Going from Masters to PhD

[canklean]

It's been a bad day. I am in an anthro masters program hoping to apply to a PhD program in geography. I've completed six 3 credit courses so far: four A's, and two B+. I understand in grad school B+ are certainly nothing to brag about to say the least, and I'm worried it will ruin my chances for doctoral programs. I'm taking a full load next semester and if I do fine then, my GPA should be around a 3.7-3.8.

 

I've been getting pretty mixed messages from people. Some say don't worry, it's more important to make connections with POI in the programs you are interested in. Others tell me to start panicking if I have anything less than a flawless transcript.

 

I was wondering what you guys think...

 

Thanks 

[anthropologygeek]

Poi fit matters most but it is bad to have anything but an A in the field you study. An A is expected, B means you did something wrong, c and below don't belong in a phd program

[Canis]

Poi fit matters most but it is bad to have anything but an A in the field you study. An A is expected, B means you did something wrong, c and below don't belong in a phd program

 

This is an odd assessment from my perspective, and probably doesn't apply to PhD admissions at anything except the schools where you're competing against students from institutions with extreme grade inflation like Harvard. 

 

In my MA program, every student has gotten at least one B - we're a four-field program, and it's rare for a cultural student to ever get an A in Archaeology, for example. 

 

The PhD program admission processes that I've seen (behind the scenes) did not expect students to have a 4.0 at all. Research interests, professional engagements, and really strong research proposals were very important - but the number one factor in the admissions process was whether the faculty wanted to work on your proposed topic of research (and you got huge bonus points for great letters of rec, especially if they were written by someone your POI knows, or someone known for being good in the specific topic you're applying to research). If a professor said "I want to work with that student" they were basically in - regardless of anything else. That leads me to believe that your PhD application process should be based on developing a VERY good pre-application relationships with your potential supervisor(s), to the point that they say "I will supervise you if you're admitted).

[anthropologygeek]

Canis- when I say field I mean your subfield in anthro. If your bio all your bioanth should be A's if your arch they all should be a's. sorry for misunderstanding

[Canis]

Canis- when I say field I mean your subfield in anthro. If your bio all your bioanth should be A's if your arch they all should be a's. sorry for misunderstanding

 

No worries - still I don't agree - but we can disagree. Ah, the tyranny of grade inflation!

[anthropologygeek]

Canis- just repeating what both my masters advisor and ohs advisor