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Anthropology PhD, Harvard

Either Princeton or Harvard, I'm visiting in April and haven't yet made a final decision...

I called Columbia and was told that many decisions have been made but that we would know "by the end of march, beginning of april" (!!!). Based on what you said, I've decided to withdraw my application just in case, as I would not go there anyway. Of course, they may have been planning to reject me anyway, but as I said, just in case. If I didn't think it would affect anyone else, I would have waited for an answer, but since there is a possibility that another student could lose their place because of me, I didn't want to risk that because it seems unfair. But I don't want to sound pretentious--it is likely they didn't think I was a good fit for their dept either!

Interesting. Do you have any idea of when or how they will notify?

What is up with the person who posted they were accepted at Columbia and then that it was the result of misunderstanding? Just curious.

For art history specifically? Because this is definitely not true for all departments...

What is defined as the "best" anthropology programs depends on your specific interests...and finding a good fit school will help you get in. That said, the most well-recognized departments tend not to have terminal masters, unless you're doing something like medical anthropology or museum anthropology.

As I said previously, March 7th seemed awfully early for Columbia to get back to us...

I think most people would say that Cambridge is a better location than New Haven. Cambridge is more lively with more cultural opportunities than New Haven, and is practically part of Boston. It's great for walking around and public transportation, and as an intellectual center is hard to beat. I also happen to think that there are fewer tensions between Harvard and the rest of cambridge than between Yale and the rest of New Haven (but maybe that's because Harvard owns most of cambridge). That said, New Haven can be fun and is definitely cheaper than Cambridge, and it is quite close to New York (but people I know there don't go to New York all that more often than people I know at Harvard). The campus is really nice, but kind of strange because all the buildings are in this old style in order to imitate Cambridge (in england) but they weren't built all that long ago (compared to Cambridge in england). In the end, as I'm sure you know, the most important thing will be choosing one over the other based on the faculty and the general program, as the school where you think you would be the best fit. If you can visit both, that would be ideal. If Yale seems generally better for you, it's not worth it to choose another school because it's in a cooler place (it's not like we're talking about choosing between New York City and the Lincoln, Nebraska.)

Through friends, I'm 90% sure that Yale has chosen and notified already, though maybe they do it by specialty/region?

Although I'm sometimes tempted to call just to ask when they'll be notifying or otherwise ask them, I end up not doing it, mostly because I feel like it won't make a difference in their decision or when they'll tell me, and superstitiously and irrationally because I see the people who generally email to ask for a status update almost always end up getting rejected. We've done everything we can during the application process, and now it's out of our hands, and in a couple weeks we all should know. This comforts me, but I'm still going a little crazy with the wait.

vilanelle--that's totally a guess about stanford. Let's say on the 10 side of 20? Yes, I had an interview before getting the email, in which I feel like the person (I'd rather not say who) almost told me directly that I was admitted and they wanted to make sure I was still interested. So I was a bit surprised about the alternate list email, to say the least. Re: Chicago--I don't think it's that old school (it's always been considered a "postmodern" department) and it may be the "easiest" to get into (not easy by any stretch, but they accept more people than other places) of the best departments. Medanth--I sent you a PM but I now think it could be anything, I hadn't realized before you were doing a joint phd, which are often notified at different times from others. They could make it easier by sending all notifications for a program at the same time so if you saw some rejections from chicago you could feel better.

vilanelle--I would guess there are between 10 and 20 people on the waitlist, but that they didn't accept any more people than they could fund. Did you have a phone interview? If so, what was it like? Mine just involved me asking about the program and them asking if I was still definitely interested in stanford. If you absolutely want to go to stanford and you are positive it is your first choice I would tell them that, sending your email to the woman we got the emails from as well as the professors with whom you want to work. Where else did you apply/are you waiting on? Medanth--I don't know, but I have a feeling they already sent out the acceptances and that if you hadn't heard you could be waitlisted or not accepted. What annoys me is that they don't send out rejections at the same time, that just seems silly and like they are hedging their bets just in case they get a negative decision in between. Are you considering Harvard as well?

I noticed a Yale reject or 2 and just wondering if any of you applied to Yale and why you would want to go there? Just anthropologically curious. I guess I should stop checking now that I know Columbia and Princeton won't be notifying for another couple of weeks or so... btw--Looks like we have similar schools and responses, devindavenport...no Michigan for you?

i think s/he meant that s/he saw that results for those schools had been reported on the website, but has not heard from them him/herself.