noodles.galaznik

Two days before classes start, and I've already finished the lit review portion of my thesis! Maybe this summer wasn't a total bust after all. I am pleased.

Oh, coffee... There's a Starbucks in the library, which is about a minute's walk from my department. I also had a class in there last fall, and pretty much everyone stampeded down there to get their caffeine fix during the break. 'Cause what else is gonna get you through a 3 hour theory class that gets out at 8PM?

My Little Pony is amazing! Check it out. Netflix FTW. It's an awesome show. I've been working(ish) mainly from home, so I'm not looking forward to climbing up hills and billions of stairs in the heat and humidity, which will make me sweat hella crazy. Just no grey shirts for a few months. I guess a huge reason why I'm not looking forward to the fall semester is that one of my closest friends from my cohort withdrew and won't be coming back this fall. So, my level of excitement to return has been severely diminished. Bleeeh.

Whenever someone asks me if I'm excited about classes starting in two weeks. Ugh, thanks family and friends for the reminder that summer is almost over and I have done basically nothing except watch My Little Pony, play badminton, and sleep absurd amounts. Anyone else totally unprepared for the fall semester??

Hey, coolio! Feel free to message me!

My top schools: Texas Rice New Mexico I feel like all three are extremely long shots, but hey...I'll never know unless I go for it, right?

Don't worry about whether or not you have a degree in sociology. In undergrad, I double majored in anthropology and history, and now I'm in a MA program for sociology. I took ONE undergraduate course in sociology, so my background in that area was really, really sparse. I know in my department, people have backgrounds in biology, anthropology, religious studies, economics, philosophy, and art criticism. I think a lot of it really depends on what kind of work you want to do and how your interests fit within sociology. I've found that programs seem to be enticed with people who have backgrounds that aren't sociology, but are still very related and relevant.

If you're interested in environmental sociology, check out University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Lots of environmental soc scholars here.

UPDATE: I emailed both profs, and I got incredibly kind, enthusiastic and awesome responses from both. I have a phone date with one scheduled for next week, and I've been emailing back and forth with the other. Too soon to say, but at this moment, things look pretty good.

Thanks! I'm going to work on getting in touch with people by the end of this week. I had just heard so many people say to wait and make contacts around September.

Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those "what are my chances, pleeez tell me!" posts. Basically, what I'm wondering is if it's too early to contact POIs at the schools I've chosen. I'm interested in the link between ancient DNA and diet and modern day health, ethnicity and identity among native groups. I did my background in anthropology and history (double major) and in undergrad I did independent research on genetics, morphology and health, and my senior year I did an honors thesis on ancient diet. I'm currently working on my MA in sociology and I'm examining DNA from a sociological standpoint. I wasn't too super worried until I started really stalking program and lab websites, and I found that a lot of the grad students that are focusing in molecular anthropology (my main interest) either have had undergrad majors in biology, genetics, zoology, etc. or, have at least minored in one of those areas. I didn't do either. I took some introductory classes in undergrad and I'm auditing some genetics courses this upcoming year. I have taken a lot of statistics courses and my thesis is quantitative in nature, so that's a small plus. My background is pretty lacking in biology/genetics, and I'm afraid that might hurt my chances quite a bit. What it boils down to is I have about 3 months where I have a significant amount of spare time to do extra readings and prep to improve my background. Once the fall semester begins, I'm going to be swamped with classes, research, and working on my thesis so I can finish it in time to graduate next May. At that point, grad school applications will still be important, but they'll be moving to the back burner. I wanted to contact profs I'm interested in working with and basically just express interest in the program, tell them a little bit about my background, what I'm interested in, and ask if I have a place in molecular anthropology and what kinds things I can do to improve my background so that I would be a strong candidate. Competition is intense, and I want to start early and make sure I do everything I can to improve my chances of admission. Is contacting POIs about this now a good idea? Or an absolutely terrible idea?

The graduate director sent out some information about a graduate assistantship that starts in June, and I'm really interested in applying. Basically, if I got this assistantship I would be acting as an academic advisor for undergrads. Now, I've never applied for one of these before. I'm not really sure how I should put together my resume and cover letter or what I should include on them. I'm only an MA student so I don't know how great my chances are, but I've decided to give it a shot! I'd really appreciate some advice!

My department has really awful course offerings. This semester I'm having to take 2 out of 3 courses outside of the department. The offering at the grad level is ridiculously awful. My concentration is criminology, and apparently there are only two graduate crim courses: Criminology and Advanced Criminology. Blegh.

I would definitely assume that yes, they do. The first time I met the former graduate director, he actually mentioned that he had googled me, so I would definitely make sure that what you've put out into the great online world is as professional as possible.

So far, my classes really haven't been too bad. The work load is a lot higher and its definitely more time consuming, but I don't think it's much more difficult than my upper level courses I took as an undergrad, just a lot more readings and discussion and the expectations are a lot higher. I don't actually have any exams for any of my classes, so it's been a little weird to adjust to putting all of my efforts into discussion, presentations, and papers that are worth a massive chunk of my grade.

I just want to say you'll never know what will happen unless you try, so I'd recommend getting in touch with professors at those programs to see if you're a good fit and if your stats are competitive, and if you would need to retake the GRE. Also, I'm going to second the advice that says shoot for an MA first and retake the GRE if you aren't certain how your chances are for the PhD.

That is a scary thought! The very best of luck to you, though. I hope that you still find time to do some non school related things, and coursework and research don't consume your life! Also, I'm in a sociology MA program, and I haven't started my thesis research yet, so that may be why I still (kinda) have a life.

I do my best to treat grad school like a job, which means I'm either doing schoolwork or attending class from 9-5 Monday-Thursday, and Fridays are reserved for colloquium and various meetings. I've found that I've been able to keep up nicely with my coursework, while not working myself to death. By taking care of things during the day, I have time in the evenings and weekends to relax, workout, and do other non-school related things. Also, I agree that you shouldn't postpone marriage because of grad school! I got married a few months before I started, and while school has cut a little bit into the amount of time we spend together, having my husband here has been a tremendous source of strength- he takes care of things when I don't have time, and he really lets me relax and vent when I need it most.

This. Forensic anthropology is a really, really competitive field, and there really are not a lot of jobs strictly in forensics. I think about half of the people I graduated with are trying to get into forensic anthro. If you want to work in forensics really bad, consider approaching it from another angle. For instance, the archaeology grad student I worked with last year did forensic work in palynology for the CIA. I'm interested in forensics, too, but I'm in a criminology program, to look at forensics from a sociological perspective.