posi+ivity

Here we go...

So sorry to hear that... I'm sending positive vibes your way and I hope you get the necessary funds for your fieldwork and eventually even a write-up grant. I also got declined, with a score of 3. The reviews were very clear and encouraging though, and I plan to resubmit for the May 1st round. I was very optimistic about my grant applications, and it's certainly hard not to feel discouraged by these rejections. But it's what it is, and I just have to learn from the experience, consider all these reviews seriously, put my grant writing cap back on, and reemerge with a better application.

Yes, best of luck to all of us!

Mine was updated again today around 8-9 hours ago. This is my last shot for this round, so I’m praying that’s a good sign!

Thanks!

Congrats! Where did you find the review @lemepris?

Another term that might be useful is “critical medical anthropology.”

Passed staged 1, received email at 8:13am EST Good luck everyone!

Mine says last edited today, Feb. 20th. Hope we hear from them this coming week!

I agree with @timetobegin. You should also probably keep in mind that although professors are extremely busy people, and asking them to write a different (albeit just slightly) SOP for each application might be just a tad bit excessive. However, I understand your concern. Perhaps as a compromise, you can write them an email to explain very briefly what you want them to focus on in each application? They can probably change a sentence or even a paragraph in their letters depending on the amount of time they are willing to give.

Where are you applying? And what fellowships are you referring to? If you are applying to universities in the US, then there is usually no separate application for their internal graduate fellowship programs. If you are referring to NSF, Wenner Gren, Fulbright, etc., then obviously it depends on their own deadlines and rules.

Oh, and what do you think of university and program rankings? Do they matter at all?

Thanks for your great responses, everyone! @phyanth I definitely agree about the importance of health insurance and the accessibility of a good hospital. I never considered that--thanks for pointing it out! @waltzforzizi I actually wrote a separate discussion thread about that (see link below). UPDATE: My main POI in school #2 has finally replied and we're going to Skype soon. They were extremely encouraging in their email and agreed to work with me should I go there. Apparently they read my application very closely and told the department they should definitely get me. It's just that they are away doing fieldwork so they couldn't reply right away. Now it's become even more difficult for me to make a choice! @hats Both of my schools are large public universities, but I never thought of considering the political climate affecting state funding as well as the importance of a graduate student union. Thanks for telling me!

Thanks! I sent you a PM!

Thank you so much for the info and the advice, @Wooshkuh!