What to do?!

[RaggedyAnnDroid]

Hi, I'm new here and I've been lurking on the forums to try and scope out some advice for grad school, but it's been difficult. My situation is a little frustrating- basically, I'm about to graduate with a BA in anthropology (very interested in archaeology), and I definitely want to go to grad school but am having trouble deciding on a degree program/school, and I am allowing myself to be somewhat limited geographically to places that my long term boyfriend is comfortable moving to. Right now, my options seem to be Portland, which has virtually nothing for me, Seattle, and New York (expensive!). I am interested in museums and research, and am considering a museum studies MA from either University of Washington or NYU, but am unsure if it's really worth the time and money. I was thinking about trying to find a PhD program for archaeology/anthropology, but it's proving very difficult to find anyone interested in the same geographical region/time (Prehistoric Ireland/British Isles). I don't think that the length of a program would really be a problem- I enjoy school and feel like my brain is rotting when I'm not attending. In addition, I need to decide before September because our lease is up and we will need to move to whichever city has the school that I would prefer to attend.

 

Basically, I've been unable thus far to clearly visualize exactly what I want to do, aside from research and possibly collections management, and was wondering if anybody had any sort of helpful words to contribute regarding all of this?

 

P.S. I'm so sorry for the long post, it's just so stressful (as I'm sure you can all relate).

 

Thanks in advance!

[anthropologygeek]

No matter what area you focus on, schools that are best for that area will be spread out. And choose a place you don't want to end up at for a job since most schools, inbreeding, won't hire their own graduates. Being restrictive is that something you want to do because no school should be eliminated by location since it is very tough to get accepted to a program

[daydreamer254]

I'm going to be straightforward and tell you that I'm seeing a lot of red flags in your post pertaining to grad school: the first is that you're looking to move to a place where your boyfriend is going to be comfortable...while it's nice of you to think about your partner, ultimately you need to find a location that suits YOU. You're the one who has to go to school in the area, not him. Second, you don't really have a clear idea of what you want go into, and that's a problem in being able to narrow down choices. If you don't know what you want to do career wise, then grad school isn't for you right now. What do you want to do for a career? Do you really need that PhD? Would an MA be sufficient? If you can answer these questions, then you can start searching for programs. In terms of length, keep in mind that MA programs are two years and PhD programs can be five years or more. And that grad school is a totally different ballgame from undergrad.

 

And you're gonna want to apply to more than one school, as there are very few applicants who get into their one and only choice. I only know two people who were accepted into the only grad program they applied to. Apply to at least three.

 

Good luck and yes, it's stressful, but doable.

[RaggedyAnnDroid]

Hi, thanks for the responses.

 

I know it's bad to try and cater to what my boyfriend needs to do, but we've been together 6 years, and neither one of us is comfortable with long distance. As far as knowing what I want to do, I'm not sure how to figure out what sort of careers are out there- no one ever really explained that in a decent way during my undergrad. This summer, I may be volunteering at the Field Museum, so that would give some insight into museum operations.  Again, I am interested in research and collections management/curatorial, but not so much CRM or teaching. I do want to go to grad school, partly because the options that are available with a BA do not interest me too much. I've been leaning towards not going for a PhD (yet), but there are so few anthropology MA programs out there. As far as museum studies, I am definitely interested, but have seen several posts, etc. about how limiting it is and how easy it is to end up unemployed. Another problem is money- my number one program choices are in the UK and Ireland, but I have so little money and virtually no ability to move out there/pay for an international grad program.

[anthropologygeek]

There's alot of terminal masters program. What area are you interested in? What time period of that area? What type of things do you want to study? Also, in this field your career must take the priority. You most likely won't get to choose where the job is especially in academia. You must move wherever the job is. You should talk with your bf and figure out who's career has the priority and if its his, grad school may not be for you

[RaggedyAnnDroid]

I will try to see if we can compromise more...I think we can figure something out if I can do a better job of explaining than I already have. In terms of area, I am interested in the British Isles/Europe around the Bronze and Iron Ages. I am interested in ceramics, especially examining their decline (and eventual disappearance) in Ireland starting in the late Bronze Age (figuring out if this was due to changes in the contemporary society, or if that was around the time that mainland Celts made their way in and it was a result of that, etc.). I am also interested in both mortuary and domestic ceramics and what they might be able to tell us about day to day life and beliefs/economic processes.  However, I do have a variety of interests and would be happy to work on similar things in other regions. It's been pretty difficult to pinpoint a region/time.

[AKJen]

Re: museum studies

 

My understanding is that a museum studies degree is somewhat like a degree in library sciences; it's a practical degree for people that want to be in the business of working in museum collections, conservation labs, administration, etc.  If you're interested in collections management, it could be for you.  If that's really what interests you, you should also look at what degrees the people who have your dream jobs have.  Our anthro program is in a museum and most of the curatorial staff seems to have research degrees while the more hands on people have a variety of experience/degrees.

 

I think volunteering at the Field Museum is a great idea. There's also a few museum related REU and other NSF sponsored programs for museum anthropology and other types of research, if you have time.  I did the Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History and it was fabulous.

[archaeo09]

Hi!

 

You might want to look at UChicago and NYU for Western Euro prehistory, SUNY Buffalo (I think funding might be a bit shifty there) or Ole Miss (MA only program, but with some money). Hope this helps! There aren't very many places--but there out there. I also know there's someone at UVA doing an medieval Ireland project.

[sweetpearl16]

The problem with UVA is that they primarily have a combined MA/PhD program. They don't tend to admit students who just want an MA. I would try to think about articles you have read and liked about the archaeology of Prehistoric Ireland/British Isles. Who wrote them? Where do they teach? Do these departments have terminal MA programs? Also think about the research questions you are interested in. Are there people who study similar questions but in a different time or location? 

[mp429]

It sounds like you could use a gap year to get some clarity about your interests and career path. My gap years were the most formative for me, as well as those were the years I gained valuable work/volunteer/intern experiences that ultimately helped me figure out what I wanted (if a grad program at all) as well as gave me a more competitive edge once I decided I did want to back to school. I know you're scared about graduating and 'what comes next,' and grad school feels like the right thing right now because it gives you a plan, but sometimes you need to take a break to figure it out & then go back into it even stronger.

[Lexicon]

If you're considering Portland you might want to consider the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR. It's only ~2 hours from Portland and as I understand they have a museum studies type MA.

[RaggedyAnnDroid]

I am doing a gap year- despite what my info says, this is for Fall 2014, and I graduate this June, and I know how valuable it can be (I waited 3 years between high school and undergrad). My bigger problem was that my boyfriend was hoping to move to another city when our lease is up (September), and then I'd apply to whatever schools were around there, but I explained to him that something like that can't really be done. He was very disappointed, but understanding, so that's not really an issue anymore.

 

As far as articles that I have liked, most of them were written either by Irish researchers, or kind of awhile ago, but that's a good method for finding people.

 

Also, thanks for all of the suggestions for programs- it never really occurred to me that I could work with someone who studies the same things in a different region.

 

Hopefully, I can use this time to save up some money/get some internship or volunteering experience in to help pinpoint a direction. One more question, though: I know with a PhD program, you really need to connect with someone before applying so that you have a good idea of who to work with, etc., but for a program like an MA in museum studies, is that really relevant? The program websites I've seen don't really list faculty in the same way (i.e. so-an-so's research interests are this). How relevant is it for any MA?

 

 

You guys are great- I don't know very many people who have gone to grad school, aside from professors, so your advice is really valuable

Edited April 18, 2013 by RaggedyAnnDroid