reporterinvietnam

Thank you for this, and congrats on the offer of UC Riverside. Yeah, I've to TA at Duke, but with a lighter workload. I am not from Vietnam, but I wish to go there for a visit, where I do have some friends:)

Thank you for sharing your experience at Berkeley! Some of the PhD students told me that TA takes up to 50% of their time, but it is also beneficial if one hopes to be a teacher in the future.

Thanks for your feedback. I agree that funding is an important issue that should be seriously considered. The primary adviser assigned to me at UC Berkeley is a renowned leading scholar in the academia, but she is acclaimed to be difficult to work with. At Berkeley, grad students are supposed to work independently and get limited support from teachers. Berkeley ranks among the three best anthropology departments in the States (the other two are Chicago and Michigan). Duke is not the NO. 1 place in terms of anthropology research, but they have employed two great professors from Harvard to promote their development. The professors and grad students are very friendly and helpful, fostering a sense of community. On the other hand, Duke is actively cooperating with Asia, where I come from.

I'm an international student, who has got offers from both UC Berkeley and Duke University. PhD in Sociocultural Antrhopology. I have kept thinking about the two options for quite a long time, but have not come up with a definite decision. UC Berkeley has a better reputation in the anthropology program, but the funding is not so favorable. I've to TA for about 2-3 years (20 hours each week) to get a stipend, apart from the fellowship I am entitled to. Duke has a more friendly and supportive community, and they offer a fiver-year consecutive fellowship. But I don't like the city of Durham, which seems to be so boring. Which one would you choose? Thanks!