perpetualalligator

If I've learned anything from the results page is that I wish I had half the confidence some of these people have.

@bonesandbakesWelcome to hell! I did not apply to Penn or know any Penn people but I looked at the Penn results for past years and I don't really have a concrete answer for you. I did notice that the person who did specify what area they were interested in said they were BioAnth and others have mentioned  being on a (long?) shortlist. Based on previous years it doesn't seem like they're formal interviews but maybe potential supervisors reaching out to applicants that really stood out? Also the Penn Anthro Website doesn't say anything about interviews as part of the process, so I wouldn't think that not getting an interview request implies a rejection. I think that very few schools do formal interviews as part of the application process. Off the top of my head I can only think of CUNY, Berkeley, Duke, Notre Dame, and maybe Harvard (the website does say that you don't necessarily need to be interviewed to be accepted but previous years' results kind of say otherwise)?
Also when did you Skype with your potential supervisor? Did you reach out to them? If they reached out to you that could count as an interview.
I think it would be useful to have a thread where we make a list of schools that formally interview and like what it means to get an interview for schools that do not usually interview? What do you all think? Is there already a thread like that? Idk.

If I've learned anything from the results page is that I wish I had half the confidence some of these people have.

I am so sorry. I totally understand this. When I graduated last May, I was upset for about six months. I still get a bit upset when I think about it. I considered my undergrad university a home. I made some many good and close friends, and had established myself there. I am used to moving, so I didn't think it would be as hard as it was. I was happy when finals were over, but the day after I took my last final and started packing up my apartment, it all kind of hit me. I cried A LOT. It actually is very common for college students to become depressed for a span of time after graduating because they miss the close community that they developed at school. At least for us, we get to go back to the college environment, just in a different way.
One thing that I try to remember is that I at least can visit my old college and visit my old friends. It may not be as often as I would like and it won't feel the same as when I was a student, but just this even little bit of information reassures me.

I'm joining for Fall 2019 too! I'm doing a PhD in Anthropology

I know this thread is just about dead but I wanted to give a final update on my experience with applying to graduate school. I applied to six departments in Classics and Anthropology. I applied to FSU's masters in Classical Archaeology and their masters in Anthropology, to UWF's masters in Underwater Archaeology, ECU's masters in Maritime Studies, UCLA's Cotsen Institutes interdisciplinary PhD, and UConn's PhD in Anthropology. I was accepted to both of FSU's programs, ECU, and UConn. All of these programs offered me funding. It's worth noting that ECU's funding offer was exceptionally poor however. I received an official rejection from UCLA and never heard anything from UWF officially but when I reached out to my POI I was told that they had filled all of their positions for the Fall. I have accepted the position at UConn and am very excited to start in the Fall. 

Hate the US and their weird ass tax system and determination of residency (with the only other country in the world basing 'residency' based on nationality being eritrea). Like for real.. why you folks always have to be special with your weird non-metric system, weird president, and also these things..

If anyone is still waiting on Vanderbilt, they have already made offers and invited people for interviews. Best of luck to everyone!!!

I would have to agree with @perpetualalligator. I was also told you should never pay for graduate school. You would be doing work in someone's lab and supporting their research objectives as much as they would be supporting your education. And going further into debt to advance in your career just doesn't seem like a great idea. NSF results should be out in the next couple weeks, so hopefully you'll have more information then. But I think waiting for a good fit with good funding would be worth it in the long run, both for financial security and professional development. 

I'm not sure how much "never pay for grad school" applies to STEM fields; that advice is usually given to arts and humanities students, who are usually clamoring for a limited number of academic positions. So my question is this: do you expect to be pulling in enough post-PhD to pay back these loans quickly? If you haven't already, see where graduates of the program have ended up so you have an idea of your prospects.

I will never understand people who say they are "surprised" to get rejected...I wish I had that kind of confidence.

@perpetualalligator thanks for the response! Yeah they are really dragging this out. It makes me feel bad because I have been waiting to hear back before accepting other offers so I might be keeping someone else on the waitlist. I might just make a decision before hearing back from them. 

I haven't even received a decision yet ? I called on Friday to see what was up and they told me that not all decisions/acceptances have come out and they don't really know when they'll send the rest of the decisions out. Based on that I would assume that accepting people off the waitlist is not a priority for the right now? I don't know. I wish I could get and give you a straight answer.

No funding, loosely aligned faculty and/or a program as opposed to a proper department are also red flags.... 

It makes me so mad that schools take so long to send their results, especially rejections. I find it so inconsiderate that once rejected it's like schools don't even feel like people are important or that they deserve to know sooner rather than later. If they know who they are admitting and/or placing on the waitlist just let the others know, it really doesn't take long to write a generic rejection later. I have yet to officially hear from two schools, and even though I am 90% sure that I am going to be rejected (people have already posted acceptances/waitlists/interviews on the results page and I have not received anything), I just want to receive official confirmation and finish with this hellish application period. It's just so frustrating.

After many years of being on here, I've noticed iterations of this question every season! For those of you starting your search, you may find this helpful
https://anthroacademic.wordpress.com/2019/03/14/__trashed/
 

If anyone else applied to UVA and assumed rejection when not invited to the on campus interviews, as I did, there is still hope. I just got an email this afternoon requesting a Skype interview tomorrow. Although they are on spring break, the committee is still conducting some interviews. I'm the one who posted on the results page, FYI. Didn't see any other UVA interviews as recently as today.

It makes me so mad that schools take so long to send their results, especially rejections. I find it so inconsiderate that once rejected it's like schools don't even feel like people are important or that they deserve to know sooner rather than later. If they know who they are admitting and/or placing on the waitlist just let the others know, it really doesn't take long to write a generic rejection later. I have yet to officially hear from two schools, and even though I am 90% sure that I am going to be rejected (people have already posted acceptances/waitlists/interviews on the results page and I have not received anything), I just want to receive official confirmation and finish with this hellish application period. It's just so frustrating.

I've officially received all my rejections from American and Canadian schools. If anyone is considering throwing their hat into next year's ring, you might want to consider doing your PhD abroad and applying to a couple schools outside of North America. In some cases, while the rigor is the same, the competition to gain admission is not as fierce, and it could be the difference between getting to do a PhD or not at all, as was my case. 
In any case, good job everyone! You are all smart and capable people, regardless of how your applications turned out. Whether you decide to try again next year or pursue other areas, I wish you all the best of luck and success. ?

I feel your pain! I applied to 7 last year and got nothing but rejection, including two that I really wanted to attend. This year I seriously looked at six but eventually only applied to three - two academic (PhD), one related but non-program opportunity related to my region of interest. I received one offer, and am waiting on the other two still.
The three programs I dropped either required you to have an MA within the discipline or my POI was either no longer affiliated with the department (shift in appointment) or seriously planning their retirement. Keep going!

Welp, got the expected rejections from NYU and Harvard. NYU was just not a very great fit so no surprise there. Some mild disappointment about Harvard, as the fit was actually quite strong, but obviously it is not really a shock. 
Basically, I am waiting to hear back about one admissions decision (where it seems as though I've been waitlisted) and two funding decisions, but fortunately I was admitted to one of my better fitting programs (UCSD) so I'll be happy if that's where I end up. 
Just for those who haven't gotten any admits: this is my third time going through this process. I think it's quite common for it to take multiple applications for this to pan out, and even though it's a brutal process, my willingness to have gone through this process so many times (rather than just losing interest after the first or second) really showed me that this is in fact something I care about doing. So if possible, try and use all this as a litmus test for your commitment to this endeavor. Maybe you find out you're really not that into it and pursue other things that you deem to be more worth your time, or maybe you find that you are, and you use the next 6 months to bolster your application package in ways that make you more attractive to an even wider array of programs (I moved back to my geographic area of interest after my first rejection, which was great for both my application and quality of life). At the end of the day, these outcomes are both ok.   
 
 

Well, I just got rejected by NYU. This whole process seems to have such an element of randomness to it--I was accepted at Notre Dame, which is my top choice, but literally rejected everywhere else. So, while trying  not to read too much into the rejections, to Indiana I go in the Fall! 
That's it for me, I suppose. I haven't posted much but this forum has been a lifeline during this stressful crazy time! Thank you and goodbye, fellow anthro nerds (and for the people still waiting on results, I hope you hear good news soon)! 

Rutgers University - New Brunswick English, PhD (F19) Rejected via E-mail on 5 Mar 2019 A 5 Mar 2019 report spam Stephen King's first book, Carrie, was rejected 30 times before it was published. Steven Spielberg was rejected twice from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, and now has a building there named in his honor. If this cycle isn't panning out for you, don't worry, success rarely comes easily or on the first try. Keep at it.  
?cheers to that

Crossing my fingers for CUNY. Final decision for me and also one of my top choices. This is gonna be an exciting week!!!   ?  (my emotions rn)