truc
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Posts posted by truc
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This is written by an anthropologist and provides a healthy discussion of strategy if academic work is what you hope to do (http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-Is-a-Means-to/131316). It's kind of mechanical and elitist, but she makes some good points.
- anxiousanthro and Waltzfordebby
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Don't know much about LSE (heard it's great), but I'm quite familiar with the new school. PMed you about it.
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My question, do I really need to push myself this hard to get a good GPA that will at least look favorable toward any future universities that I want to go to? I want to get into a good school who will most of all accept me. Does taking a year off teaching in another country look favorable for applicants? I am not sure what I should be focus within anthropology! I don't know another language but I would love too....Do I really need to take the extra time to learn one?
I don't know what the specific requirements are for applied anthro, but I'd assume being proficient in a language other than English would be beneficial.
If you take a year off to teach, make sure you incorporate why you did in your SOP. It will lend weight to the actual experience.
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I applied to many Ph.D. programs in history and I was only accepted to my bottom choice school. At this school I'd be able to work with a professor who researches my interests and I'd be able to design my major focus in pretty much the exact way I want. However, the school does not offer secondary and minor fields in my interests. I was not offered funding. The town is extremely isolated and far from my home in a completely different climate. I had crappy GRE scores, so I'm pretty sure that was a major factor in all those rejections.
The ultimate question:
Do I accept the offer despite the above reasons or do I turn it down, improve my GRE/application, and do a second round of Ph.D. apps? My friend thinks I should attend AND apply again so I won't get screwed either way, but I don't know if I could be happy doing that.
Advice?
Don't take this offer and then reapply. Pick one. IMHO, take the GRE again before it changes and apply in the fall.
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Can anyone recommend good (read not terribly sketchy) ways to find apartment shares/roommates? My quite limited funding from the New School is going to need to stretch as far as possible.
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free pass
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It is 110% illegal for them to make this demand. Don't buy it.
The April 15th deadline, though signed by most US schools, is more of a guideline. If a program violates it, all they risk is a rather light slap on the wrist by CGS.
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I just got into Teachers College, and I'm trying to figure out where I should be looking for apartments. I've pretty much ruled out most of Manhattan (though if there are any affordable areas I don't know about, please enlighten me!), and I can't really tell what'll be moderately affordable with a reasonable commute. Help, please!
Washington Heights and Inwood are pretty affordable, I have a friend who lives on Fort Washington near the CU medical center and she loves it. Not a bad commute to Columbia either.
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Hi everyone,
I received an offer from the Evolutionary Anthropology program at Rutgers recently. The offer is fantastic - full funding, health insurance, etc, more than I could have ever hoped for. I have until April 15th to make my decision, but an email from the admissions office said that they would prefer to hear from me by April 1st, so they can give my funding to someone else. This makes sense, if I was on a waitlist for funding I would prefer to hear sooner rather than later. However, I am still waiting for one school (Duke) and I am on "a short waitlist" in Chicago. I am expecting a rejection from Duke, so if it wasn't for the waitlist, I would have accepted Rutgers' offer already. To be honest, I will most likely accept the offer, but I feel uncomfortable doing it before I know all of my options.
Today I got an email from the professor I would be working with at Rutgers. He asked if I wanted to talk on the phone, so we could discuss the program, my interests, and any questions I have that might help me make my decision. I actually do have a lot of questions, but I was wondering if you guys had any advice.
What are some key questions that I should ask that I might not be thinking of right now? For those of you who are already attending, what things do you wish you had asked before accepting an offer? Should I tell him about the waitlist/which school it is?
Thanks!
Have you talked to current/previous students at Rutgers? Particularly students who have worked with your POI? You could ask if he/she has any who would be willing to talk with you about their experiences...that'll buy you 30 seconds.
To be honest, I think letting them know that you are waiting on other decisions yourself and don't want to make an uninformed decision should be fine. You are probably neither the first person nor the last who hasn't instantly accepted their offer. You might also consider contacting Chicago to find out the actual likelihood of your getting in, just so you don't hold on for no good reason.
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political science
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To sum my final semester of undergrad up in a nutshell: I'm over it. Besides my thesis writing seminar, I had no course requirements left to graduate. Still, in order to keep my financial aid, I had to take a "full" course load. The 12 credits of bullshi* courses I am in right now are the lightest load ever, but also the most unbearable. I just want it to be April 19th so I can turn in my thesis and relax until september.
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So, I just received an email stating that I am an "alternate candidate" for admission into a program. I'm a little confused as to what exactly that means..Is that the same thing as a first alternate or is it just another phrase for the wait list? any input would be appreciated. thanks!
Sorry to break with what others have said, but a program for which I am an alternate said it was their word for waitlist. That said, there are only four people on this waitlist from what I am told.
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truc, what are your options?
Similar, but also different. I've been accepted to a 50% funded MA program in New York City for anthro and a PhD program in anthro (also in New York City) where funding won't happen until the second year, or so I am told. While I'd love to jump into the open arms of my dream PhD program, the possibility of having to fund myself (read - take on vast amounts of debt) for five-plus years is daunting.
I'm just finishing my undergrad where I have been lucky enough to be on scholarship and avoid taking out loans. For this reason, I'm leaning towards the MA program. I think it will give me time to network and improve my cv a bit before applying again to PhD programs in two years. EDIT - and hopefully be funded at that point!
Also - I have a SO who is applying to grad schools (in clinical psych) this coming fall. We are beginning to realize how inconvenient being in a two grad student (and potentially academic) relationship is.
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Same. I'm going to take my MAPSS offer though. I have 1/2 funding and my focus is linguistic anthropology, which isn't really big in Columbia, but awesome at Chicago.
Yeah, I got 1/2 funding to the New School and am in the same boat. Here I come NSSR! Not to say that getting admitted to the MA at Columbia isn't an honor in and of itself.
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Just saw a few Columbia rejections via website. Checked mine, nothing there. Has anyone else heard nothing? And any idea what this means?
Consolation MA is what it meant for me...sigh. Though the possibility of Columbia is tempting me, I am a little miffed that they asked for a reply by April 11. What about you?
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I'm an incoming phd student. Here's a re-cast question that's probably been asked about 100 times in this thread (I don't mention homelessness herein, so no worries):
I want a single bedroom apartment in AA that is not in the area where the undergrads live. I know that West and North are directions I should head, but Craigslist pictures and location strategizing should probably be supplemented with data from people in the know.
As a graduating undergrad I can give some advice on this topic. Look for anything in "Kerrytown" or the "Old West Side." This is where grad students, in my experience, tend to live. FWIW I like Kerrytown more because it is closer and has the food co-op.
What is up with the "clubhouses" or apartments with such facilities that I see on CL? Are those real? They seem really tacky. Is it common from grad students to live in these places?
Tacky, yes. Real, unfortunately also yes. The upside is that these are all on the outskirts of town and not located anywhere near campus. No clue if grad students commonly live there, undergrads don't.
Are high-rise style apartments generally better than ground-level, faux-house units (10+ unit kind)? Or is it the other way around? Aesthetically, the idea of living the faux-house is less appealing, but I'm curious what both have to offer.
In the past, I've lived in apartments that have been a part of normal houses (3 stories or so). I'm sure Ann Arbor has these, but are they more difficult to come by? Is the market saturated with condos or corporate living? I prefer to live in a house-type apartment, but a one bedroom or studio seems rarer. Am I a right, or am I crazy and just not looking hard enough?
We don't have many high-rise style apartment buildings (I think there are 4: University Towers, Zaragon Place, 411 Lofts, and Tower Plaza). Smaller apartment buildings (not the faux-house variety) and houses divided into apartments are the norm. I don't think downtown / campus area Ann Arbor knows what a corporate condo is.
One bedrooms and studios are rarer at this stage of the game (leases for september 2011 were first available to sign in october 2010), but much easier to come by in small apartment buildings as opposed to apartments in houses.
Last real question: I'm looking for september starting dates at a time when literally everyone else is too -- any advice on assuaging the terrible, stressful efforts of the housing search? Is Ypsi the answer to all my problems?
I recommend the university's off campus housing website (http://www.offcampus...du/lt/index.cfm), it is definitely way better for finding apartments near campus than craigslist. In my opinion, Ypsi is not the answer; however, I don't have a car, which, from the rest of your post, I gather you do...
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I have admits at Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, and Claremont for partially-funded MA degrees, and an offer from UW-Seattle for a PhD program . . . with no funding for the first year. The UW program would be the obvious choice if it were fully funded. They're legally unable to guarantee second-year funding, but apparently only one student in their recent history has failed to secure it, and it was because he was failing his classes.
So WHAT am I supposed to do here?! My undergrad advisor thinks UW would be best because considering my academic interests, I could launch a pretty bad-ass career from that school. However, going into debt--even just a year's worth--for my PhD was not originally part of my plan.
I should add that I'm DEFINITELY waiting out two fully-funded PhD wait-lists UT-Austin and UF, since those schools are about equal to UW and they offer full funding.
But should neither of them accept me, what would be my best choice? Just looking for other folks' thoughts here; help me make a list of pros and cons!
I'm in a similar situation and don't know what I am going to do yet. Question, though, aren't you going to end up paying (at least in part) for the MA programs? Or am I not understanding somthing?
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Just saw a few Columbia rejections via website. Checked mine, nothing there. Has anyone else heard nothing? And any idea what this means?
Nothing here either. But I'm assuming it is still a rejection because people posted earlier about being waitlisted...
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Standing at the mailbox in my apartment building. I started jumping up and down I was so excited...in front of the mailman.
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Yeah that has been my problem, the program I applied to at Columbia (Ecology and Evolutionary biology) does not have a MA. And that has been the case the whole way around. I might have just managed to find a bunch of programs that don't give MAs.
Ahh, I'm in cultural anthro and can't give much help as far as bioanth goes I'm afraid. However, I do have a shameless plug for my undergrad institution (Michigan) where I took an EEB course to fulfill my bioanth requirement. Searching their website, it looks like they have a master's in EEB http://www.lsa.umich.edu/eeb/graduates/traditional.html.
Good luck!
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So a lot of people have been stating that a good plan B is to apply for a masters, however I haven't seen very many schools that offer that option. I have been very careful in trying to make sure that I had a good fit with the schools that I applied to this last year and none of them accepted applications for a masters in anthro. So do most people attend a masters program in a field that they are not intending to continue or am I just crazy to think I will get to study what I want?
I don't know what it is exactly you want to study, but Columbia and the New School both offer MA programs.
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Getting back to Ann Arbor, about how far do you have to travel to get to rural or wilderness areas? Is there good hiking nearby?
Rural / Wilderness are not far away, with several largeish state parks / nature preserves within an hour driving. As far as hiking, if you want hills, most of Michigan is flat as a pancake, but there are some nice places around Traverse City / Sleeping Bear Dunes (north, approx. 4 hours driving)
The upper peninsula has awesome options for kayaking and backpacking at pictured rocks and isle royale, but those are about a 10 hour drive from Ann Arbor.
PS - I'm not from Michigan, so my knowledge of where to go might be limited.
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Thanks mcsokrates.
What areas should I avoid looking at if I don't want to live around undergrads? Where do grad students tend to live?
My biggest concern is that if we don't live close to campus we'll end up feeling isolated. Do you think that's a risk?
Thanks!
I'm currently finishing my undergrad at UM, and I think I can speak to this question
. If you don't want to live around us, look at places in Kerrytown (West of State, East of Main between Huron and Depot) and on the old west side (West of Main, East of 7th). Many of the grad students I know live over there and the rents tend to be lower for better (read MUCH better) houses/apartments. While it is farther to get to campus, you can use the AATA buses for free with your MCard.If you want to live in ypsi, I'd look in the depot town/historic district area. Apart from that it tends to be pretty dead as far as nightlife goes.
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I just got accepted to a program at the New School and am wondering if anyone has ever lived in their grad residence (the one on William St is indicated on their website). Being that I'm currently abroad, coming into town to apartment hunt is next to impossible and hunting via internet is just sketchy.
Thanks
New School MA Anthropology / LSE Anthropology - questions and comments
in Anthropology Forum
Posted · Edited by truc
It is really worth noting that completing an MA in anthropology at the new school guarantees you nothing. Sure, the pool of applicants to the new school's phd program are all 2nd year MA students, but the faculty sometimes choose not to take any of them. What saveageminds says is true, most people I know who went to the new school have multiple phd options when they finish their MAs, but others have no choices and are just saddled with $40k-60k in debt. That isn't to say they don't appreciate the time they spent, but it does come with a hefty price tag.