Konstantine

Is it inappropriate to ask in the early stages of talking with a PhD program what funding packages are available for their program? This is a huge factor for me as to whether I leave my career-type position or ask for a huge cut-back in hours in order to pursue my PhD. Obviously, I will not do it if I cannot support my family realistically in a financial way.

Hello all! I am trying to decide if it makes sense for me to pursue a PhD in Anthropology. I currently work in the Cultural Resource Management (CRM) industry and have been progressing in my career doing that. I am about to finish a Master's Degree in Anthropology. I recently attended a conference where I was told about a budding PhD program that I might be a great fit for. It is at my alma mater, and I'm really tempted because I could focus on an area of Archaeology that I've never gotten to explore before. However, I have no real knowledge of how one supports themselves while doing PhD work. Do people get funding from the university that can support a two-parent household? If not, do they allow you to work outside of the university at the same time? Do people do this often? I'm at a point in my career where I'm feeling comfortable enough that I could keep doing what I'm doing, but also am getting to the point where my brain is wondering what could be possible for me, and maybe a change is good after working consistently in this field for 7 years. Anyone who can offer advice or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them. Thanks!

Thank you for your reply and sharing your experience. I definitely realize that a ton of desk work comes with academia and it’s not deskwork that I hate. I just like that academic research allows for travel to actually conduct the research itself, whereas the most travel I get to do for CRM in writing reports is going a few counties over to do site visits or record searches. I also saw myself one day teaching or at the very least attempting to go that route, and it seems that’s kind of hard to do with only an MA these days.

So, I applied for my first round of PhD programs straight out of my BA. I had no idea what I was doing and thus, no surprise, was rejected at all the places I applied. I did, however, apply last minute at the suggestion of a professor to some MA programs. One was in Anthropology & Education at Teacher's College in NYC, and the other was in Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University (the Middle East had been the regional focus of all my archaeological studies up to that point). I got into both of those programs, and after weighing pros and cons of both, I ended up going with the Hebrew U program. Finished that and graduated in 2016 with a strong GPA as well as an archaeological internship at W.F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem under my belt. The only detail about my MA program that is particularly relevant is that it was not a thesis writing program, so we took classes and then wrote a couple of 25 page seminar papers as part of the curriculum. I applied again to PhD programs that fall, and was rejected all over again. I had high GRE scores, put a ton of work into researching potential advisors and speaking to them beforehand, and wrote what I believed to be solid statements. It was very disheartening, but after talking to some people about what could have gone wrong, some suggested that I needed more experience in the Anthropology field, and recommended doing an MA in that, and anything I could do to get more experience there. So, I obtained a job in a Cultural Resource Management firm where I have been writing archaeological resource management reports for the last 2 years. I am also about to go to Jordan to complete my fieldwork for my 2nd MA in Anthropology. I should be graduated by the latest, fall 2019. I've also been a graduate assistant for the last 3 semesters. Although I don't have teaching experience because my department doesn't have grad students teaching, I have gotten a ton of experience grading essays. I'm 30 years old and a female. Currently single, but I'm just trying to picture the next 10 years, and if starting a PhD program at 31 might be a little ridiculous of an aspiration. I want to have kids. Would that be a sacrifice I would likely need to make? Is starting a PhD program at my age a reasonable thing to set out to do? I like working at my company very much, and I believe my boss has plans to make me Principal Investigator when I get my Master's here soon. But I just don't know if a desk job for the rest of my life is my dream. I love to travel and I don't get to do much of that at this desk. I also wouldn't mind picking up and moving to somewhere new, as I would likely have to with a PhD acceptance. Any input or advice from those with experience, I would greatly appreciate. I need to decide soon whether preparing for another cycle of this makes sense, and if what I have done since my last round of rejections has been significant enough to increase my probability of being admitted. Thanks all!

I had my last GRE scores done in late 2016. If I am planning to apply to PhD programs in Fall 2019, is there any reason why I should think about retaking it?

I just received news today that I was accepted to the Masters program at the New School for Social Research. It is the only program I've been admitted to so far and I had all but given up hope, and I am currently applying to MA programs at state schools in California here, because I am trying to strengthen my application and do so without going into massive debt. So the New School offered me no merit funding, I don't know if that means no funding at all or what the deal is. I am just not sure if I should even consider this offer, if New School is even that great overall?

Wow, @GreenEyedTrombonist! That was a whole lot of very useful information. And rather reassuring as well! Thank you for that. It seems that a lot of these CSU Anthropology MAs don't separate the programs of Arch and SocioCult by name, but some do have different tracks and you have to choose one. I had thought about the possibility of somehow integrating archaeology into a thesis that also addressed Sociocultural issues in an interdisciplinary way, so that's definitely something I will continue to think about too. Thank you for the suggestions!

I seem to be at a bit of a crossroads in my academic life here. As this application season comes to a close and I more than likely will not be admitted to any PhD programs for a 2nd cycle, I am considering what to do next. Most of my background in Anthropology is within Archaeology. I have an interdisciplinary MA that had a variety of grad courses relating to the society and culture of the region I am interested in doing research on, but as far as direct Sociocultural Anthropology courses, they are all relegated to my Undergrad years. I have a lot of experience in Archaeology as a whole though. I've done multiple excavations abroad, an archaeological internship at a prestigious research institute, and years of employment in the Cultural Resource Management industry as a Field Archaeologist. My company would love for me to become a certified Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA), but in order to do so, I need to have designed an archaeological study and done substantive data analysis on it/written a thesis. So, on the one hand, if I apply to Archaeology MA programs at CSU schools here and work part time while I finish it, I can continue my career in CRM and maybe after that continue to PhD in Archaeology. It's not that I don't enjoy this field, I just have a lot more of a passion for Sociocultural and feel like there are ways in which my research could actually effect positive change. So my other option is to instead pursue Sociocultural Anthropology MA programs here at CSUs instead. That way, I can expand my Sociocultural knowledge and write a thesis related to what I hope to eventually continue in my PhD afterward. I guess there are two big questions I have: 1) Is it possible to get any funding at all for an MA at a CSU? And if so, does doing the program part time nullify that? 2) Is it possible to commute to an institution where you are doing an MA if you're working outside the area? Obviously I would be part time if I was doing that, but I'm curious if it's even feasible. 3) I am trying to be practical as well as follow my interests here. Are either Archaeology or Sociocultural Anthropology more successful as MA or PhD graduates? Is this a known reality that I'm not aware of, that one does much better or has a much easier time being admitted to PhDs? Any advice, guidance, or experience you all have on this would be helpful! Thank you!

I'm also waiting on NYU. Haven't heard a peep. But when I did my first round of apps after my BA back in 2014, NYU's rejection came 2/25, so I'm not exactly optimistic right now, lol

I am waiting on Yale as well, but I thought I saw that had accepted some already, so I assumed the worst on that too. Anybody been in contact to see if they've made all decisions already?

@farflung @boneflower Perhaps I was a bit unclear with this post. I had spoken with this professor months ago before the colloquium schedule was finalized. We had been talking and I said I looked forward to meeting him in the near future, and he responded with "If you visit the department, it would be best to come early in the Spring semester, around February while the admissions committee is reviewing applications. Many prospective students visit at this time and meet with faculty members they hope to work with if admitted... Some time in mid-Feb would be best to visit during a Friday when we have a colloquium speaker and reception. The colloquium schedule for next semester won't be up for a while, but this is where it will be posted when it is [insert link]." Fast forward to a couple of days ago, the schedule was finally posted and the professor personally emailed me to let me know that it was. I don't know if the professor has any info about what's going on with the admissions committee or if he is completely out of he loop, but from what he said, students often go out there to visit the department after they've already applied and while the committee is reviewing applications. It just seems kind of risky to go there during this time, especially because it requires me flying across the country and taking off work to do so. Does this make the situation more clear now?

Hey fellow applicants, I have a question. Is it a common occurrence for a POI to ask you to attend a colloquium event/schedule a meeting with this POI while you're there, during the period in which the admissions committee is reviewing applications, even if you haven't been asked to interview or been accepted yet? I'm a little confused. It's expensive for me to book a flight to go visit and also to take time off work if they might randomly reject me after I've booked the flight or even while I'm there. Any advice is welcome, thanks!

I would like to say first and foremost, congratulations to all who have been admitted somewhere so far. I'm really excited for all of you! Great jobs! As for me, I didn't anticipate coming out of this without a single offer. For some reason, I assumed that getting a Master's Degree would be a huge factor, along with all of the life, work, and academic experience I've gathered in the last few years. This is my second round of PhD applications. The first was when I had a BA with no experience at all. But, combined with the experience of going through the process once (very clumsily) and all the things I mentioned above, I assumed I would get in SOMEwhere. I applied to 16 schools. I basically made PhD applications my life for a while. I didn't half-ass anything, that's for sure. But, so far I've gotten 4 rejections, and some of the other 12 are not looking promising. Kind of at a loss for what to do in life at this point...I am stuck in my dead-end CRM Archaeologist job and I don't foresee any situation in which I would be able to get more experience in Sociocultural Anthropology as a field outside of an internship or volunteering, which I have no time for, because of said job. Maybe I'll just wait until next year and reapply in Archaeological Anthropology instead? Not super excited about that. Anyway, I'm sure everyone who's been experiencing rejections is equally disheartened. But I'm just not sure where to go from here :/