gls2814

Hi! This is a really tough situation to be in and I can understand being torn between family and career (for different reasons in my own life). I had a professor once stress to our entire class that personal happiness is really important and we shouldn't make decisions off of what other people want for us or what they think we should do. If you're not happy/content with the idea of a decision, it might not be the best choice. I definitely could not tell you what to do; I don't think anyone here can. But if I had to make this decision, here are some things that I would be considering: A PhD is a long commitment. A program might say the timeline is 6 years, but some people take up to 10 years to finish a PhD for various reasons. Would you be okay with this? Do you feel like you would be missing out on an opportunity to advance your career? This seems like a really basic question, but what I'd be considering (and actually am considering while I await decisions) is if I would resent not doing my PhD and would I resent my family because I made the decision to stay with them instead (I don't at all mean this to sound harsh. It's just something to consider). This might not be something you can foresee now; hindsight is always 20/20, but it is something to think about. What does getting a doctorate mean to you? Is it for personal fulfillment/happiness/contentment/achievement/success? Do you need it to achieve your career goals? What does the future hold for either decision? Humanities job market is really tight as I've heard from numerous professors. PhDs are a risk. Or, Can you foresee yourself running the family business in the future? When you think about making either decision, which one makes you happy/excited/hopeful? I know we probably shouldn't base decisions off of feelings, but what I tend to do is imagine myself going down both paths that I'm deciding between and I think about the one that I am most excited about. This isn't the surefire or best way to make a heavy decision; of course, imagination and reality will not always line up, and it will be a tough road ahead because life is tough all around, but imagining both scenarios and paying attention to how you feel about both of them can help you figure out what you truly want.

I did something similar. I applied mostly to anthro programs but I also applied to 2 religious studies programs because I work in the anthropology of religion. Don't lose hope! You still have two more to go! Did you have your heart set on an Anthropology PhD specifically, or would you be okay with the other two? Exactly. I wish we at least had status updates; just tell me if it's in review at least.

I'm sorry man. What subfield are you in for anthro? I'm in linguistic.

Why do schools wait like this? I wish it was the opposite way around where they send out rejections first and acceptances after (this is probably not logistical; I am just venting). For example, UVA Religion has sent out at least 5 acceptances based on Grad Cafe. I haven't gotten the damn rejection yet and I would really like to have some closure. They're really out here keeping us in suspense for no reason. Fade me y'all

Thanks man. They definitely made me feel like I didn't have the skills though. I physically cringe when I think about what I've said and how I could have set it better. My nerves got the best of me. Yeah! It's like they expect us to have our dissertations already planned out and ready to go. What about growth? Changing perspectives? Leaving room for all of that as we grow as scholars? I'm stressed and depressed

I applied to about 9 anthro programs and 2 religious studies. I applied to UCSD, Stanford, NYU, Boston, Brandeis, Chicago (which I know I stand absolutely no chance with), Penn, Harvard, and UTexas Austin all for cultural anthro.

I've had interviews for cultural anthro at UT Austin and UPenn so far. Is it common for committees to really grill you on the logistics of your proposed project? I have done so poorly on these interviews (Penn especially) that I just feel like an imposter and I probably shouldn't have applied at all. I sounded so incredibly incompetent in my interviews as I stuttered through answers and vaguely answered their questions (if I even sufficiently answered them in the first place, which I don't even know if I did). I should probably give up on this honestly. Not looking for sympathy or anything, just feeling really depressed

I guess I didn't get into Virginia's Religion program. There's at least 3 acceptances on the results page and I didn't get an interview or even a status update.

I'm just curious as to what to expect from programs. I applied to 8 anthro programs for cultural anthropology and I've had 2 interviews, 1 rejection, and crickets from the other 5 schools. I'm just curious if I should be expecting interviews for all of them (provided, of course, that I even make it that far).

Thanks! North American Religions. I am really excited about the program and my stomach is in absolute knots right now. I just know my nerves will get the best of me and I will sound crazy and incompetent.

I have an interview with Columbia Religion soon. Y'all wish me luck. This is my #2 choice

Wow thanks for this! So I'm into linguistic anthropology along with cultural and I've mostly been using a lot of semiotic theory that falls into pragmatism and structuralism. I definitely do not have a strong foundation in theory. My one undergraduate course in anthropological theory mostly focused on reading ethnographies and early history of what's NOT accepted in anthro anymore so it's been a bit tough for me to pinpoint exactly what school of thought I fall under with my research and analyses. I'm afraid to say structuralism or functionalism just because it seems (from what I've been reading) that these have fallen out of favor. When I interviewed at one of the big major anthropology department, one of the professors straight up asked me what theories I plan on using in my research. I'm sure I sounded like a complete idiot talking about language ideologies and translation. But thank you so much for your response. It helps me feel a lot better.

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I got rejected from UCSD on a lovely Saturday morning

I also got my first rejection (11 programs I applied to) from UCSD. It was in my top 3 and I am heartbroken. I feel your pain

Has anyone heard from Stanford Anthropology? They have such an early due date and schools later than them are turning out responses (interviews, even acceptances already).

This question always trips me up! Do I go broad and say that I'm a postmodernist or something? Or do I talk about the smaller scale theories I use from one or two writers? I never know how to go about answering questions about what theories I use in my research because often the articles we read don't usually say that I'm taking a specific type of approach. I'm in linguistic anthropology so I use a lot of semiotic theory, a lot of identity/interaction/discourse theory for discourse analysis, but I never know if they have actual labels. I get very tripped up by this question and I need to perfect it because I have another interview coming up.

Did any of your interviewers ask about what theories you will use in your project? I got that question and completely bombed it. I felt so ashamed.

Hi guys! I’m applying to grad school this fall for next year (Fall 2019). Any advice is appreciated. I realize that no one can tell my chances, but I am curious about my chances based on some things. My major is currently English Literature, Language, and Criticism and my concentration is Linguistics. My school isn't heavily linguistics based and the field falls under the English department. I did discover my passion for linguistics a little late in my college career. I'm currently ending my junior year this spring and I discovered my love of linguistics in the second semester of my sophomore year. I currently have a 4.0 GPA and just received an undergraduate research fellowship for my senior year (2018-2019). Unfortunately, I won't be finished with my research project for the fellowship until Spring 2019 so I wouldn't be able to submit that as a sample. I am thinking of doing an Independent Tutorial this fall and perhaps using whatever comes of that. My top schools for a PhD in Linguistics (particularly sociolinguistics) are the University of Chicago, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, U of WA, and U of Rochester. However, I don’t think I’ve written an amazing research paper for any of my Linguistics courses that would be good enough to submit as part of an application. I also haven’t taken the GRE yet but I plan to this summer. Any thoughts on how a mediocre paper would look with a (so-far) perfect GPA for these schools?