heythereman

That's great advice, thanks xccc!

It's been a hectic time and I haven't been around to the boards recently -- so many congrats to everyone who got in!!! I saw an inquiry about Columbia on the results page, and wanted to let people know what I know from speaking to a professor recently. I was contacted by the professor directly after being accepted. Final acceptance decisions have already been made, but because the grad school is slow administratively, the official acceptance/rejection letters aren't going out until pretty late (I assume in April). Those who have been accepted have probably already been contacted by professors. There were around 10 acceptances out of 300+ applicants, and I was told that those students who don't decide to go to Columbia won't be replaced by other candidates (i.e., no waiting list). I think it's safe to say funding's pretty tight there these days. :| Well, on another note, I never realized the decision-making process would almost be as time-consuming and stress-inducing as the applications themselves (okay, exaggeration, but still not the breeze I wanted it to be). For reasons that I still can't get my mind around, I was turbo-lucky this year and am now choosing between 6 great programs, 4 of which I am seriously considering and which are causing me some debillitating indecisiveness. I'm talking to a bunch of profs at each school, but anyone have advice on must-ask questions, either for grad students or profs?

I'm waitin' on Chicago. Just one word, man, just one word...

Wow, after talking myself down for the past few months, I really, really needed this week ... Yesterday I got an email from a prof at UCSD telling me I'm in with funding (official letter to come). Three positive results so far, and still waiting on 7 more schools. I'm surprised and delighted, but nervous as hell about hearing from my top choices. Crossing fingers for everyone here ... Hope you get an email that makes you smile soon!

Got an email today saying I'm in at Cornell, with funding. Whee! It was an email from the director of graduate studies, with official offer to follow. They also offered a chance to visit the campus in March... but that's the same weekend I've planned to go to Florida with friends! Yikes. I'm intrigued by the rejection notice from Berkeley posted in the Results section today. Anyone else heard anything from them? I wonder if they're informing rejected applicants before accepted ones?

Yay keepcalm!! I got into Wisconsin too-- go Badgers! How does it rate on your list? It's not my top choice, but I really like the faculty there and Madison seems like a fun place to be (or so my midwestern friends tell me). I haven't heard from Berkeley at all. I think they will notify soon, but that person who posted didn't seem like he/she got an official letter, just a note that prefigures the actual acceptance. BTW, the Berkeley online app system seems pretty sucky. My recommenders reported having trouble uploading their letters, and I had to get one of my profs to fax hers over. Fingers crossed for everyone here. I think the real crunch time is like this week on to early-mid March. In the meantime, I'm crashing out, relaxing, and watching episodes of The Wire endlessly. If anyone's seen that show, the depiction of abject poverty and crime really puts "grad school anxiety" into perspective. Funny that I'm so stressed these days that bleak TV shows about inner-city Baltimore seem like "escapism." 8) I'm glad this forum at least is relatively chill and that nobody's whipped out the GPA/GREs to compare sizes, if you know what I mean. Here's to hoping we'll all be doing what we love soon enough!

Whoot! I check my U Wisconson-Madison applicant page today and found out that I was admitted! Haven't received anything yet in the way of emails or letters, so I'm still slightly nervous for some reason. I'll be gleeful when I see the acceptance in hard copy!

Nervouswreck, I've looked around and I don't think phone interviews are common (although not, as the last poster said, impossible). In fact, I asked whether interviews are required at several programs I applied to, and they said no. Don't listen to people who slag off the field you're interested in! There will always be those people, and they don't matter to your choices anyway.

Quick question: are there any anthro programs out there that are known to do phone interviews? I haven't heard about interviews being a part of any programs I applied to, but it's a bit nervewracking to see other phone interview offers popping up elsewhere.

I'm right there with you. I'd caution you against reading last year's thread for sanity's sake, but as I've already done it myself, it'd pretty hypocritical. :-) Rationally speaking, I don't think previous postings are a very good sampling of what real results and experiences are for applicants -- those who have grievances and are freaking out are the ones posting on this board. (I guess that means I'm freaking out? Hmmm...). As my apps are all in and confirmed and re-confirmed, my approach now is trying to be Zen about it, trying not to check my email every three seconds, and telling myself that somehow, someday, things will work out.

Hey everyone! My area is sociocultural, China/East Asia, religion (Christianity) and language, effects of globalization. I'm applying to: U Chicago Columbia CUNY Cornell Washington University in St. Louis Michigan UC Berkeley UC San Diego U Wisconsin-Madison Harvard Yes, it's a lot of "reach" schools, but I decided to give it a shot. Besides, I definitely found it hard to find a lot of programs in anthropology that were middling and "safety" but still had acceptable funding options and research going on. I've seen this done on other threads, but I was curious as to other people's backgrounds in anthropology? Are you coming straight out of undergrad or have you taken time off? Have you had fieldwork/research experience or any publications? Since I asked, I'll start: I'm taking a year off after graduating, and I did do a fieldwork project and wrote an honors thesis on it. No publications yet, but *fingers crossed*.