Notifications, anyone?

[wangbo]

University Of Wisconsin - Madison Anthropology (cultural), PhD Accepted via E-mail on 17 Mar 2009 I 17 Mar 2009 with TAship for four years

University Of Alberta Anthropology (cultural), PhD Accepted via E-mail on 17 Mar 2009 I 17 Mar 2009 fellowship

Chinese University Of Hong Kong Anthropology (cultural), PhD Accepted via E-mail on 17 Mar 2009 I 17 Mar 2009 full studentship. four years

[monkeydentity]

"What's wrong with me?"

the more thin letters we get the more we ask this question. As mine piled up last year I kept asking it and asking it. After they all came back with bad news I spent a long time, money, and effort to improve in every area that I thought might be my weakness. I spent more time narrowing my prospects until I realized that there was only one program for me. I knew it was risky to only apply to one program, especially given that so often the decision has little to do with the student. This year I finally got into the program I wanted and the only things that I'm sure made a difference were my communication with the faculty, and the completion and presentation of my MA thesis. My GRE scores, letter of intent, grades and experience all improved but I didn't ever get much feedback from anyone about it. When I contacted the faculty with a (painstakingly written) email and my MA thesis, they expressed interest. Note that I couldn't have even known what was working if not for the communication. A friend of mine told me that he was in regular weekly communication with his prospective advisor via email right up to the time that he met him in person after being accepted. Not all profs have the time, or interest to chat that much, but if you're worth their time you may benefit from telling them why. I'm no expert at all of this just because I finally got in. I will say, however, that I think communication was a hugely influential factor in my case.

[yello there]

It's good to have friends and being completely rejected the first time round; it oftentimes is one of the best motivating experiences....straight from the horse's mouth. Devils and human evolution here I come!

[medianerd]

I just hope the whole business is settled by this time next week. I need to plan my move and would like to know where I'm moving!

I do wish people who had already firmly decided where they're going would withdraw their apps from places that haven't sent out notice yet. Argh. I know a few such cases of people who have accepted an offer but are leaving themselves in other pools "just out of curiosity". Sigh.

[monkeydentity]

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.

I believe AR only takes students who already have their Master's into their PhD program...sorry for the late response...been digging through the forum and found this :wink:

[yello there]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing...their MA and PhD are separate.

[poetaguerrera]

All the programs I applied to are PhDs in anthro except stony brook. I applied with a BA from Barnard College in Anthro, 3.3 GPA, and a 970 on my GRE. I am terrible at standardized testing. oy..here's my stats thus far. I'm still trying to figure out where to go. I am awaiting notifications from Ford and NSF to see if I received any scholarships.

Accepted:

CUNY, Grad Center - no funding

SUNY, Buffalo - waiting on funding

SUNY, Binghamton - Clark Fellowship w/ stipend

Syracuse University - McNair Fellowship w/ stipend for 3 years

SUNY, Stony Brook (history Phd) - Turner Fellowship w/ stipend and health insurance

Wait-listed:

Rutgers, New Brunswick

Rejected:

University of Pennsylvania

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Brown University

New York University

Washington University in St. Louis

Columbia University

Still no response:

Temple University

Arizona State University

[poetaguerrera]

Guys, I need a hug. 2 rejects in one day. The real bummer is that all my phd programs are rejects, so that means I have to go through this crap again in a few years. Now I get to go to work at a job I despise. Yay.

that's been my life for the past 2 yrs...going from job to job that i hate =/

[poetaguerrera]

Hey, that was me. I didn't get an official letter yet. I'm being pressured by one of the schools I was accepted into to decide within the next week! They told me to just start e-mailing or calling all the places I haven't heard from yet. So, that's what I did, and Wash U was quick to reply that I was rejected. My subfield within bioanth is paleoanth. They know who's rejected, so I don't know why they aren't notifying us. So I guess my advice is just call or e-mail them to see what's up with your application status. Good luck!

they cannot pressure you. the national deadline is april 15. that program could get into trouble for trying to force you to accept.

[poetaguerrera]

Congratulations!

So, we know that Oregon is sending notifications and, judging from the "Results" page so are Berkeley, UCSB, and Arkansas. Anyone else?

On a personal note, I was super-calm for most of the past two weeks and have officially started freaking out/decided to flee the country if nothing pans out. I'm assuming some of you can maybe relate

As always, good luck to everyone!

lmao..fleeing the country has definite been my plan B. haha

[poetaguerrera]

Isn't that absolutely wonderful about our field?

yes it's so true. all anthro ppl are certainly weirdos. lol myself included of course.

[poetaguerrera]

Here's hoping that too, Tonights.

Oddly enough although I have seen big jewelry on anthropologists from other schools, it wasn't the trend at mine. UNC-CH cultural anth professors all specialize in horridly patterned shirts. Plaid, hawaiian, you name it, and the brighter the better!

lmao...i love this..and i think all the big jewelry tends to be tribal/native items collected during fieldwork..i have a few pieces but i hate wearing jewelry..and lets not forget the women wearing french braids. haha

[monkeydentity]

hm...i see you ARE cultural after all. I figured as much by your handle. I know some latin americanists that came to mind when i read it.

[poetaguerrera]

hm...i see you ARE cultural after all. I figured as much by your handle. I know some latin americanists that came to mind when i read it.

i'm a performance poet as well. that's my stage name. haha

i used to want to do bio-anthro...but i missed the boat...didnt take enouggh bio classes and in order to do it, i was going to have to do a post-bac in bio/sciences...i thought maybe my destiny was to go ahead and pursue cultural anthro since it obviously came so naturally to me..

[bridgeport]

I just got back from AAS Annual Meeting. Two Anthropologists told me that this may be the most difficult year to get accepted by most Anthropology dept's with all the budget cut and increasing applicants. Personally, I got 6 rejections respectively from Univ of Chicago, Univ of IL at Chicago, Northwest, UC Berkeley, UCSD. And got my only admission from Univ of Hawaii, Manoa with poor funding, even I have had 1 BA+2 MAs (GPA 4.0/3.8, GRE 1450), 12 Conference papers, 3 book chapters and years fieldwork experiences from 6 Asian countries. They consoled me that I might get better results if I apply last year or couple years later. Even though I really feel thrilled to do my PhD at UHM since it 200%ly matches my research interests, all those rejections almost destroy my self-confidence and .....sigh....almost turn me into an insurance agent..... Anyway, wish everyone good luck~~