Notifications, anyone?

[sunshine6]

Again, if you need any UT Austin info, I'm your girl.

Just checked the ASU website, changed from 'in review' to 'denied'.

KInda saw that one coming, as they are having some severe financial issues. Oh well.

[I_heart_fieldwork]

Congrats Erudite!

[spoonfeeding]

UCSC rejection email today, which I didn't expect. sigh.

Last school is the least likely, so it looks like no skool for me this fall. Did not see that coming...

Applied: 4

Rejected: 3

Waiting: 1

[erudite crudite]

Thanks fieldwork and sunshine, I'm very excited!

Although it's funny how at one school, I applied for a PhD and got accepted for a MA (Arkansas, because they lost part of my application and it wasn't considered in time :evil: ) and at UT I applied for a MA and got accepted for a PhD.

This whole process is so mysterious.

[medianerd]

UCSC rejection email today, which I didn't expect. sigh.

Last school is the least likely, so it looks like no skool for me this fall. Did not see that coming...

Applied: 4

Rejected: 3

Waiting: 1

I've told many people around here this, but this isn't my first time applying.... there's a reason I have two master's degrees. The position you MAY find yourself in, IF it even happens, is an increasingly common outcome of grad school applications. You're not alone. There are simply too few places for the number of people who apply. If you really, really want this, you've gotta keep trying. *e-hug*

[spoonfeeding]

thanks. it's not my first time applying, either- but it is my first time being rejected. Boo.

[anthrograduate]

F&%$ 'em, Medianerd! Grrrrrr...

Btw, does anyone know anything about Johns Hopkins or UT-Austin? Just curious.

I contacted Hopkins anthro and they said they will make decisions by March 10-11th.

[anthrograduate]

Got a rejection letter in the mail yesterday from Harvard... now I'm just waiting on Yale. Then the next stress-fest of decision making will begin...

Were you applying for bio or cultural?

[anthro2009]

I was applying for biological.

[Lizzle]

Thanks for the info on Hopkins!

Anyone else exhausted from another week of waiting? We've GOT to get the responses in the next couple of weeks, one way or another. Except, of course, for those of us on waitlists...but let's not think about that for now

[Tonights]

I was rejected from Rutgers, but that was totally expected, and I'm not upset about it. Six more to go. Really afraid now.

[medianerd]

See this is what I think sucks about the Results Search - it currently says that one person called NYU and was told decisions were presently being made and people would be notified in the next 2 weeks. Then another person posted and said that all accepted and waitlisted students have been notified already.

So which is it? Huh? I stopped reading the RS because of all of the conflicting info and I may have to go back to that.

[anthrograduate]

Thanks for the info on Hopkins!

Anyone else exhausted from another week of waiting? We've GOT to get the responses in the next couple of weeks, one way or another. Except, of course, for those of us on waitlists...but let's not think about that for now

Ps. dont get too upset if you dont get into Hopkins, they told me they received 120 apps. for 4 slots! So chances are minimal for anyone. Did you visit?

[porkchoppie]

See this is what I think sucks about the Results Search - it currently says that one person called NYU and was told decisions were presently being made and people would be notified in the next 2 weeks. Then another person posted and said that all accepted and waitlisted students have been notified already.

So which is it? Huh? I stopped reading the RS because of all of the conflicting info and I may have to go back to that.

I was the one who posted that they were still making decisions and would let us know in a week or two. I emailed the graduate secretary, and that's what her reply said. Maybe the other person spoke directly with one of the committee members? In any case, I was none too pleased to read that they'd already notified the people who have been accepted. :x

[medianerd]

I was the one who posted that they were still making decisions and would let us know in a week or two. I emailed the graduate secretary, and that's what her reply said. Maybe the other person spoke directly with one of the committee members? In any case, I was none too pleased to read that they'd already notified the people who have been accepted. :x

Here's why I don't believe that post- when people really are notified, we see acceptances posted, right? There are none, so I'm thinking that one is incorrect.

[miratrix]

Well, it's possible that none of the accepted students visit this forum. But I don't trust the results page for anything that's not a flat-out acceptance or rejection (for instance, they said Brown had emailed all acceptances by Feb. 23, but that wasn't true).

[PrisonerofEmail]

Spoonfed...you and I are totally in the same boat. I only applied to 4 schools due to the small fortune this whole ordeal has cost. I have been rejected from 3 (UCSC being one of them) and now am waiting to hear back from my final school. I have my B.A. and have not done any fieldwork but I have participated in an internship and field school (which I'm sure is fairly common). So what my GRE scores were not so great...my GPA is pretty awesome and I know that my letter of intent totally rocked. I just get sick when I think of doing this whole thing over again next year.

Does anyone have any advice for a wanna-be PhD applicant? I'm thinking at this point I'm going to go to the Peace Corps. :?:

[miratrix]

Peace Corps is a big time commitment - it's a long application process, 6-9 months I think, and then you actually do it for a little over 2 years. And you will not have the ability to apply to grad school during those years, probably. It's a really amazing thing to do, but only if you really want to do it, not just to waste a little time before reapplying.

I think it's hilarious how the screennames are starting to look: waitingformyletters, prisonerofemail, etc. It didn't occur to me to think of a situation-specific email (but kind of wish I had).

[PrisonerofEmail]

Yeah, I know...27 months. It is something that I have always wanted to do and my desire to join the Peace Corps has kind of sculpted my educational goals (ie; cultural anthropology). Yeah, the application process takes about 9-12 months. A HUGE commitment, but so is working towards a PhD. Plus, it will force me to learn a new language which I have been pretty lax about.

I have been a constant emailer checker since mid-December. This was my first foray into applying for grad school and it hit pretty hard! Although the outcome doesn't look good for me, at least I know what to do next time around!

[medianerd]

Oh my lord... mailman hasn't delivered the mail in 2 days and I'm going crazy. Seems to happen around here a few times each year.

[spoonfeeding]

I think fieldwork experience is huge, as is developing relationships with professors. My suggestions: apply for a Fulbright, consider getting an MA in a related field (specifically one which has a terminal MA, so you're eligible for funding), apply to short-term, no-cost programs like humanityinaction.org or a field school which gives out scholarships. For the PhD, read articles in your subfield obsessively, attend all lectures and conferences with professors whose work you like (if possible, asking intelligent questions, introducing yourself, and talking about your own research goals so they get to know you), stay in touch with your undergrad profs if you were close to any and offer to help assist them with research, try and volunteer for anything related to your field, and work on turning your undergrad thesis/papers into articles and submit to anthro journals. Or start dating the dep't head at your top school.

(But I don't know how much stock I'd put in the advice of someone whose currently making a career out of rejection. Last year, I was golden with MAs and the Fulbright. This year, I can't even get arrested at a university. Grrr.)

[Fritzie]

You know why Sunday is my new favorite day of the week? You KNOW there won't be any mail, no one is at work to send emails or make phone calls... it's the one day a week I can relax because I'm certain I won't get any updates (i.e., rejections). Sunday=bliss. =)

[miratrix]

Wanna get arrested at a university? Track down a friend who's a student, kidnap him as a prank, and have someone who's in on the plan get all moralistic and call the cops. It works, just make sure it's not a place where you want to get a PhD, as the consequence of even a "friendly kidnapping" can be banning from the town for life. (I actually know someone who did this, at a place where I applied, so if I go there he's never visiting me!)

[medianerd]

I think fieldwork experience is huge, as is developing relationships with professors. My suggestions: apply for a Fulbright, consider getting an MA in a related field (specifically one which has a terminal MA, so you're eligible for funding), apply to short-term, no-cost programs like humanityinaction.org or a field school which gives out scholarships. For the PhD, read articles in your subfield obsessively, attend all lectures and conferences with professors whose work you like (if possible, asking intelligent questions, introducing yourself, and talking about your own research goals so they get to know you), stay in touch with your undergrad profs if you were close to any and offer to help assist them with research, try and volunteer for anything related to your field, and work on turning your undergrad thesis/papers into articles and submit to anthro journals. Or start dating the dep't head at your top school.

God, I wish I'd had advice somewhere along in the process. I went into all of my admissions stuff blind without doing any of this. Someday, when I'm on an admissions committee I honestly admit that I think I'll favor people who clearly have potential who didn't know any of this stuff either After all, a grad student position is a mentorship and they can learn this later.

[spoonfeeding]

God, I wish I'd had advice somewhere along in the process.

you and me both, friend. There's a reason the best predictor of college success is whether your parents went to college, and it's not just money-related. I had to do boatloads of research to figure most of this stuff out, and there's still oceans I don't know about it. Undergrad advisors: not so helpful with grad school, ime.