Fall 2021 Applications

[anth_lola]

On 1/14/2021 at 11:56 AM, amlans said:

Rough year for sure!

I applied to cultural anthro at UCLA, Stanford, UF, UT Austin, and UNC Chapel Hill. I had informal Zoom meetings with prospective advisors at UF and UNC in Nov/Dec but did not hear back from professors at UCLA or UT Austin (Stanford does not require/suggest outreach to prospective advisors). 

I had to nix UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, Arizona, and Duke as a result of COVID (UCSC, UCB, & AZ were all top choice. Duke was moderate).

@crthomps Congratulations on your Chicago interview! That is huge. Did you receive feedback from outreach to professors at UT? They were pretty adamant about reaching out to multiple potential advisors in their virtual open house but I never heard back from anyone I wrote to ☹️

I also reached out to a couple faculty at UCLA which is one of my top programs, but did not hear anything back from either faculty member. Definitely a disappointment, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this happen.

[updayday]

No worries I also didn't hear back from ucla prof.. @anth_lola

[anth_lola]

11 minutes ago, updayday said:

No worries I also didn't hear back from ucla prof.. @anth_lola

Not hearing back and then being asked who I've communicated with in the application made me really nervous... Fingers crossed that this isn't going to mean anything negative for our chances!

[crthomps]

@anth_lola if it helps soothe your mind any, I’m close with a number of senior faculty in anthropology at the school I just graduated with a BA from (Columbia), and they were each quite enlightening throughout my application process. One of the things they all told me at one point or another was that while contacting faculty you’re interested in working with before or during the application process is increasingly common practice, it in no way impacts one’s chances. The applications of those who have contacted faculty are not treated any differently than the applications of those who haven’t; if anything, it just helps route applications to specific readers, if that makes sense. 

[Twesiime]

Does anyone have any further news about the University of Michigan PhD in Sociocultural? I saw in the results that they had sent out at least some interviews, and I am wondering if they have selected everyone they intend to interview at this point.

[Anny_anthy]

On 1/19/2021 at 8:33 PM, Twesiime said:

Does anyone have any further news about the University of Michigan PhD in Sociocultural? I saw in the results that they had sent out at least some interviews, and I am wondering if they have selected everyone they intend to interview at this point.

I think so... I just finished my interview with two faculty members at UMichigan, and they said acceptances will go out in the next few days after they wrap up interviews by the 22nd. But I guess Michigan is quite early in the game with its review process; other places are expected to send out interview invites/decisions only after a week or so, if I'm not mistaken. 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Anny_anthy

[YS90]

3 hours ago, Anny_anthy said:

I think so... I just finished my interview with two faculty members at UMichigan, and they said acceptances will go out in the next few days after they wrap up interviews by the 22nd. But I guess Michigan is quite early in the game with its review process; other places are expected to send out interview invites/decisions only after a week or so, if I'm not mistaken. 

Congratulations! Seems like you're in a very good spot! 

May I ask if you're a domestic/international student? and also if the faculty implied that all of those that are admitted are interviewed? 

 

[Anny_anthy]

55 minutes ago, YS90 said:

Congratulations! Seems like you're in a very good spot! 

May I ask if you're a domestic/international student? and also if the faculty implied that all of those that are admitted are interviewed? 

 

Thank you!! Best of luck with your apps too! 
 

I’m an international student. I can’t exactly conclude from my interviews that all admitted students need to have gone through an interview process. However, they did say that interviews help them get a better understanding of the students’ research interests beyond what was included in the app, as well as to convey the committee’s interest in particular aspects of the applicant’s file. 

[YS90]

11 minutes ago, Anny_anthy said:

Thank you!! Best of luck with your apps too! 
 

I’m an international student. I can’t exactly conclude from my interviews that all admitted students need to have gone through an interview process. However, they did say that interviews help them get a better understanding of the students’ research interests beyond what was included in the app, as well as to convey the committee’s interest in particular aspects of the applicant’s file. 

Thank you for the info, it's really helpful (psychologically at least). Good luck!! 

[RyanHGSE17]

Anyone hear from UT Austin at this point? Sociocultural Track? They're usually a little later in the game, but thought I'd ask-

[crthomps]

@RyanHGSE17 nothing at all yet from Austin. I know a number of us here have applied there, and no interviews or anything else have yet been posted in results. We should hear something in the next couple weeks I’d imagine. 

[RyanHGSE17]

55 minutes ago, crthomps said:

@RyanHGSE17 nothing at all yet from Austin. I know a number of us here have applied there, and no interviews or anything else have yet been posted in results. We should hear something in the next couple weeks I’d imagine. 

Nice! I applied mostly to work with Christen Smith- only to learn she's basically .25 antrho, .25 Africana, and .5 directing a center. Hasn't taken anyone in anthro in years. Ha!

Was waitlisted last year- but I think it was more of a soft rejection thing.

 

Would love to read other folks SoPs- send me a direct message if you'd like to swap / share!

[updayday]

@Twesiime I am currently an undergrad at umich. Just asked during major advising today and was told that the reviewing process just began. But I didn't apply to umich myself so I didn't ask other questions. 

[updayday]

Has anyone else heard from Chicago yet? and also Princeton Yale etc 

[crthomps]

@updayday Interviews went out from Chicago a little over a week ago. Princeton, there’s been no word. That’s all I know! 

[otrosenderos]

In case this helps: I've heard back from Chicago, UC Irvine and WashU (all sociocultural) for interviews so far, still waiting on other programs.

[Anny_anthy]

Quick question: for those of you who've heard back from UChicago with interview requests, would you mind if I asked whether or not you have a master's degree? I'm asking coz I've heard that UChicago usually doesn't shortlist folks without a masters for a PhD program, but not sure if that's actually true

[crthomps]

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 

Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

[bearbonbon]

Has anyone heard back from WashU on the archaeology side? I have no idea if different subfields in departments tend to interview independently ...

[Anny_anthy]

8 hours ago, crthomps said:

@Anny_anthy Can only speak to my own experience, but no, I do not have a masters. It is my sense, though, that more than a masters, Chicago perhaps values folks with "life experience" beyond the direct undergrad --> PhD route. I took several years off school, for instance, working in an entirely different industry, and have only now, at the age of 34, completed my BA.  It was communicated to me during my interviews that this was a strong positive on my application. 

Then again, this entire process (at all schools) is so filled with opacity that it seems nearly impossible to extrapolate any one persons' experience. 

This is really helpful, thanks! Makes a lot of sense

[otrosenderos]

23 hours ago, Anny_anthy said:

Quick question: for those of you who've heard back from UChicago with interview requests, would you mind if I asked whether or not you have a master's degree? I'm asking coz I've heard that UChicago usually doesn't shortlist folks without a masters for a PhD program, but not sure if that's actually true

I don't have a masters so I think it's untrue that they don't shortlist applicants without one. I don't know about admissions, however, whether they might favor applicants of certain backgrounds over others.

I took several years off after my BA to gain "real world" policy and fieldwork experience at my field site. I would think it's a shame for any program (especially in the US where a PhD program is longer than those in other countries and includes a mandatory few years of coursework!) to exclude applicants without a masters. I could go on... academia is already so unequal, not everyone can afford a masters and isn't student debt already bad enough! ?

[otrosenderos]

10 hours ago, bearbonbon said:

Has anyone heard back from WashU on the archaeology side? I have no idea if different subfields in departments tend to interview independently ...

My sense from WashU sociocultural is that their mode of reaching out to students for interviews isn't very coordinated/formal, just individual professors/POIs emailing students to set up a time, so I think it's normal that we hear from the department at staggered timings (although that isn't very helpful for our anxiety). Sending good vibes to you that you hear back soon!

[bearbonbon]

@otrosenderosThat does help my anxiety a bit actually haha! Thanks for the insight on WashU..... if it's individual professors emailing vs a email from the department coordinator you may be right it's a bit more staggered. I'll see what happens down the road! Good luck to you too!! 

[anthrobrain]

Do any of y'all know if that UMich and CUNY interviews a couple weeks ago were all cultural? After creeping previous years threads, it looks like cultural and bio apps can be on different timelines even at the same schools, with bio frequently hearing back later than cultural (unfortunately for my sanity lol). I've been trying to figure out if all of the UMich and CUNY interviews listed so far are cultural--a lot of labeled as sociolcultural but there's one or two listed only as "Anthropology" w/out a sub discipline which has me wondering... 

Edited January 26, 2021 by anthrobrain

[samur]

@Anny_anthy congrats on the interview with Michigan! Was it with your PoI, or admission committee members / department graduate student coordinator? Did they say anything about funding constraints, or limits to number of applicants they can admit this year due to COVID circumstances?

Also somewhat comforted by the uncertainty around whether all admitted students are interviewed. Hoping for the best.