looking for you to make any inferences that require any real thinking or reading between the lines. Correct answers are basically going to be slight rewordings of the text. If you can't justify every single word in an answer with evidence in the text, it's not correct.

I found the ETS guide best for understanding what was going to be on the test (not all of the prep companies have updated their materials!). The strategies in the Manhattan guides also helped me tweak my scores and understand better what certain question types were looking for. ETS practice tests are the most accurate, and the Manhattan ones are killer, plus not always well-written.

I have a friend who teaches prep classes, and she told me that students who aren't great writers need to be warned away from picking something in the middle because they can sound wishy-washy. Maybe your instructor just gives that advice as a default? I think you should just write about whatever your real opinion is. If you try to force things one way or the other, it will make your writing harder. And yeah, sometimes the prompt statements are pretty extreme, so going to one end of the spectrum or the other without any allowance for the other side wouldn't portray you as a nuanced thinker.

PowerPrep I: 169 V/154 Q Manhattan I: 168 V/152 Q ETS Paper I: 170 V/158 Q (untimed) ETS Paper II: 170 V/162 Q (untimed) PowerPrep II: 170 V/155 Q Manhattan II: 166 V/152 Q Actual Scores: 170 V/156 Q I think the Manhattan Prep materials are useful, but the practice tests are harder, and not always well-written.

You can definitely improve in three weeks - that's when I did most of my studying (apart from the re-learning math). I found the strategy information in the Manhattan Prep guides to be most helpful in raising my scores. And I agree with everyone else - it sounds like the main thing you need is to figure out how to get your anxiety under control. Good luck!

Screw the quantitative GRE - we don't need it!

You're on. :-D

Maybe Cambridge just has deep-seated control issues stemming from a traumatic childhood. I would generally say no kitties=no me, but the UK pet immigration websites were so poorly done that it was only a month or so before I was scheduled to fly over that I figured out the cost. I had already gone the microchipping, etc.

Sure. I've got one done and am starting to redo it for other schools, so let me know when you're ready.

That sounds like a great project, and I'm sure it will impress them that you're going out and doing fieldwork on your own! My only advice would be to maybe find a few more programs to apply to. Good luck on your GREs today!

I went to a master's program in the UK, and ended up having to leave my cats in the US with my mom (thankfully I have them back now). I lived off campus and cats were allowed, but there was this whole expensive (like $800 per cat) health-check process for avoiding the 6 weeks of quarantine that I just couldn't afford. Anyway, I'm super jealous of your dual-citizenship!