Getting in seems impossible

[TwoFoolsAMinute]

I will be graduating with a BA in Anthropology in the Spring of 2012. I have been going along for the last year happily expecting to go into a PhD program and a good school after graduation. Then, I come here, read through these pages, and it looks like that people with near perfect scores are unable to get in. I expect to graduate somewhere between a 3.00 and a 3.3 GPA. I've not had the pleasure of the GRE yet, but I'm sure it will be a decent score. I want to study Southwest Archaeology.

I am 37 years old and am married with 3 young children, so I have not been in a position to get a field school. My university has canceled the field school for this summer, so I will not have an opportunity. It was my intention to attend a University that was close to the research area so that I would not have to be away from home as much during my studies. This had mostly limited my choices to U of Arizona, U of Colorado, or U of New Mexico. My alternative schools where I could study what I want, but are more remote were U of Iowa, U of Oklahoma, Southern Methodist U or Binghamton in NY. Now, even after all this, are all of these schools beyond my reach to be admitted on the first try?

I'm worried. I am pursuing grad school fairly late in life as it is, and I don't want to be waiting around for a year or two to get started. Any advice?

[cschwartz]

I will be graduating with a BA in Anthropology in the Spring of 2012. I have been going along for the last year happily expecting to go into a PhD program and a good school after graduation. Then, I come here, read through these pages, and it looks like that people with near perfect scores are unable to get in. I expect to graduate somewhere between a 3.00 and a 3.3 GPA. I've not had the pleasure of the GRE yet, but I'm sure it will be a decent score. I want to study Southwest Archaeology.

I am 37 years old and am married with 3 young children, so I have not been in a position to get a field school. My university has canceled the field school for this summer, so I will not have an opportunity. It was my intention to attend a University that was close to the research area so that I would not have to be away from home as much during my studies. This had mostly limited my choices to U of Arizona, U of Colorado, or U of New Mexico. My alternative schools where I could study what I want, but are more remote were U of Iowa, U of Oklahoma, Southern Methodist U or Binghamton in NY. Now, even after all this, are all of these schools beyond my reach to be admitted on the first try?

I'm worried. I am pursuing grad school fairly late in life as it is, and I don't want to be waiting around for a year or two to get started. Any advice?

I think that since the schools you are wanting to applying to are not crazy top ranked schools you have a great chance of getting in. Just practice for the GRE, write a good SOP and have some good references.

[Gravity]

If none of these schools accepts you, you could try applying for M.A. programs. If you go for the "M.A. with Thesis" option, you will be able to prove that you have what it takes to succeed in a graduate program - the PhD admissions people will be more concerned about the results of your M.A. work than your B.A. work at that point. Archaeology PhD program admissions are crazy competitive, especially for places with an overabundance of archaeologists (the Southwest being among them). There are alternatives! You'll be able to do a field school as part of your program, too, or probably even help run one.

[jth24]

I wouldn't worry too much about field experience at this point. A friend of mine didn't get any field work done until the second year of his M.A. Just apply to as many programs as possible that are in your field of Interest. Getting in some departments will vary from year to year based on the number of applicants. For your top pick programs I would also recommend applying to the MA and PHD programs to improve your chances, plus the MA programs will help build up any deficiencies your CV may have. Also with the economy the way it is right now there are exceedingly more applicants for almost every program. It's possible that in a year or so it may look up, I don't think anything is out of reach. Just stick with it and don't give up, wish you all the best.

[Matt W.]

I think that since the schools you are wanting to applying to are not crazy top ranked schools you have a great chance of getting in. Just practice for the GRE, write a good SOP and have some good references.

Of the schools you've listed, you actually have some very competitive programs there. University of Arizona has the 5th ranked Anthro program, and Colorado and New Mexico are also very good (though I don't know their precise rankings) as are most of the Anthro programs in the Southwest (for various reasons). If you want to study Southwest Archaeology, however, these are some of the best you can look at. I would also consider Utah. Best of luck to you!

[a fragrant plant]

It's extremely difficult to get in to graduate school these days because more and more undergraduates opt to go straight into grad school. Yet I won't lose hope if anthropology is what you want to do for your career. I agree that whilst Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico are not highly ranked nationally, they are good programs for anthropology (especially archaeology). Arizona, in particular, is very competitive.

I am also told that getting a MA first increases your chances of being accepted onto a PhD program. There are many ways of doing it, please don't lose hope.

[inca2011]

Doing an MA/MS program would probably be the best way to up your GPA/experience. You'll be able to do similar kinds of research, getting more experience, and you'll be a more competitive applicant. If you can, you should try to work with nearby archaeological collections in your free time, and if you go to an MA/MS program, try to publish. Study for the GRE! And don't leave it 'til the last minute. You should also consider universities that are near museum collections for the Southwest, which may or may not be the same states. Chicago has some great collections at the Field Museum, as does the Smithsonian in Washington DC. You'll probably eventually have to do fieldwork, is my guess, but you may be able to work out something like a whole year of fieldwork (so you can just move for a year, if that's possible), or just a couple of weeks at a time. Since it's in the states, it shouldn't be too bad. I've met a lot of people in PhD programs who started out relatively late (in their late 20s or 30s), so I don't think that'll count against you