anthroapp

I would go for a funded MA at a top tier school over a non-funded PhD program. I did my MA last year, and found that it definitely helped in getting funded PhD offers from good schools this year, versus straight out of my undergrad. I was also switching areas of study from undergrad to grad, so my master's provided a lot of the groundwork I needed. I've heard the argument that having an MA can hurt later, but I think in the end, if you're a strong student with an MA, it's not going to hurt your chances when you apply afterwards.

Wow - normally, I'm not too bothered to reply to such posts, but I'd hate for that to be the last word on this debate. It's amazing to see how notions of victimization have been distorted. Before I address the issues, for the sake of disclosure, I'm Asian female. First, to suggest that affirmative action is some kind of "vengenance" grossly misreppresents the issue. A simple look at statistics will show that "equality" as Minnesotan attempts to define it is more a fantasy than a reality. This isn't a matter of descendants of one community/gender taking revenge on another; it's to look at the how certain dynamics perpetuate social conditions. To claim that the playing field is even less than 50 years after the Civil Rights movement and less than a century after women's suffrage, underestimates the extent to which American society continues to favor "white males". Removing affirmative action doesn't suddenly mean that everyone is equal, it simply means that women and minorities who are more likely to be (and still are) discriminated against, will continue to be discriminated against. The last time I checked, "white men" still dominated government, business and academia, and we're still amazed that a woman or an African American could possibly be elected President.

Does anyone know what's up with Harvard? I saw one acceptance and one rejection on the results a while back, but nothing since...