"safety" schools

[sabrinamichelle]

I am applying for f12 and am pretty new to this whole process. I am taking the GRE next month so I don't have that score to share... but practice tests I am scoring around 1300. 3.8 GPA... 3.9 in the Anthropology major. I was in one field school, presented my thesis at an undergrad conference and will have good recs from close professors... but no publications or RA ships or anything. My focus is medical anthropology, my thesis was on cultural ideas of disease and misinformation about diabetes in the Garifuna people in Roatan Island, Honduras. I am looking to enter somewhere that has a good focus on nutritional and medical anthropology, and funding is very important to me, as I already accumulated a lot of debt from my undergrad.

It's obvious which top-tier schools I should/want to apply to, but I was wondering if anyone has suggestions about some safer, less "big name" schools to which I can apply. Going to an Ivy is not essential to me. I am willing to go to any school that is a good fit and has good funding but I am having trouble knowing which schools would be more realistic for me to be accepted to.

Thanks for the input!

[anthropologygeek]

There is no safe schools in anthropology. Every school is competitive. You need to apply to schools who have profs that have the same interest as you since fit is the most important issue.

[a154c]

Anthropologygeek is exactly right...

[rising_star]

Do you want to consider doing research in Honduras? If so, you'll probably want to look for programs that are strong in both medical anthropology AND Latin American studies...

[noodles.galaznik]

Your stats seem to be pretty strong, but I'm going to have to echo the posts above. There are no safety schools in grad school--there are more applicants, programs are more competitive, and even some of the very best applicants get rejected.

[sabrinamichelle]

thanks all. i know that all programs are competitive. but i guess i need to find a way to find some obscure schools and see if my interests match. just because they are all competitive doesn't mean they will all only accept 4 new students out of 600 applicants

[CallieTrichid]

The best way to do this is to find professors whose interests match yours. If you can establish a good rapport, then you can get someone who might be willing to vouch for you come other times. Are there certain people doing certain things you're interested in? Does your advisor have any suggestions?

That said: I'd get cozy with your school's library (specifically, Google Scholar, etc.) and start looking up articles that pique your interest. From there, explore what schools they're at, what the schools are like, etc.

[vmassie]

I completely agree with what everyone has said. You can maybe have a personal back-up list (i.e. you can rank the programs you apply to based on professors you would most like to work with, resources, geographic location, etc.). But there is no general "safety" school, which is a major difference in the approach to graduate admissions in comparison to undergraduate admissions. And in all honesty, my "safety" school was the program that actually rejected me.

[mon_pip]

The insights that all of you were indeed very helpful. I hope I could get some advice from you guys as well. Presently, I am working on my M.A. thesis in Anthropology; I am from the Philippines, by the way, and after completing this, I am hoping that I could find scholarships abroad to pursue further studies. I intend to get a PhD in anthropology and also an MPH and my research interests include ethnomedicine, public health and infectious diseases. Regarding these, most especially about anthropology in relation to communicable diseases, are there any schools that you can recommend? I've read about Brown University, and the comments were positive. Emory on the other hand has a good program but the tuition fees are too expensive, I have to take such things into consideration given my financial situation, and of course, I could not apply for student loans since I am not an American citizen.

Thanks and I hope I could here from you.

Paul

[spunkrag]

thanks all. i know that all programs are competitive. but i guess i need to find a way to find some obscure schools and see if my interests match. just because they are all competitive doesn't mean they will all only accept 4 new students out of 600 applicants

who voted this post down? seriously?

[anthropologygeek]

Spunk- there isn't a school like that. They all get ap locates and they are all competitive. When I was applying for my masters I thought hey I'll apply to this one school to ensure I get in. Little did I know that school accepted one student at least said that in my rejection letter. Luckily I got into other schools and now I'm in a phd program. I did not vote down that post but maybe this was their reason to?

[Cici Beanz]

For folks who are looking for applied medical anth and/or public health, the University of South Florida and U of Pittsburgh both have combined programs that look pretty good.