anthro.fish

For those who got interviews with Yale . . . do you folks already hold Master's degrees?

FYI, I intended to apply to UW this year (Sociocultural Anthropology) because they have the best fisheries-related anthropology program in the country . . . but was informed that they "have switched to the every other year" admissions cycle! Not the only one in the nation to do so this year. Bad times economically. Bummer though, because I cannot wait another year and so will be attending another university.

I also applied to Yale, hoping to do the combined degree program (Anthropology/F&ES). Haven't heard nary a whisper.

Congratulations lookinside! Good luck with the interview. That is pretty exciting . . . one of the best programs in the world and all . . .

One of my professors claims that applicants for the NSF GRFP are rated/ranked against each other according to their educational status (i.e. applicants without any grad school against other such undergrad (or recent undergrad) applicants, those with grad school under their belts against others suchlike). Can anyone confirm or contra this?

To Thepoetsdaughter, you are not messing around with that line-up of top notch schools. Have you gotten much encouragement from those departments?

Last year I only applied to programs that (I realize now) are REALLY difficult to get accepted to. I applied to zero terminal MA programs, only going for Ph.D. track programs. Plus, I had only just finished my junior year of my undergrad. That said, I am not surprised that I didn't find a place this fall. Also, I had failed to win an NSF Fellowship, or even an Honorable Mention. My adjusted strategy is probably comprised of two main elements: 1. Improving my list of achievements. I tried my damnedest to earn all As my senior year, published an article in our small school Journal (which I used as my new writing sample), attended and presented at a conference and won a bunch of departmental and university awards. 2. Improving my Statement of Purpose and/or Project Proposal. Here, the key thing for me was my NSF reviewer feedback reports. Those were SUPER helpful; they listed specific components of my essays that they found exciting . . . and (maybe most importantly) pointed out some things that they HATED. In retrospect, I saw some huge mistakes in my essays - I had written some things that really made me look amateurish, things that might make an admissions committee wonder if I was truly ready to enter a long-haul Ph.D. program. It was pretty simple to cut those bad parts out and focus more attention to how my project engages with anthropological theory and methods. Beyond those two main elements, I also tried to focus more on programs/professors that are more specifically tailored to my interests. UCSB has anthropology faculty that also are involved in fisheries and environmental issues - both of which are important facets of my project proposal. For the same reason I applied to Yale's combined Anthropology/Forestry and Environmental Studies degree program. This is a niche program that has a pretty high acceptance rate, due to the fact that an applicant would have to be pretty well-suited to the program to apply in the first place. As I mentioned before, I'm really hoping to win an NSF Fellowship this year. That award had been known to reverse rejections.

Thanks IrishScientist! Best of luck with your new program this fall. I bet you're excited. I'll probably end up filing for a deferral from Cambridge for a year - I just found out that my wife is pregnant and it would be pretty difficult to have a newborn right in the middle of my first term. We'll see how everything plays out; it all got very complicated all of a sudden, but it a good way (baby . . . Cambridge . . . things could be much worse.)

Thanks for the reply Lumi. I think I'll just sit tight . . . I've gotten used to it by now. But I do think it's funny that (had I been accepted to any of the other schools to which I applied) I would have had to make a decision already (to attend or decline), by this late date. And I haven't even received the formal acceptance letter yet.

Hi folks, University of Cambridge seems to be my last possible hope of attending graduate school this year. So far I've still only received an informal acceptance (via email, upon request) to the MPhil program in Social Anthropology. I'm waiting to see how all the details pan out . . . an infuriatingly long process that will necessarily determine the course of the rest of the year. Standing by . . . standing by.

Not me.

Where's that guy from WarGames when we need him (oh yeah, Matthew Broderick).

I wonder what'll happen when we all hit Fastlane.

NSF Magic Powers Activate!!!!

oh man. this is intense.

I just hope my reviewers read my application right after they got back from lunch . . . fat and happy.

I say we vow not to check it for half an hour, so as not to crash the system.

There they go (here we go). Scheduled maintenance. Fastlane is down.

I got an NSF notice today in the mail. Not Sufficient Funds - bounced check.

That's great New Mexico.

I got a hard copy of my Oxford college acceptance letter in the mail today. No offer of funding at all; only a request to provide proof that I have 62,000 pounds (US$99,500) at my disposal (letters from bank managers, etc.) to pay for the first two years. Has anyone else applied to Cambridge for anthropology? I'm surprised that I haven't received any word from them . . . the application deadline was mid-November.

From the latest NSF GRFP Program Solicitation (found at : http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?WT.z_pims_id=6201&ods_key=nsf10604): " In addition, fellowship awardees must be enrolled in an accredited US university, college, or non-profit academic institution of higher education offering advanced degrees in science and engineering by Fall 2011. Confirmation of acceptance in an NSF- approved graduate degree program is required at the time of fellowship acceptance, by May 1, 2011." This seems pretty unambiguous - you've got to be enrolled to accept the thing in the first place.

I heard 80,000 applicants.

I was accepted to the MPhil in Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. This is a two year research degree, leading to the DPhil in Anthropology (an additional two years). My application was processed with the November deadline apps. Neither myself, nor my friend, has received anything from a college. Fingers crossed for funding New Mexico. P.S. Where did you get the information about the college decision deadlines associated with application cycles?

ReeeeeeeeJECTED!!!!