kellygirl

Anthropology PhD, Stanford (CASA)

I wanted to clarify...I don't think a MA can ever hurt your PhD application-as long as you are open to not necessarily getting credit for it.

What I've heard is that most CASA profs are on board and that a couple ANTHSCI people might be leaving. The only thing I know is that they aren't archaeologists. My problem is that I've been getting postive feedback from the faculty (which is to be expected)-but if you read the Stanford Daily article that annouced the merger-the comments following it are pretty negative (from former students, faculty). http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/ ... ntoOneDept I'm sure part of the negativity is just shock-since the admin didn't handle the whole thing well...and I'm sure that people will adjust fine-I'm just worried about the newly united department will handle the issues that caused the split in the first place (how to allocate $, department direction, philosophy, etc.) I'm convinced that no archaeology faculty are leaving, though-so I'm pretty positive I'll be accepting the admissions offer here.

I would go for the funded MA program too. Having an MA will only improve your chances when applying to PhD programs. Plus-if its a funded MA at a top university-that beats out a non-funded PhD at a lesser university. You'll have a better chance of getting a fully funded PhD that way...And specifically regarding the archaeology/anthro thing-I think an archaeology MA would be really attractive to Anthro PhD committees....it shows some breadth.

I've heard mixed opinions about how the upcoming merger between ANTHSCI and CASA will go down. Anyone have any information, concerns, etc?

I think everyone got the GSAS tracking email...must have been some sort of glitch.

I emailed a professor at NYU last night to ask about admission decisions (I'm pretty sure I'm heading for Stanford-but have been waiting for two last decisions to come in before doing anything official....as we all are, I guess). Anyway-she said all acceptances had been made and letters already sent out.

I've heard from Stanford, UCLA (Interdisciplinary Archaeology PhD) and Columbia (unofficially). I actually turned down the Columbia offer this morning so that will open up a spot (for another archaeology student, I'm assuming). The needed to know my thoughts ASAP so I'm sure they are close to sending out decisions. So now I'm debating between UCLA and Stanford. My main concerns are the upcoming merger at Stanford and the Archaeology PhD at UCLA.... I'm still waiting on NYU and Brown (Old World Archaeology program)...

I was contacted by the prof I want to work with this past week. But I'm also an archaeology student-so I'm not sure if my situation applies to all anthro prospective students...They only take one or two archaeology students a year so I think its really important to the archaeology faculty that they retain that many in the actual matriculating cohort. (I really have no idea what the process is but I suspect they would finalize their shortlist next week and make actual offers soon).

The faculty at Columbia are trying to get a sense of who will accept the offer of admission before they offer it (they lose the spot if the offer is declined). I don't know if that had anything to do with the weird Columbia post, though.

I'm the one who heard from a Columbia prof today. She said she wanted to chat about my plans as they are compiling their shortlist. It sounded promising but sort of vague (We set up a phone interview for tomorrow).

I've gotten into two schools so far-one for an anthro phd and one for an archaeology phd. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with or advice about job placement with an archaeology phd? Or regarding the two tracks in general...

I've gotten into two schools so far-one for an anthro phd and one for an archaeology phd. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with or advice about job placement with an archaeology phd? Or regarding the two tracks in general...