anthromind

Hey Guys, I'm a US-born grad student in the social sciences at Uchicago and i've been charged with trying to get my cousin into a terminal MS program in computer science. She's getting her BA in engineering at Punjab University, and is in a master's program right now there. I dont have all of her stats and dont want to add another "RATE MY CHANCES NOW BCHES" post anyways. Instead, can anyone point me to threads/resources which will help me get a better feeling of general trends etc.? For example, I'm having trouble seeing if she should continue her MS program in India. A family friend recommended that she shouldn't, because she will repeat the coursework here (that friend is from the same school in india and came here for ms now phd...but she got admission with an m.s. so I dont know) Anyways I could go on for days...any help would be much appreciated!

Hey Guys, I'm a US-born grad student in the social sciences at Uchicago and i've been charged with trying to get my cousin into a terminal MS program in computer science. She's getting her bs in engineering at Punjab University, and is in a master's program right now there. I dont have all of her stats and dont want to add another "RATE MY CHANCES NOW BCHES" post anyways. Instead, can anyone point me to threads/resources which will help me get a better feeling of general trends etc.? For example, I'm having trouble seeing if she should continue her MS program in India. A family friend recommended that she shouldn't, because she will repeat the coursework here (that friend is from the same school in india and came here for ms now phd...but she got admission with an m.s. so I dont know) Anyways I could go on for days...any help would be much appreciated!

@anthropologygeek, I'm going to take a leap here, and I could be wrong... You're resentful that you didn't get into ASU, that your dream school isn't as prestigious as ASU, or that the program you finished isn't as prestigious as ASU. Welcome to the academy folks. Those at the top are happy that they're there, those who aren't wish they were. You think that its different than undergrad, that prestige doesn't matter much...but its worse. http://savageminds.org/2010/04/21/who-needs-alumni-from-top-schools/ Savage Minds did a piece on it. Talking about how in the job market, you'd rather have someone from AK state than Yale, because the AK state kid is a better teacher, and more used to the realities of teaching. There is a serious caveat to that though. Take that teaching job at Ball State, and say goodbye to having the time resources to publish research...and last time I checked, most of us going to grad school are interested in actually doing academic work first, and being good teachers second, and doing random university crap last. It would be very mean, but one could chart high-impact publications in the discipline and see where they come from to prove the point. Sure there are some awesome up-and-coming programs in places you wouldn't exactly expect...UCSD, UCI are great examples of public schools that have strong...but at the end of the day, its because of their faculty...who come from top schools. There's no way around it. Let's take UCI (socio-cultural) as an example. This is where the faculty did their PhDs: Northwestern Stanford Stanford Stanford UCLA Harvard Harvard UCLA Wisconson Stanford Stanford Stanford Rice UCLA/UCB Columbia Stanford The upper crust of programs makes its presence known, and seem to create powerhouses themselves. Can someone name an up-and-coming department made of the kind of "blue collar" academics that the savageminds commenters discuss? I would like to see it and hope that its there...I'd like to be proven wrong, but I cant think of someone going to uchicago for a b.a. and then Idaho state for a phd. (though i can see it for a phd to prof position). So my advice? Find the top program with your fit. FIT IS KEY (which is why buying a book with anthro rankings is pretty useless...what you want is the current research interests of the faculty you want to work with...and you really only need 2 strong matches). Then shoot for the stars. Landing on the moon isn't half bad.

Hey guys, I came up empty-handed and am trying to understand my scoresheets. Can someone link me to where I can find out the different scales of grading and what the NSF deems them to mean? i.e. excellent, very good, etc. etc....Im totally in the dark..thanks!

Anyone going to admit weekend?

Hey friend, FYI, Stanford's MA program is mostly for people who are NOT interested in phd programs. For people who are in careers who would like an anthro background. They take a small number (like 4) people for this purpose. I would recommend applying directly to phd programs (and a couple masters, MAPSS and Columbia most saliently) and seeing what happens.

Hello Friends, I wanted to add my 2 cents as well. I am an undergrad at a top ten department of social anthro, and am graduating this May. I applied unsuccessfully to 3 phd programs, but was accepted to MAPSS on a full scholarship. I do not think that I have a strong enough record atm for a phd program, and my SOP needed more work. I have a high anthro gpa, good letters of rec, and a mediocre GRE. I was encouraged by my advisor to apply to mapss because it has such a strong record in our own department, as we have many mapss students here. I did not intend on going to this program even if I got in because of its cost. I am going because it is full tuition. I am happy with the decision because I dont want to flounder in my first year of a phd prgram because I dont have my bearings for grad school, and I want to cover the theoretical holes in my ug training, as well as hone in more closely on my own research interests. At the moment, I plan to retake the GRE in the summer and prepare to apply for fall 2011. Yeah its a cash cow for the university, and to pay the full amount is unreasonable for most. But it also seems to me to be the most reputable MA program for anthro.

Yup! Feb 19th on the left coast.

Hey guys, After getting rejected from 3 Phd programs in social anthropology from r1 schools, I've decided to go to the MAPSS program at Uchicago. I applied directly as a back-up and had little intention of actually going, but I was offered a full scholarship. Is anyone else going?

Charles Briggs is @ Berkeley too

Agreed, I don't know why people are being so weird about Berkeley. Did you lament the same way when you got rejected from X undergrad institution? Berkeley has less than a 10% acceptance rate for their anthropology program. Sorry, life isn't as easy as we want it to be.

I know that the Berkeley rejection email was terse and almost abrasive, but you have to remember that they also have a graduate admissions coordinator that emailed you within the day and told you what you wanted to know with full disclosure, unlike other schools who seemingly give different answers to different students on the same day!