saveagemind

Provisional acceptance via email. Woohoo!

Got a transcript request this afternoon at 5pm.

Nothing yet.

Here's a place we can channel our anxieties as we wait to hear from SSRC about the IDRF. Supposedly transcript requests start to come in February...

Reviews (or at least mine) are up on Fastlane now.

To be clear, I was asking about legitimate use of multiple grants, since we don't know when we apply if we will get any of them funded, much less more than one. Also: as multiple people have pointed out, granting agencies like NSF, Wenner-Gren, SSRC, etc. already have rules and procedures so that you don't use two sources for the same expenses at the same time (most of them actually work with your budgets directly to help you figure out legitimate ways to use funding from more than one source if you secure it). In my case, I found out about one grant before another (both submitted during the same period), and then am now submitting for a third, which will cover some areas of the research that the others would not. Unless you flat-out lie, none of these funders are going to give you the full amount of the grant for the same project if you already secured funding from someone else; instead, they might give you a few thousand, particularly if they have different internal rules about what's covered (e.g., some funders pay for insurance and some don't; either way, it's good to have insurance). The fact is, that particularly for people doing research in expensive places like Western Europe, the maximum that any of these grants gives you on its own is not nearly enough to actually live and do research; budgets must therefore be artificially low to make a case for feasibility. Additionally, there are legitimate reasons to expand the scope of your project, do comparative work, etc. I hear the ethical argument at a broader level, but in this specific case I don't think there are any ethical issues with applying to multiple grants and if one is lucky enough to get more than one, proposing an honest and reasonable project that could benefit from multiple funders. At the end of the day, the decision is up to the funders and they are not idiots: they can generally differentiate between a legitimate, feasible proposal and one that is purely constructed to secure more money.

I emailed one of the Program Managers to ask about something else and they let me know.

I received unofficial word via email today that my proposal (cultural anthro) was not marked high enough to receive funding in the first panel that met last week. The second panel is meeting now, so supposedly those of us who were not successful this time around will have reviews within the next 3-4 weeks. Thankfully, I got a Wenner-Gren, but more money would have been nice! Best of luck to others.

Thanks, all.

Does anyone have tips on the best ways to reconcile multiple grants so that someone can keep the most money from 2 or more grants?

So got a follow up email today saying they were making final decisions by November 1st, which is much longer than the 1-2 weeks for snail mail acceptance that others have reported. A bit confused.

Wow- that is exciting. Best of luck to all!

I received notice at 1pm today that I do not need to resubmit and asking if there were any budget changes, though it stated that my application was still pending. Anyone else? What does this actually mean?

Tired of waiting. Do we think it will be next week or the week after?

Also found my notification of moving to the second round in my junk mail. Good luck to all.

Just got rejected for autochthony. Good luck to others!

Has anyone heard anything? In some places the website states May 1st as notification and in others the whole month of May. Calling did not yield a clearer picture ("soon" I was told). Any leads?

No, there is not a MA thesis requirement, since as someone pointed out, the MA and PhD programs work together. There is instead a very rigorous MA exam (72 hours and roughly 45 pages of writing, which is about what most MA thesis page counts are). Adding a thesis requirement would not only force students to stay in the program longer (given the reading and writing demands of classes), but would also be useless for those who are going to get a PhD anyway, either at NSSR or elsewhere. Yes- not all students who do the MA will get into a PhD, but that is not a guarantee at ANY anthropology MA program and at all the others there is no funding and students are generally treated like second-class citizens next to PhD students. At NSSR, virtually all students get some degree of funding guaranteed for two years, plus many also get RAs and TAs in their second year. If you only applied to MA programs or did not get into PhD programs, you have much better chances for getting into them coming from the New School than from other anthropology MA programs. Finally, if you do get into PhD programs elsewhere, you can usually transfer at least a year of credits, and can often negotiate for more, but you come in with a leg-up since other students will tend to have much less developed projects and know less about the state of the art in the field. If you're comparing the potential PhD at NSSR versus acceptance into a PhD elsewhere, you should definitely take the bird in hand, as they say. However, if you are comparing the NSSR MA to an MA in anthro anywhere edlse, NSSR is a better bet unless you get superior funding, which is highly unlikely at Columbia, Chicago, NYU, LSE, etc.

Late to this topic, but can tell you that an MA from NSSR in anthropology is very highly regarded and students applying for PhDs frequently have their pick of PhD programs at other top-tier departments (Chicago, Berkeley, Duke, Michigan, Columbia, Stanford, CUNY, etc.). There is not a ton of funding for the first two years (generally between 20% and 50%), but if you compare that to other programs with MAs in anthro, most of them have NO funding. Moreover, most of the applicants with MAs from Columbia or Chicago or NYU are not nearly as competitive for PhD programs, and almost never get into their own schools to boot. Finally, as an MA student you will get a level of personal attention from faculty that is higher than most PhD students get other places. I would say that if you can afford to not get fully funded for two years and then to stay at NSSR or go somewhere else for the PhD, you are virtually guaranteed to have a number of choices for a fully funded PhD. However, if you can get into another fully funfed program for the PhD and skip the MA entirely, that's even better.

Hey All, Just wanted to let folks know I declined at CUNY, Duke, and Berkeley, in case anyone is on the wait list. Good luck all!

Actually, I haven't heard from CU, but I know people who were accepted, and that was two weeks ago, so don't think there's much chance at this point.

Really hard to say. Waiting on some final details- hoping to make a decision in a few weeks.

Yah they offered a 5 years, Enhanced Chancellor's Fellowship and a Mellon; the Mellon is an internal nomination and won't be announced until this week or next. Keep in mind though, this entails teaching 2 classes per semester years 2-5.

I assume I got rejected from NYU since I've had no news either way. As far as CUNY, I was accepted for cultural so not sure about other fields, but I believe final decisions are now scheduled for March 2nd.

I did not have a CUNY interview per se. A quick chat with POI last week and then email from department today. I think they are still making decisions, with final meeting happening March 12.