museum_geek

I definitely wouldn't agree to attend a program without communicating with a POI beforehand, but that's something for me to worry about if/when I have some offers on the table. In the meantime I don't really mind sending in an application without speaking with any faculty.

Good point farflung. I can't always get my MA committee members to reply to me, let alone potential POIs!

I think some of the confusion may stem from the fact that Edward Said was not an anthropologist, and was one of the early leaders in the emerging field of cultural studies. His work on the Middle East is certainly used by anthropologists, and I've had different chapters/sections from Orientalism assigned to me in various anthro courses, but when you come right down to it Said is a literary and cultural theorist rather than a cultural anthropologist.

I found this thread to be fairly helpful when trying to draft my SOP (which is still under construction!).

I am definitely applying to a few schools where I haven't heard back from the POI. I would prefer to hear back from everyone I email but I'm not going to take myself out of the running before the application process even begins. However, I have taken a couple schools off my list after getting an email from a POI saying that they are on leave for the academic year or that there isn't much departmental focus on my project/region outside of their own interests. But for a school I've decided is a strong fit and is somewhere I definitely want to apply? Radio silence from a POI isn't going to deter me.

Agreed! I remember this forum being way more active when I applied to MA programs a couple years ago. Maybe things will pick up when we get closer to the deadlines?

One thing to remember is that faculty members are busy and aren't always great at responding to emails. At this point in the application season I've sent out ~15 emails to POIs. About half of those faculty members have responded and of those that did most were lukewarm at best, encouraging me to apply but not showing much enthusiasm for my project. All in all I've gotten one really enthusiastic response from a POI which resulted in a rather productive phone call and some positive vibes about the program. I also have a phone call with another POI set up for later this week but they seem a little more reserved. What I'm trying to say is don't get discouraged! I used to do cold calls when I worked in non-profit development and the response rates are similar - one positive response for every 10 or so calls/emails you send out. Another thing to consider - sometimes professors take a long time to get back to you. The super enthusiastic POI I spoke to on the phone took 3 days to respond to my initial email; another faculty member took nearly 10 days to get back to me! As for faculty who don't respond, my plan is to ditch the program if it's one I was already on the fence about, and continue with my application if it's a program I feel strongly about attending. In any case, most of the schools I plan on applying to have multiple faculty I can contact. I think it's worth applying to a program you really like without hearing back from a POI, but that's just my personal preference.

When I took the GREs a couple years ago I scheduled the test for the last week of September and the timing worked out pretty well.

I used a Kaplan Test Prep book, the one that included practice tests and a CD rom with some online tests/instruction. I took the GRE a couple years ago but I'm sure they still have that type of test prep available.

YMMV but I used a book of practice tests and Magoosh instead of taking a class and managed to a verbal score in the 92nd percentile and a writing score in the 99th percentile. My math scores aren't great (40th percentile) but they don't really matter for cultural applicants.

It will probably be fine but leaving your GREs until less than a month before the deadline is cutting it a bit close. I also tend to err on the side of getting things in as early as possible though, so take this with a grain of salt

When are your applications due? It takes about 10 days for your official GRE scores (with analytic writing) to be released and then another few days for your scores to be sent to the schools you chose. If you have January 1 deadlines you'll probably be fine but with December 1 deadlines the end of October might be cutting it a bit close.

Agreed that location is important when choosing a program - quality of life definitely plays a part when deciding where you want to spend the next 5-7 years of your life. From what I've heard and read, though, Athens is supposed to be a pretty decent little town and UGA has a great program.

Good luck on the GRE! To be honest the most stressful part of the experience for me was the studying (and trying to sleep the night before the test). Once I got into the room the test itself flew by.

That's a small part of it but mostly I've just found a bunch of people I want to work with and have found it difficult to cut schools from my list. I'm going to start contacting POIs this week so hopefully that will help me to cross a couple more programs off the list.

The PhD takes so long because most programs require at least two years of coursework before you can commence fieldwork. The rest depends largely on your subfield, research site, and how fast/well you write your dissertation. For example, if you're an archaeology student and you can only access your field site 2-3 months a year then it will probably take longer to complete your degree than if you're a sociocultural student doing ethnographic work in the United States. It can vary wildly - one of my professors finished his PhD in 5 years, and another took almost a decade.

It's not a bad idea to ask both of those professors for a letter. I think it's good to have more than three letter writers if possible in case one of them has issues getting letters submitted for whatever reason - I have four letter writers for exactly that reason. I'm also applying to about a dozen schools though so I also wanted a fourth letter writer just to make things more convenient for everyone involved.

I have my list finalized, I'm done with the GREs, and I have all my letter writers squared away. Now I need to figure out which paper to use for a writing sample, start writing my personal statement, and contact POIs. Progress!

Not sure about animal related stuff, but in terms of geography I know that UT Austin, University of Florida, and Vanderbilt all have really strong emphases on Latin America. You might also want to check out the University of Georgia, as their specialty is environmental anthropology. Hope that helps!

Appreciate the advice everyone - I will definitely ask my internship supervisor for a letter!

What are everyone's thoughts on an internship supervisor writing a LoR? This person was my supervisor at an ivy league anthropology museum this past summer and I undertook a research project with their supervision. They have a Master's degree but don't have a PhD and don't teach any classes at the university. However, this person has worked at the museum for over 20 years and is a member of my MA thesis committee. In this case I think my supervisor is well qualified to speak to my potential as a scholar and academic, but I see that a lot of programs seem to specifically ask for professors to write letters and this person is not a professor and hasn't supervised me in a traditional classroom setting. Is it worth asking this person to write me a recommendation?

I was here for the Fall 2015 round when I applied to MA programs, but this will be my first time applying to PhD programs, and the creation of this thread really makes this application season feel real! I have a fairly solid list of schools worked up which hopefully won't need too many more tweaks before deadlines start looming - UT Austin, Notre Dame, UNC, WUSTL, and CUNY are the front runners at the moment. I'm a socicultural applicant for the most part but my project will probably cross the boundaries of s/c and arch to a certain extent. Looking forward to sharing this application season with you all!

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm starting my second year in a master's program south of the Mason-Dixon line and we start our semester in mid-August, so I didn't factor Labor Day into the equation. I'll push back my timeline by a couple weeks and wait until mid-September to start sending out some emails.

Thanks - it's good to know I'm not too far off track with my timeline!

I was planning on sending out emails to some faculty members I would like to work with towards the end of August. Does anyone have any idea if this is a good timeline - too late, too early, etc? Cheers!