anonthropology

Yes, this is entirely possible, and even the norm in many large mid-range universities. I applied to one MA program at a mid-level large public university which is VERY tight on funds. They only fund incoming students when they are able to match them up with external funds (and this is rare). I accepted without funding, took on student loans my first semester, got a partial (painfully partial) tuition waiver and work-study job my second semester, and applied for a bunch of external funding for my second year and ended up with a full tuition waiver and a fairly generous living stipend on top of that. Many people I know were also admitted without funding but able to secure grad assistant or research jobs through the university that carry a full tuition waiver before actually beginning their program. Of course we'd all love to get fully funded, but the reality is it's not going to happen for everyone. I think you're entirely right to focus on taking it one step at a time, just make sure you're keeping your eyes open for external funding/university jobs/scholarships and all that. Of course, that said, I'm now applying to PhD programs and I've told myself I'll only do it if I'm fully funded for at least a few years to give me some leeway on the funding search. Fingers crossed! Good luck everyone!

Eh, I was talking to a friend who was admitted to a top program APRIL 8TH last year. He hadn't heard from them at all and assumed he was rejected. Best not to make assumptions, but stay optimistic while bracing for the worst (easier said than done, right?). Good luck!

Congrats! As I'm sure you realize, that means you were one of their top choices. I doubt many people got their notifications this early. The rest of us are either being considered for another round of admissions/waitlists, or simply rejected and have not yet been notified. I don't hold it against Berkeley though, since everyone and their cousin applies there :-) Who wouldn't want to go?

I just wanted to say, I don't think you need to abandon hope because you haven't had interviews. I've had two acceptances so far and one of the schools I never interviewed at, and the other i had more of an informal visit with my POI before the application deadline. I'm also currently in a masters program where I was accepted without any contact with my POI before turning in my application. I'm still waiting to hear back from 9 other programs--only one "interview" (again more of an informal meeting with my POI) out of the lot. Sometimes no news is just no news. Anyways, hang in there and good luck!

Beck, Guess I'm Doing Fine "It's only lies that I'm living, it's only tears that I'm crying, it's only you I'm losing, guess I'm doing fine..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=als_-cTQALQ (Warning, sad song)

I love imagining the Stanford secretary actually writing in LOLspeak. Hehe. Thanks for keeping it funny. Seriously, though, MARCH? I so desperately want to hear back from them! I wonder if the timeline is the same for anthropology?

I just wanted to add, it makes me feel better than over half of people have not heard anything yet. It makes me less anxious about the total silence from 10 programs...

My first word of acceptance from my current (masters) program was by snail mail (international snail mail at that--it was not a fun wait for me). I've only heard back from one (of 11) programs so far this round (for PhD) and it was through a phone call. And it seems like email is the most common form. So I am jumpy every time I check my mail box, go online, or hear my phone ring. Gaaaah. I can't wait until the waiting is over. The suspense is hopefully not actually KILLING me, but it may be shaving a few years of my lifespan.

I was really anxious the whole time I was waiting for the "official acceptance" for my MA after getting an unofficial one (with your concerns), but I've since heard that basically it's the department that calls the shots with acceptance, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I have one unofficial acceptance so far (applying to doctoral programs this time around), but I'm no longer anxious about whether it will become "official." I am wondering whether the funding package my potential adviser told me they "hoped" to offer me will come through or not, since that seems potentially more beyond the department's control. Congrats on your acceptance! Now you can finally relax!

I think you should be safe since you're inside the page range. Do you mind saying what kind of sample you provided? I'm applying to Anthropology PhD programs and most programs allow AT LEAST 10 pages. However, I have one that asks for six pages. I don't really know what to do with that, as all of my potential samples are from much longer works. I have one conference paper that is only about 8 pages, and I might be able to edit it down further, but I'm tempted to just pull out six pages from a longer paper, although that's probably not a great idea. Six pages means six pages double-spaced, right? Because I've also thought about just single spacing a longer paper, but I'm imagining if they ask for six pages it's because they don't want to read more, and so that would probably work against me. I hope this isn't a threadjack, I was just about to post on this, and then saw your posting and thought you and others here might be able to help. Thanks!

Thanks for your encouragement. I've decided to whittle down the list (at 9 so far, but I've sent out a round of emails to potential advisers and their responses or lack thereof may reduce that further) and go ahead with it. I hope I get in somewhere, but I'm nervous because I have many highly qualified friends who have had terrible times with admissions this past year.

Thanks for the motivation. Good to hear it can be done!

Hello. This is my first post here, because I've recently started freaking out about whether I should continue to apply this year for Fall 2011 or wait until next year. I'm a second year masters student (in cultural anthro). I'm writing a thesis and making reasonably good progress on research, but have only about 20 pages written. My plan is to defend and graduate in the spring. I want to continue to a phd program (but most likely not at my current institution due to funding and a change of research interest). I've researched programs I want to apply to (a whopping 12 of them), have 2 sure recommenders who I am confident will write good letters, and am narrowing down the third, and have a proposed plan of study for the phd. BUT I'm starting to worry that if I apply this year, it will take away time from working on my masters, and producing a solid masters thesis (by this spring!). On the other hand, I don't really want to wait another year before continuing on with the phd... Any thoughts? Should I apply now, or wait until my masters is finished?