trogdorburninator

ditto- the nails are not good!!
haven't heard of any mail / email award notices out yet. 
 

thanks @Harlan Pepper, makes me feel a little less skeeved out about it. I also am under the impression that if you get the request for budget $, you get the $ - at least thats the perception in my department and what seems relatively true from my long-ass time spend mining the boards. I also have no idea what "numbers" usually make it to the funding stage. seems like it changes year to year and previously, the folks who actually were awarded didn't see their "score", only those who were declined. I just go a bit nuts for data/like to know how I stand, I suppose.
 
 

alright!
I accepted my offer from University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development. The deed is done.

alright!
I accepted my offer from University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development. The deed is done.

alright!
I accepted my offer from University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development. The deed is done.

alright!
I accepted my offer from University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development. The deed is done.

Just accepted my offer from medical anthropology at the University of Connecticut.
 
Guys, we did it!

Just accepted my offer at WUSTL.  I'm stoked. 

Congrats on making a decision! 
 
I'm fairly sure that its would take something radical to shake me out of my home, but I'm not convinced that radical somethings won't happen *quite* yet. 

My advice, if you are still an undergrad, is to not spend money on an MA at this point, and give yourself some time to decompress from school and, while maintaining ties with those who know your work, just do something else. It might not terribly strengthen your academic application a ton but if it helps you grow and adapt as a human, you (might) be glad for it later on. 
 
This is a v. personal opinion, but I (really) don't think it makes sense for people to go straight into a phd program from undergrad barring circumstances like being undocumented or other obstacles to obtaining livable employment (that don't stop you from being a good graduate student), or if you already took time off during/before doing a BA. 

My advice, if you are still an undergrad, is to not spend money on an MA at this point, and give yourself some time to decompress from school and, while maintaining ties with those who know your work, just do something else. It might not terribly strengthen your academic application a ton but if it helps you grow and adapt as a human, you (might) be glad for it later on. 
 
This is a v. personal opinion, but I (really) don't think it makes sense for people to go straight into a phd program from undergrad barring circumstances like being undocumented or other obstacles to obtaining livable employment (that don't stop you from being a good graduate student), or if you already took time off during/before doing a BA. 

A certain portion of labor should be put on basic statistics, which consists of the hardest of Q. Most of other tasks are just comparing numbers in various ways.

Curious...is anyone else approaching these decisions from the perspective of someone with only 50% faith in getting an academic job? 
 
Don't get me wrong, tenured professor is my dream job; but that's the thing. I'm not so confident that a tenure-track job will be that easy for any of us to find. Stuck in adjunct hell for less than minimum wage is not something I'm going to do to myself. So my decision-making process has incorporated not only job placement within academia but also prospects external to the university system that the program would position me well for.
 
Just wondering whether anyone else was thinking along these lines...

Exactly. I'm so glad you asked after why this seems to be such an issue (and I think other responses to my initial post have expanded on how cultural anthropology currently relates to U.S. work) because it isn't talked about much, especially across subfields. 
 
The good news is that we are each other's peers, and our attitudes will hopefully help shape the discipline moving forward. It is my hope that cultural anthropology in the U.S. will be more open to looking inward and exploring domestic topics, as there are certainly many spaces where anthropology has the potential to do important and significant work in America. That is not to say that international topics should be pushed aside for U.S. work. On the contrary, there is justification and room enough for both! 
 
But what applicants for 2016 can take away from this discussion is to think hard about what kind of work they want to do and where, and whether or not anthropology at this point in time will welcome their research and insight. If you don't need the specific anthropology PhD credential, there are many other avenues for legitimate (and even better-funded) doctoral study: American and area studies, cultural studies, media studies, information studies, public health and more. 

Oh, totally! And many students do just that with great success. Some of those very same people dropped the secondary site once they were offered admission and now exclusively work on the U.S. Like I said, professors from places I did not get in told me it would have been helpful to have a comparative site because it makes you look more attractive to faculty overall; however, that maneuver can seem superfluous depending on the context. In addition, a student might not be trained in the language and literature of that secondary global site if they've been too busy working on the U.S. one. At the doctoral level, it is essentially unacceptable to not know a ton about where you want to study, so adding a global comparative site is a big deal in terms of what you have to learn, especially if you're only adding it so you seem anthropological enough for committees to like you. I hope that makes sense.
 
I wish I could walk through this process using my topic (a good example of why adding a comparative site is unnecessary/weird) but it is too easy to identify me IRL using that info. Sorry!

Having a hot topic for US based research helps too.  I happen to have stumbled onto one which seems to help.  There are trends in the discipline it's worth paying attention them when your trying to sell your project to prospective schools. 

My advice, if you are still an undergrad, is to not spend money on an MA at this point, and give yourself some time to decompress from school and, while maintaining ties with those who know your work, just do something else. It might not terribly strengthen your academic application a ton but if it helps you grow and adapt as a human, you (might) be glad for it later on. 
 
This is a v. personal opinion, but I (really) don't think it makes sense for people to go straight into a phd program from undergrad barring circumstances like being undocumented or other obstacles to obtaining livable employment (that don't stop you from being a good graduate student), or if you already took time off during/before doing a BA. 

My advice, if you are still an undergrad, is to not spend money on an MA at this point, and give yourself some time to decompress from school and, while maintaining ties with those who know your work, just do something else. It might not terribly strengthen your academic application a ton but if it helps you grow and adapt as a human, you (might) be glad for it later on. 
 
This is a v. personal opinion, but I (really) don't think it makes sense for people to go straight into a phd program from undergrad barring circumstances like being undocumented or other obstacles to obtaining livable employment (that don't stop you from being a good graduate student), or if you already took time off during/before doing a BA. 

all my results are in! I don't think I realize how much tension I had been carrying around until after getting that last email. for y'all stuck in limbo--- hang tight.

Thanks! The UN interview visit was great- students there are super chill, very approachable. Got my official berkeley rejection while I was there, but didn't cause too much heartbreak as I had already counted them out- got another acceptance this am, so feeling EXCEPTIONALLY good about my fun. feels good to have options!

all my results are in! I don't think I realize how much tension I had been carrying around until after getting that last email. for y'all stuck in limbo--- hang tight.

all my results are in! I don't think I realize how much tension I had been carrying around until after getting that last email. for y'all stuck in limbo--- hang tight.

all my results are in! I don't think I realize how much tension I had been carrying around until after getting that last email. for y'all stuck in limbo--- hang tight.

all my results are in! I don't think I realize how much tension I had been carrying around until after getting that last email. for y'all stuck in limbo--- hang tight.

you two both know my deal, and I mostly agree with you, nwnh. particularly at the programs regarded as 'top' in the discipline. one of the big questions I asked every program I reached out to before applying was "how does the *department* feel about US based projects?" because I knew that was a big problem for me. I was also very skeptical about my odds applying to straight antho programs (hence, only 2). but, I didn't even get to ask that to each place.  
 
I have also been incredibly surprised by both the number of prospectives still in or just out of undergrad at the interviews I've been too, and, honestly, impressed by how much a year or two of growth can do to nuance your project and perspective. So, that's a choice which often has me raising my eye brows at adcoms, and thinking that you shouldn't totally throw the pooch if you're not from the right background.