tundratussocks

I got into all three of my MA/MS underwater arch programs (yay!) BUT each one has a funding caveat (booo). I was waitlisted for funding for East Carolina's Maritime Studies program. I got into University of Southampton in the UK, but am banking on a Fulbright to fund it. I made it to semi-finalist, but no word on an interview so I'm not feeling optimistic. Also got into Florida State, but absolutely no word on funding. I strangely got an email yesterday saying that decisions were being delayed because they hadn't received their budget yet. Then I got an acceptance email today? And so the wait continues! It feels great to be accepted, but no funding feels like a rejection since I decided not to pursue graduate study without funding.

@crthompsthanks for the pickmeup, and I'm glad your interviews went well! My ref submitted shortly after I posted here. I'm actually pretty close with her, and I do trust her, but now I'm anxious about the school accepting it or not. Guess I'll make some calls on Monday...

Good luck to everyone during this weird application cycle! I'm sure we're all in for a ride... I decided to focus on maritime archaeology and narrowed my apps to East Carolina, University of Southampton, and Florida State. Luckily they're all taking students in for the Fall. They all had super late deadlines, (Jan 15th, and Florida is Feb. 1st!). I also threw my hat in for a Fulbright to fund a year at Southampton, but that's wishing on a star. I should hear if I made semi-finalist by next week... Just tryna not be a bag of nerves as I refresh my ECU app status page saying they don't have my transcripts (I submitted a month ago) and my one reference is MIA. Her time zone is technically still within the deadline, but it's already the next day in East Carolina. Can you tell this is my first app cycle?

This is my first application cycle and I haven't been on the other side of an admissions committee, so please take my advice with a grain of salt. I personally think you have good experience for an undergrad, plus I don't think your academic credentials will make you or break you. From all of the advice I've been given from irl grad students, and from what I've read on here, the best way to know if you're a good applicant is to actually reach out to the professors you want to work with. Good grades and GRE scores are great, but experience and specific research focus mean more especially for PhD application. Read a ton of research and figure out your passions, then talk to the professors doing that research. Contact them and ask thoughtful questions about their research and indicate your interest in their programs. Give a brief overview of your background, and ask if they would be interested in taking you on as a student - or perhaps if they think you should get more experience to bolster your application. I used this blog post to help me formulate my inquiries: https://contemplativemammoth.com/2013/04/08/so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school-nail-the-inquiry-email/ Also fyi I've been told by grad students that the results postings on gradcafe tend to be skewed on the higher side of average for program admits, so don't let that fool you into thinking you're not good enough. Good luck!

It's so difficult to forecast what will happen, so I'm frustratingly investing a ton of time and money into applying regardless. I'm going to wait until the last minute to apply to all of my schools, hoping that come January the world might have a better sense of what will happen for that academic year. If all of my top choice schools choose not to accept applications, have majority classes online, or experience serious budget cuts and thus less funding for masters degrees, I might wait a year to apply or at least prepare for application into PhD programs next cycle (if only budget related).

Just would like to share my personal experience. I dated a graduate student while I was an undergrad. He was actually in his late twenties, so there was a decent age difference. Generally I got along with and hung out with grad students much more than other undergrads. Still, even though undergrads and grads crossed paths frequently in my department, I was the only exception in terms of an undergrad fraternizing with grads. Looking back, I think I was more mature than most people my age in some ways. Still, I had some growing up to do, but I was an adult and could relate to other adults (even if your early 20's doesn't feel that way in the moment). Now I am in my late 20's and frequently run across work scenarios where I am around people between the ages of 18 and 65. I've met 20 year olds who were cool as heck and way more mature than 30 year olds...maybe even more mature than a few 40 year olds. All this to say, it really just depends. I think you will relate to other grad students more just because they are in that same space, regardless of their age. Some of the older applicants will have other concerns that will separate them, like maintaining a home and a family, but that won't be the case for most of your cohort. I wouldn't dive into the situation expecting you won't get along with anyone in your cohort, and I wouldn't immediately try to latch onto any of the undergrads either. Just go with the flow, try to connect with your peers because they will relate to you best, and see what happens. EDIT: There was something else I wanted to mention. My SO was very self-conscious of our relationship, but thankfully I was ambitious and outgoing as an undergrad so I formed friendships with the other grad students independently of my SO; that helped to negate other people's negative perceptions. Like I said though, there was an age difference on top of our student status for my SO to be aware of. So those social constructs will run the gossip mill, but given that you are in close age with undergrads, I doubt it will do much damage.

Sigaba already gave great advice. All I'd like to add is if you haven't already, I would strongly suggest doing a field school that has a lab component. Even if you like studying the material, you may not like the field or lab work, and that would dictate whether you should transition into archaeology or not. Also, museum studies programs might be up your alley as well? Good luck, it sounds like you have a good background. You'll figure out what you like once you dig into the research!

It's early in the application season, but I figured I'd get this going! I'm applying for an MA/MS in Archaeology. My regional interests are Arctic/Subarctic and Pacific Northwest. I'm also interested in underwater archaeology of submerged landscapes. For maritime arch, my first choice is University of Southampton (in England). I'm also into Texas A&M and East Carolina because I have so few options otherwise. Oregon State is also on my list because one professor works on submerged landscapes, but doesn't conduct underwater fieldwork. For Arctic and PNW, I'm looking at University of Alaska Fairbanks, Washington State University, and SUNY Buffalo. Haven't contacted POI's yet outside of Southampton! I'm thinking that will narrow down my list a bit hah.

I'm really sorry about your undergrad experience! I think I can offer a little insight - I've worked as a U.S. archaeologist for a bit now and am also looking at grad programs in a niche sub-specialty in the U.K. Archaeology/Anthropology degrees are less funded than the sciences. However, in the U.S. competitive applicants can typically secure funding to cover most of their expenses, although you may have to be less fussy about what programs you pursue. I know quite a lot of people who have gone to a variety of schools to get an Arch MA and many of them will tell you that schools with funding correlate with the amount of support you'll get throughout your program. But, like Ethanophone said, the UK is more competitive with funding especially for international students, so this kind of attitude doesn't necessarily apply. I would approach it more as a personal issue: are you willing to go into this amount of debt for the perfect program, and what kind of life will this lead you to in order to pay that debt off? I think you've already answered this for yourself. Funding related, have you looked into Fulbright? They have "partnership" awards with a few U.K. programs, and with that you'd get tuition remission plus a stipend for 10 months. If you're willing to defer a year it might be worth applying for the Fulbright this cycle just to see if you can get it.

Relative to this topic, I’m seeing mention of departments deferring all 2020 enrollment to the following semester or even following year. Does anyone know if this is a trend? If so, is it worth contacting departments just to see whether they intend to take on new grad students in 2021 or not? I understand that this is a natural part of the process when you email POI’s, but at this point I want to know if there’s a more direct and immediate way to get an answer about department-wide, or even university-wide trends. Mostly I want to know if this is simply a bust year to invest the time and energy into applying. Sucks to think I have to go into the process not knowing and still somehow muck up the motivation while noticing a lurking doom. Again, this is naturally par for the course, but this year seems dismal in general. I’m anticipating less funding and more applicants and thus more competition which I’m mentally fine with; I’m less fine with all of the uncertainty because of pandemics and such. p.s. I know I'm sounding very sorry for myself, my frustration came out a little strong haha.