anthropologygeek

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

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. 

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. 

Great advice! Princeton seems like a good program, I've always had excellent impressions of their faculty.
On the topic of "institutional prestige" - I think it can get you a foot in the door and perhaps get your CV read more closely, so rankings/prestige are not useless. But for sure, you do NOT have to go to a "top 10" NRC school to have a tenure track anthro job one day. You do need a strong committee with excellent connections in your corner of the discipline, published articles, good performance on grants, etc.
Also, I'd like to point out that a place like Princeton has institutional prestige (because it's an ivy) that kind of makes up for it not being in the "top 10." The social capital gained from being enrolled in the ivy league is real, even at the graduate level. So, for example, I would think #30 Princeton (I don't actually know the number rankings) is going to look better on your CV than #29 XYZ middle state university. 
But the things I listed above (committee, publishing record, grants, etc) are what count the most. 
 
 

Why, hello! I'm a current PhD student in anthropology at Princeton, and I'd be happy to exchange PMs about my experiences here so far. To answer your initial questions:
1) Like you, I also saw Princeton's spot on the NRC anthropology rankings and was a bit concerned as to whether I should apply -- but the NRC rankings aren't really official rankings like you might have for economics PhD programs; they're more a range of various assessments -- and so they carry considerably less weight. I think at this level, especially in anthropology, it's less about department rankings and institutional prestige (though these things obviously still matter), and more about who is on your committee, if you are working with the top people in your particular areas of anthropological interest, etc -- they will link you into the circles you want/need to be in, regardless of institutional affiliation. For what it's worth, all of my other PhD offers were NRC top 10 schools, and I have no regrets about turning them down for Princeton, because it was such a good fit for my interests and had such productive scholars working on things I was curious about (also, I don't think a four-field program is more prestigious than a school with a strictly sociocultural program -- I have actually heard the opposite from several people [but everyone's got their opinion...])!). Also, Princeton stipends are one of, if not the best, funding packages in anthropology. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the inner workings of the admissions process, so I can't speak to how many applicants they get, but recent incoming cohorts have ranged from 5-10 people.
2) I think it's very rare to have 6 people on a committee, but the more faculty members you can mention in your SOP, the better (as long as the connection between your interests and theirs is substantial rather than superficial)! I mentioned four in mine, and also reached out to them during the admissions process -- feel free to do the same. Any fit you can demonstrate -- theoretical, ethnographic, methodological -- should help your case.
3) From what I've seen, a master's is by no means necessary, so no sweat about "just" a BA, but I think most students here had some sort of fieldwork experience before applying, often in a less structured environment than a field school (I can share my academic/research background with you via PM). Princeton is the sort of department that seems open to students switching fieldwork locations, but it's nice to show admissions committees, if you can, that you've done more than armchair anthropology in class.
Hope that's somewhat helpful -- feel free to PM!

Gradcat- if you meet the min gpa and gre scores of the school then they aren't used besides for funding. Then it comes down to fit. And I don't know if its much chance by my experience. Every acceptance I got was a perfect fit and thinking back every rejection I got in some way was me trying to force a fit.

Safeguard is to learn as many new skills as you can. Always build up as many connections as you can. Lastly, why worry when worst case you can join the military and start at 50k a year worst case scenario

It is a huge deal in the anthropology/archeology field. If you have tattoos you are recommended to hide them. I have seen people at conferences with visible tattoos not get introduced to certain people by their adviser based on this. Its embarrassing for all parties if you have visible tattoos based on the unprofessional attitude it provides. Luckily I have no tattoos but a lot of my friends do, and they cover them up for every conference they attend. Also most of them will cover up their tattoos for school based on wanted to only portray the upmost professionalism they can. However, for department functions like bbq or christmas parties they don't cover their tattoos.

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.

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.

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.

Make sure to google the person doing the interviewing. Know what they are currently researching and how you fit into that. Also have 3-5 questions planned ahead of time so it's not awkward when they ask if you have any questions.

Lets say I'm going to accept 3 I will have a Skype interview with 5-6. I use it as a final cut since when it gets down to the 5-6 there isn't much different between them on paper. All of them have great recs, solid gpa's, field experience, and presentations / publishcations.

P.S. sorry for the typos in the previous message, I was posting on my iPad and did not proof read and just noticed them.

I do a the very,east a Skype interview with prospective phd students. Reason for this is to make sure our personality mesh and that I want my name associated with them forever. 4-8 years is a long time to spend with someone and if our personalities don't match they probably will drop out. Plus, they will forever represent me and be attached to my name like i am to my fellow advisor. For masters, no interview is needed since it is only 2 years and people are known for their phd advisor not master advisor.

Make sure to google the person doing the interviewing. Know what they are currently researching and how you fit into that. Also have 3-5 questions planned ahead of time so it's not awkward when they ask if you have any questions.

If the bitterness and "know-it-all"-ness you express here is in your job application materials, then I can't say I'm surprised you're having trouble finding a job. While it's okay to rant against the system, you should be careful because employers may not want to hire someone that is so negative. 

I don't agree. 5 pages of bibliography (single spaced) seems like quite a lot for a 2 page (single spaced) document. If you are citing with particular regularity, and if you did indeed cite for each professor you'd like to work with (about 4 per program, 1-2 citations each), I imagine it would break up the text structurally/visually and potentially make it look like you were compensating for not reading their work by using information available on Google Scholar. I mean, I'm not in a PhD program, but I do edit academic writing for a living and have published some of my own, and I know that the SOP shouldn't look like a lit review. It seems to me there is a difference between "fully cited" and citing too much. I think you can talk about, say, the methodological power of ethnography and not cite Malinowski, just as I think you can talk about discipline without citing Foucault. 
 
Perhaps I misinterpreted your use of "fully cited," but I know it is easy to get carried away with citations in a literal sense (being too thorough) and symbolic (check out all the stuff I know). 

I knew all about the family tree since it is extremely important in the field and my advisor believes we should know where we come from.

Dig deep- what are your qualifications for making such claims? Your just a 2014 phd app cycle candidate right? At least thats what yor profile says. I was that four years ago. I have since gotten fellowships, grants, taught countless classes, not ta but create my own classes, countless times. I have presented and been publish numerous times. Made countless connections and i have my very own resarch site and my own collection. nothing like doing my own research, getting my own money for it, getting a country permission plus all the pemissions needed. Just curious so I googled Harvard just know and only one person out of the ten I looked at went to Ivy League. I did a random sampling. Many didn't even go to an US school. And one went to UCLA great school but not an ivy so I guess that doesn't happen right? And then there was UC santa barbara totally not equal to an ivy league. My god people on here can be so stuck up. The NAME of your university means nothing. What you did and who you know are the most important thing. Most of the bes advisers are at non elitest schools. Mind you I. Physical and if you google the top physical profs they are at non-elitest schools according to this website. But guess what, they are the best to mode you into a physical anthropologist.

Actually this was a nice letter by your department. I put in about 80 hours and my free time is spent reading up on the literature. 2 articles should be the min. Everyone should thank your department for this letter and it shows they care about your future. If they didn't care they wouldn't of sent it. But to get jobs this is what it takes and you think it gets easier after school? A phd should be your passion and should always be on your mind. Even when I'm not working I'm thinking about my subject

Now since I will be graduating in a week, I am signing off for good. Everyone here have been great and I hope I have helped a few. Also, if I've helped you please repay me by helping future grad cafers. I feel this is a community for graduate students and since I'm no longer a grad student and will be accepting my first ever batch of grad students come January, I would feel like I would be spying if I came on here. The grad cafe has helped/fueled my anxiety while applying years ago and I have received great advice. May the luck forever be in everyone's favor moving forward. One exception of coming on, I will come back in February if I remember and explain the method of how grad students are accepted at my hopefully forever university.

Now since I will be graduating in a week, I am signing off for good. Everyone here have been great and I hope I have helped a few. Also, if I've helped you please repay me by helping future grad cafers. I feel this is a community for graduate students and since I'm no longer a grad student and will be accepting my first ever batch of grad students come January, I would feel like I would be spying if I came on here. The grad cafe has helped/fueled my anxiety while applying years ago and I have received great advice. May the luck forever be in everyone's favor moving forward. One exception of coming on, I will come back in February if I remember and explain the method of how grad students are accepted at my hopefully forever university.

Now since I will be graduating in a week, I am signing off for good. Everyone here have been great and I hope I have helped a few. Also, if I've helped you please repay me by helping future grad cafers. I feel this is a community for graduate students and since I'm no longer a grad student and will be accepting my first ever batch of grad students come January, I would feel like I would be spying if I came on here. The grad cafe has helped/fueled my anxiety while applying years ago and I have received great advice. May the luck forever be in everyone's favor moving forward. One exception of coming on, I will come back in February if I remember and explain the method of how grad students are accepted at my hopefully forever university.

Now since I will be graduating in a week, I am signing off for good. Everyone here have been great and I hope I have helped a few. Also, if I've helped you please repay me by helping future grad cafers. I feel this is a community for graduate students and since I'm no longer a grad student and will be accepting my first ever batch of grad students come January, I would feel like I would be spying if I came on here. The grad cafe has helped/fueled my anxiety while applying years ago and I have received great advice. May the luck forever be in everyone's favor moving forward. One exception of coming on, I will come back in February if I remember and explain the method of how grad students are accepted at my hopefully forever university.

Now since I will be graduating in a week, I am signing off for good. Everyone here have been great and I hope I have helped a few. Also, if I've helped you please repay me by helping future grad cafers. I feel this is a community for graduate students and since I'm no longer a grad student and will be accepting my first ever batch of grad students come January, I would feel like I would be spying if I came on here. The grad cafe has helped/fueled my anxiety while applying years ago and I have received great advice. May the luck forever be in everyone's favor moving forward. One exception of coming on, I will come back in February if I remember and explain the method of how grad students are accepted at my hopefully forever university.