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Gene Holland is awesome! I am not as familiar with the other person, but with your interests you will definitely find a home there.

Congratulations blucCheese! I graduated in 2010 from Comp Studies with my BA. I know a lot of the faculty (all of my recommendation writers had either full or partial appointment in Comp Studies). What are you going to be studying/do you know who your adviser would be? I really loved the comparative studies department, it felt more like a "home" to me than my other major, Russian Language and Literature.

My suggestion is to turn your works cited into footnotes. That way you cite as you go along (even if it is an excerpt). I was told by a program that did not specify on their website or application that they expect you to be familiar with academic standards like citations.

Sorry - research interests.

UT Austin - Anthro (either social or cultural forms) NYU - Am Studies UWyoming - Am Studies UNC Chapel-Hill - Communications Studies Potentially/Still Whittling Down Brown - Am Studies Berkeley - Rhetoric CUNY - Anthro Queen's University - Cultural Studies Not Totally Off the List But Not Totally On Stanford - Anthro Columbia - Anthro UMichigan - Anthro or Am Studies (leaning towards Am Studies) UChicago - Anthro Washington State - Am Studies UMinn - Comparative Studies in Discrouse What are you studying?

Thanks, I was mostly curious.

Is anyone in this program and/or know much about it?

I was wondering if anyone had any insights/thoughts/strong opinions on the following questions: *"If you are not offered a financial award, do you plan to enroll if offered admission?" (select either yes or no) *"I wish to waive my rights of access to the letters of recommendation provided in support of this application for admission and the material recorded on the recommendation forms." (select either "yes, I waive my rights" or "no, I do not waive my rights") I started filling out the easy parts of the Texas Common App and both of these questions were on it. I will probably end up e-mailing admissions and asking about the purpose and history behind these questions (although, the first seems a little more obvious than the second). My main concern is the way in which answers to these questions could or could not affect admission, but I am also just a little bit curious. My assumption is that if you select no to the first question, they won't offer admission if they can't fund you. But if you select yes, are they more likely to overlook you for funding/prioritize you less for funding (it kind of reminds me of the dilemma/myths surrounding whether or not to identify yourself as an organ donor on your drivers license).

-http://www.ehlinelaw.com/pages/3226/How_to_Become_a_Lawyer_With_No_Law_School_-_Be_a_Lawyer_With_No_College.htm Also - find practical applications for your projects and encourage everyone else you come into contact to do so also. And don't write papers with obnoxiously pretentious words if you don't want to. I've read really great papers without them. And really, they are great.

If you go to the official anthropology websites (society of anthropology, things like that), you will find the big anthro journals - many of which are searchable and you can find articles that are u.s.-specific.

Anyone looking at these types of programs and where are you applying?

It takes about a month or so to get the voucher, but you can get a voucher for the GRE. With the voucher it only costs about $85 (which is still a lot, i know). And then you get to send it to 4 schools for free with that. And then, most schools don't need official transcripts until you are accepted - they just want a pdf of an official transcript, so you could potentially cut down on costs by ordering one and making a pdf of it. A lot of schools offer waivers for applications. I was looking into it, and I found out that I am potentially eligible for the app fee waiver for all but one school on my list (and there are quite a few - although i'll probably whittle it down a bit more. It is definitely not worth it to take out a loan to apply to schools. Write a stellar sop and writing sample, contact profs ahead of time and build a relationship. Get them interested in your research interests and then tell them about your gre/gpa situation and see what they say. I had a friend in a similar situation and he found funding.

I've heard it about the whole University - three things mostly. 1)I've heard that it is really really cut throat and competitive - not a good school for having some kind of intellectual community. That in general, the students' quality of life is poor b/c they aren't very happy. 2) I've heard that in general, the students tend to get stressed out from the competitive pressure to the point where many of them end up on suicide watch. 3) I've also heard that the area immediately surrounding the university is super wealthy, but not very affordable for living. The areas of Chicago that are affordable, don't have direct access to the university through the subway system and that it can take over an hour to commute to campus b/c of it. I've also heard that it is depressingly obvious how poor the communities immediately outside of Hyde Park are (the area where the university is) . All this came from people who went there. I haven't taken it off my list though.

I got my BA from OSU's Comp Studies dept - what department are you applying to?

I've heard from multiple sources that UC Irvine isn't very diverse/has a whole lot going on in terms of community...I've heard that it is in the suburbs and that a lot of people that go there/live there tend to be more traditional/less intellectually exploratory and experimental. But, i've never been there myself - only heard it from people who live nearby/know people that went.

I'm definitely applying to 1) NYU American Studies 2) UNC Chapel-Hill Communications 3) UT Austin Cultural Anthropology/Cultural Forms (haven't decided which) 4) University of Wyoming American Studies Might Apply to: 1) University of Minnesota Comparative Studies in Discourse 2) Washington State University American Studies 3) University of Chicago Anthropology (although, probably not because i've only heard bad things about the experience of studying at University of Chicago) 4) University of Michigan Anthropology or American Studies 5) Brown University American Studies 6) Queen's University Cultural Studies 7) Berkeley Rhetoric 8) Stanford Anthropology 9) Columbia Anthropology 10) CUNY Anthropology My research focus is roughly tourism in the U.S./cultural geography/identity/pop culture/political economy (elevator speech not formulated yet).

Hi Guys - I am looking for some guidance on some harder to get into schools. My V is 158 My Q is 160 My Writing is 4.5 I have a 3.8 GPA I know I am applying to UT Austin's Anthro, NYU American Studies, UNC Chapel-Hill Communication Studies and University of Wyoming's American Studies. The question is - will my scores bar me from admission to Brown's American Studies, Berkeley's Rhetoric and Stanford's Anthropology program? I know for programs like these its more about the compatibility of your project with their available faculty/department/funding, but I was wondering if maybe some of these programs put a lot of emphasis on GRE scores and I shouldn't bother.

I wouldn't worry about it.....a LOT and i mean A LOT (if not, maybe, the majority of successful, funded applicants) change their field when going from undergrad to grad. You have two really big pluses with your application...a) you've taken time off (grad schools like people who have world experience and perhaps put some thought into what they want to do, rather than dove straight from undergrad to grad because that's the thing to do) and you have the perspective of an experience, performing musician. What you need to do now is read a lot, read some people who have published in ethnomusicology (and a lot of people who go into that are musicians themselves, and i would say the successful people that i've heard of). Also, read historical/cultural/critical theory texts that interest you. MA and PhDs are about your voice...adding to your field. Find the ideas that you jive with and run with them. Put them down on paper, and brainstorm ways to explore them more (resources you could use for research...profs who have done some research on them who might be able to guide you to some resources...they LOVE to be contact by fellow nerds). And look at the program. If its the kind of program where everyone who goes for a masters ends up going for a phd, then apply with a phd in mind. And if you do so, be very specific....this is the project i want to work on....this is my connection to it...this is why it fascinates me (make it fascinate them too...make them want to get you in their program so they can see your research come to fruition)....these are the people that i am really interested in working with and bopping ideas off of....these are the classes that i really see helping me develop my critical mind or giving me really useful interest....these are the reasons why this program will really add something to my research. (Anyone can research and try and publish a paper outside of school...although one thing grad school really gives you is the industry knowledge to help you get published). Also....think about why you want to go to grad school....to teach? to be a pure academic? put all of this into your statement of purpose. And make sure your writing samples really reflect that you can digest lots of facts and complex ideas and synthesize them to make some really interesting ideas that only a person with your perspective could come up with. Hope this helps! (Also...these days, most of the MA's in the departments you would be likely entering, aren't terminal, and are intended for going on to a PhD)

Is anyone else here getting ready to apply for an MFA in Dance? Has anyone checked out the World Arts and Cultures Program at UCLA/have any experience applying there/know of similar programs and departments?