Chances

[Umar]

Hi,

I'm going to be applying to grad schools in the '13 season and was hoping my chances might be evaluated. I took the GREs today and got 720V/710Q. My cumulative GPA is 3.94 (qualifying for summa cum laude), and my anthro major GPA is about 3.93 (4.0 just counting upper division courses). There are still four or five more anthro courses I'm going to take before I graduate, so my GPA could shift, but I'm expecting it to stay fairly even. Modern languages are a bit of a handicap: I'll have 3 years of Latin and 2 of ancient Greek, with one year of German. Anyway, assuming fairly strong LoRs and a writing sample in line with those statistics, what are my chances of getting into PhD programs in any of the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Northwestern...? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Umar

[CultureOfIdeas]

Hi,

I'm going to be applying to grad schools in the '13 season and was hoping my chances might be evaluated. I took the GREs today and got 720V/710Q. My cumulative GPA is 3.94 (qualifying for summa cum laude), and my anthro major GPA is about 3.93 (4.0 just counting upper division courses). There are still four or five more anthro courses I'm going to take before I graduate, so my GPA could shift, but I'm expecting it to stay fairly even. Modern languages are a bit of a handicap: I'll have 3 years of Latin and 2 of ancient Greek, with one year of German. Anyway, assuming fairly strong LoRs and a writing sample in line with those statistics, what are my chances of getting into PhD programs in any of the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Northwestern...? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Umar

Your numbers aren't what is interesting. My question would be why those particular programs? What do you want to do? Why the "Ivy Leagues"? Some of those programs are quite good. Some are pretty unexciting. And they are all very different. Certainly Stanford, Berkeley and NYU are all fantastic programs. But they too are very varied. I'd focus some time on narrowing what your strengths/interests are vs. the strengths/interests of various departments. There are some top programs not on your list, many of which have a lot of crossover with one or more programs you did list - Irvine, MIT, Hopkins, Chicago to name a few.

[Rendar]

I'd very much agree with the above statement.

Your GPA and GRE will be fine for any program, so don't worry about that. You're languages look very strong as well.

What things will come down to is the "why" and "what" of your applications. Where do you want to study? Is it necessarily a good fit for you? Are there people to supervise you (and more important - do they have space for more students that year?)? Just because a program is well regarded does not mean that it will be the best thing for you. In the end one of the biggest factors is that you find a place where you are capable to work towards what you want and do the best you can.

At the same time various programs will be looking for people whom they think are a good fit for their individual expertise and kind of program.

[m41]

Hi,

I'm going to be applying to grad schools in the '13 season and was hoping my chances might be evaluated. I took the GREs today and got 720V/710Q. My cumulative GPA is 3.94 (qualifying for summa cum laude), and my anthro major GPA is about 3.93 (4.0 just counting upper division courses). There are still four or five more anthro courses I'm going to take before I graduate, so my GPA could shift, but I'm expecting it to stay fairly even. Modern languages are a bit of a handicap: I'll have 3 years of Latin and 2 of ancient Greek, with one year of German. Anyway, assuming fairly strong LoRs and a writing sample in line with those statistics, what are my chances of getting into PhD programs in any of the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Northwestern...? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Umar

Hi Umar: I'm at an Ivy Anthro program and the most important thing at my school is the statement of purpose.

I agree with above comments. It is all about fit. Don't waste your money/time/emotions applying to schools that don't fit your project. If you do, you will be rejected - if you are lucky.

But yeah: pretty good stats, if that's what you were looking for.

Good luck.