lylark

I meant Brown. Obviously, I'm not an ad-com member, so no guarantees, but from what they told me, they've already notified everyone accepted or waitlisted regardless of subdiscipline (hist. arch is still part of their anthro phd program, right?). No idea about the others, but I'm not feeling optimistic myself I do wish they'd notify everyone sooner--this waiting game is so killer I'd (almost) prefer an outright rejection haha.

I'm linguistic, but I applied to Northwestern, Stanford, and Brown. Have heard nothing from the first two and am waitlisted at Brown. If you haven't heard from them it's probably not good news, since all acceptances have been notified regardless of subfield. Northwestern it looks like doesn't notify till early March historically. Stanford's decision should be coming out next week? I'm assuming bad news for me since I haven't been contacted for an interview at either.

@phyanthI do too, and I know it helps me to feel very prepared, so I also made a whole cheat-sheet with different questions they might ask. I didn't really look at it at all during the interviews, but it was very helpful to go through the process beforehand. At both schools, they mostly wanted to talk about my project and interests. They both asked me to describe a genealogy of my current topical and regional interests. There were some questions about which theorists I liked (I think maybe a subtle way of looking at which schools of thought I'd adhere to?), and discussion of concretely how I wanted to approach my project, but it was all very casual--not like they were grilling me or anything. They also wanted to know what questions I had, which was nice. I'd definitely come up with a few beforehand if you haven't already. Also, this is kind of unrelated, but at Chicago, the interviewer mostly seemed like he was trying to sell me on the program, which was nice, but he talked a lot about how they were trying to cut back on the competitive atmosphere. As I didn't ask about that, it seemed kind of concerning. I know from talking to people elsewhere that they have a reputation for being academically rigorous, but now I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with that/knows about the department atmosphere?

Same! I've had two interviews as well. The second one felt better because I knew more of what to expect, and both were friendly discussions about my project/interests/goals, but it's hard not to ramble on or freeze up. In hindsight I'm realizing I have noooo idea how it went. Still, felt good to at least get this far.

Just got an email for a skype interview at Brown with POI. Had basically written this application off since I saw other interviews go out last week. My subfield is linguistic anthro. They want to talk to me tomorrow! I am so scared...

Hello all! Would anyone else be interested in a personal statement exchange? I'm at the rough draft stage on mine and would really appreciate some anthropologically-knowledgeable eyes on it. In case it's relevant, I'm applying to sociocultural and linguistic programs emphasizing in science/technology, politics of knowledge, post-structural theory, social media, fiction, and/or conservation discourse. Happy to read anything/provide feedback in return.

Thank you both so much! This is both helpful and encouraging in exactly the way I was hoping for.

Hello all! Found this forum a bit late, but it's been very helpful so far. This is my first application cycle (finished my undergrad this May), and the whole thing currently feels very overwhelming. I think my quantitative stats are decent (3.97 undergrad GPA, 169V, 164Q, 5.5W GRE). I'm pretty confident in my writing sample and letter writers, and do have somewhat relevant independent research and teaching experience (honors senior thesis, NSF funded REU, and currently working as a research assistant in medical anthropology setting and part time as a secondary level writing instructor). However, I do not have a MA. While from what I've read that doesn't preclude PhD program admittance, I think I am at a personal-statement disadvantage in that I don't feel ready to propose a narrow and well-defined dissertation project without more advanced coursework. I can articulate broad interests (language/discourse as vehicles for power, social theory of objectivity and knowledge production, China, social media, science and environmental studies, technology and politics), but most of the example statements and advice I've read suggest that the ideal personal statement is an extremely narrow and specific project description akin to a baby dissertation proposal. I'm really struggling to write something which looks like that, given that I think it would take more coursework before I could know what questions need to be asked. I know that I wouldn't be bound in any way to what I propose there, but it feels disingenuous (and is probably a bad idea anyway) to just make up a topic that I'm not fully committed to. How do people do this before starting PhD level work?? The obvious answer here would be to pursue a MA before starting a P.h.D, but for many reasons (e.g. funding, the dearth of programs even offering stand-alone MA programs, timing, the fact that my end goal has always been a PhD) I'd prefer that MA to be a step within a PhD program. So--is it possible to write a successful statement elaborating my prior experiences/preparation for graduate work and potential future areas of research without going to that specific level? Would I be better off waiting a year to keep working at what I am doing, hoping that my interests will magically coalesce into something more concretely definable? In case it's relevant, so far I've had the most positive response from contacts at Brown, UMichigan, Notre Dame, and UTexas Austin, though there are also other schools on my list I've yet to reach out to. I'd really appreciate thoughts or advice from anyone also struggling with this or who has successfully navigated the process already. I'd also love to exchange personal statement drafts with anyone willing.