Whatthewhat Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 Does anyone have news on BU?? When the adcomm is meeting? Anything at all?
jellyfish1 Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 BU archaeology is sending out decisions at the end of February. But it is a totally separate dept from anthropology and I have no infor about anthro.
Daisy123 Posted February 8, 2014 Posted February 8, 2014 i think its February also- no other news - around 6 students probably.....
Whatthewhat Posted February 8, 2014 Author Posted February 8, 2014 Six students? That's great! I was worried they were going to take 1 or 2
Daisy123 Posted February 8, 2014 Posted February 8, 2014 Yes, it is 6 students, and the application pool was 82 ...............
Khannnn Posted February 9, 2014 Posted February 9, 2014 We are talking about the Archaeology dept specifically, correct? I've heard end of February to end of March, with 5 probable admits...so who knows!! What geographic areas are you guys working in? The wait is killing my soul slowly.
jellyfish1 Posted February 9, 2014 Posted February 9, 2014 (edited) I'm a historical archaeologist, working in the US. Pm me if you want more specifics! You? Edited February 9, 2014 by archaeostudent1231
Daisy123 Posted February 9, 2014 Posted February 9, 2014 i am going to be working on mortuary analysis is Lydia and Phrygia
Whatthewhat Posted February 11, 2014 Author Posted February 11, 2014 I called the department this morning and was told my application was still under review. What does this MEEEEAAANNNN!?!?! I can't take the suspense! Also I am bio anth not archaelogy.
jellyfish1 Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 Given the fact that there have already been some rejections, I'm guessing it means you've made it to finalist consideration. Congrats!
Daisy123 Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 i did not sea any rejections??? do you guys mean from the anthro department or archaeology one?
Daisy123 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I got an e-mail today from Director of Graduate Admissions that he was missing a transcript (turns out it was just not labeled). I assume this means they are putting together complete applications in order to start the in-depth process. I don't expect hearing anything until the first week of March. Even then, those will probably be rejections and interviews. I doubt they will make decisions until week 3 of March. This assumption is based on evidence from last years application process (which is the only one that is comparable). Take this guess with a grain of salt, as this year could have a total different amount of applicants. Given their new funding packages (as I will talk about next) I would expect it to be larger. However, if smaller perhaps letters could make it out by last week of Feb (as others suggested) or week 1 of March. For those voicing complaints about funding in the BU Archaeology Dept., as of last year they got a huge sum of money to fully fund 6 PhD students a year, (actually starting with last year's applicants).So, any complaints prior to 2013 are irrelevant. Those funding packages are 20k/year + tuition waiver + insurance guaranteed for five years. They clearly want to remove their staining rumors of bad funding. Notice I said Archaeology, NOT Anthropology (I have no idea how their funding is, nor do I really care). I have visited the department officially once, and unofficially twice (sat in on some classes, went to a lecture on A. sediba by deSilva etc). A discussion with Dr. Roosevelt (Director of Graduate Admissions) revealed that of the 6 students, they will be heavily oriented towards Classical Archaeology (probably around 4). They are pushing towards Classical Archaeology, especially given that Paul Goldberg and Berma both retired and left, respectively. Daisy123 - You're right: as far as I can tell no notifications have been sent out. The comment before was probably referring to last years data. As for me, I am a paleoanthropologist interested in Paleolithic Mediterranean. Specifically, the role of either Greece, The Cyclades, Crete, or Cyprus (region not particularly specific yet) in the dispersal of Neanderthalensis and modern Homo sapiens and the initial peopling of Europe (Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic). I approach this particular research topic from an evolutionary lens guided by a geoarchaeological framework. thank you so much for the information! Thank you! But,...the applicant pool is 82 people, Dr. Roosevelt told me . Can you explain the classical thing again and how that relates to the retired faculty......if that'ss really the case,.....i am screwed. .. Your research interests sound amazing ! A very underrepresented area in this topic. I am interested in bioarchaeology and mortuary analysis from the Bronze Age- Iron Age Central and Western Anatolian burials.
colorless Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Can you survive with 20k/year in Boston? As if we're admitted! I just needed to ask.
colorless Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 thank you so much for the information! Thank you! But,...the applicant pool is 82 people, Dr. Roosevelt told me . Can you explain the classical thing again and how that relates to the retired faculty......if that'ss really the case,.....i am screwed. .. Your research interests sound amazing ! A very underrepresented area in this topic. I am interested in bioarchaeology and mortuary analysis from the Bronze Age- Iron Age Central and Western Anatolian burials. Daisy i hope we both get in somewhere.
jellyfish1 Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Hey all. I spoke to Dr. Roosevelt in late January, and he said the applicant pool was around 120 this year. Maybe it increased since you asked, Daisy, or perhaps some applicants withdrew already? Weird. He told me they planned to send out notifications around the last week in February. Also, in my response to WhattheWhat, I wasn't sure if that person was applying for anthro or arch, but two people called the anthro dept and found they'd already been cut. According to the timeline my BU POI laid out for me, some archaeology cuts have already been made. Whether they would inform you if your application is still in play, I have no idea. I assume if they are asking for your transcript, that is a great sign! Preliminary evaluation can be done without a transcript, I've heard, so perhaps they didn't need it until now? Here's hoping for good news for all of us!!
Khannnn Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Can you survive with 20k/year in Boston? As if we're admitted! I just needed to ask. You can. I live here in Boston and did my undergrad here. Rent is expensive but there is affordable housing in nice neighborhoods if you're willing to look farther than the typical "student" neighborhoods. You don't need a car here, which is nice (I have one, but parking is not fun here ). There is lots of stuff to do for free in the city so you can enjoy yourself without going broke. Y
Khannnn Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 That being said, you won't live like a king. Let me know if you have any other questions about living here.
pears Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Can you survive with 20k/year in Boston? As if we're admitted! I just needed to ask. Khannnn pretty much hit the nail on the head: it's possible; you just need to be smart about it. I did my undergrad at a school in Boston, but not downtown proper. My neighborhood was close to my school; I probably paid $800-$850/month after utilities, but that was for a house that was a P.O.S. and comically overpriced. I never needed a car; I had in-house laundry, free meals when I worked in the cafeteria, and could easily reach a big supermarket on the T without having to haul groceries very far. Skipping the car-gas-parking trifecta of misery left me with some extra fun money, which is key! Boston has epic food and music and events and sports all. The. Time. !!!.
colorless Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 Yeah we will see if we all go there!! Hahaha. I will bring dependents so life is a bit tough I believe, you can't have roommates etc. I have friends in different schools and disciplines (probably Ivy) getting 4000/month as stipend so I bet they are living! They used to pay for summer expenses as well when they came back to their country (i mean here). As for me I am also Bronze/Iron Age- looking into agricultural history.
colorless Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 I feel like it will be all rejections. I lost hope already.
Daisy123 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Was this for M.A. or PhD? Any idea? you know...he didnt say but i am SURE that what it is is that 120 people are for the MA and 82 people are for PhD because we were SPECIFICALLY discussing the PhD program that i applied to. I asked him "how many offers will you be making this year" and he said " 6 out of an 82 application pool" - this conversation was this saturday ...for the person that said cuts have already been made.....were they notified or randomly called?
jellyfish1 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 you know...he didnt say but i am SURE that what it is is that 120 people are for the MA and 82 people are for PhD because we were SPECIFICALLY discussing the PhD program that i applied to. I asked him "how many offers will you be making this year" and he said " 6 out of an 82 application pool" - this conversation was this saturday ...for the person that said cuts have already been made.....were they notified or randomly called? Let me clarify- I don't know for sure that cuts have already been made. But I was told by Professor Roosevelt that first he has all the applications for 2-3 weeks, then he divides them by subfield, which happened around Jan 20. He sends them to prospective advisors, and each faculty ranks the people who have applied to study with them. The top ranked applicants' files are sent to the whole faculty (which is supposed to have happened sometime in early to mid Feb), who then meet to discuss which 6 to give offers. Or maybe there were two full faculty meetings, I don't remember. In either case, there have probably been unofficial cuts (or rather, selection of a "short list" of top applicants to consider). But as far as I know no one's received an admission or rejection from BU Arch. I just meant that if someone is asking for your transcript (as another applicant mentioned), you are probably highly ranked. But I didn't mean to imply that I'd heard of anyone knowing anything. :-/ I guess we'll all have to wait a few more weeks before we have any news, sadly! Hopefully it will be good news!
resurrectionist Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 I heard from them on Monday (got waitlisted) and the message said "We received over one hundred applications this year, and, because of newly implemented admissions procedures at BU, the selection process was more competitive than ever." On the plus side, this means that decisions are starting to roll out, so keep an eye on your inboxes.
jellyfish1 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Resurrectionist- sorry to hear you didn't get in, but congratulations on getting waitlisted! In a huge and competitive applicant pool, that's an impressive accomplishment! May I ask- did you apply to archaeology or anthro and were you applying for a phd or a master's? Thanks and best of luck in your other applications!
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