RepatMan

Penn is making final decisions on Wednesday. However, acceptances are sent up to the dean and people might not officially be notified for another couple weeks... That being said, they want to invite accepted students to campus at the end of March, so it should probably be a quick turnaround, even if people are unofficially notified.

I think that NYU has one, as well.

MA programs vary depending on the prestige, as with any type of program, but you can get into an MA program with as low as a 2.5 at some programs, but most you'll need at least a 3.0 for them to consider you. Not sure how Canadian grades work or look, but you can look up equivalences. In order to get in with low grades, however, you'll want to do well on the GRE and make sure you speak to and make a good impression towards potential advisers and the grad chair. You don't need an MA to get into most PhD programs, though more and more of the elite programs are taking students with MAs. Your MA grades should look really good since below a B is failing, so your GPA in your MA program probably won't matter much. What will matter is the research experience you've had, the paper you write, and the recommendations you get. Different programs have different emphases, but the research experience and your paper are in your control. Make sure you're conducting your work to your highest standard, and be highly considerate of how you're contributing to the literature of your subject area. For letters of rec, make sure to ask the people you're hoping to have write you one whether or not they can write and outstanding one for you. Ambivalent or unenthusiastic letters can damn an application, especially in prestigious programs. The job market is pretty awful, especially within academia. The most recent stats I saw is about 500+ new Anthropology PhDs are graduating every year. Then there's probably 30-40 new (decent) teaching positions a year (that I've seen). Obviously, the odds aren't good there. Outside of academia it all depends on how creative and motivated you are. A PhD seems to be worth a lot on the job market if you can leverage it properly. That means keying in on the skills you've honed throughout your program and marketing them in industries that need them. I know a lot of former MA students that are in some sort of market analysis work that is huge right now. In all likelihood, those jobs aren't going away anytime soon. Like I told the last person, make sure to peruse the pages. People have come here asking the same questions year after year, so make use of the search function (a la "job market").

Couple things: 1. Being an academic is still very "office related." Academia is a huge bureaucracy and you'll need to attend meetings, suck up to bosses, and push papers. The plus side is that you can also pursue your own research when you have time outside the bureaucracy and teaching. Don't mean to discourage you, but just want you to have a realistic vision of what sort of life you might start orienting yourself towards. 2. It's very possible to get into grad programs with a B+ average, though it would be hard with anything much less than that. I graduated from my undergrad, a middling private institution, with a 3.3 gpa and above average GRE scores. I blindly applied to 7 programs and only got into 1 semi-funded MA program. Doing well at that program got me into a funded, good MA program somewhere else (and I got 1 funded PhD offer from an average program out of the 8 applied to that round). Then another round of applications I got into two funded programs, including a really good school. However, out of the 26 applications I sent out over 3.5 years of applying I only got into 3 PhD programs. My advice is to get to know the potential supervisors, and maybe the grad chair, at any school you'd like to apply. DO NOT blindly apply to a school without talking to them and trying to make an impression. You also need to make sure they're even taking students to begin with. To answer your question, yes it's very possible, but arduous and difficult. Try to find a professor to work with on their project in the summers, or find any sort of social science internship/research project/volunteering you can in order to develop your research skills and add to the resume. Also, tons of folks have come here asking very similar questions, so peruse the pages and use the search function (look up "research experience" and you'll likely find a few pages). Lots of wisdom in this crypt.

Yeah, most elite programs typically take more students with MAs already than those without, but the requirements in the program change very little. I have two MAs and though Penn takes up to 8 classes as transfer credits, if I don't maintain full-time student status throughout my fellowship (or be dissertating) then I lose it. In other words, not really any use transferring credits in here because you pretty much have to have the same timeline as everyone else. For what its worth, though, UChicago has a very socio-linguistic oriented department.

I have a little museum professional experience (in education and NAGPRA, separately), and a little more experience as a grad student. My understanding is that an MA will get you most anywhere you'd want to go in most museums (even Dept. Director or Museum Director). However, for really large, elite institutions, you'll need a PhD to even become a curator, let alone anything higher. So it depends on what you're shooting for--if you want to become a curator at NMAI, you'll likely need a PhD. If you want to become a repatriation coordinator or curator at a regional/local museum, the MA will be great.

For anyone considering MAPSS, I graduated from the program last spring and have some thoughts: I had received a well-funded PhD offer from a mediocre program during the same cycle. I had interviewed for UChicago but didn't get the offer, despite my POI's full support in their admission meetings. When he called me to tell me they weren't going to take me, he said he could ensure I got into MAPSS, if I was interested. I told him, since I already had a good offer on hand, and I'd promised my wife not to take on any more loans after my first MA, I needed a full scholarship. He actually submitted some sort of recommendation on his end to try to get me more funding. I'm not sure how that works, but the moral of the story is, if you have a POI in Anth or any other social science program at UChicago that really wants you there, ask them if they can help. Otherwise, I would say leveraging other offers and a hard line of funding you need to accept is only going to help in the "official" petition others have mentioned. In general, MAPSS was a fantastic program for the quality of education you receive (nearly all PhD level courses are available to you) and for the support you get from MAPSS in applying for PhDs afterwards. It's filthy expensive, and I wouldn't have done it without a great scholarship, but for me it was the difference between a PhD at a mediocre program and being at a tier one PhD program. I believe that's the case for a lot of candidates (though its by no means a guarantee you'll get a good/better offer). If anyone has any other questions, feel free to PM me.

I know that UPenn has made their decisions and offers (including waitlist) at this point. I'm also fairly certain UChicago has already conducted interviews--which are required prior to offers of admission. If you haven't heard from either, unfortunately you're likely not in the running. Sorry for the bad news, and best of luck with Columbia and any other programs you've applied to.

UPenn made its decisions yesterday and notified accepted and waitlisted students. Not sure when or how they'll notify everyone else. Sorry to anyone that didn't get in!

I haven't really read through the advice offered here, so I'm sorry if my comment is redundant, but here's what I've got: Coming from someone that got a 3.3 GPA at a mid-tier private school (University of Evansville) that's now at an Ivy League PhD program, it really depends on who is advocating your application in the faculty meetings. Sometimes your application will be solid enough on its own to warrant a lot of advocation by several members of faculty, and sometimes (like my case) you really need to be recruiting faculty to your side before you even apply. If they like you and have faith in you as an academic, that's what ultimately matters. Moreover, you may need multiple faculty members that are excited to work with you--your primary potential adviser may not be tenured, they may not be in a good position to take students, etc., in which case you need other people on your team. My advice is to apply wherever you really want to be, but don't assume your resume will get you in there. You need to find ways to connect with the faculty in as meaningful of ways as possible.