Fall 2023 Admissions

[taayrup12345]

A bit random, and people may not be checking the forum as much anymore, but would anyone who has applied to more than one cycle and got in somewhere this year (congrats!) be open to providing any advice on what they learned/did differently?

Feel free to DM me if you don't want to post here, just looking to rally as the rejections flood in. Thanks!

[chaffinch]

Just now, taayrup12345 said:

A bit random, and people may not be checking the forum as much anymore, but would anyone who has applied to more than one cycle and got in somewhere this year (congrats!) be open to providing any advice on what they learned/did differently?

Feel free to DM me if you don't want to post here, just looking to rally as the rejections flood in. Thanks!

Me!! I literally just found out unofficially from POI I got into UCI after being waitlisted two years ago. And I got waitlisted at every other school I applied to this year (most of which rejected me outright two years ago). I don't know if I will get into those schools but I think it's a pretty good improvement, maybe others will disagree haha.

I was very honest with myself about my application and why it got rejected. First, I will admit that I applied to some schools last time purely based on the prestige of the department (Chicago for instance) rather than actual fit; this year, I ended up applying to VERY few schools. My approach was to write out a general essay and then tailor each SOP very specifically to each school and think seriously about how the research would change based on each department - not just that flyaway last paragraph 'at x school I can work with abc profs' but the entire damn essay. Also, my sense is that more than any other field, Anthro departments prefer a holistic approach. So even if your research is perfect for 2 profs the process is more like, the vast majority of the faculty has to be able to work with you to some degree. To put it another way, what's the likelihood you'd still be able to do your research if the department got hit by an earthquake or everyone transferred out and only two people were left? I think that is very important to almost every anthro department these days, some care about this more than others but all do to a certain degree. Finally, depending on your topic, anthro can be especially hard to write for because it covers such a huuuuge range of topics that can theoretically also be done perfectly well as a dissertation in polisci, art history, economics, media studies, whatever - so why specifically the discipline of anthropology? Critical thinking on methodology is key here. 

I also spent the last 2 years working entirely in a different field than anything my research had to do with. I wanted to see if maybe my desire to go to PhD was some academic Stockholm syndrome and I'd be happy just working and making money (the answer was no, I still have too many questions). I think faculty appreciated that I had that perspective, of making a very active choice to give up my job and go back to anthropology of all things on a shit grad salary.

For UCI the official notifications should go out next week btw.

[ocular.espresso]

On 2/28/2023 at 2:42 PM, jojoank said:

I am on the waitlist at my top choice. If you don't mind, can I ask how did you find out you're the first on the waitlist? I'm thinking of sending an email to learn about my place, but not so sure how to ask in an appropriate way. 

I'm also wait listed! The wait list was described as "short" but other than that no other info. I think we just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best at this point haha.

[PhilAnthro]

1 hour ago, chaffinch said:

Me!! I literally just found out unofficially from POI I got into UCI after being waitlisted two years ago. And I got waitlisted at every other school I applied to this year (most of which rejected me outright two years ago). I don't know if I will get into those schools but I think it's a pretty good improvement, maybe others will disagree haha.

I was very honest with myself about my application and why it got rejected. First, I will admit that I applied to some schools last time purely based on the prestige of the department (Chicago for instance) rather than actual fit; this year, I ended up applying to VERY few schools. My approach was to write out a general essay and then tailor each SOP very specifically to each school and think seriously about how the research would change based on each department - not just that flyaway last paragraph 'at x school I can work with abc profs' but the entire damn essay. Also, my sense is that more than any other field, Anthro departments prefer a holistic approach. So even if your research is perfect for 2 profs the process is more like, the vast majority of the faculty has to be able to work with you to some degree. To put it another way, what's the likelihood you'd still be able to do your research if the department got hit by an earthquake or everyone transferred out and only two people were left? I think that is very important to almost every anthro department these days, some care about this more than others but all do to a certain degree. Finally, depending on your topic, anthro can be especially hard to write for because it covers such a huuuuge range of topics that can theoretically also be done perfectly well as a dissertation in polisci, art history, economics, media studies, whatever - so why specifically the discipline of anthropology? Critical thinking on methodology is key here. 

I also spent the last 2 years working entirely in a different field than anything my research had to do with. I wanted to see if maybe my desire to go to PhD was some academic Stockholm syndrome and I'd be happy just working and making money (the answer was no, I still have too many questions). I think faculty appreciated that I had that perspective, of making a very active choice to give up my job and go back to anthropology of all things on a shit grad salary.

For UCI the official notifications should go out next week btw.

OMG congratulations! UCI is my dream school

[Tia_2023]

3 hours ago, chaffinch said:

Me!! I literally just found out unofficially from POI I got into UCI after being waitlisted two years ago. And I got waitlisted at every other school I applied to this year (most of which rejected me outright two years ago). I don't know if I will get into those schools but I think it's a pretty good improvement, maybe others will disagree haha.

I was very honest with myself about my application and why it got rejected. First, I will admit that I applied to some schools last time purely based on the prestige of the department (Chicago for instance) rather than actual fit; this year, I ended up applying to VERY few schools. My approach was to write out a general essay and then tailor each SOP very specifically to each school and think seriously about how the research would change based on each department - not just that flyaway last paragraph 'at x school I can work with abc profs' but the entire damn essay. Also, my sense is that more than any other field, Anthro departments prefer a holistic approach. So even if your research is perfect for 2 profs the process is more like, the vast majority of the faculty has to be able to work with you to some degree. To put it another way, what's the likelihood you'd still be able to do your research if the department got hit by an earthquake or everyone transferred out and only two people were left? I think that is very important to almost every anthro department these days, some care about this more than others but all do to a certain degree. Finally, depending on your topic, anthro can be especially hard to write for because it covers such a huuuuge range of topics that can theoretically also be done perfectly well as a dissertation in polisci, art history, economics, media studies, whatever - so why specifically the discipline of anthropology? Critical thinking on methodology is key here. 

I also spent the last 2 years working entirely in a different field than anything my research had to do with. I wanted to see if maybe my desire to go to PhD was some academic Stockholm syndrome and I'd be happy just working and making money (the answer was no, I still have too many questions). I think faculty appreciated that I had that perspective, of making a very active choice to give up my job and go back to anthropology of all things on a shit grad salary.

For UCI the official notifications should go out next week btw.

Hi! Thank you so much for your detailed suggestions! They are really helpful! Hope you have a great PhD life!

I was thinking of starting the job search as I have not received any good news in this circle. I was wondering if you could share your experience on how to ask professors to write recommendation letters when you are not at university. I am worried about the distance between professors and me. And if I were to apply for more circles, would it be okay to ask the same professors to write letters?

[GradR2D2]

43 minutes ago, Tia_2023 said:

Hi! Thank you so much for your detailed suggestions! They are really helpful! Hope you have a great PhD life!

I was thinking of starting the job search as I have not received any good news in this circle. I was wondering if you could share your experience on how to ask professors to write recommendation letters when you are not at university. I am worried about the distance between professors and me. And if I were to apply for more circles, would it be okay to ask the same professors to write letters?

Hi! I'm in Round 2 this year and had to do the whole job thing. When it comes to employment, rec letters are not as much of a thing. Usually, applications ask for a name, email address, phone number, and that's about it. It'd be fine just to let your recommenders know that you're on the job market, and that it's possible an email or phone call could come their way. Since they already wrote you a letter, they should be fine with that. 

[Tia_2023]

7 minutes ago, GradR2D2 said:

Hi! I'm in Round 2 this year and had to do the whole job thing. When it comes to employment, rec letters are not as much of a thing. Usually, applications ask for a name, email address, phone number, and that's about it. It'd be fine just to let your recommenders know that you're on the job market, and that it's possible an email or phone call could come their way. Since they already wrote you a letter, they should be fine with that. 

Oh! So sorry for my mistake. I was asking  rec letters for PhD programs, as I might be someone who is “outside” the university. I still want to try but have some concerns.

[chompsky]

2 hours ago, Tia_2023 said:

Oh! So sorry for my mistake. I was asking  rec letters for PhD programs, as I might be someone who is “outside” the university. I still want to try but have some concerns.

Might be helpful to stay in touch and keep them updated on what you're doing -- this should help maintain the relationship and I'm sure they'd be more than happy to send in a letter for you again. I'm assuming that since they've already done this for you once, they'd probably have the LORs they sent in this year saved, -which they could just tweak for the next cycle!

[PhilAnthro]

Is UCI announcing decisions this week or next? Someone said this week, another one said next week. Both heard it from their POIs. I bet it's the week after next week

[marktheonly]

On 2/28/2023 at 10:26 AM, 0000020000 said:

Who else is in waitlist purgatory? I'm first on the waitlist at a program that I believe does not "over-offer", and there are 7-8 spots. Does anyone know how common it is to have an 100% yield rate at highly ranked PhD programs? 

Same here! But my institutions told me they have unranked shortlists and said there was a very small possibility that I could be accepted off.....felt so hurtful rn cause one of them is my dream school

[PhilAnthro]

So according to the results page, people have been accepted to UCI? Why haven't I gotten my notification yet > : ( do they send out rejections at a later time? Or were the acceptances unofficial? 

[0000020000]

9 hours ago, marktheonly said:

Same here! But my institutions told me they have unranked shortlists and said there was a very small possibility that I could be accepted off.....felt so hurtful rn cause one of them is my dream school

Fingers crossed for you!

[anthromf]

*insert Bernie voice here* I am once again asking for your support as I seek information about the University of Washington. Does anyone know what subfield the students who were accepted were from? I am also curious if they received official notifications or emails from their points of contact. It's the last school I'm waiting to hear from, and I'm currently sitting on a big ole stack of rejections, so any information about these UW acceptances will be greatly appreciated! 

[TinCanBaby]

Updates:

USC acceptance email came through yesterday.

It has been a busy week with illness in the household as well. I can offer tips from the perspective of this not being my first time applying AND having worked and built a family for some time.

also there is a thread on here that has words of wisdom and I highly recommend reviewing it.

lastly, if you have the opportunity to get involved with any academic pipeline programs that mentor you through the process and connect you with institutions, I highly recommend it.

[fantansticanthro]

Hello everyone! Does anyone have suggestions on what to do in a situation of being waitlisted by all three dream progams? I have been told at every decision letter that I should let them know if I have an offer from other institutions, but it's just so bad that I've got no offer so far, but only waitlist and rejections.  One of the waitlist is Anthro+History at Michigan which I don't expect to get off the list since there are only 3 spots... the other two are Irvine and Rice. I know I should be happy that at least these are not rejections, but this situation is just so awkward and I feel like I can do nothing... Any suggestion on furhter communication with the programs I've been waitlisted for?  Or just do nothng and wait it out until mid April?  Any suggestion is greatly appreciated! 

[PhilAnthro]

14 hours ago, fantansticanthro said:

Hello everyone! Does anyone have suggestions on what to do in a situation of being waitlisted by all three dream progams? I have been told at every decision letter that I should let them know if I have an offer from other institutions, but it's just so bad that I've got no offer so far, but only waitlist and rejections.  One of the waitlist is Anthro+History at Michigan which I don't expect to get off the list since there are only 3 spots... the other two are Irvine and Rice. I know I should be happy that at least these are not rejections, but this situation is just so awkward and I feel like I can do nothing... Any suggestion on furhter communication with the programs I've been waitlisted for?  Or just do nothng and wait it out until mid April?  Any suggestion is greatly appreciated! 

I think it's standard to just send an email to show you're still interested in being accepted and getting off the waitlist but I don't think anything more than that would help.

Also when did you get waitlisted by UCI? Did you get interviewed? Why haven't I gotten anything from UCI not even a rejection!? UCI ghosted me 🥲

Anyway I think getting waitlisted is better than getting only rejections. There is hope 

[ohgodwhy]

Anyone else get absolutely ghosted by Northwestern and UPenn? 

[Kankabatir_tirey]

22 hours ago, ohgodwhy said:

Anyone else get absolutely ghosted by Northwestern and UPenn? 

Yeah. Ghosted by Northwestern here. I don't know what they're upto. Any leads will be helpful.

Also, for every person reading this-Please do take care. It's been quite a cycle. For those accepted at their dream school or anywhere they'd like to go-Congratulations! For those waitlisted-hang on a bit more. Things will be clearer in a month. Fingers crossed for you guys. For those having only seen rejections-I feel you. I've been through that last season. Just believe that everything happens for a reason, and you'll figure out what to do eventually.

[fantansticanthro]

On 3/11/2023 at 3:02 AM, PhilAnthro said:

I think it's standard to just send an email to show you're still interested in being accepted and getting off the waitlist but I don't think anything more than that would help.

Also when did you get waitlisted by UCI? Did you get interviewed? Why haven't I gotten anything from UCI not even a rejection!? UCI ghosted me 🥲

Anyway I think getting waitlisted is better than getting only rejections. There is hope 

Thank you so much for your suggestion! @PhilAnthro

Here is the UCI timeline I know of:

Interview invitation sent on Feb 3

Interview period started that following week to the end of Feb

Initial admissions/Waitlists sent out last week

Best of luck to you for this cycle! It has been really tough a season for sure. I like to remind myself that in the long term, what is meant for me will be there regardless of what result I have now. Just hope to share this with you in case it helps taking some stress off! 

[Tia_2023]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:21 AM, ohgodwhy said:

Anyone else get absolutely ghosted by Northwestern and UPenn? 

Upenn here, never received anything, wonder what happened.

[Tia_2023]

Hi guys, I just received a waitlist from Duke. I am not quite sure what it means. I mean, Duke sent out most of their results last month so does it mean I am on the second half of the waitlist? And does anyone know how many people they want this year?

[PhilAnthro]

14 hours ago, fantansticanthro said:

Thank you so much for your suggestion! @PhilAnthro

Here is the UCI timeline I know of:

Interview invitation sent on Feb 3

Interview period started that following week to the end of Feb

Initial admissions/Waitlists sent out last week

Best of luck to you for this cycle! It has been really tough a season for sure. I like to remind myself that in the long term, what is meant for me will be there regardless of what result I have now. Just hope to share this with you in case it helps taking some stress off! 

No problem! I hope you get off the waitlist(s), and thank you for the info 

Anyone know why this has been a tough season? I am so fed up with this process and their silent rejections and other ways grad schools plain don't respect applicants that I'm questioning whether I want to apply next year at all 

[PhilAnthro]

10 hours ago, Tia_2023 said:

Hi guys, I just received a waitlist from Duke. I am not quite sure what it means. I mean, Duke sent out most of their results last month so does it mean I am on the second half of the waitlist? And does anyone know how many people they want this year?

Maybe they had a lower yield than they expected 

[fionnbo]

Curious to hear if anyone has heard from:

• UC Berkeley (sociocultural had an interview with them 1/26 but have not heard anything regarding a reject/acceptance-- so waitlist?)
• UOregon (radio silence, but unsure if interviews have happened for sociocultural yet)
• USC (no interview so expecting a reject)

If anyone has any info on timelines that would be great. Just kinda want this cycle to end atp.

[anthromf]

3 hours ago, fionnbo said:

Curious to hear if anyone has heard from:

• UC Berkeley (sociocultural had an interview with them 1/26 but have not heard anything regarding a reject/acceptance-- so waitlist?)
• UOregon (radio silence, but unsure if interviews have happened for sociocultural yet)
• USC (no interview so expecting a reject)

If anyone has any info on timelines that would be great. Just kinda want this cycle to end atp.

I applied for the archaeology track at U of Oregon. No interviews happened for that subfield as far as I know. But I can say that I was rejected via email from the director of graduate studies on February 15th. I imagine the cultural subfield wouldn't be that far behind even if they do their admissions completely separately by subfield (and I don't know of any other anthro depts that do that). My application portal does not say anything about my rejection status, so they must only notify applicants via email. This may sound super shitty, but it's entirely possible that they missed emailing you if/when they made a decision. If you haven't already, I would just email the DGS and ask about the status of your specific application. Hopefully they will have some good news for you! 

And I feel you. I'm rejections all around and still haven't heard back from one last school (the University of Washington) even though a few people have posted about their acceptances on the main admissions feed.