Advice for future anthropology applicates

[anthropologygeek]

I could not find my old one so I decided to start a new one. This is just what worked for me plus what I wished I would of known when I applied:

1. Do your homework on where you should apply. Only you can judge if you fit into a program. I recommend going to the results page, sort alphabetically, and going to every school website and seeing what each prof does there. And then look at any other school you can think of.

2. Once your list is done, you should know what each school requires, or recommends which is the same,on the gre and study to obtain that. For masters almost all require 1000 and above and phd they almost all require 1100 and above. There are exceptions, some require lower and a lot of schools require even higher. These scores should be a minimum to you to strive for. Every school I looked at had this info online, some where just a lot easier to find than others.

3. You can make contact through email if you like. I have been accepted to programs I never even emailed and rejected from programs I visited and vice versa so it's up to how you feel. There is no right answer. However, I do recommend you visit your top 3-5 schools. My top choice when applying to phd programs got eliminated and I didn't even apply to it afte I visited. Just think if I never visited and got accepted and went there. I would of been miserable. Not all schools are the same and you won't be happy at everyone.

4. Recommendations should come from your field for phd. Most anthropology profs have no idea of profs from different fields. Plus if your applying to phd programs you should have no problem getting three awesome recommendations from anthropology profs. Master hopefulls might be different. I know I got into 3 of the 5 programs I applied to with only 2 anthropology profs and 1 prof from a different department. Also, if any prof has any hesitation doing it move on, it won't be a great one and your chances of being successful in the bid goes down. In today's market all three should be great ones. Most profs won't come out and say no but they will say, well I'm busy I don't know if I have time or maybe you might want someone who knows you better. If you get a response like that move on to a new one.

5. Personal statement should be awesome. This is one of the few things in the app you can control. You will become OCD about it because you have the control of it. This can make or break you. I know profs who will accept or reject people solely on this. Try to not have spelling or grammar errors. Have non anthropology friends read it for you. Have profs read it for you. But remember take the profs advice with a grain of salt. What works for one doesn't work for others. But they will correct any grammar mistakes for you. But then again I know profs who put little weight on this. Like I said every prof is different.

6. GPA should be above three for all programs and above 3.5 for most. But this is already done for you.

7. Transcripts are costly at some schools cheap at others. If only I knew I should of factored this in where I went. My undergrad required 50 dollars per transcript while my masters school is free. You should send them out way ahead of time, then a month before the deadline call or email the grad secretary and MAKE sure they have it. I had to resend one last minute because the school claimed they never got it.

8. I always made sure my apps where in way ahead of time. Doing this allows you to check with the school and make sure they have everything. I never wanted to et rejoiced or never hear from a school due to some clerical error or something being missing.

9. Have fun. Your signing up to have no life for the next fiveish years. You control where you apply. Right now you have some control. You won't have control again until the spring. Enjoy it.

10. Once the app is in and you checked they have everything try to forget about it. Try not to stress about it. Now I know this is impossible and everyone will stress about decisions and I am so glad I done applying to programs for the rest of my life. Man it is stressful.

11. Decisions time is even more stressful. What if I chose wrong? Your have these doubts forever I think. I know I still wonder wht if I accepted a different offer. If possible I wouldn't make it about money. Now if your 100k in debt it might be different but I find you can find funding within 6 months and any school. It might be more effort than being handed funding, it does excist. And sometimes you get better funding opportunities than the people just handed it. Also, funding has nothing to do with how much an adviser wants you and everything to do with the politics in the department, I know departments who will never fund certain profs students. So to say if you don't get funding right away the prof really didn't want you is not correct. Plus how much is funding worth in the grand scheme of things. If it meant you made 40k less a year in your career was the 100k worth it when it really cost you 300k in a ten year Span.

Good luck everyone an I hope everyone reading this gets accepted by the program you want.

[Britt32011]

Thanks for the advice... All of it is very helpful!

[Alterman]

Thanks!