bearbonbon

I think it depends on the program-- some interview, some don't. But if people have reported interviews already and you haven't received one within like a week or so of them I would say probably ....

I'm wondering if I should take my POI saying they submitted a recommendation letter for me for an internal fellowship as a good sign? ? I have an interview in the department too so we'll see.... fingers crossed!

I know one professor I talked with recently said applications basically doubled from the regular amount at their program this year because of Covid and such so yeah... definitely a difficult application year ?

@anth8 From what I remembered it was an interview with 3 people, including someone from a different subfield from mine. They asked a lot about specifics of my research/background reading so I would try to be well versed in that!

Re: Stanford, I was interviewed last year and then rejected so I'm not sure if/how they do a wait list.... Good luck to people being interviewed though!

@otrosenderosThat does help my anxiety a bit actually haha! Thanks for the insight on WashU..... if it's individual professors emailing vs a email from the department coordinator you may be right it's a bit more staggered. I'll see what happens down the road! Good luck to you too!!

Has anyone heard back from WashU on the archaeology side? I have no idea if different subfields in departments tend to interview independently ...

Not sure if anyone else here applied to UCSC or W&M but UCSC application decisions should be out sometime in March and W&M is going to start reviewing applications sometime next week (heard both these time ranges through professors.) Not sure about any interview dates or anything though! Figured I would pass along the info.

This is all just from my own previous application experience and what my undergrad advisor has told me, but I think what's ultimately important about a program is how well the department can support you, if it has the resources to fulfill your research goals, and if the professors there are knowledgeable in your intended research area and if they have contacts you can draw upon. Obviously name recognition probably plays a little (and being a bigger or more known school also ties into how much money the department may have to help fund you). To take UChicago Anthro department for example, they're well known for leaning more heavily theoretical (both in the cultural and archaeology side) and are also very hands off with graduate students (heard from a friend attending that grad students there can take 8-10 years to finish a Ph.D.) which might not be a good fit for some people-- it's still a very good department, but fit is important! (I am also not sure what rankings there are and it may be more personal perception by professors than any definitive list out there.) Also I'm not sure what University of Illinois campus you've been admitted too, but from my brief experience at UIUC working in their labs for my own research project as an archaeology student, the Anth department seems pretty large and has a lot of well supplied lab spaces... so again, depends on what you're looking for!

Going into my second application cycle this year and I hope something good comes of it... One upside is I think taking an extra year helped me solidify my interests so hopefully my application is more waterproof this time. ? Good luck to everyone, this year especially!

Has anyone else heard back from Stanford?? Wondering how soon I should accept the implied rejection lol

I'm feeling the exact same way... my two interviews were also stressful for the same exact reasons (grilling me on my proposed project, which is FAR from finalized/solidified) and I also feel like I bombed them. But it helps knowing that other people have faced this and also felt unprepared, and like if anyone out there could answer those questions perfectly they would already have their degree haha. & I've also felt like maybe giving up but you know you got interviews for a reason so be proud of that!

I've had interviews so far with Stanford and Columbia (both Arch track) which I am surprised I got at all haha. Not sure if Archaeology vs Sociocultural faculty tend to do separate interview times/rounds though?

Hi, I'm the person who posted about the Stanford interview. It was for the Arch track for clarification! Was a vid interview with multiple professors.