Bschaefer

@museum_geek I felt the same way. I would be checking every day for the past week or so and finally just decided to begin it! *also this is open to those that are applying for Spring admission to programs too!*

Hey All! Since the fall semester for some of us is going to be starting up soon and I thought we could start this forum for the next round of applicants looking for help, advice, exchange ideas, and so forth. For my interests, primarily I study Andean Bioarchaeology and complement it with Forensic Anthropology - and will be applying to Vanderbilt, Brown, Harvard so far. I'm sure I will add more schools as the semester goes.

Hey, Requirements vary from university to university so I would suggest looking them up and noting any kind of differences; generally, programs require GRE scores, 3 letters of recommendation, Transcripts, Writing sample, and a letter of intent/ statement of purpose (LOI/SOP). Some may ask for other things but this is pretty standard. I would contact the graduate director and with ore questions though. Seeing your mock GRE exam scores, you should do fine and well within PhD admissions standards. I believe they generally look for above 300 combined. And I would ask about needing the TOEFL because you graduated from an English language secondary school and university in India, so it could be an exam you don't need to take and pay for. Universities also post student profiles with their interests and email and I think the best way to get a better idea about that. However email the graduate director and ask to be put in touch with some students etc.

Hey Peanut, Don't take the rejection personal, some schools only look to see if you meet dept. requirements and then give a thorough lookover of the application. Plus you'll have your experience in China too. In terms of recommenders, You should always ask for the to write a strong letter and send them both your CV and SOP. That can only help and improve it. Though you said you can't take them again, if you can or find a way to explain this, then do it. For your project, don't get bogged down - these change very frequently, if anything I would focus more on the theoretical or methodological platform for research in X culture. Applying to Masters is smart if you are still unsure about your long term future plans, but look for programs that offer Masters funding too. I know it's hard not to stres out about this but you just need to take it day by day

Also to add, professors could be out in the field collecting data and won't check their emails regularly leaving your email to accumulate in their inbox.

No problem!

Hey OrcaJoc, There are some that I am familiar with that offer funding, and the one that I'm currently at (Georgia State) has a professor that has done visual anthropology. Others you may want to look into are Mississippi State and West Florida. Otherwise my advice is to peruse the anth dept pages that has what you want since it is a little more specialized.

Yup, and no problem, drop me a PM and I can discuss further if you're interested!

I agree with @jamesaly, submit the one you think shows your best writing and that earned the best mark. Going back and combing through spelling and prose errors can only benefit you as well.

Georgia State would be a good choice as well, I have a few friends in my cohort that is interested in visual anth/culture and tourism. You may want to check us out, plus there are opportunities for funding.

No problem! Sorry - I'm just seeing this now. The regular loans have a significantly reduced interest rate compared to the Grad Plus Loans too. I forgot to mention that!

While I agree, I think that taking an Osteology course and if offered a Bioarchaeology methods/theory course too. Other courses I would recommend would be Palaeopathology, Human Evolution, and an archaeology that primarily deals with the Environment (I took Archaeology of Sustainable Culture and Biological Impacts on Civilisation). Most of the science you will learn in your Anth courses will suffice and from there you can decide whether taking more upper levels in Bio and Chem are the right choice, as @bioarch_fan has suggested. With that in mind, I other than Anth courses, I would suggest Anatomy and Physiology I and II if you can. I took both Orgo and Inorganic Chem in undergrad and thought that it was enough. Now I prep bone and teeth samples for Stable isotopes (light) and in the future (heavy) once the clean 1000 labs are up and running near by. Having minimal chem in no way makes me think that I am at a disadvantage or anything like that, plus there are ample articles that you can read about it. My final note is that, like what @bioarch_fan had said, it really depends on what aspect of bioarchaeology you are interested in. If you go to the Physanth meetings in Atlanta this year, sit through the bioarch meetings and see which ones are the most exciting to you. That's how my current adviser picked her area.

Mhm, well you always have the option to defer (in some cases per Uni) or not attend - study more for the GRE and get more practice/praxis in the field and apply next year. there is no shame nor disadvantage to doing so. Taking a year off and working in the relative area of your interest would be more practical in some ways. I would ask your advisor too, but doing nothing is better than doing the wrong thing as my undergrad advisor told me. You could also complete a masters at another Uni and matriculate to the PhD there too. You at least have options so don't think that a few rejections mean rejections across the board.

You should qualify to take out regular loans before the graduate Plus loans. At least I had that choice. I would check to see what is available and go from there. Otherwise, I would also see if there are funding opportunities in your dept. or other depts. because you will rack up immense debt living in the Bronx/NYC Lincoln center area (Sorry I can't remember which campus houses which).

I have a friend in my cohort that had below a 3.0 in undergrad but explained in her SOP that due to natural disaster (e.g. Katrina while in undergrad in MS/LA), how her comeback after taking a force leave, and ample field experience proved that her GPA didn't define her. Now, she's fully funded and currently excavating in Mexico for the semester

That's not bad, a lot of schools, but nonetheless you're a little more than 27% of rejection, but still have the 8 to hear back from. You could also ask the Graduate Director for more information about why you were not a successful applicant.

Where did you apply @Peanut? since you are sociocultural - they look more at the Verbal than quant. as oppose to Bioanth where quant is weighted a little more. I do know that schools have a 300 combined V+Q min. but it varies

Curious about the UGeorgia Admit, do you mind sharing your subdiscipline?

Obviously we have other areas within anthropology, not sure why I singled out Archaeology haha. But this is an option too

I'm currently doing my masters at Georgia State with a focus in Andean bioarchaeology. We also have mesoamerican and southwest archaeology though you can do topics outside. I deadline is in April I believe and there are funding opportunities too. http://cas.gsu.edu/graduate-studies/admissions/graduate-admissions-college-requirements/

Hey everyone, I was curious if anyone one, both successful applicant and not, could shed some light about what specifically they review committee is looking for in Sigma Xi grant proposals. I have to write a 'hypothetical' proposal for a Proseminar course. Since I'm writing one, I want to submit for the March deadline and was hoping to get any advice with writing it. Thanks!

I would contest it. My area is Bioarchaeology and intrinsically interdisciplinary and if I had a project and was told that it was the wrong category, then i'd be upset. Getting a letter from the director or one of the recommenders would be the best place to start

You would think that when uploading the documents that a formatting check would be conducted or that the documents are converted to the right format - or else not allowed to upload rather than waiting 4 months for a disqualification email. I guess that's just wishful thinking

I went from undergrad to grad immediately and just finished my first semester. The biggest thing that I can say academic-wise is that there is more onus on you as a student. Since you are in a research program, you should have your stuff together. You are more responsible than the undergrads and in a position of authority (Keep that in mind if you are doing group projects or something of the like). This is the best advice and mindset to set yourself. Graduate school is a job and must be treated as so. I agree wholeheartedly. In my personal opinion, just remember to take breaks and not get too burnt out. I took a full course load, TA-ship, and working in the bioarch research lab (~30 hours a week) on top of papers and personal research and by the mid point it got to be a lot. So it's okay to indulge in your favourite non-academic thing like going to get messages or trips (as long as your work is done). ALSO, not just for Undergrad to Grad but all Grads, you should also read non-academic things or watch tv. this gets you away from academia and also reminds you to not speak like an anthropologist 24/7. Sure you can say that your object is commodious, or you could just say it's valuable. Remember to be a person, really.

Hi @Arky, I found this challenging as well because you don't want to seem so specific where the topic may be sparsely studied etc. When I was applying, I knew that I wanted to continue research in palaeopath in the Andes with the cross-sections of violence and warfare. That alone was broad but specific enough to describe both a topic and region. For instance, if you want to just keep it broad within the field of Palaeopath, then I would suggest looking at the bigger picture of the disease(s) that interest you and explain why. Most professors have a region that they study within the intended field of anthropology. If you are not sold on a region, I would include how the region of the professor or an area you may be interested in studying will be of interest to you because of x,y,z. I know that UK schools tend to not have an regional association besides Europe, while the US' depts. vary in region. What schools are you looking at?