CarlieE

Hmm not sure if this helps you but... according to some profs I've spoken with the average number of years it takes to finish a PhD in anthro is: For Bio/Physical - 5 years and Cultural - 10 years. Of course, this is just the average based on stats from the AAA (I'm told, but haven't verified). If your dream job requires a PhD then you might want to take this into consideration... BTW I'll be beginning my grad work at 31 and I'm in Cultural.. .so... if I'm better than the average, hopefully I will get my first academic teaching job before I'm 40. YAyy!!!

I'm aiming for getting pregnant during my last year of PhD coursework and then having the baby right before I head out for field work. The country I'm doing my fieldwork in is also where my parents and extended family are so the plan is to enlist my mom's assistance (will be the 1st grandchild!) while I head out and do my fieldwork. The boyf (whom I will assume will be fathering said baby) is planning on doing research in a neighboring nation and so, with some coordination, this might just work out well. After a year of fieldwork, the idea is to return to the US and write. I'm expecting that THIS will be the tough part - running around after a toddler while trying to get writing done. We'll see....

As I understand it, deferrals are generally only approved if you are going off to do something that HAS to take place then and is somewhat related to academics ie. you are deferring because you got a Fulbright fellowship or you have a special opportunity to do research and THAT program won't let you defer.. or something along those lines...

It might be too late to do this now... but for me, I used my Spring Break to drive (1600 miles roundtrip) to the city I will be moving to. My boyf and I decided that it was best to find an apartment now since we have this vacation time and because 1) we knew that there would be a bit of competition for apartments because of the incoming UGs, tranfers, other grads closer to the beginning of the Fall semester and over the summer 2) we had no idea what was a good part of town to live in 3) I get really nervous if I have no clue where I'm going. So I got online on hotpads.com and found an apartment service and they helped me find a bunch of places. I went through their results and picked 6. So we checked out 6 apartment complexes and picked one, got all the p/work done. It helped to check things out beforehand because in the new state we're, moving to they do have a different protocol than what we're used to here.. ie. the security deposits were different, amenities like w/d were commonly rented for an additional charge etc.

This is interesting that the approach differs depending on discipline.. I guess I never really thought too much about it. At the program I got accepted into we all got offered the same thing. The university was very up front and stated on their website what you would be offered if you got in and at the interviews they reiterated that they make it the same for everyone so there's no weirdness about someone getting more or less or people having to worry about having enough to live on etc. It was plain and simple: you'll get a full tuition waiver, except you pay $X in fees each semester and you get $X stipend for 12 mos for X years. We're expected to figure out how to get money for our field work and if you take longer than the 1.5 years we give you to do your dissertation writing, then you're on your own. It would make things so much easier IMO if programs just had an open policy about this kind of thing...

PODS is a name brand - there are other companies who do this kind of moving too. A POD or RELOCUBE or whatever they choose to call it, is a cube container which the moving company delivers to your door. You can take your time to load it up, then lock it, and then call the moving company to take it away. You have the option then of 1) keeping it in their storage facility until you need it 2) having it delivered to your next destination. If you store it, you pay a monthly fee for the storage. I haven't used one before but it sounds like a good way to move if you can't rent a uhaul truck or something ie. if you don't drive, or have a license etc. Or if you have a lot of stuff to move. I've got stuff - I'm 30 - so I have furniture etc. But I have to say, it's not cheap - your quote depends on where and when you're moving - their prices fluctuate with gas prices and distance so you just have to see if its feasible for you..

I think it does depend on the school. My earliest deadline was Oct 31 and I heard about the interview in January, then went, then got notified (accepted) 2 days after the interview. My other application deadlines were December, and I JUST heard from them... so sounds like a 3 to 4 month turnaround?

I've heard the same - but it depends on what kind of career you're planning on. I've heard it's tougher to find an academic job with an interdisciplinary degree, but I don't know about corporate jobs etc. My 2cents about the situation is to go for the newer experience. But then, I like to travel and I moved across the world at 16 without my parents so I'm just like that.

That sounds like an awful situation.. Have you gotten any offers yet? If you get fully funded or 1/2 funded then you may not need your parents at all; you can take out financial aid/loans etc. I know this might seem harsh, but you don't have to listen to them or give in to them JUST because they're your parents. If you know what you want and how to get it, and they refuse to support you, you might just have to tell them straight up: I'm going to grad school, so suck it.

Is it the age difference or being a faculty spouse AND student that makes you feel nervous? I don't think you should feel awkward, although some students might prefer not make certain comments around you for fear that their complaints etc would get back to the professor they are complaining about (this happened around the children of some faculty that did part of their UG at the uni their parents taught at) Do you know your POI socially? If so, I might make it a point to develop a distinct line between work and social so that other students won't feel that you might be given preferential treatment. I play RPGs with 2 of my professors and the other students know this, but we try to keep that social aspect out of class conversations. Also, though first names are used during play-time, we maintain use of titles ie. Prof X or Dr X during class time. As far as the age thing goes, I wouldn't worry about it. I'll be 31 in Sept when my PhD program begins and I am finishing up my UG now. I've never felt ostracized because of my age. Granted, most of my friends think I'm 23 or 24, but even once they find out I'm a lot older, I've not been treated differently. Fitting in will depend on how well you get along. As with most things, the more you make an effort to be socially available, the stronger your relationships will be with those in your cohort, regardless of their age. I understand that having children may inhibit some of the social gathering that might occur or you might not be interested in hanging out at the bar, but if you make the effort to hang out, I'm sure you'll develop some good friendships with your (younger) cohort.

Agreed. Perhaps you could email the graduate office and CC the department graduate coordinator a revised copy of your CV with a brief note to say you felt this was pertinent to your application and you hope to hear from them soon. Just three of four sentences, keeping it brief.

Uni websites often give a rough timeline of when to expect a response... you could also look at last years and this years results page here on gradcafe to get an idea of when people will hear back.. I don't think that applications are decided on as they come in, unless they do a rolling admission - again, something that should be on their website. But if that info isn't, I'd call or email their program director or his/her office.

I sent hand written thank you cards and I did include one just or the program director/coordinator - she did an excellent job of organizing it so I felt it was worth a thank you. I would say it doesn't hurt to add an additional thank you... after all, what's an extra $0.50??

I agree. When there's been this kind of politics at my uni I've learnt that it's best to just keep one's mouth shut. Just listen and take everything with a football sized grain of salt, and then try to avoid contact with all parties at all costs. Obviously this last bit of my advice isn't feasible for you, if you end up having one of these profs as your POI, but I would only just listen so I could decide for myself if the stories have any sort of basis... Perhaps there is a "neutral" third party who might give you insight into whether or not either one of the POIs is bad news or not. It seems bad form that the one POI would even bad mouth a professor elsewhere at an interview...

It doesn't sound like they are rescinding the offer; they might just need basic demographic info or such clerical things to log your offer into their financial system.

I agree.. Then you can work on collecting your "data" - ie. evidence supporting your thesis (or if you find that the evidence nullifies it then you might rework your entire paper...) I like the basic structure: Thesis, evidence, conclusion. And variations thereof, depending on how long/how in-depth you want to get in your paper..

As I understand it, the POD is delivered to your house (it's BIG so it'll generally have to sit in your parking lot or driveway) and then you load it up. Once it's all loaded, you call them to pick it up and you can either a) have it shipped directly to your new location or put it into storage and have it "re-delivered" to your new location in a month or two (or more)... You can have your entire move quoted for you; the cost depends on whether you're putting it into storage, how far away your new location is etc. But this is really only feasible if you're moving a LOT... ie. if you only have 5 boxes, then USPS should be fine, but if you have 30 (like me) plus furniture etc then a POD might work out better..

It depends on which ethnicity... My focus is on Southeast Asia - Uni of WI, Madison, NIU, Berkeley, Hawaii, Cornell, WashU are good choices for that... but it depends whether you're doing mainland or insular, and then what country you're focusing on... try looking for languages - if they offer the language of the ethnicity you're interested in, that's a good sign On the other hand... I chose a school because of the POI, not because of the SEA dept (there is none where I am going)...

I agree with the above post.. I generally have only use RMP.com to see what sort of whining comes out of the class - in fact, if I see a lot of comments like "The paper he assigned was Sooooo Hard! I hate him" then I generally take the class Using RMP involves a lot of reading between the lines... I would recommend trying to find out about a professor through other professors in his/her field, not in an outright way, but tactfully...

You can go onto a PhD after you're done with your MA; going straight from UG is not always the norm... However, in my field, it might mean that you may have to redo certain courses ie. redo a portion of your MA coursework in your PhD. Most of my friends going onto PhDs are doing so after having gotten their MAs but they have to follow the PhD program, just as the incoming UGs do which means possibly, some overlap in courses... About your second question, I suppose that depends on the school you're going to for your MA. Do they have a PhD program? Or do they only offer a terminal MA? You may not want to get your PhD from the same place you got your MA from so you can different perspectives, have different advisers etc.. Perhaps you might have a better chance of getting into their PhD program since you'll have proven yourself during your MA... I think that'll just depend on the school, program, you..

How many is several? I'm renting a POD and loading everything into it and having it shipped to my final destination...

Do you mean Big Ten as in the sports league? Or Big Ten as in Tier 1/highly ranked school? If the former, then you might get a stipend around 20k since cost of living is pretty low. ie. at Madison you can get a decent 1 bedroom for $400-600 a month. But Northwestern near Chicago is a totally different story.. Generally speaking the Midwest cost of living IS doable on $20k or less (it's NOT a fabulous lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination, but doable)

I think it depends on where you are planning to work after your degree and in what field (academic/non-academic). After reading ebrahim's post, I have to mention there are cultural differences that will influence your choice and some of our (poster's) opinions here... I'm from Southeast Asia and if I were to want to work THERE, I'd be better off picking the top tier name brand school because employers DO discriminate based upon that factor and quite heavily. I'm sure there's a similar form of this here in the US, though perhaps it is less obvious (all relative of course). I don't know - the job market here seems more based on meritocratic system, whilst in some other places in Asia, it can be different.. and again, your field may be different... What do current professionals think? My personal opinion is to choose whichever school you think your research fits best (but you have to determine how wedded you are to your topic and its focus), where you will be most happy for the next 5-7 years of your life possibly, and consider funding..

Agreed! Good Luck with the rest.. At least you applied to 9, so you have lots of opportunities left - Plus, not hearing anything and being wait listed is MUCH better than being outright rejected!

I'm inclined to agree... I'm hoping to become a professional academic so I might as well get used to the process of submitting CVs, applications, waiting and being interviewed, going for campus visits etc.. And even if I were not, as Marius said, this is what the non-academic job market looks like for any professional...