Warelin

If a school wants a maximum of 20 pages, it's likely that their range is from 15-20 pages. Submitting 10 pages only might put you as a significant disadvantage as they want to see how your arguments delivered. I'd double check with each school to make sure what their requirements are; some of them have information that may have changed in recent years.

Flexibility and pay will never be enough of a reason to enroll in any program if you don't love the field. I think one of the best quotations I've heard is this: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." There are plenty of jobs out there that offer flexible scheduling, decent pay and benefits. No job is worth it if you feel the stress will continue and you'll have a mounting debt.

No need to apologize. This forum was made to be used! Questions are good. There are some departments that would welcome a visit. However, it is my understanding that most will not entertain a visit to the department until after you've been accepted. I think the reason behind this is two-fold: 1) They want to remain as objective as they can 2) A visit from a prospective student would mean they'd have to open up the option to everyone and would disrupt the flow of the office. Professors would get bombarded with requests with students hoping to sit in on a lecture. There would need to be enough spaces to accommodate a couple of extra people each class session. Undergrads and Grads might have less access to office hours if prospective students wanted to talk to professors. There might also be concern from campus security due to the extra people and legal concerns if said persons got hurt. Unless the department says so on their website, I would not try to set up any appointments to visit the department.

It's always easier to get a job from the country where one earns their Ph.D. from. The USA considers teaching to be of considerable importance when entering the job market. You'll rarely find a Ph.D. degree in the UK which has teaching in it. The lack of teaching makes it hard to be taken seriously by the majority of colleges because 90-95% of American Colleges are teaching-focused. The 5-10 percent of colleges that aren't teaching-focused are schools that are R1 colleges. A tenure track position is hard to obtain at any college. But when a job opens at an R1 school, they receive several hundred applications from people who graduated from an R1 college. Most of these applicants have spent years engaging in research, attending conferences with some members on faculty, learning their way of how to publish in high-impact journals and some may already have jobs at lesser-known institutions.

Some programs that come to mind: Michigan Tech's Visual Theory Culture Program Clemson's Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design Program Texas Tech's Technical Communication and Rhetoric Program North Carolina State's Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Program Florida State's Rhetoric and Composition Program I wouldn't worry about finding programs in the same exact time period as you are as long as you can find other faculty members working in the same time period. The goal of most professors isn't to create an replica of themselves and their research.

Contacting POIs is more common in the natural sciences because funding is sometimes attached to that person's lab. As a result, the professor the POI has a higher chance of being involved in who they select for their lab. In the Social Sciences and Humanities, funding is provided by the department as a whole and isn't tied down to external funding. You can still select to contact a POI but you should ensure that you have a reason to contact them that can't be answered on the departmental website and is specific to them.

I think that's a good way to narrow down your list so you can get a better understanding of the dynamics in departments.

@indecisivepoet: I think I've had the following explained to me regarding some funding. Many years ago, some students were given 100 percent guaranteed funding. If they transferred, that funding went with them. They got to keep the previous college's stipend as well as their new college's stipend.As a result, most colleges are very careful of how they word things and have things such as annual reviews to help offset and prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, some colleges have horrible ways of explaining their funding. The colleges I listed above are ones I've had conversations with the DGS because I had similar concerns. I can't speak for the majority of your list. If you search the school's name on this board, you might come up with funding packages that people were offered in the recent past. I know certain colleges have offered non-renewable 3 year packages, instead of their typical 5/6. State School stipends can be unfortunately impacted by how much that school puts into education for the year. Wisconsin lost their tenure-system in 2016 which resulted in a lot of tenured professors losing their tenure and going elsewhere. Politics can have a huge impact on the finances of a college.

Kansas: Looks like they offer a tuition waiver + a stipend for 10 semesters. Brandeis: Seems to be fully covered. Seems like you'll have to pay for health insurance and might have to pay for some university fees. This is common at a fair amount of universities. Michigan State: Sounds like the majority of their students teach in various departments or tutor at the writing center. They get to choose which classes they'd prefer to teach in later years. And a select-few are nominated and awarded fellowships. Vanderbilt: It sounds like the competitive part they're referring to are the "top-off" awards which could be the difference from 26k to 36k. University of Tennessee- Mentions that Tuition Waiver (including summer course work) + Stipend is guaranteed. Indiana: First year starts with 18k fellowship. If you hold an MA (or after the first year), you get a teaching instructorship. Stipend for the instructorship was $15,750. Small Note: Washington, Northeastern, UC San Diego, Vanderbilt and Ohio State (pop: 860k; 15th largest) are in huge cities. I'm sure you know this, but your "no big cities" comment caught my eye.

Word of caution here: Most programs don't guarantee summer funding. You'd be heavily restricting a lot of great choices if you do this. Of the 4 offers I received, only one had guaranteed (unofficial) summer funding. I do, however, think it's important to research stipends and see how if it can sustain you. Sustaining means different things depending on if you're okay with roommates, have pets, etc. Look into rent prices carefully. Do the same with food prices + utility costs. Think about how close you want to be to campus or if driving to campus is okay to you. Consider the additional parking passes and gas prices. If a program doesn't guarantee funding, it isn't a program I'd apply to. Places that don't offer funding usually have no teaching or research experiences required. Without those experiences, the job market is going to be nearly impossible to succeed in. I disagree here. Location is important. If you're unhappy with the location, you're going to be heavily unmotivated to produce your best work. I would think of location as more generalized though: Would you feel happy working somewhere secluded? Or do you need to the city? Would you be okay with living in a college-town where it'll most likely be a ghost town during the summer?

They might be. But programs often give more weight to those who have earned a Ph.D. in their discipline and have many years of teaching experience to judge you with previous students.

Have you found articles that you've read in class whose topic or methodology interest you? Look where that author works. If the university has a PHD program, talk about what you find interesting about their work. Have you looked at schools that have 2-3 Cultural Anthropologists interested in Asia or Sexuality? What is making you interested in obtaining a PHD?

@CatBowl: Fit is indeed a very real and odd thing. You'll never know exactly what the school is looking for. If I submitted a alternate paper to each of the schools I applied to, I'd imagine my results would look different. I imagine some of the rejections would turn to acceptances and some of those acceptances would turn into rejections. I was rejected by a college that accepts more than 50 percent of its applicants and accepted by one that has a six person cohort. After attending the accepted students weekend, I realized why the school accepted me and it made sense to me why this school made more sense than others even if one of the other schools were "ranked better". Looking back at some of the schools I applied to (and rejected from), I realized that some were too expensive to live with a grad student budget without a roommate and others were in areas that I'd rather not live in for different reasons. I think it's important to be happy with creating a strong list of schools that you'd be happy to attend. After all the results are out, you'll find yourself being "pulled" towards a certain school. It may or may not be one of the schools that was your top choice prior to application season.

@jriveracal: Which of the two papers more closely relate to what you want to study in Grad school? Use that one.

To add onto this: I also mentioned faculty members in my SOPs, and got into my number one choice. I think it's also important to make sure that person is still doing research on that topic. They might have published an article on James Joyce but their current research interests may no longer involve James Joyce. Being able to engage with their current research interests shows them how you'd be able to contribute to the field and also shows that you're active in learning about the field.

I think this board below does a great job at explaining what to document:

I think this is a very excellent point. Three of the programs I was accepted at were the last three added before I finalized the list and sent them to my professors. I liked them all, but thought my chances were too low. The process is really humbling. I was rejected by colleges that I thought I had a really good chance of getting in based on scores, admission rates and interests. And accepted by schools I thought I had no chance at. I was accepted by schools that accept less than 5 percent of applicants and rejected by schools that accept more than 30 percent of their applicants.

I'm not sure if Penn State has ever offered a terminal funded MA. Penn State has a preference for students coming straight out of undergrad, and the majority of students do continue on to the PHD. They admit 1-2 PHD students outside of their program if people from their MA program decide not to continue. The Director of Graduate Studies could answer your question regarding applying for an MA only but there's also a chance that your interests may shift during the 2 years and there might be a place that better suit your interests.

I agree with you on that assessment. The term 'fully-funded' often does not mean much. There are schools in the T80 which do a much better job in terms of both funding and job placement. While it's nearly impossible to deny that T10 schools do a better job of placing at more recognized schools (partly also due to their history and their larger class sizes in the past), I think it's also important to consider that A ) The majority of jobs available are not at R1 Institutions and sometimes these institutions fear that you're just waiting for a position to open up at a "more elite" institution. B ) The stipend may have been cheaper to live in earlier but has skyrocketed in recent times. Boulder, CO and Austin, TX are two cities that come in mind which have recently faced a huge increased cost in living. C) The best fit for your research interests might be better at institutions outside the T20. The specific concentration in that field will recognize names and the type of scholars your program has produced. D) The stipends provided at some schools might force you to be far away from campus or you might need roommates to be able to afford rent. Since you'll spend a considerable amount of time at this location, I think it's an important one to consider.

I think that answer really depends on how much time you have to devote to each application and how many applications you can afford. There are several schools that do offer fee waivers. (Note to everyone: I'd be more than happy to point you in the direction of fee waiver policies if I'm aware of any at schools you're interested in.) Some schools will also accept GRE reports after acceptance if you ask even if their official page states otherwise. I think the majority of departments do want to ensure that they get the people that can contribute to their department the most and would be happy in their environment. Last cycle, I taught 5 classes at the undergrad level, took 2 classes for my MA, had a 8 hour graduate student research appointment, and applied to more than 15 colleges. My total cost was under $800. I ended up rejecting an offer from a top 10 school in rhet comp to attend a literature program in the top 35. I attended both open houses and was impressed by the city, faculty, and atmosphere that the literature program had. I had to get permission to miss classes during the second semester but I think the visits allowed me to gain a better understanding of all the colleges I did visit.

Hi @perpetualalligator, I've had friends who have had similar interests to yours and who have applied to anthropology PHD programs Some of the schools they applied to were: -University of Florida --Vanderbilt University (Which claims on its page to have the largest teams of Latin American anthropologists) -Indiana University -University of Wisconsin -Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) -University of Chicago -Duke University

Admissions is often something we'll probably never understand. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I applied to approximately 16 schools and was either accepted or waitlisted at six of them. My interests were diverse. I was accepted into at least 1 program from each major field of interest. I ended up rejecting a fellowship with higher pay at a "better ranked" school because I felt I could better achieve my goals and get the support I needed at the school I ended up choosing. I also felt there was a better connection with the faculty and staff at this school and felt that the area was one I'd feel more comfortable with. Often in times, I feel that we may not consider the location enough and the impact it has on our growth, lifestyle, and so forth. While we'll spend a considerable amount of time in the class, is the location something you'd be happy with? Some people need the city to be very bike friendly; others don't mind the need for a car. Some prefer being in the hustle of a city; others prefer to be secluded. Division 1 Sports might be huge at some schools and non-existent at others. While you may wish to not attend these events, it may impact the students you teach and how they behave on certain days. Some departments are huge; others are smaller in number. Both might impact how often you see certain members of your cohort.

The good news is that there are several schools that do offer funded MAs and that may offer you the opportunity to continue on to their PhD. Schools that come to mind are the University of Nebraska, University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University, and Indiana University. The advantage of a program such as these are that some offer automatic acceptance into their PhD program upon successful completion of coursework while also allowing you the flexibility of either applying to other schools if you find your interests have changed or allowing you to leave with a Master's degree if you find that you no longer wish to pursue a PhD.

I've offered help in the past and I am happy to extend an open invitation to anyone who would like a second pair of eyes to look over their SOP or potential school list.

The subject test is weighed differently depending on the school and what your area of interest in. A lot of schools will place less weight on it if your major area of interest isn't one that's coverered by the Subject Test. At some Public Schools, there might be additional funding available for those who receive top marks on the Subject Test. There are also some schools who are in the process of eliminating their requirement of the Subject Score. Some might glance at it but will not consider it in their final assessment.