farflung

Yes, do NOT take the admissions process personally, for your own sanity. I only ever received admission at ONE place, of the double digit numbers of places I applied over two years. That place happened to be a really stellar program. Sstudents at top programs aren't better than anyone else -- often, we don't even have better records (publications, fancy awards etc). I think many of us are simply lucky, and fit into the department's particular vision for that application cycle. We applied lots of places, experienced a ton of rejection, and were fortunate enough to win over someone with our research interest at the right time.

Hi Michelle and everyone else receiving rejections-- I'm a cultural anthro PhD student at a top research university. It took me two application cycles (i.e. two years) to get admission, even with a stellar record, an awesome SoP, and tons of research experience abroad in my area of interest. This is normal. There are only a couple of admission slots at top programs. It sounds like you're qualified for grad school, so don't worry about publications! Most of us earn our first publications in our FINAL years of grad school or even after graduating-- it's really quite rare for cultural anthropologists to be published before doing their dissertation fieldwork, and even rarer to already have publications coming into a PhD program. Lots of the admissions process is out of your control, things like-- whether a faculty member who likes your application package happens to be present in the room when they're making decisions, is on sabbatical, is too senior/junior to "earn" a graduate student, etc. So no, don't need to publish. And yes, sorry to say -- you might be in for another year of applications, so you should just continue to build your application package and accept/embrace that rejection is a HUGE part of academia (just wait until you apply for grants, jobs, submit your first article, etc)!

Natl Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship applicants -- let's keep each other company this winter-spring! Any other ed researcher applicants lurking around here? Anyone know when first round notifications normally go out? https://naeducation.org/naedspencer-dissertation-fellowship-program/

Which country would you be going to? The Fulbright IIE stipend is similar around the world (around $1200 at the moment). So, while $1200 in rural Latin America goes quite far, it will barely pay your rent in many major cities around the world. If you're working on a PhD, I think you'll be disappointed with the amount that Fulbright IIE grants provide you. Fulbright-Hays grants are for doctoral dissertation research only. They pay MUCH better, so be sure to apply when Fulbright-Hays applications are open in the spring!

Hi guys, I have a few thoughts re: emailing faculty from 'the inside' (i'm an advanced grad student, on the faculty job market & with close ties to faculty). Sometimes faculty don't have time to respond to your emails, or write nice-sounding/personal e-mail responses. Don't freak out. Potential students aren't super high on their to-do list in September, or ever really, at least until you're admitted to the program. A lack of response or a standard form response (i.e. "great, can't wait to read your app!") does NOT mean that faculty don't like you or your research idea. Those of us who are students-- like real life current PhD students-- often can't get e-mail replies from very brilliant, generous, and lovely faculty members or dissertation committee members. The world keeps turning. Prompt attention to student e-mails is not the ultimate measure of a good potential advisor. They are simply overwhelmed with teaching, writing letters of rec, publishing at breakneck speeds, taking of their families, and whatnot. Often they're on sabbatical, especially faculty at major research universities. If a PhD program admits you this spring, then you can chat with current students about whether faculty respond to e-mails, have time to advise, etc. But don't make assumptions about those faculty based on whether they respond to a POI email.

You should ask programs what their typical time to degree is. Often it's posted on program websites. But, I can corroborate that PhDs in Anthropology at American universities will almost all take you 6-7 years. I think 8 years is the national average -- 6-7 years is the standard in my program. This is because you can't just start PhD work immediately in the US -- here, PhD programs are set up as MA + PhD programs. So you're in classes for 2 years getting an MA degree (sometimes you can skip *some* coursework if you come in with an MA in Anthropology or a sister discipline, but you'll still spend 2 years getting an MA). Then you spend year 3 doing coursework/writing grants/advancing to doctoral candidacy. Then in years 4-5 you're doing fieldwork. After fieldwork you write your dissertation, TA to make money, apply to fellowships to make money, etc. and usually can graduate by years 6-7. PhD programs in the States are a serious commitment and will set you back financially (in terms of lost wages) and career-wise if you even slightly think you want a career outside the academy (in terms of lost time you could have been getting work experience). Just an honest thought from someone near the end of this endless PhD.

You need to go through the normal admissions process for any and all graduate PhD programs you wish to attend. You cannot be accepted to a university after the GRFP awards are announced if you didn't even go to the trouble to apply to that school. Fortunately, working on your GRFP essays will help you craft better admissions essays for your universities of choice.

Yes, it would be very helpful to know your field. I'm in Anthropology. Literally every fellowship I'm aware of to conduct dissertation research or fieldwork requires that you be ABD by the time you leave to conduct research. Read the fellowship announcements carefully. You should be able to (and most people do) write proposals fellowships throughout fall and spring of your 3rd year, with plans to advance to ABD later spring/summer/fall of 3rd-4th yr, and start your fieldwork shortly after. In the timelines you submit to grant agencies, just make sure you're not proposing to start your research before you plan to advance to candidacy. Something like "I plan to complete my exams and advance to candidacy in May 2017, shortly before this project's June 2017 start date" will suffice in the narratives. Your letter writers can confirm that you're on track to advance to candidacy by this time. Fieldwork fellowships that students in Anthropology commonly apply for include: Wenner-Gren Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, Fulbright-Hays, Fulbright IIE, Inter-American Foundation Grassroots Fellowship Program (for work in the Americas), American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship (for work in India), Social Science Research Council, there are more I'm certain...

Hi everyone, I haven't read the full 37 pages of this thread, so apologies if this has been addressed somewhere in the archives. I am a current NSF GRFP fellow, toward the back end of my fellowship period. First -- does anyone know when GRFP stipend increases are announced, if they are going to increase the stipend at all? I can't remember for the life of me. Right now my fastlane says I'll be paid at $34,000 for next academic year, but I don't know whether to trust this amount just yet. Second -- on years when stipends DO increase, how do your universities pay you that increase? Do they just do a one-time bonus for the extra amount, or do they pay it out over the course of the following 12 month tenure period? I'm trying to advise my department administrator on how to pay me... and they have screwed it up in the past, so I'm trying to anticipate & walk them through all of the contingencies at play here. Thanks!

Hi! I'm in anthropology, so speaking from my experience in a neighboring (though much more qualitative) social science. If you're interested in pursuing a non-academic career -- or at least leaving that door open -- you can get adequate preparation at nearly any school. It matters less which individual program you attend, and more what you do with your time once you are there. Because your focus will not necessarily be on racking up a zillion grants and publications, perhaps you want a PhD program that has a short time-to-degree. Are there PhD programs in Soc that can get you in and out in 3-5 years? If so, go for those. Quantitative skills are highly desirable outside the academy, so wherever you attend, stay on top of those quant skills. During your time pursuing the PhD, while your classmates work on producing the best dissertation EVER (which is not needed for an industry position), you will need to be getting diverse work and management experience -- perhaps summer internships, part-time research assistantships that are strategic to your career goals, etc. You can get this kind of work experience from most programs, as I said, unless your advisor is very hostile toward non-academic paths (in which case find a new advisor). In terms of whether or not to get the PhD if you want a non-academic career, it is highly individual. My impression (and what I've heard from mentors outside the academy) is that to work at a top non-academic research position in the social sciences (eg eval & research at the CDC, as you mentioned), you probably need a PhD OR quite a lot of years of similar job experience. The PhD can help you bypass some of the "years of experience" requirements in some industry positions when you come in. In my view, it is best to keep quiet about not wanting an academic job during the application process -- I wouldn't declare this outright to faculty until a program has accepted you. The best PhD programs in the social sciences still (somewhat delusionally) believe that they are training the best & the brightest academics, and that people who want to work in industry don't deserve fully-funded spots at top research universities. What you could do is e-mail grad students and programs you're interested in. Ask them if their classmates have gone into industry. Ask them how the faculty they work with mentor grads who want a non-academic career. This will give you a preliminary sense of whether the program would be a good fit for someone who wants to go into industry, without "outing" yourself prematurely to faculty.

Thanks to all who have posted in this thread, I have found it enlightening. I began reading Kelsky's TPII blog and column at a low point in my graduate career, when I was coming up short on literally every grant & publication attempt, mired in coursework that I didn't enjoy and proceeding toward a dissertation project I thought was good but-- to be frank -- that no one else seemed to agree was good. I am (like many PhD students) a super high-achiever and utterly ruthless toward myself, so to receive so much negative external feedback (on top of my own overly high expectations), sent me into a spiral of sorts. Am I cut out to do this academia thing? Is there a place for me if I really like teaching but am not really keen on research? What do I really want in my professional life -- is it a "waste" of my academic talent to drop out, or get the PhD but use my skills in for-profit industry (note: I come from anthropology, a discipline that quietly but severely judges those who leave the academic ranks to make money). What do I really want in my personal life, for my family, for my well-being? I find something soothing in Kelsky's harsh tone, as though if I just whip myself or my academic work into shape according to a few recipes, that I could correct course and become the star academic I have the capacity to be. Onward toward my place in neoliberal academia!! Part of me still feels and thinks this way. These days, however, I am moving toward accepting that I really don't want an academic career, or at least one that requires the sacrifices Kelsky outlines in excruciating detail, sacrifices I've seen my professors and their families make. Every time I read Kelsky's blog, I am confronted with what I like least about academia -- the obsession with productivity, the micro-managing what one says, does, or wears (for years on end), the constant 'strategizing' to move up the ladder, the disregard for teaching and mentoring and service. What I appreciate about Kelsky is that she acknowledges that not everyone wants or should want this life. But sometimes I worry her advice is overly pessimistic or negative, that in fact I could lead a well-balanced academic life, it wouldn't all have to be regret and strategizing and work and doubt. I guess the point of this post is just to say: I've found Kelsky's writings to be difficult to deal with. I'm stumbling through grad school worrying about my future a lot, which her advice both helps and makes worse. Thanks all for insight into how TPII services actually work (or don't work).

At my institution, there are PhD students every once in awhile who put faculty from other departments on their doctoral committee. However, your primary advisor (aka your dissertation chair) should not and cannot be outside of the PhD-granting department. The only possible exception to this would be if have a "co-chair" situation, where two faculty members are heading your dissertation committee and one happens to be from another department on campus. A few other ideas: have you considered applying for history departments, if that is where faculty in your area-of-interest are located? And, are you thinking broadly enough about faculty who may be interested in your project? You're perhaps unlikely to find faculty doing THE THING you're doing, but perhaps you share theoretical interests, methodological interests, geographic/regional expertise? Also, I'm going to guess you're a historical archaeologist, since you want to do archaeology but POIs are in history. If this is the case, have you considered looking into programs with a particular strength in historical archaeology as a sub-field? E-mail grad students doing historical archaeology at a few different institutions and see what they think of your project and where you might fit.

You're right, most anthropologists are well aware of the pitfalls of standardized testing, and are highly skeptical toward the GRE. Many anthropology departments (especially for PhD programs) require GRE but don't really take your scores into account unless it is devastatingly terrible -- but even in that case, the applicant probably also has other red flags, like a poorly-written statement of purpose or poor performance as an undergrad. I think a lot of people want to blame rejections on a low GRE score, but that is almost never the case. My department merely requires GRE because it's the university standard, so the larger institution expects them to.

The 5 year flexibility of GRFP is incredibly valuable. You may not *think* you really want/need any more than the first 3 years to use the fellowship right now, but what if you win some other big grant to do your dissertation research in a few years? The ability to pause GRFP and take that other award will become very important. GRFP also has name recognition across fields, not just within your narrow discipline. I'm an anthropologist and winning GRFP is also widely respected. I think winning grants that have that sort of wide recognition in the academy will set you up well in future professional / academic endeavors. Remember that on your CV you can always (and SHOULD) list grants that you have won but declined. So you'll still get the recognition for having won both. For example : 2015-2018 NDSEG Award (declined in favor of GRFP).

In my experience (I'm also in Western Hemisphere), your use of an indigenous language WILL definitely give you a leg up in Fulbright-Hays, even if it's not on the "strategic" list. So talk it up! Hooray! Nearly everyone I know in the Western Hemisphere who currently has a Fulbright-Hays speaks an indigenous language. (PS - you can look at past grantees on the website and see their project titles and where they are working). Sure, I think if you're in economic anthropology it totally counts as an "economic" study. And even if it doesn't, I don't think it will hurt you any to try to have your proposal reviewed under that heading. How many economists do you know are wanting to do intensive, area-studies oriented dissertation fieldwork (i.e. the kind of work funded by Fulbright-Hays)? This is quite uncommon in economics, so if reviewers interpreted this category narrowly they wouldn't have people to give grants to! Good luck!!

In my experience, the vast majority of US PhD programs award graduate funding based on resources and merit, not citizenship. So, you should receive the same basic opportunities for funding (at least through the university itself) as all American students do.

I applied to F-H in the past. I was told to never use my referees as language evaluators when I applied. Are you in an anthro department? What's your foreign language? Language evaluators are usually from your university's modern languages departments, or other qualified language instructors/faculty on your campus (but outside your department). This may require getting in contact with people you don't know and setting up an appointment to have them evaluate you! On the priority fields, F-H is very strict --- that is one of the things that makes it hardest to get one in my opinion! The US government (yes, even the dept of education!) wants to fund "strategic" research abroad, and they'll give you all kinds of extra points if you fit the special language or topical parameters. The only people who were awarded Fulbright-Hays grants in my region when I applied scored ABOVE 100, because of all of those bonus point possibilities. Eek!

In my opinion, you should accept the Fulbright and go to Rutgers, which is a perfectly good school, and will put you in a good position to apply for many PhD programs in a few years. I would not advise taking on debt for the Masters if you can help it, especially if you eventually want a PhD in Cultural Anthropology -- one of the least-lucrative degrees ever.

So, this is kind of a sidebar to this convo, but: I've heard this myth that American Social/Cultural Anthropology Departments are skeptical toward domestic (in the US) research in several forums now, and I must say (as a late-stage PhD student at a top program)-- it's just not true. Perhaps it was true a few decades ago, but not anymore. If anyone is interested in domestic research, you just need to look for programs where faculty are doing research in the US (many anthropologists do, because we have families and children to care for and can't go abroad for research). Just like if you're a South Asian specialist, you probably wouldn't want to attend a school with 0 South Asian specialists, programs with no American specialists will be unlikely to accept a US-based project. But programs with American specialists will! It's just a matter of fit. The importance of GRE scores varies by department. Keep in mind that a different, idiosyncratic bunch of anthropology faculty will be reading your application at each school, so some of it is just a roll of the dice whether GREs really matter to that department. In my program, GRE scores do not count hardly at all-- especially quant scores -- I mean, we're cultural anthropologists, and HIGHLY skeptical of quantifying one's "potential" for grad work or much less "intelligence." The statement of purpose is everything, as is the faculty's perceptions of your "fit" into our department strengths and your capacity to succeed as an academic anthropologist (based largely on letters of rec). I would advise investing your resources in a really amazing Statement of Purpose. Your SoP should both make clear why your work fits well with the interests of the faculty and cites the appropriate anthropologists / anthropological texts for your research interests (this may require reading).

Yes!

Hey Meteor! Did you reapply DDIG for the Jan 15 2016 deadline? Announcements should be coming out soon I think!

This is extremely common. Programs send out acceptances first, think about rejections later. I remember when I applied several years ago (and received many rejections), I didn't hear back from some programs until April -- literally months after they had sent out acceptances!

Up to you, but just a heads up that it's spring break this week or next week at most east-coast universities. So, you may just need to wait it out -- working with prospective students is (unfortunately) near the bottom of the priority list for most professors over breaks! That said, you could clarify that you'd be fine with even a short phone or Skype meeting within the next few weeks.

For American PhD Anthro programs, you will need to submit a sample of analytic writing -- a course paper, a section of your senior thesis, or some other kind of writing where you use evidence to advance an original argument. Your research proposal may be your best writing, but it is not the appropriate genre for a writing sample. PhD programs will want evidence that you already have experience conducting some kind of research (whether based on primary or secondary bibliographic sources, or original fieldwork) and can write clearly-argued conclusions based on that research. It sounds like a final course paper might work well in your situation?

George Washington University offers a terminal MA degree in Anthropology.