boxboss

Never checking grad cafe for the rest of my life...

Anyone apply to Harvard's Human Evolutionary Biology (formerly Biological Anthropology)? I haven't heard a peep...expecting a rejection letter in the mail any day. Pessimism much?

Got my rejection from Duke as well Knew it was a long shot but was still holding out hope.

I have heard nothing. Looks like in the past they haven't made decisions until around March 7. So I'll wait a week before wringing my hands.

Face/Off™

not the same person this whole process is so ridiculous that sometimes i wonder how everybody keeps a straight face.

Does anyone know if I got into the programs to which I applied? Also: does anyone know if I'll be receiving funding? Lastly, I'm wondering if I'll be getting tenure in 15-20 years. Anyone hear anything? Thanks in advance.

I don't think this will surprise anyone who has looked back at last year's result's forum information, but there is a definite trend towards a lower acceptance/rejection ratio as the season goes on. Here are the numbers I put together from last year (just doing a ctrl+f on the results page, broken down into 50-item chunks). 12 Jan - 16 Feb: 20 accept / 11 reject = 0.64 17 Feb -24 Feb: 21 accept / 22 reject = 0.49 24 Feb -27 Feb: 12 accept / 25 reject = 0.32 27 Feb -2 March: 9 accept /32 reject = 0.22 2 March - 5 March: 11 accept / 32 reject = 0.25 5 March - 10 March: 14 accept / 28 reject = 0.33 10 March - 12 March: 5 accept / reject 36 = 0.12 12 March - 18 March 9 accept / 36 reject = 0.2 Doesn't tell you anything about your schools, of course, but it gives you the general trend. There does seem to be a little boost around the 3-10 of March, which I'm assuming are wait-listed acceptances, but who knows.

i find that refreshing my inbox every 30 seconds really relieves stress

congrats! 1/1!

love the logic

*twiddles thumbs*

I hope you didn't use either "philander" or "malinger" in your personal statement, since - unless you had a very strange undergraduate career - they don't seem to be used correctly above. Were you feigning illness in order to sleep with many women? or were they separate events?

Based on the results page, I was expecting to not hear back about any of my programs until at least mid-February. Then, out of the blue, I got an acceptance yesterday. Guess they like to keep you on your toes...

I did the exact same thing. Heart stopped for approximately 2.5 days.

Just got an email from University of Washington. They've admitted me to the Biocultural Anthropology PhD. No news on funding, though they sent me some links for ways to obtain outside funding (NSF stuff), which can't bode well... Nevertheless, it just feels good to get an acceptance!

i agree with katalytik i think it almost never hurts to be persistent. but if you're going to write something, keep it short

Whoa - I was hoping some people were applying to Duke Ev Anthro, but now it seems like the whole forum is. The very pessimistic version I heard from a professor was that they were going to be able to accept 2, maybe 3 people. Looks like it might be the worst year to be applying... See you guys here in 2011?

I visited a possible advisor just this Monday, and he said specifically that I was doing the exact right thing by trying to meet with professors. He said he was "astounded" that nobody else who was applying to work in his lab had tried to even set up a phone convsersation. As he put it, taking on a new graduate student is a huge responsibility and a huge risk, which he would be crazy to make without knowing who these people are. That said, I know it's a lot different for the sciences than for the humanities.

I'm not a philosophy applicant but I did do philosophy in undergrad so i was curious about this thread. My scores were 770v/760q/5.5aw. I bought all the books (kaplan/princeton/barron's) for the practice exams, and used whatever resources online i could find (i actually found number2 to be quite helpful for vocab). For the AW, I really just followed the model set out by the books - nothing too fancy, write clearly, and use words like "furthermore" and "indeed" to connect your thoughts. I felt pretty lame actually writing it, and obviously I didn't do perfectly, but I figured that there was a lot to lose and little to gain by trying to be creative/actually interesting. Do philosophy people just generally do better on the GRE? I feel like my scores are way above average over on the Anthro forums, but pretty normal over here. I am still very skeptical as to how much it matters, but I agree that a low score is probably used as an excuse to cut somebody when it comes down to the wire at the top schools.

yeah - i wish there were some other programs i could apply to just to keep myself busy

I talked to my advisor of interest at Duke on Monday, and he hadn't even seen my application yet, so who knows whether they're actually reviewing them. Did you call the department and talk to somebody? I expect decisions won't be made until late Feb/early March. Any other Biological Anthro/Evolutionary Anthro folks around? I'm applying to: Harvard HEB, Duke, University of Washington Bio Anth, UBC Psychology (don't ask), SUNY Binghamton Biology

Powerprep was really accurate, especially compared to the Kaplan practice tests. I was getting below-700 verbal scores on Kaplan, then took both Powerpreps and got 800s. Final score was 770. I was actually disappointed when I saw 770 instead of 800, but then I thought - "you asshole". My Quant scores were all over the place. I ended up getting a 760 but that was the highest score I got in any of my practice exams.

Well OK, but only because my psyche needs it. GRE: 770V/760Q/5.5AW GPA: 3.75 Undergrad, 4.0 in Master's program. Graduated Summa Cum Laude from undergrad (school was famously anti-grade-inflation) Going to receive Master's this spring, with absolute superstar advisor Expect solid LORs Solid SOP Have been in good contact with possible advisors - met with a couple of them and things went well Actually, the last professor I met with left me with this: "Well, this all sounds good and I think you'd be a good match here. Though the admissions process is basically just a lottery, so I can't say much more than that." We're all just playing the lottery! So might as well sit back, relax, and scratch our tickets.