[Waiting it Out on Canadian Universities - 2012]

So it's been more than a week than I had my interview with UBc for Anthropology, and I still haven't heard anything yet. It looks as if the Economics and Philosophy Departments released results this week. I'm wondering if I'm needlessly worrying more than I have to be; part of this is I have to take a trip next week where I will be out of Internet contact (it might actually be a saving grave!)

Congrats on everyone who has heard any news!

[Waiting it Out on Canadian Universities - 2012]

So after being rejected from most of the schools I applied to, I received an interview request from my top school, University of British Columbia, for a PhD in Anthropology.

I had an interview with my POI from U-BC's Anthropology department -- has anyone else heard? Someone on the results survey indicated they were waitlisted for the Masters Program, and, I was wondering if they were here on the forum? I'm also wondering if anyone knows if Canadian schools generally fund their MA and PhD students from different pools of money, or, is it usually up to the Department to decide how many MA vs. PhD students they accept?

I had a really difficult time gauging how the interview went -- for some odd reason, I had mildly hoped that within hours of the interview, I would have received an acceptance (haha, one can only hope!). Many of the interview questions dealt with my language ability and talking about the challenges of doing fieldwork in a place that is very under-studied (there's only three people in my field who are currently conducting research here, and only one is past the post-doc level). She kept on emphasizing that I would be criticized as an outsider in the part of the world I want to study, as it is a topic she has written a lot about in her articles. When we were finished, she said she was going to "report back to the committee" that she had talked to me and said If I had any other questions, specifically about funding, that the DGS would be able to answer them for me.

I don't know -- I was sort of hoping for a more firm feeling about my chances, and am just feeling ambiguous about it. I would think if there was a good chance I was getting in, I would know. On the other hand, she would not have reached out to have this contact with me if there was not a chance at all. I suppose it's just suffering through the emotions of the moment? Haha.

Hope this helps anyone waiting to hear .... anything!

[virginia (UVA) admits??]

Hey fanfox,

Have you received a phone request from an interview?

I applied to UVa and had an interview back in late January. I know one person who was already accepted and about three-four who have been rejected already (I think most of them were missing documents). I don't know anything about my status past the interview (I'm living abroad), however, when I asked during the interview, they told me that final decisions would be made the last week of February/the first week of March.

[Waiting it Out on Canadian Universities - 2012]

Woke up this morning to a nice e-mail/interview request from my POI @ UBC's Anthropology Department (am American; applied to their PhD program). Hope it goes well!

[Anthropology Waiting/Results 2012]

Yeah; I'm sorry to, well, not be the most positive (as I know I need all the positivity I can get!)

I believe she is leaving AU; I last talked to her in November (before some of the appeals processes). I don't want to speak on behalf of AU -- the department itself is very stable, indeed. It's more so things at the university level and an over-reaching dean changing things up.

Anyways, good luck at Colorado! Trust me, there's still some of us anxiously waiting.

[Anthropology Waiting/Results 2012]

Urgh,

I *hate* to be the bearer of horrible news. I absolutely *loved* Sabiyha (and words cannot express my adoration for Dr. Leap. He has supported many young scholars, both at AU and elsewhere in starting their careers), but, she was denied tenure this year in somewhat of a scandal with the aforementioned dean. It was horrible -- she was a wonderful scholar and the denial of tenure was kind of eye-opening and a momentary bleak spot on my decision to pursue a PhD. Dr. Leap used to be the chair but stepped down (no worries, he's still there!) within this last year and they are doing an external hire to find a new chair. Hopefully, this will free him up for some of his (absolutely marvelous) projects in queer geography.

The MA is a good program; but, if you are accepted for a PhD elsewhere, it's probably more worthwhile. And trust me, it looks like you've already been accepted somewhere, I feel like I'm hanging on a string over an abyss for dear life.

[Anthropology Waiting/Results 2012]

Hey aforman1,

It might be lucky that both of our nerves were cued at the same time. I graduated from AU two years ago (went onto an MA program elsewhere) and the department is filled with some of the warmest, friendliest, and most intelligent people you will ever meet. I still maintain contact with a lot of my faculty, peers, and PhD students.

However, with that being said, there was recently a new dean appointed to the College of Arts of Science who has wrecked havoc on the department, especially in terms of funding (looking towards more "serious" subjects --> eg, Economics). I know they've only been able to accept 1-3 people each year.

If you do get in, it's filled with tremendous people. Who did you want to work with?

[Anthropology Waiting/Results 2012]

Hey,

Congrats to those who have been accepted places! I hate you, but I am sincerely happy for you.

I was wondering if anyone has been contacted by University of Virginia yet? There seems to be two other people who posted interviews on the results survey. I was contacted waaaaay back in mid-January about a "casual chat" for my research interests that seemed to be both standard and went very well. I was really excited as, I assumed since they contacted me so early, I was high on their list.

The person I interviewed with (non-POI) said that decisions would be made in late February/early March. I had some sort of optimism that I would hear back sooner than that (one could only hope ....) but as the weeks have gone by, that feeling of hope has waned. I *have* looked back at past years/threads, and it seem that UVa does make decisions late, so I still have that going for me. Also, I do know there is a recruiting weekend, but, I didn't expect to be invited to it because I am currently living in a remote part of Laos (you know .... "grad school preparation" haha.) and flying me to Virginia for 2 days would be .... well, impractical and costly. I think I may be over-rationalizing things, but I'm not sure if I'm maintaining a false hope.

UVa was the first school on my list (barring some concerns about GLBTQ-life, it's both in my top-pick location and best match school), so I may be overplaying this. Hopefully in a month I'll be able to look back on this and laugh at how needlessly nervous I was. Or validate all of my concerns! Anyways, thanks for letting me vent and I hope to hear your thoughts (and from other people who applied to UVa!)

[Anthropology Waiting/Results 2012]

I have only heard back from one school so far about an interview. I know two other people who also have received interviews from the same school. In some ways, I think the "Interview" stage might be a little bit more nerve-wracking -- you know your Candidate File is there, the AdComm members are looking at it, but you kind of wonder what exactly they were looking for in the interviews--did they have questions about weaknesses (which there are many!), or (in the most hopeful scenario), did they want to gauge my seriousness about their offer.

Needless to say, the interview was by far one of the most relaxing and ... I would say, fun, parts of the application process so far. There were actually very few questions about my research--the predominant questions were about why I was interested in the school and if I had considered moving to the town the school was in. I think I had good answers for both. I also think/hope it's a good sign that I was asked to interview so early -- I'm hoping I hear in the next few days, but am resigned it may take a few weeks!

Regardless, the school that interviewed me is one of my top picks, so I'm crossing my fingers that I didn't fumble the ball too much!

[Anthropology Waiting/Results 2012]

I posted elsewhere, but, I received, via e-mail, a request for a "conversation from UVirginia to "round out my application." It was framed not as an interview, but, was a very long conversation about my interests in the school and my project ....

Has anyone else received this call?

[Vaguely-Worded Interview Request?]

Hello,

Following the NPR model, long-time reader, first time poster.

I'm currently applying for PhD programs in Anthropology for the 2012-13 admissions cycle. As a brief background, I have an MA in Anthropology from a terminal MA program in a Top 20 School. My GRE and GPA, while not the best, are well above the minimum of what programs require and probably in the Top 30% of most applicants, but, probably somewhere around the 25-30% mark. I currently have a Fulbright Research Scholarship and am based overseas in Southeast Asia doing research on my proposed PhD Statement of Purpose--roughly, heritage tourism, economic development, space-making, so on and so forth. I think my applications were, credentially, solid, but well -- I tend to panic and over-write and noticed after the fact that there were a few (minor) errors throughout all of my applications.

I have been through this process before (thusly picking up the MA) and I absolutely hate wading through the "half-winks," and periods of "cautious, reserved optimism" that plague almost every other decision except a flat-out rejection. Recently, I received a (hopefully) encouraging e-mail from a faculty member at one of the schools I applied to asking for a "conversation" (not interview) about my application and interest in their school's program. While she was not my point of contact/referenced in my SOP, my adviser and I figured that she was more than likely on the Admissions Committee. Because I'm overseas, the interview will take place on the telephone.

I believe I am very well set to discuss my fit into the school's program, my research interests, and, anything else (beyond a curveball) that comes up. However, I have never encountered this situation before (as I do not know if interviews are so common in the Social Sciences?) and was wondering if anyone this cycle (or before) could shed some light/temper some expectations about what this means, especially in terms of chances of acceptance/rejection/waitlisting/whatnot. Of course, nothing is ever solid and I'm still approaching the interview as no one has made a decision yet.

Thank-you so much, and I look forward to your responses! I hope I can help other people too figuring out this process ...