Archaeology Applicants: The Waiting Game - Fall 2013 - Share your progress!

[Armadilla]

Ladies and gentlemen, I am cognizant of the fact that a lot of archaeology programs are located withing anthropology departments and ad coms vote collectively on all applicants, regardless of their concentration. However, there are some programs where Archaeology ad coms are separate and yet they form a part of their anthropology department. So I wanted to dedicate this topic to all of us, people who love cold beer while excavating the precious cultural evidence of ancient complex societies  who are applying to an archaeology program regardless of what department their program belongs to. Let  us know how you are doing, how is the application process going, and whether or not you have booked your April flight to Honolulu.

[AnthroPerson]

Hellooooooo. Still waiting on all six programs. Nothing to update. Obviously from my username, I do Andean archaeology (didn't want to use my usual username and wasn't feeling creative. Lame I know). You?

[Armadilla]

same here!Andean archaeology, the Incas!

[Armadilla]

I am so happy to find a fellow Andeanist here!Are you going to the Midwest meeting in Chicago?

[AnthroPerson]

No, I'm working full time right now and can't get away. Can't go to Honolulu either, tragically. I wonder if its just us on here? I haven't seen any other archaeology applicants floating around in the past few weeks.

Swapping this over to pm now so I don't spam those who actually care about archaeology appslications.

Edited January 27, 2013 by mochicologa

[powertorest]

Hey I'm an archaeology applicant!  Still waiting on my programs aswell.  From the results search it seems I should have some answers by mid-late Febuary.  The wait is killing me..

[Armadilla]

powertorest, what is your geographic area of interest?

[powertorest]

Well as an undergrad most of the faculty in the department did their work in East Africa, and the field school I attended was also based there (Kenya) so that's my primary area of interest.  However, two of the programs/POIs I applied to are North America/Great Plains focused.  Personally I think Africa is more interesting but I wouldn’t mind switching things up and getting some experience on this side of the globe.

[ciistai]

Most of my apps are for archaeology, although I've been hiding out on the Classics board til now. Hi everyone! Good luck to you all!

[powertorest]

Good luck to you too.  How is it over there on the classics board?

[ciistai]

Quiet... tense... seems like everyone's still waiting with bated breath for responses. I know the IPCAA (UMich) committee met today and they're one of my top choices so I had a very nervous, unsettled afternoon. Otherwise not much to report. A few schools seem to have sent out their Classics/ Classical Arch responses but not THAT many, maybe 4 or 5.

Edited January 29, 2013 by ciistai

[powertorest]

Yeah I think we’re all a little tense.  It seems like the Anthro and Arch decisions are starting to roll on in though.

[pears]

hi friends! long time lurker, first time poster. i'm officially driving myself completely nuts, so i finally caved & decided to post. 

 

i applied to 7 different terminal MA programs (can't decide if i like bones or stuff better, or whether i want to throw a law degree in there, too). i'm mostly interested in contact period stuff of western north america (pacific nw, norcal, great basin). all things repatriation = my jam. belize is sweet, too.

 

still waiting on all of them, but like powertorest said, seems like decisions are starting to creep in. all of my apps were in by the first week of january, so maybe i'll start hearing soon..?

 

in the meantime, what's everyone else's field of interest, & where did everyone else apply?

[ciistai]

Hi pears!

 

I'm just a boring old classical archaeology buff - mostly pre-Roman Italy. My main interests are urban/ settlement archaeology and ethnic identity although I have a growing interest in cultural heritage preservation on the side. I've applied to Alberta, UBC, UMich (IPCAA), UT Austin, Oxford, Cardiff, and King's College London. I've also applied to St. Andrews, but to their Ancient History program. I haven't had any news back yet!

[powertorest]

Hey pears!

 

I ended up on the forums the same way.  Lurked the shit out of the results search when I first found the site and eventually caved in and made a profile.  Really cool to meet archaeology students with different backgrounds/interests.  I’m mostly interested in geoarchaeology of East African human origin sites but like I said in another post I could (and certainly would not mind) end up doing Great Plains stuff.  As for where I applied : Washington University in St. Louis, University of Kansas, UCONN, and Boise State.  Still waiting on all 4 haha.

[pears]

ah, what a lovely email to wake up to! "The University at Albany has made a decision on your graduate application" as a subject line gave me a minor heart attack, despite leering at it through one very sleepy eyeball, which very quickly turned into one less sleepy eyeball with a tear of joy in it. my assigned adviser is one of my nerd idols, so i'm beyond happy!

 

ciistai- leave it to an archaeologist to call classical archaeo "boring," hah! a lot of my undergrad coursework centered around classical, just because of the nature of our department, so i've got a soft spot for it. i wish i'd learned more about exactly what you're studying, actually- somehow we spent weeks on augustus, but just a few lectures on pre-romans.

 

powertorest- more stuff i wish i'd learned more about! & holy whoa, kenya. super envious. i wish my field school had been somewhere that cool!

 

best of luck to all! given the results postings, i think everyone should start hearing back soon. fingers crossed.

[ciistai]

ciistai- leave it to an archaeologist to call classical archaeo "boring," hah! a lot of my undergrad coursework centered around classical, just because of the nature of our department, so i've got a soft spot for it. i wish i'd learned more about exactly what you're studying, actually- somehow we spent weeks on augustus, but just a few lectures on pre-romans.

 

Well, I quite love what I do, but I've only recognized over the last few years how much wider the world of archaeology is! Of course when I was a kid, all I thought about when it came to archaeology were the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Everyone else seems to be working in such interesting fields that I feel mine has just become a bit typical! Nevertheless, someone has to do it! We've spent no time at all on pre-Romans in any of my classes during undergrad... maybe ten minutes at the most, and that was focused on the Samnites. Frustrating! Not sure how I recall how I ever came to this interest myself!

[powertorest]

Congrats pears! What a great way to start the day, with hopefully more good news to come.  So where was your field school to?

[ciistai]

I've got an interview with IPCAA at UMichigan!

[pears]

Congrats pears! What a great way to start the day, with hopefully more good news to come.  So where was your field school to?

 

thank you so much! i did the same short field school twice- maritime/historic stuff off the coast of NH/ME. i followed up the second one with an internship in the same place that helped me pay for it. simply put, i never had the money to afford a longer field school or one outside of the states, so i did the short one twice, and tried to compensate with internships. that's part of why i decided to give myself a year as a buffer zone- i felt like i needed to make up for lost time and opportunities with experience. plus, who doesn't like an excuse to travel to beautiful places and meet new people when they're 22?

 

I've got an interview with IPCAA at UMichigan!

 

that's awesome, congrats! one of my favorite undergrad professors (totally brilliant and snarky guy) did his grad work there and loved it. sounds like a fantastic program. best of luck! 

[powertorest]

Congrats ciistai!  Hope it goes well for you.

 

And pears that sounds really cool imo, I bet the NE US is a beautiful place to dig.  Plus they helped you pay and you got the internship, total win/win.  But yeah I'm also 22 and agree, nothing better than traveling and meeting new faces.  Glad to see good news in this thread.

[Lisamc21]

Good luck to all (and congrats for successes so far!). My app deadlines just passed within the last couple of weeks, so let the wait begin. I'm interested in applied archaeology, public archaeology and the Northwest Coast as a region. Especially the Olympic Peninsula My fieldwork background is in the classics. I did a bioarch did in S. Italy. So fun!

[ciistai]

Not sure anyone on this thread applied there but my friend got accepted for maritime arch at Uni Southampton yesterday. Shocking; he only submitted his application last week!

[pears]

 I'm interested in applied archaeology, public archaeology and the Northwest Coast as a region. Especially the Olympic Peninsula My fieldwork background is in the classics. I did a bioarch did in S. Italy. So fun!

 

heck yes for public archaeo, the nw, and bioarchaeo! sounds like we've got a few things in common  and i'm oh-so-envious of that last bit- despite my abiding interest in all things bones, i've never actually had any hands-on experience in bioarch. i shadowed for an ME's office when i was considering a post-bac for forensic patho, but man, what i wouldn't do to be dusting away at some old bones in a crawlspace..

 

ciistai, congrats to your friend! good news is good news, even if it's from outsiders (aka people who have enough sense not to drive themselves even more nuts by lurking around here all day). 

 

on a similar note, if anyone else is waiting on news from chico, my POI said they "will be reviewing applications very shortly," so i suspect their decisions will be out in 1-2 weeks.

[Armadilla]

pears, you are applying to my alma mater, good luck!They have a really good forensic anthro program!