grad school reject seeks advice

[Coyolxauhqui]

Hey Everybody,

I would like to improve my chances for getting into a top-ranked doctoral program in bioarchaeology and I am not sure what I can still do about it this application season. In spring I received the disappointing news that I was not accepted into any of the PhD programs I applied to, just one M.A. program. The idea of doing the M.A. and acquiring a massive amount of debt and still not being certain of getting into great PhD program is just not something I can swallow at the moment. I have deferred this admission until fall 2012. Anyway, I was devastated because I thought I had a decent shot with two field schools, a 4.00 in both majors, a 3.97 overall, a GRE score close to 1300, a handful of academic awards, and membership in several academic honor societies. I realize now that I made many mistakes in the application process (not contacting the professors at the programs I was interest in, not scheduling visits to the campuses, and not spending enough time on my SOP's). I would definitely not make these mistakes when I apply again, but in my defense I was entirely new to the process and didn't realize how important these things were. Aside from these gross errors I also do not have any undergraduate research experience (not available at my former university) or publications, obviously. I do not think it would be worthwhile for me to apply again until I have boosted my GRE score and acquired the requisite research experience. So I think fall 2012 is out. I would like to spend next year taking a course or two as a non-degree student at one of the universities I would like to attend as a grad student and also gain more practical as well as research experience. I have contacted a few professors and museums about internships and research opportunities in the meantime, but either I don't get a response back at all or they tell me to contact them again later in the fall. Some of the internships and field schools that I feel are relevant to me are not yet accepting applications for next year so I am still waiting on them to become available. Currently I am feeling a bit lost and hopeless. Although I have all these plans for next year I am afraid that none of them will work out and I'll just be stuck in a crappy temp job in something completely unrelated to anthropology again. Any advice that you all may have is greatly appreciated. Sorry in advance for any mistakes in grammar, spelling, coherency, etc. that I have made.

P.S. Nearly all the CRM firms in my state are several hours away from where I currently live and the only one that was even close enough to consider had nothing available when I contacted them.

[anthropologygeek]

You sound like an applicant who both gets rejected year after year and one that gets accepted even multiple acceptances. How was your fit within the program? Maybe the profs you applied for weren't even taking students and/or retiring. That's why contacting is a must. Also, when I was applying I got into places that I visited and ones I didn't visit so I am not sure it helps but I doubt it hurts to visit. You have a good chance if you pick the right profs and right schools. I hope you get in your dream school with unheard of funding.

[noodles.galaznik]

You sound like an applicant who both gets rejected year after year and one that gets accepted even multiple acceptances. How was your fit within the program? Maybe the profs you applied for weren't even taking students and/or retiring. That's why contacting is a must. Also, when I was applying I got into places that I visited and ones I didn't visit so I am not sure it helps but I doubt it hurts to visit. You have a good chance if you pick the right profs and right schools. I hope you get in your dream school with unheard of funding.

Yes. This. I don't even know how many times I heard from professors and grad students that when applying you need to make sure you pick the right schools and right professors, and contact them beforehand to make sure they're taking students. My advisor told me that every year they have a ton of really awesome, exceptionally qualified applicants that are obviously excellent students, BUT they're either applying to work with folks who aren't taking students, or they just aren't a good match with the program. If those are reasons you got rejected, those are easy, easy things to fix!

But if you really, really want to know the reasons you weren't accepted, contact those professors you wanted to work with at those schools. They might get back to you, they might not. If they do, you might get a standard "we had more qualified applicants than available spots", or you might get a real critique. Can't hurt to ask.

Good luck improving your applications!

[runonsentence]

Definitely try contacting programs and asking for feedback on your rejected applications. You may not hear back from all of them, but many (even most?) programs are really happy to offer you advice and let you know what portions of your application hurt you in the admissions process.

And I agree with the above posters that it was most likely a demonstration of fit that hurt you, since you have an excellent background from undergrad. Do a bit more research/reaching out this time, and make sure your SoP demonstrates how you see yourself fitting into the departments you are applying to.

Good luck, and keep your chin up!

[Coyolxauhqui]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I did contact the programs that rejected me. My dream school POI unfortunately could only take one student and so he picked an applicant that had been one of his undergrads. He advised (along with the POI at my other dream school) that I needed to gain research experience and maybe try to get something published before I would make the ideal pick. Another school would have accepted me if I would have agreed to attend without funding (it was an M.A. program that only provided students with funding in their third year - which is crazy to me because aren't most M.A. programs supposed to be two years?). Anyway, the next school gave me the "many qualified applicants" line. At another of the programs that I applied to the professor actually left the department. So, before setting myself up for heartbreak by applying again this fall without having remedied my deficiencies I think I will wait until next fall to have another go around. By then hopefully one of my prospective internship/fieldwork/research opportunities will have panned out and I will feel more confident about applying to doctoral programs again. The whole process is so daunting to me now. I have really been knocked off of my pedestal. Well, I would really like to end by saying "thank you" again to everyone for their advice/comments.

Best wishes,

Coyolxauhqui

[m41]

I mean, it really is all about fit. So let me echo the above comments.

At a certain point, grades, GRE, etc, don't matter that much, if at all. At my school, they get down to the final cut and then it is a matter of how many professors would be willing to work with you. If there's no one to support your project, then what is the point - for you, that is, and the department?

My advice is to focus on the SOP. A Ph.D. is a professional research degree and your statement of research interests is the most important component of the application. Once that is complete, then you can really network with potential advisors.

Why not post a version of your SOP for critique? I don't know if many people do so on this forum (I think there was a livejournal group once upon a time). I'm sure there would be plenty of people happy to give you feedback.

[runonsentence]

Why not post a version of your SOP for critique? I don't know if many people do so on this forum (I think there was a livejournal group once upon a time). I'm sure there would be plenty of people happy to give you feedback.

Indeed, many of us would be happy to give your SoP a once-over. If you want to (when you have a draft in place), many post requests in the SoP sub-forum in the applications forum. (I'd avoid posting the actual draft, if I were you, and just post a request.)

[a154c]

To begin with, you should realize that there's a decent chance this was just bad luck (i.e., wrong schools, wrong time) but I get the impression you already know that. Times are hard for getting into grad school. However, SOPs can always be improved.

How broadly and how "prestigious" did you apply?

You are probably making a mistake only talking to close to home CRM firms. Bigger companies (i.e., Berger, some of the TRC offices, etc.) often run large hotel-based projects, as do smaller companies occasionally. The way to land a CRM job is to apply aggressively to jobs posted on shovel bums and archaeologyfieldwork.com AND to cold Email companies who can put your C.V. on file. It's my belief that entering a PhD program in any sort of archaeology without having first worked some CRM is a bad idea. First, you are likely to end up working CRM, like it or not. Second, if you end up being an academic, at least in the U.S. or Canada, you are going to be dealing with data generated by CRM, so you should have some cursory concept of how that data is generated. Some companies offer internships, I believe, but I don't know much about these programs (I would certainly consider them in your position).

Any chance of TAing at one of the fieldschools you did previously? This is a great way to get more research experience (and perhaps land a small pet project). How about volunteering in the lab?

Finally, it's good to apply to the granting programs (NSF, Javits, etc).

I wouldn't rule out applying this year, but I would try desperately to get more experience.

[anthropologygeek]

From my experience when looking for crm jobs your almost always start off be a shovel bum even with a masters these days. The difference is you will advance vs just a ba you won't advance

[samjones]

i just want to echo the encouragement to apply to schools that you fit with in terms of your research ideas, methods and theories. it's important that the program sees that they will be able to help you while you are in their program. if your research interests and approach, as expressed in your sop, would have little support in the program, there will be no place for you there and you will be rejected. again, you have to express what your theoretical approach/alignment is and what your research interests are in your sop and apply to schools that match/would support both. also, you should look into the centers and institutes that are at the schools that your a match with and talk about how you utilize the work being done in those offices during your time there.

applying to school is like applying to jobs- you want to like where you go and you want them to know that you'll make sense there (in terms of your compatibility with the school, program and professors that might be willing to work with you).