anthropologygeek

Basically as long as it’s a tier 1 university it comes down to your advisor and what opportunities you receive within the program

Look at fit but most importantly look at job placement. The whole point of school is getting a good job. A R2 school with a perfect fit would be way below an R1 school with a good fit. Yes the R1 matters because of funding and you have to provide evidence you can get your own funding for most jobs

98 percent of TT jobs go to someone who got their PHD from a tier 1 university

Mandarin- I graduated in May and started my job in August but I was officially hired in March before I graduated. I did not have to do any post doc but in my Sub field I went and studied under the professor who literally wrote the book on what I do. When I was applying to phd programs and got accepted to my top two choices. One with funding one without. My top choice didn't offer funding however I really wanted to work with the POI so I went without funding. Turns out I didn't receive funding due to school politics and I was suppose to get funding so I started school in August and got funded by October. Looking back I was naive but got lucky. However after my second year I gave up my funding since I wrote grants and basically funded myself. This allowed me to be out of the country 13 months out of the 18 months doing research and making contacts and actually working in the field as an equal with professors at universities I would die to work at. This lead to one of my contacts contacting me and encouraging me to apply for a job she was chair of the hiring committee. So I applied and got it and could not be happier.

I wanted to share that jobs are out there. I graduated in 2014 with my phd and I am a professor at an R1 University. I have recently done research and found that 98% of all academia jobs go to people who got their phd from an R1 university

Why not. More information the better

I guide them to correct literature and connections to gain access to research

You need to find a topic on your own in my opinion. I did for both my masters and phd and I make my students find their own topics and I guide them through their research.

Hi, I am writing this since I have been in your shoes. I found this site back in 2007 when I was applying for my master degree and then I revisited it when I was applying for my phd and now I am an assistant professor at a major university so I have done the full circle and finally found the time to post some advice to you all. As a professor taking graduate students, normally 2 a year, I never take a student who doesn't email me. Then I encourage visiting the school if at all possible. This shows me the student is serious about the school. However, I understand money can be tight but I look kindly on students who take the initiative to set up phone conservation which also proves they want to study under me. And then once I have my short list of 5 applicates, I set up Skype interviews with them. I do this mainly because I personally fund all my students and will be working closely with them. Our personality cant clash. When looking at the applicates, applicates with less than 300 on the gre goes directly into the rejection pile since my university will not approve them. Next I look at their research interest/statement of purpose. Their research interest must fit my research interest since I fund all my students to work on my research so it would be an injustice to that student if I accepted them. Once they make that cut, I look at letters of rec's. Most professors are completely honest. I am in the Bioarch/physical anthro field and it is really a very small field and every time we do a rec it is our reputation on the line. And then if it is from my former phd advisor I will call mainly to say hi and then check on the applicate. I hope this helps. I do email the students I accept by march since I know the grad school can be slow and sometimes it takes up to a month for them to send out the letters. Feel free to private message me, however I am busy so it may take up to a week for me to respond. And I wish you all the best luck in this application season and who knows one of you may be my future student.

I am mostly just read comments now. Short back story: found this site while I was applying for masters. This site helped me through that app cycle and then my phd app cycle. Since I have gotten my phd and now I mainly just look at threads out of old habits die hard kinda thing. I graduated May of 2014 and got extremely lucky and got an assistant professor job right out of school. What that article meant I think was elie program for your specific field. I basically went to a smaller name school but m advisor was the foremost expert on my subfield. I worked extremely hard and actually funded myself through grants I wrote and was awarded. In today's market you need a proof of a site that is only yours that can be used for future research and you need proof of getting projects funded. Yes it's nice to take the easy way and just get and use the school assistantship but after two years if your not funding yourself your behind the 8 ball. Amazing jobs are out there you just need to work hard and make connection. My subfield is a pretty small community which I have joined. I feel lucky to call any so called famous anthropologist a friend and even work on projects with them. But while in school I would be working from 7 am to 7 pm and then go home and write grants and read journals until 11. I also have friends who also got the so call unicorn jobs of assistant professor on tenure track just like me but the one thing we all had in common was that work ethic. Moral of the story there are great jobs out there you just have to be in that one percent

I went to NAU for undergrad, and Flaggstaff is an amazing place. Your love it

Faulty- yes professors hold grudges. Every subfield is a small field in relative. You end up knowing everyone. In fact one prof I turned down asked me at a conference three years later why I turned them down.

Once you accept an offer you should honor it. The only rule about April 15 is if that university signed the agreement the deadline is april15 however in reality a university can legally give you any deadline they want. Also, if you accept an offer then later decline for a better option you could be committing are er suicide and be black listed in the field. You need all he contacts you an get and you don't want to make an enemy this short into your career. If you accepted an offer honor it, if your not sure dont accept if the deadline is near ask for an extension most times they will give it to you. But always keep your word or it could come back. And bite you in the a**

Ok I am going to say this and I know ill get a lot of hate on this board. MA are not a waste. In fact where I got my phd, they will not accept you in the phd if you don't have a masters from another school. A lot of programs will not accept you into the phd if you don't have a masters. I know I don't accept you as a phd student without a master's.

Academic fit is most important since if you can't do what interest you your drop out. Seen it many times. As for regional fit, in reality you should be off doing research every summer, and you should only have 2 years of classes so you technically only have to be in that city 18 months and then a week here and a week there