Mugi Mila

I have not been able to post for awhile, but I wanted to say that I got accepted into my dream school! I cried after reading the message. Apparently, I was waitlisted (no one told me), and so when I emailed to verify my status, (I was ready to be rejected and thinking of interning or volunteering or taking a class in the summer) it said that I was waitlisted, but there is a spot for me! I never thought I would get in. Can't wait for fall now!
To anyone who is struggling with the decision of either going for a master or thinking the program is too competitive, APPLY! You never know the ending result, be it bad or good, APPLY! I did! XD

I have not been able to post for awhile, but I wanted to say that I got accepted into my dream school! I cried after reading the message. Apparently, I was waitlisted (no one told me), and so when I emailed to verify my status, (I was ready to be rejected and thinking of interning or volunteering or taking a class in the summer) it said that I was waitlisted, but there is a spot for me! I never thought I would get in. Can't wait for fall now!
To anyone who is struggling with the decision of either going for a master or thinking the program is too competitive, APPLY! You never know the ending result, be it bad or good, APPLY! I did! XD

I have not been able to post for awhile, but I wanted to say that I got accepted into my dream school! I cried after reading the message. Apparently, I was waitlisted (no one told me), and so when I emailed to verify my status, (I was ready to be rejected and thinking of interning or volunteering or taking a class in the summer) it said that I was waitlisted, but there is a spot for me! I never thought I would get in. Can't wait for fall now!
To anyone who is struggling with the decision of either going for a master or thinking the program is too competitive, APPLY! You never know the ending result, be it bad or good, APPLY! I did! XD

I have not been able to post for awhile, but I wanted to say that I got accepted into my dream school! I cried after reading the message. Apparently, I was waitlisted (no one told me), and so when I emailed to verify my status, (I was ready to be rejected and thinking of interning or volunteering or taking a class in the summer) it said that I was waitlisted, but there is a spot for me! I never thought I would get in. Can't wait for fall now!
To anyone who is struggling with the decision of either going for a master or thinking the program is too competitive, APPLY! You never know the ending result, be it bad or good, APPLY! I did! XD

I got in to UVA!  Looks like I'm bound for Charlottesville! 

I heard back from Wisconsin today, fully funded for four years, with two of those coming from a  University Fellowship!  Ahhhhhh I'm freaking out!!!!!!!!!

I don't think you need to cite another offer to bargain with them. They already admitted you with at least some offer of funding, even if it's not as much as you hoped for. If a program offers you any money at all that means they definitely want you to accept and they're definitely interested in your research. Communicating your enthusiasm/interest for being a part of MAPSS while (politely) emphasizing that you would need a better funding offer to attend should make a pretty good argument, IMO.
Also (and this may be totally off, I don't know exactly how they determine funding) depending on how many people decline their offer in the coming weeks, there might be more funding available to you after that.
And yassss all of this. This was my first time applying too, and I consider myself EXTREMELY lucky that I got into an (as in just 1 out of the many I applied to) anthro program that I like--I'm pretty fresh out of undergrad so I thought I had a ~0% chance of getting in. After receiving the MAPSS offer yesterday, I'll admit I was kind of disappointed at first too since it wasn't what I had wanted, but then I took a step back and was like...wow what the heck is wrong with me? Am I seriously wasting time being disappointed about getting into a Masters program? 
The application process is INSANE. As @enfp said, we're competing with hundreds of very qualified, experienced people for, in most cases, less than 10 spots. I think it all comes down to the people who are in the room when admissions decisions are made. I saw a very wise post on this forum a while ago that said something along the lines of "rejection is a big part of academia" from applying to schools to trying to get research grants and other opportunities once you're in, to trying to find a job when you graduate. We all have to learn to brush it off and keep working hard.
The fact that most of us on here spent a lot of time and money applying and are willing to commit a solid chunk of our lives to grad school should indicate that we're pretty freakin' excited about anthropology and want to dedicate our lives to it. @ironshieldmaiden what I'm trying to say is just keep working hard if it's what you love. Something good will happen.
**ends long and emotional rant**

Admission offered from UT Austin today! After two years of rejection I have been admitted to all 3 programs I applied to. Keep on keeping on!

For future references, I just received an acceptance from the program that sent the recruitment fellowship emails so it is indeed now confirmed to be a good sign.

I'm with you. I'm a nervous wreck. Feeling very nervous and anxious about the results! I feel so little right now. Thinking about the other applicants whose applications are probably loads better than mine... and that is not a good thing to do. The only light out of this tunnel is that my little brother got accepted to 3 colleges as of now for his undergrad. At least one of us is going somewhere. 

I'm with you. I'm a nervous wreck. Feeling very nervous and anxious about the results! I feel so little right now. Thinking about the other applicants whose applications are probably loads better than mine... and that is not a good thing to do. The only light out of this tunnel is that my little brother got accepted to 3 colleges as of now for his undergrad. At least one of us is going somewhere. 

Having some kind of experience helps. By the time I submitted my MS apps, I'd been working in my field full-time for a year and a half (with a peer-reviewed publication) and had taken four post-bachelor's non-degree classes in my field. And I had a well-above-average, though not outstanding, GRE score.

By the time I submitted my PhD apps, I'd been working full-time in my field for four and a half years, had a 3.5 MS GPA plus five non-degree classes before that, had four peer-reviewed publications (one as first author) a published abstract, and a poster presentation under my belt, and had an over-1500 quant + verbal GRE with a perfect writing score. And I have grant-writing experience through my jobs (which, unsurprisingly, a lot of PIs appreciate). And all that experience allowed me a very focused SOP and lots of options for strong letters of recommendation.

People with very low undergrad GPAs, for the most part, don't get into grad programs because they got lucky (well, they did, but not moreso than other applicants) and were selected before more-qualified applicants. They get in because they made themselves highly qualified in other ways.

Edited to fix typos.

So I went to visit Mercyhurst University last, last Friday. Everything that I thought may happen, happened. My phone fell into the sink, my brother lost my debit card, and I arrived late for the campus visit... It was scheduled for 10am and I arrived at 11:55am! All these bad things happened and I thought of them as bad omens, indicating bad stuff to come my way. I wanted to cancel out of embarrassment, but my father continued on and we arrived, late. So I mustered my courage and headed to the admissions office.
Overall, my admissions visit was extremely cool! I spoke with Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat and he turned out to be not what I expected. And I mean that in a good way. He was really cool, talked casually, like very, to me. It left me surprised, I didn't know how to respond. I was ready for him to ask questions upon questions, but we talked. Then I met a couple of students and they were truly amazing. They all made me feel comfortable and less nervous. I toured around and got to see their labs and stuff. I really enjoyed it. It truly was a learning experience being there.

Accepted into Binghamton!! Just got an email from POI, its my first acceptance! I was scared I wouldn't get in anywhere 

Because my depressed attitude is sucking the joy out of everyone like a dementor? If we don't make it this year I'm gonna start a topic so we can help each other prepare and become super super competetive next year!

Congrats!!! You can shed some of the anxiety now! ? Good luck with the funding!!!! 

I got into Syracuse!!!  I got the email 45 minutes before my UVA interview - talk about a rollercoaster of emotions!  I went from anxiety over the interview to freaking out over the acceptance and back to anxiety in about 5 minutes 

Hey I didn't really know where to post this, but I just wanted to give a shout out to every potential grad student out there who is dealing with waiting for decisions AND having their plans potentially derailed by the immigration order yesterday. I'm NOT trying to make this political - I'm just throwing out some support during what has to be a difficult time for our fellow "waiting gamers."

@enfp If it makes you feel any better, all of us sane people are trying as hard as we possibly can protesting and contacting lawmakers to change minds. I know it can't mean much practically, but a vast majority of the US disagrees with Trump's immigration ban. We're trying to fix this

accepted to Chicago! now I can relax, good luck to everyone else!

Accepted to University at Buffalo Biological Science. This is my first acceptance and it feels so surreal 

@Mugi Mila I'm in an M.A. program for anthro right now so the only master's I applied for is an M.S. in Comparative Media Studies (aligns with my research interests). When you visit Mercyhurst, consider what you want to know. You'll probably want to ask questions that give you an idea of the upcoming research professors are planning, get an idea if the campus and department culture are right for you, talk to students about their workload and impressions of the program, and anything else that might be pertinent to your interests and could help with the decision.  

My friend started her masters program for forensic anthro at Mercyhurst this fall, she loves it! Ask questions about opportunities for students regarding conferences, publishing (co-publishing with students or with professors, etc.), how successful are graduates at securing jobs post-graduation, how many students are able to secure external funding, how many students are usually accepted each year, do many go on to earn PhD's, what classes are available, what are their theoretical focuses, etc. Definitely familiarize yourself with the research of your POI's and ask them questions about specific papers and overarching themes, talk about how your research aligns with theirs, etc. Just make sure to do tons of research on the program itself, the type of research they are doing, etc. Good luck!!!

Powerprep software: this gives you practice tests directly from the ETS, timed and untimed. 
From the ETS website: Practice book, Math Review, Math Conventions, Intro to Quant, Intro to Verbal, Overview of the Analytical Writing.
Magoosh: their website gives you free questions and free videos explaining things. They also have free ebooks: general, math, verbal. They have the option to upgrade to get access to more things, but you can use the free options. You do need to register to have access to the free resources.
Manhattan: I’ve heard from multiple sources they have are the best. They give you one free practice test.
GRE question a day: they will send you a daily question to your email, but you can also browse questions from previous days. I like it because it gives you an explanation to the questions if you get them wrong.
Princeton Review: I’ve heard their practice are very easy compared to the real thing, but you can take a free practice test. It might still be helpful.
Virtual Math Lab help for the GRE: This gives you tutorials for all the math concepts covered in the GRE.
My GRE tutor: covers information about all the sections of the GRE.
Number2: Provides you with practice questions and explanations.
Powerscore GRE prep: they have free online seminars as well as other GRE info and even info on graduate schools.
Vocabtest: this site helps you learn vocabulary and lets you create your own vocab tests.
Kaplan practice test: don’t know how good it is, but it’s a free practice test!
 
This list is definitely not complete, if you do a google search there will be lots of resources, but I think this is a good and helpful list.
Feel free to add resources you think are good! Good luck!