neurotransmitori

I'm watching this thread with interest now too, and not just because I love buying school supplies...

For filing cabinets, they look like they can be pretty pricey but craigslist typically has a lot of people selling them cheap or giving them away for free.

I recently completed my MSc. degree in Germany. When I started there was not much real information about the pros and cons of studying here. Generic higher studies websites posted generic higher studies terms , and I did not know anyone personally who had moved to Germany.
I hope my blog post would help out other people with deciding.
About Me : I am from Asia and attended one of the elite engineering colleges in my country for Bachelors. For Masters, I was interested in a course which allowed me to study computer science but was also interdisciplinary. Since Europe seemed to have such courses available, I decided to apply here.
My results : I got into 2 courses. One was MSc. Computational Science in University of Amsterdam (https://www.uva.nl/en/programmes/masters/computational-science/computational-science.html) and the other was MSc. Simulation Sciences at RWTH Aachen University (https://www.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/bnzu/lidx/1) . I finally decided to join RWTH.
I would like to give my opinion about this decision, in retrospect, and also some comments.
The good :
1. Education is free in Germany, even for foreigners. In some states some amount of fees has been introduced for non EU students (around 1500 EUR) which is still considerably less than in other European countries for non EU/EEA students. In my state (NRW) while I was a student, there was no fees for foreigners yet.
2. The cost of living was much much cheaper than Amsterdam.
3. Pretty good and pretty cheap alcohol :D
4. You get a semester ticket which lets you travel in public transport for free, typically in your state and maybe also in other nearby countries. eg my semester ticket allowed me to travel in NRW as well as till Maastricht in Netherlands.
5. The specific course I took had too many non useful mandatory courses. But as far as electives are concerned, we had a lot of flexibility. This also meant lot of flexibility in choosing your thesis topic and department.
 
The bad :
1. Language issues. While my course was completely in English, there were many courses available in German I would have taken if they were available in English, specially from the Math department.
2. In day to day life, living without German knowledge is difficult in Aachen, and NRW in general. It would be much more convenient maybe in Munich, Berlin or Frankfurt.
3. Courses seem too theoretical. It seemed that emphasis was on preparing students for future as PhD scholars, and not preparing for job market. Recently a MSc. in Data Science course has been started and even their courses seem to be too theoretical.
4. Job market is not as good in Aachen as in other bigger German cities as well as compared to Netherlands. Too many jobs, including Software Engineer roles, seem to ask for German knowledge. It gets even more limited if you want to join banks, consultancies etc.
5. Social life : most college events, poetry / quizzes etc are completely in German. This is not the case in Netherlands.
6. Aachen is definitely not as lively as Amsterdam.
 
Few more comments :
1. You should know about the Dutch 30% ruling for expats, if you plan to later take up jobs in Netherlands.
2. It is possible to find industry funded research in both these countries, if that is what you may prefer.
3. Unlike other countries, Germany does not seem to have concept of semester breaks (like a month or 2 break between semesters). I think this is also true for European countries in general. Which means if you would like to do an internship in a different city than yours, you may have to take a semester break and complete the internship.
4. It is normal for MSc. degrees to stretch beyond 2 years. Do not fret to drop a semester and do an industrial internship.
 
Final comments :
In retrospect, maybe taking up the MSc. course in Amsterdam would have been a better choice from study and job perspective, but it also depends on your personal situation. If you do not want to spend too much money on grad school, Germany is definitely a better choice, but try to go for bigger cities, like Munich or Berlin.
Trying to get in touch with older students from your course over LinkedIn may be helpful.
 
 

Thanks - to you as well! 
 

Anyone with a CUNY invite who was physical anthropology? (I know most were cultural but a few were unlabeled and figured I'd ask).

 
I have not had any interview invites yet, but UC Davis (I applied animal behavior, not anth) did send out an email stating "We write to inform you that we expect that instruction and research operations will return to pre-pandemic, in-person delivery at the start of the next academic year in September 2021. " I think that's a pretty big stretch for them to call this early though. The email was labeled "UC Davis Graduate Admissions: Planning for Fall 2021" and my heart skipped a beat thinking it was an decision. Alas, just a general update.

Even on a normal year all that is possible even as a great applicant with good fit. 
I got a UCSD rejection as well. I had connected to 3 POIs and even strategized with one to propose a lab rotation of sorts so they might be able to justify me if one person didn't have the numbers but not even that helped in the end! 
One POI (AN) mentioned she only had one slot this year and had mentioned to me before applying that even though their admissions were open there would be a much smaller cohort. 
*Sending supportive vibes* 
I may be making the 2022 thread before this month is out at this rate...

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 ?

I also got my rejection letter today. While the POI I had contacted prior had said that she has 1 position, the competition this year was going to be really tough. Congrats to all who got selected!

Just got my rejection via portal this morning. Good luck to all! As I mentioned in my results update, at least for biological, my POI mentioned that they may have to accept a smaller cohort this year for budget reasons but unclear if that's still true. 

First Acceptance! Woo! Phone call no interview for University of Alabama Tuscaloosa's MA program in Biocultural Medical Anthro. While POI mentioned they almost always find funding for Master's students, no funding as of yet but we shall see! Happy to answer any q's about the program or the process as I learn more. For my other schools I applied for PhD, but this school seemed to work more like the european system where they prefer people start with MA then continue on to PhD if it's a fit. There is a direct to doctorate option though where funding is always guaranteed. 

I was too tho so no worries

First Acceptance! Woo! Phone call no interview for University of Alabama Tuscaloosa's MA program in Biocultural Medical Anthro. While POI mentioned they almost always find funding for Master's students, no funding as of yet but we shall see! Happy to answer any q's about the program or the process as I learn more. For my other schools I applied for PhD, but this school seemed to work more like the european system where they prefer people start with MA then continue on to PhD if it's a fit. There is a direct to doctorate option though where funding is always guaranteed. 

2019: Tuesday, April 9
2018: Tuesday, April 3
2017: Friday, March 17
2016: Tuesday, March 29
2015: Tuesday, March 31
2014: Tuesday, April 1
2013: Friday, March 29
2012: Friday, March 20
2011: Tuesday, April 5
2010: Tuesday, April 6
2009: Friday, April 10 & Tuesday, May 19 (released in 2 batches)
2008: Tuesday, April 1
2007: Friday, March 23
2006: Thursday, March 30
2005: Saturday, April 9
2004: Thursday, March 18
2003: Friday, April 4
2002: Friday, March 15
2001: Tuesday, March 20
Pretty consistent Tuesday or Friday for the past 15 years. Usually near end of March / beginning of April.

Hey Bernt, 
I attended a webinar hosted by the NSF people today, and they said even the references need to be size 11. The size changed to 11 point font this year. 
To double check and verify, they keep telling us to refer to the NSF Solicitation Page! 
Sincerely, 
Mabel

Hi everyone,
I'm excited to join this thread. I just finished my first drafts of the GRFP Research Statement and Personal Statement. Whoa, that was hard! I've lurking last year's GRFP thread, and I'm a bit worried. Firstly, I am a non-traditional student. I graduated with my bachelor's in 2015, and have been working since then. My professional experience is in the real of Tribal government, specifically natural resources, where I developed technical field work and writing skills. I currently work a non-profit organization in community health as a project manager. My experience boils down to lots of grant writing and management. I feel a bit like a fish out of water among folks who haven't had any interruption in their academic journey. Also, I my proposed research is in the intersection of disease ecology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge of indigenous peoples. I've received encouraging responses my former undergrad professors and potential advisors, which is encouraging. In any case, this is quite an overwhelming process and there's so much uncertainly. I hope I'm not the only non-traditional student here and that I can relate to others' experience. Best of luck to everyone! 

I don't have a masters so I think it's untrue that they don't shortlist applicants without one. I don't know about admissions, however, whether they might favor applicants of certain backgrounds over others.
I took several years off after my BA to gain "real world" policy and fieldwork experience at my field site. I would think it's a shame for any program (especially in the US where a PhD program is longer than those in other countries and includes a mandatory few years of coursework!) to exclude applicants without a masters. I could go on... academia is already so unequal, not everyone can afford a masters and isn't student debt already bad enough! ?

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 
Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

Hey all, 
It has been a long time since I've been to this forum, but I thought I would write this post to share my experiences as an anthro major in undergrad to getting my MA through the MAPSS program at UChicago, and where I am now, in case any of you are wondering if it's worth it, or are just looking for some perspective in a field that is only getting more difficult to make something of, both academically and professionally. Please note that this review/perspective is from someone who decided *NOT* to pursue a PhD, but instead chose a non-academic career path.
Maybe you can relate to this feeling, but when I was in undergrad, friends and family smirked when I told them I was pursuing anthropology. "What will you do with it?" and all other questions ensued. I myself wasn't too sure what I was going to "do" with it; I believed college was for pursuing what made you feel whole, and the "job" aspect of it was only an afterthought. Immature and naive, especially for a student going some $25,000 into debt at an unremarkable California State University. I did it, and considered going into the Peace Corps and made it through the final interviews, but ultimately didn't go. I was working in customer service at a tech company, answering phones all day. Personal things in my life made me move from NorCal to SoCal and I was in my second round of applying to graduate school after being rejected by the seven programs I had applied to the year prior. That second cycle I was only admitted to UChicago's MAPSS program and after a month of anguish over whether I should take out more debt (I had 50% funding), I decided to do it. 
I'm not really a strong proponent for MAPSS.  I had spent hours and hours researching the program, talking to professors before I accepted, to educate myself on what my day-to-day would be like there. I found that the experience did differ pretty significantly from what I was told. It really was a grueling time, but that isn't to say it wasn't worth it.
Lowlights / Highlights of the Experience
-While I wouldn't call the program a "Cash Cow" program like so many LOVE to quip, there were aspects that made it feel that way, like the forced "Perspectives" course. That was far and away the most useless university course I've ever taken. It is a surface-level course that goes over different major concepts/canonical works of the various social sciences. It's bad enough we had to waste 2.5 hours of our lives once a week in the dreadfully boring lectures, but to make it worse, the grading for the midterm/final is so severe that it is set up for students to fail. Out of my cohort of about 240 people who were forced to take the class, only 17 people received an A or A- on their midterm, and the figure was lower for the final. I was told that anything less than a B+/B in graduate school is considered to be failing, so a B+/B is considered a C or C- in terms of GPA. I have no idea what the program's logic is to forcing you to take a class and then taking a blow to your GPA right out the gate. Seriously. ????? The fact that students are forced to take this course makes it feel like the program does it just to make more money off the enrollment or something and then kicks you while you're down on top it all.
-The MAPSS cohort is sadly what many have described. Most MAPSS students are not very intellectual--that's not to say they weren't "smart" in their own right, but they did not compare to the level of the other graduate students in terms of how intellectual they were. You could tell right away who was a MAPSS student in your classes versus PhD students. MAPSS students weirdly tend to have a sort of braggart, or pretentious, way about them when the things they would drivel on about were inane topics that you might find a newly-minted freshman undergraduate might talk about. I knew many MAPSS students who thought they were just so smart and would constantly, CONSTANTLY whine about the workload and how everything was so 'unfair'. It was insufferable to listen to because no one forced them to do the program, and the workload, while difficult, was not impossible (and, I had a part time job!). This being said, I made no friends at MAPSS. They lacked the maturity that I seem to find in PhD candidates or even some undergraduates.
-I did very well academically only because I lived and breathed the program. I had a part time job, but I was able to work from home which was a huge part in why I could dedicate myself wholly to the program. I spent almost all of my free time in the Regenstein library and it got to be depressing sometimes, but I found ways to make it somewhat positive (like always treating myself to hot tea or coffee and taking little breaks to draw). I think to be successful in MAPSS you have to be very independent and self-motivating; otherwise, it will be easy to lose sight of what you're doing/why. I think others have mentioned this, but do make it a priority to go downtown and explore the other neighborhoods of Chicago. I would "treat" myself to a bus/El ride and just go anywhere, to see something new, to see something that wasn't UChicago. It helped immensely. 
-I had read about the difficulties of finding an adviser/establishing a relationship early on with a potential adviser, so in my first quarter I zeroed in on the faculty member I really wanted to work with. I made sure to take at least one class of his every quarter, participated in all discussions, did all the readings, and did very well when it came to group projects. He would take smoking breaks and I would join him, or I would walk with him to his office after class. I didn't ask him to be my adviser until much later; I just built a relationship with him and got to know him and his work, and allowed him to get to know me. If you aren't a go-getter in this way like I was, I think finding an adviser is very difficult. I knew many people who had to have preceptors assigned as their advisers because they couldn't find anyone willing. 
-One of the saddest moments I had in the program was during the office hours with said adviser of mine. He told me that he didn't expect much in terms of quality from MAPSS students, but was sympathetic to their plight (earning a master's and doing fieldwork//research/composing a thesis in 9 months) and sort of graded based on that, which was very disappointing to hear. I had hoped I would be treated like any other PhD student who was completing the MA portion of their candidacy, but that's not the case. He also revealed to me that he knows of some professors who ban MAPSS students from taking their courses because of the inferior quality of discussion that MAPSS students bring to the table, which was heartbreaking to hear as well. 
-While all of these things are really disappointing about MAPSS, I will say that the academics of UChicago seriously changed my life. I am also someone who takes academic matters seriously, so maybe this isn't saying all that much, but the classes I took were some of the most amazing and beautifully taught courses I've ever taken. I was exposed to wonderful academic literature that will stay with me forever. If you are someone who appreciates knowledge and academic inquiry for its own sake, I think you will be hard-pressed to find a more rigorous university than UChicago. If MAPSS is the only option you have at this moment to experience that, I would say it's worth it for that alone.
Where I'm at Now
All this being said, I did well and graduated in Spring with only 20% of my cohort (the rest graduated in August). I earned an A on my thesis, but it likely was inflated because of my adviser's sympathies to the MAPSS program, which I struggle with when listing that as an "accomplishment". After graduating, I worked full time for a bit for the company I had been working for during the program, and took 3 months off to live in Hungary. While abroad I interviewed for market research positions/firms and landed a position at a very prominent global market research firm, I'm 25 years old and my starting pay is 75k which exceeded my hopes and expectations for earning potential as someone with a "useless" undergraduate and graduate degree in anthropology. I will be able to pay off my student debt and live decently on that income, which is what I personally could only have hoped for in taking such a huge risk to pursue what I loved, anthropology.
This is just one experience among many. I'm nothing/no one special, but I did work very hard in the program and I worked hard to secure a job that is related to my degrees and research interests. I did not "like" the program in the least, but I don't regret doing it. It was the most difficult academic year of my life and I did have to seek counseling in the Winter quarter which helped a lot- the student mental health services are very easy to access, so please avail yourself of that if you need it. 
 
I hope this review helped! 

Not yet, I mailed the contact person and she said that they will be sending confirmations after mid-Feb
 

Not yet!

Rough year for sure!
I applied to cultural anthro at UCLA, Stanford, UF, UT Austin, and UNC Chapel Hill. I had informal Zoom meetings with prospective advisors at UF and UNC in Nov/Dec but did not hear back from professors at UCLA or UT Austin (Stanford does not require/suggest outreach to prospective advisors). 
I had to nix UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, Arizona, and Duke as a result of COVID (UCSC, UCB, & AZ were all top choice. Duke was moderate).
@crthomps Congratulations on your Chicago interview! That is huge. Did you receive feedback from outreach to professors at UT? They were pretty adamant about reaching out to multiple potential advisors in their virtual open house but I never heard back from anyone I wrote to ☹️

Hi all! Seems like a thin crowd in here these days. 
 
I too threw my hat into the ring for this years’ application cycle, and applied (all cultural anthro) at Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, and UT Austin. 
All deadlines were Dec. 1 and things have been quiet so far, aside from Chicago, which reached out and offered me an interview yesterday morning. 
 
good luck to everyone and please feel free to connect if y’all need support or just someone to chat with! 

Nerve-wracking time currently but here goes-
This is my second cycle and possibly the worst year to apply (my top choice of UCB did not accept applications at all). I work on minority folk music & musicians in the Middle East and how they do or don't self-identify within nationalist narratives of the state. 
I applied to :
Stanford for Linguistic Anthro
UCLA for Ling Anthro
U Chicago for Sociocultural (sub-selection Ling anthro)
U Michigan for Ling Anthro
and Northwestern for Sociocultural/Ling Anthro

Fingers crossed for us all! 
I'm a biocultural anthropologist looking to do work on neuroanthropology particularly studying mechanisms of embodiment and the nature of human experience   My undergrad thesis looked at experiences of uncertainty among American college seniors looking toward life after graduation. I studied Biological Sciences (Neuroscience), Anthropology (Biocultural), and Philosophy in undergrad. 
I graduated over 5 years ago and have worked in education/academic-adjacent jobs including some work on a field-site studying Prairie restorations using phylogenetics. I'm a science hoe what can I say. 
What a rough application cycle! With my interests in an odd space between biological and cultural methods and with my interests developing new neuroanthro methods my school list was already somewhat small. I had a really solid connection with someone at UPenn but they were one of my first schools to notify me they wouldn't be accepting anyone. I ended up applying to: 
- UCSD Biological Anthro PhD (though I will likely have 1 phenomenologically-specialized cultural anth advisor from their psych-med anth track) 
- UChicago's Comparative Human Development PhD
- University of Alabama's Biocultural Medical Anthro MA --> they do not often do straight to PhD admissions but they fund their masters students!
Some schools I didn't get to apply to were: 
-UCSF/UCB Anthro PhD
-UPenn Biological Anthro PhD
-Emory Anthropology PhD
 
I honestly would have waited another year if I hadn't already applied for the NSF-GRFP ?
Haven't heard from any of my 3 schools but all my deadlines were later (either Dec 15 or Jan 15) Hope this helps feel free to connect! 

Fingers crossed for us all! 
I'm a biocultural anthropologist looking to do work on neuroanthropology particularly studying mechanisms of embodiment and the nature of human experience   My undergrad thesis looked at experiences of uncertainty among American college seniors looking toward life after graduation. I studied Biological Sciences (Neuroscience), Anthropology (Biocultural), and Philosophy in undergrad. 
I graduated over 5 years ago and have worked in education/academic-adjacent jobs including some work on a field-site studying Prairie restorations using phylogenetics. I'm a science hoe what can I say. 
What a rough application cycle! With my interests in an odd space between biological and cultural methods and with my interests developing new neuroanthro methods my school list was already somewhat small. I had a really solid connection with someone at UPenn but they were one of my first schools to notify me they wouldn't be accepting anyone. I ended up applying to: 
- UCSD Biological Anthro PhD (though I will likely have 1 phenomenologically-specialized cultural anth advisor from their psych-med anth track) 
- UChicago's Comparative Human Development PhD
- University of Alabama's Biocultural Medical Anthro MA --> they do not often do straight to PhD admissions but they fund their masters students!
Some schools I didn't get to apply to were: 
-UCSF/UCB Anthro PhD
-UPenn Biological Anthro PhD
-Emory Anthropology PhD
 
I honestly would have waited another year if I hadn't already applied for the NSF-GRFP ?
Haven't heard from any of my 3 schools but all my deadlines were later (either Dec 15 or Jan 15) Hope this helps feel free to connect! 

Fingers crossed for us all! 
I'm a biocultural anthropologist looking to do work on neuroanthropology particularly studying mechanisms of embodiment and the nature of human experience   My undergrad thesis looked at experiences of uncertainty among American college seniors looking toward life after graduation. I studied Biological Sciences (Neuroscience), Anthropology (Biocultural), and Philosophy in undergrad. 
I graduated over 5 years ago and have worked in education/academic-adjacent jobs including some work on a field-site studying Prairie restorations using phylogenetics. I'm a science hoe what can I say. 
What a rough application cycle! With my interests in an odd space between biological and cultural methods and with my interests developing new neuroanthro methods my school list was already somewhat small. I had a really solid connection with someone at UPenn but they were one of my first schools to notify me they wouldn't be accepting anyone. I ended up applying to: 
- UCSD Biological Anthro PhD (though I will likely have 1 phenomenologically-specialized cultural anth advisor from their psych-med anth track) 
- UChicago's Comparative Human Development PhD
- University of Alabama's Biocultural Medical Anthro MA --> they do not often do straight to PhD admissions but they fund their masters students!
Some schools I didn't get to apply to were: 
-UCSF/UCB Anthro PhD
-UPenn Biological Anthro PhD
-Emory Anthropology PhD
 
I honestly would have waited another year if I hadn't already applied for the NSF-GRFP ?
Haven't heard from any of my 3 schools but all my deadlines were later (either Dec 15 or Jan 15) Hope this helps feel free to connect!