GRE troubles for Anthropology 2014 Applicants

[FaultyPowers]

I have attended four fieldschools, presented my work publicly six times, in conferences including the AAAs and the SAAs, I've been volunteering in a lab for the past two years and I hold a professional position in my field. I have an MA and my GRE scores were V 167, Q 162, and I got ZERO acceptances this year. I think your odds are better with better GRE scores, but mine are pretty damn fantastic and they don't appear to have made a difference. 

[Daisy123]

P.S. I see you're from Sunnyvale.. my hubby is from Cupertino

we are neighbors!!! i went to cupertino high school s

 

I have attended four fieldschools, presented my work publicly six times, in conferences including the AAAs and the SAAs, I've been volunteering in a lab for the past two years and I hold a professional position in my field. I have an MA and my GRE scores were V 167, Q 162, and I got ZERO acceptances this year. I think your odds are better with better GRE scores, but mine are pretty damn fantastic and they don't appear to have made a difference. 

 

 

OHHH goddddd!! THats soooo depressing!! did you ask any of your schools why is it that they rejected you? Its all so......uncertain! By the way, how did you get involved in a SAA and AAA to do conferences? I have an MA too but  i had no opportunities to publish or do research in my grad. school...so...now i will have to figure something out. 

[CulturalAnth]

we are neighbors!!! i went to cupertino high school s

 

 

 

OHHH goddddd!! THats soooo depressing!! did you ask any of your schools why is it that they rejected you? Its all so......uncertain! By the way, how did you get involved in a SAA and AAA to do conferences? I have an MA too but  i had no opportunities to publish or do research in my grad. school...so...now i will have to figure something out. 

 

He went to Cupertino High too! What year did you graduate? 

[FaultyPowers]

It's WAY easier than people think to get invited to present. Just submit an abstract when the call for presenters comes around. I have never once been rejected. Did your MA result in a thesis or was it just coursework? If you wrote a thesis, choose an aspect of your thesis research and draw out relevant details to present. A conference that I particularly recommend is the annual archaeology conference at U Calgary (Chacmool). It's 100% student run and they WILL accept any appropriate presentation. You'll have to get yourself there, but they reimburse or partially reimburse you for your flight, and each conference results in the publication of conference proceedings, so there's your presentation AND publication. It's not the same as presenting at AAA and publishing in a peer reviewed journal, but it is better than nothing and there are some surprisingly big names that present each year.

 

Yes, I actually did get some pretty valuable advice as to why I've been rejected. It basically came down to the fact that I had applied to too few programs and had failed to realize how reluctant bioarchaeologists with specific regional foci would be to accepting students working outside of those regions. I had contacted each of my potential POIs to ask them about this beforehand, so I wish they had made the situation a little more clear, but I see now that I should have focused more on applying to work with those POIs who had specifically stated that regional focus *did not matter* to them, versus those who had been more vague about it. So long story short, FIT.

[Daisy123]

He went to Cupertino High too! What year did you graduate? 

OMG Hahah i graduated in 2005! what about him!?

 

It's WAY easier than people think to get invited to present. Just submit an abstract when the call for presenters comes around. I have never once been rejected. Did your MA result in a thesis or was it just coursework? If you wrote a thesis, choose an aspect of your thesis research and draw out relevant details to present. A conference that I particularly recommend is the annual archaeology conference at U Calgary (Chacmool). It's 100% student run and they WILL accept any appropriate presentation. You'll have to get yourself there, but they reimburse or partially reimburse you for your flight, and each conference results in the publication of conference proceedings, so there's your presentation AND publication. It's not the same as presenting at AAA and publishing in a peer reviewed journal, but it is better than nothing and there are some surprisingly big names that present each year.

 

Yes, I actually did get some pretty valuable advice as to why I've been rejected. It basically came down to the fact that I had applied to too few programs and had failed to realize how reluctant bioarchaeologists with specific regional foci would be to accepting students working outside of those regions. I had contacted each of my potential POIs to ask them about this beforehand, so I wish they had made the situation a little more clear, but I see now that I should have focused more on applying to work with those POIs who had specifically stated that regional focus *did not matter* to them, versus those who had been more vague about it. So long story short, FIT.

Thank you so much for your valuable advice. I will look into this right away . Can i pm you about this topic? i will also start a tread a little later on this topic and you can chime in there because i am sure there are others in the same situation that can benefit from your experience. 

So are you going to apply next year again? 

I actually had the same problem as you- i wanted to do bioarchaeology too and found Ohio State University just last week- thats one program i SHOULD have applied for because of the reasons you mentioned above. Also, check out east carolina univesrity - i just spoke to Dr. Perry, a bioarchaeologist from whom i SPECIFICALLY wanted to know if she would work with students outside her area. She said that she is currently advising a girl on CA project and she works in Palestine so that does not matter to her. Maybe you should talk to her too and tell her your specific bio archaeological interests. 

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/anth/Department-of-Anthropology-Faculty.cfm

[FaultyPowers]

You can definitely PM me. I think there should be way more transparency in this whole process; I have had...I'm just going to go ahead and say it...TERRIBLE advising thus far in my MA program, and have had to figure out everything on my own. Ohio State for sure should have been on my list...and it WAS too, I just got completely carried away in the wrong direction this year!! Yes, I'll be applying there and everywhere else in the English and/or French speaking world next year

[CulturalAnth]

OMG Hahah i graduated in 2005! what about him!?

 

 

 

That's awesome. He also graduated 2005 (I think, he's 27).. so..... you probably know him, maybe, lol. He's also an anthropology major, and is now doing computer science. We're in Utah right now. I've never lived in the bay area, so I don't know anyone else there, beside his family. Maybe I'll PM you his name and see if you 2 know each other! 

Anyway.... I'm pretty sure what got me in is my undergrad mentor is a big name in his field of anthropology of childhood... at least for the 2 places I've been accepted. Also, it's unlikely that I'm going to a super prestigious university, which is okay.. as long as I end up at a research university in the long run. One of my arch profs at USU came from WSU and has a TT position, so I know it's possible  

[bloomquish]

Just chiming in to provide an outlier story. If applications with low scores are thrown out in the beginning I would never made it to the finish line, which I did. I took the (old) GRE four times in four years, and my quantitative score never got above 420, and my writing never above a 3.5. On one remarkable day I got a 790 on verbal, but usually my verbal score hovered around 500. What the scores as a set show is that I do not excel in a test-taking situation. No more, no less! I am actually quite good at abstract mathematical logic problems, but you'd never know it. My essays and letters were outstanding, and my GPA was ok but not great (around 3.0). Over these years I was getting rejection after rejection and grew convinced I had to raise my GRE closer to the 600/600 mark to round out an uneven academic history. The last year I took the GRE I completed two formal classes (PM me if you are interested), studied with an informal study group on weekends, and hired a UC Berkeley undergrad to tutor me in math. For a few months I made this my top priority. On the practice tests I was consistently scoring close to 700 on both sections, and thought I had it in the bag! But in a cruel twist, I got exactly, to the number, the same score as my first test four years before. 

 

The bright note is that I got in to a very good PhD program last year with six years of full funding (which I turned down for personal reasons), and two masters programs, NYU and Chicago. Berkeley told me I made it to a shortlist back when I first applied in 2010, and mentioned I should work on my GRE score. But.... I made it to a shortlist!!! My GRE scores have not come up when I've asked for feedback after other rejections. In short, I wish I hadn't agonized about it so much. 

[bloomquish]

I have attended four fieldschools, presented my work publicly six times, in conferences including the AAAs and the SAAs, I've been volunteering in a lab for the past two years and I hold a professional position in my field. I have an MA and my GRE scores were V 167, Q 162, and I got ZERO acceptances this year. I think your odds are better with better GRE scores, but mine are pretty damn fantastic and they don't appear to have made a difference. 

 

Oh FaultyPowers I am hoping the very best for you!!! 

[strudelle]

So far I've been admitted to a "highly ranked" PhD program with very good funding despite my shitty GRE scores.  They were never mentioned or questioned, and did not keep me from being nominated for funding as I had been told they would.

 

I put highly ranked in quotations because ranking is not the most important factor in my opinion.  But this particular program and POI do have very good reputations in the field which is definitely helpful.  And it was my top choice.  I have nowhere near the credentials FaultyPowers did - yet I was accepted anyway.  It's really all about fit.  It's also probably about some other random factors that we will never be able to determine so it's worthless to fret about them.    

[FaultyPowers]

I KNOW! I'm hoping the best for me too but I'm also thinking I might have to wait another year . And I'm at the point where the whole, 'I'll get more experience and my application will be even stronger!" thing is starting to ring a bit hollow!! 

[CulturalAnth]

I agree that fit is very important. I really think that meeting my POIs in person, before I applied, also helped me. And, my letter of recommendation from an anthropologist who is very known and respected in my area. No one has ever mentioned my poor GRE scores (although I also told them what they were before I applied). 

 

So far, though, I have not gotten into a "prestigious" university though (STILL waiting to hear from WUSTL), but I think I will do just fine at either of the 2 I've been accepted to. It was more about fit than ratings for me.. although my 2 favorite anthropologists are at the 2 prestigious universities I applied to. 

[strudelle]

I agree that fit is very important. I really think that meeting my POIs in person, before I applied, also helped me. And, my letter of recommendation from an anthropologist who is very known and respected in my area. No one has ever mentioned my poor GRE scores (although I also told them what they were before I applied). 

 

So far, though, I have not gotten into a "prestigious" university though (STILL waiting to hear from WUSTL), but I think I will do just fine at either of the 2 I've been accepted to. It was more about fit than ratings for me.. although my 2 favorite anthropologists are at the 2 prestigious universities I applied to. 

 

I also met my POI in person, but the meeting didn't go well.  I was intimidated and seemed very unsure of myself.  I am still getting used to being able to discuss my interests, and it's much harder on the spot than it is when you have months to tailor an SOP.  I admire her work so much and I was so worried about making a good impression.  I'm not sure if that helped or hurt me, but she and I have spoken a number of times on the phone since my acceptance and I am much more comfortable talking to her now.  She also seems a bit like she may not remember meeting me before.  

 

But one of my recommenders was also someone very respected in the field with whom my POI has worked many times.  So that may be a key factor right there!

 

I'm curious, what is considered prestigious?  I've always been a little confused about this.  The program I was accepted to is ranked #10 in the nation for anthropology - but anthropology is also divided into sub-disciplines, so is this relevant for each sub-discipline?  And is an ivy league more important than a "big name" in your field (like Michigan with anthropology)?  Or is it more important who your POI is?  We all know that really well known names in anthropology don't necessarily congregate at one school but are spread out.

[anthropologygeek]

Strud- to me a prestigious university is an R1 with a rock star in your subfield.

Faulty- I am so sorry for you. Have you inquired why you weren't accepted? Most profs will tell you why and sometimes even tell you what you need to improve to get accepted by them for next year.

[strudelle]

anthropologygeek - that makes perfect sense, actually.  I agree!

[anthropologygeek]

Strud- you can't go off ranking since it hasn't been done since 93