Fall 2017 Applicants

[rkstahl]

5 minutes ago, rkstahl said:

I can't speak to the process/criteria on the linguistics side, but so far the most encouraging feedback I have received from sociocultural faculty (1a/3i/0r/3?) concerns my statement and proposed project. To that end, I proposed a single project, with more detail than I initially believed I needed to provide, that spoke to something that I both have intimate familiarity with and that I was able to argue would benefit from ethnographic study and is currently politically and socially salient. I workshopped that statement for months and sent it to as many people as would read it for feedback, including faculty members at a few different programs - I wasn't shy about cold-emailing folks to chat and then requesting they take a look at what I had written, bc the worst that could happen is they would say no and you can imagine the best case scenario.

Otherwise, I provided a solid writing sample, had what I would describe as only "pretty decent" GRE scores (not great or even super good), and am a co-author on a single peer-reviewed article published in a professional public health journal. Also, I know my rec letters (3) were very helpful. I worked closely with each recommender to ensure that they cited specific examples of my work and experiences to support the flowery superlatives that is common across promising application packets and to make certain that it was clear that they knew me and understood my potential well.

Hope that is helpful, although I acknowledge that the exact same application packet may well have resulted in 6 rejections for me in a different year. For better/worse, luck seems to play more than a small role with these things. So, best of luck!

 

Also wanted to mention that I have an MPH and that this is my 1st cycle in anth but 2nd overall, as last year I applied to 2 public health programs and was rejected from both. I got some really good insight from someone on the ad com for one of the programs that rejected me and was told what some have already said here - lots of great candidates and theyre making best guesses, so its never personal. Plus, there are so many political dynamics on ad coms that influence outcomes and that are beyond our control.

[ishouldbeworking]

8 hours ago, farflung said:

Hi Michelle and everyone else receiving rejections-- I'm a cultural anthro PhD student at a top research university. It took me two application cycles (i.e. two years) to get admission, even with a stellar record, an awesome SoP, and tons of research experience abroad in my area of interest. This is normal. There are only a couple of admission slots at top programs. It sounds like you're qualified for grad school, so don't worry about publications! Most of us earn our first publications in our FINAL years of grad school or even after graduating-- it's really quite rare for cultural anthropologists to be published before doing their dissertation fieldwork, and even rarer to already have publications coming into a PhD program. Lots of the admissions process is out of your control, things like-- whether a faculty member who likes your application package happens to be present in the room when they're making decisions, is on sabbatical, is too senior/junior to "earn" a graduate student, etc. So no, don't need to publish. And yes, sorry to say -- you might be in for another year of applications, so you should just continue to build your application package and accept/embrace that rejection is a HUGE part of academia (just wait until you apply for grants, jobs, submit your first article, etc)!

 

1 hour ago, rkstahl said:

I can't speak to the process/criteria on the linguistics side, but so far the most encouraging feedback I have received from sociocultural faculty (1a/3i/0r/3?) concerns my statement and proposed project. To that end, I proposed a single project, with more detail than I initially believed I needed to provide, that spoke to something that I both have intimate familiarity with and that I was able to argue would benefit from ethnographic study and is currently politically and socially salient. I workshopped that statement for months and sent it to as many people as would read it for feedback, including faculty members at a few different programs - I wasn't shy about cold-emailing folks to chat and then requesting they take a look at what I had written, bc the worst that could happen is they would say no and you can imagine the best case scenario.

Otherwise, I provided a solid writing sample, had what I would describe as only "pretty decent" GRE scores (not great or even super good), and am a co-author on a single peer-reviewed article published in a professional public health journal. Also, I know my rec letters (3) were very helpful. I worked closely with each recommender to ensure that they cited specific examples of my work and experiences to support the flowery superlatives that is common across promising application packets and to make certain that it was clear that they knew me and understood my potential well.

Hope that is helpful, although I acknowledge that the exact same application packet may well have resulted in 6 rejections for me in a different year. For better/worse, luck seems to play more than a small role with these things. So, best of luck!

 

Thank you both for your insight! I really appreciate it. I have to admit that I didn't put as much effort into my SoP as I probably should have, although I don't believe that I lacked seriousness while working on it. In the future, I know that I will refine it. I especially like what you said @rkstahl about focusing on one project. I will be more detailed for sure. Thank you very much also @farflung ! You give me hope that I will succeed in another round. I'm looking forward to taking a year or two off at the moment. I hope everyone receives answers soon! I think we can all agree that disappointing answers are better than none....

[runningwithquills]

Ahh just got into Princeton!!!

[obicycleo]

That's fantastic @runningwithquills!! Congratulations!

[giselle baron]

28 minutes ago, runningwithquills said:

Ahh just got into Princeton!!!

Hey woooww!! Congrats! I feel like it is one of my good fits but I haven't heard a word yet. May I ask if it is a personalized email or a mass one? Congrats once again! Apparently it is a time to celebrate!!!

[runningwithquills]

12 minutes ago, giselle baron said:

Hey woooww!! Congrats! I feel like it is one of my good fits but I haven't heard a word yet. May I ask if it is a personalized email or a mass one? Congrats once again! Apparently it is a time to celebrate!!!

It was a personalised email from the DGS, Rena Lederman. She said official letter+ stipend details are to come. But invited me to the official visit day (Feb 24th). They wonderfully cover travel and accommodations.

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

If I'm rejected from all this cycle, I plan to refine my SoP so that it really shines. I'm also debating retaking the GRE after actually reviewing math. I haven't had a math (other than stats) in about 8 years, so I didn't do that well on that section, but not actually terrible (156, 63rd percentile). My other two scores were good though (94th and 98th percentiles) so I may not spend the money to take that test again. I may also switch out one of my rec letters for the non-anthro programs I apply to (applying to Anth and Comm because of my research interests) because one of my committee members for my M.A. is a Comm person and can better describe my ability to thrive in that sort of program. 

At that point I'll also have several additional conference presentations and papers (currently have 3 presentations and one paper that placed in a conference competition) and will have several articles submitted to journals, though probably not yet published. 

Ultimately, I think I'll also apply to more programs.  

[hantoo]

Hey did anyone else just get an email account set up for University of Florida? It doesn't say anything about admission they just gave me an email address??!!! I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack what does this mean?

[kguptaa]

Looks like all of the Brown rejects went out this morning! Congrats to those who made it!

[MedAnth2016]

Congrats to all the Brown admits!

 

For those of you who have been through multiple application cycles, do you know if it is appropriate/acceptable to reach out to POI after rejection to see about how to strengthen application for future cycles?  If I don't get in anywhere this year I hope to reapply next year and it would be helpful to get some feedback, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate.

 

Thoughts? 

[AnthropologyNRT]

17 minutes ago, MedAnth2016 said:

Congrats to all the Brown admits!

 

For those of you who have been through multiple application cycles, do you know if it is appropriate/acceptable to reach out to POI after rejection to see about how to strengthen application for future cycles?  If I don't get in anywhere this year I hope to reapply next year and it would be helpful to get some feedback, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate.

 

Thoughts? 

I think reaching out is fine, but be aware of the time constraints your POI might have, especially this time of year. If you are rejected, you may give it a little while before following up. But overall, keeping up the dialogue is a good idea, particularly if you intend to try again!

[MedAnth2016]

@AnthropologyNRT thank you for the advice  so appreciate it!

[AnthropologyNRT]

6 minutes ago, MedAnth2016 said:

@AnthropologyNRT thank you for the advice  so appreciate it!

No problem! Good luck to you!

[farflung]

1 hour ago, MedAnth2016 said:

Congrats to all the Brown admits!

 

For those of you who have been through multiple application cycles, do you know if it is appropriate/acceptable to reach out to POI after rejection to see about how to strengthen application for future cycles?  If I don't get in anywhere this year I hope to reapply next year and it would be helpful to get some feedback, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate.

 

Thoughts? 

As one of the resident experts on applying multiple years in a row -- yes, you can definitely reach out to POI again. I did this after my first application cycle and I do think it helped me in year 2. BUT I would add a few big caveats. Apologies for the bluntness:

First, be aware of how much/little interest the professor showed in your project to begin with. I would definitely reach out if you had meaningful contact (as in-- the professor knows who you are) before admissions decisions were released. E-mailing a professor who never really showed interest in you to begin with in order to ask favors is not a great idea, and may turn them off for next cycle. Also, don't assume that professors will remember you or your application. An e-mail that was AWESOME to you because your favorite academic said "sure, go ahead and apply!" was probably not that meaningful to them -- when making contact again, always remind them of who you are (by using same e-mail chain as last year for instance) and your project idea. Be formal. Use your full name. 

Second, wait! Wait a few weeks or months. They're recruiting their incoming cohort, and because you're not part of it, they might be a little annoyed if you're asking for their time when they didn't admit you. Summer might be a good time to touch base again, or early next fall. You don't have to reveal that you didn't get in anywhere else-- just talk up how much you continue to be interested in their program. 

Finally, do NOT simply make contact in order to ask your POI how to strengthen your application for next cycle. To many professors, that is a very selfish request-- you're essentially asking them to do the work of reviewing your application again in order to give you advice. It will show a lot of maturity if YOU tell THEM what you are doing to refine your project idea and/or strengthen your application for next cycle. Then, after you have showed that you are committed to the work of making YOUR application better, you can indirectly ask if they have any additional suggestions. Forming a relationship with a POI is more important in terms of your admissions prospects than getting them to divulge exactly how/whre your application fell short-- many departments can't and won't share this detailed information.

Some examples:

NO: Hey prof X! I wasn't admitted to your program and am really disappointed, so can you divulge private admissions information about why I wasn't selected? This may involve digging up my application, writing me an e-mail, and otherwise spending tons of time telling me what I can do to get in your program next year?

YES: Hey prof X! I did not find a good fit in terms of program and funding packages last admissions cycle, so I have decided to try again this year. In the meantime, I am working on / continuing to read on / presenting my previous work at ___ in order to strengthen my application. I am writing because I continue to be interested in your program for XYZ reasons. Over the past months, I have been doing ___ work, which is really preparing me for graduate research because ____. I have become especially interested in ___, so am planning to foreground that in my statement this year. I just wanted to let you know that I continue to be interested in your PhD program, particularly your strengths in ___.   -----> And then maybe if you have a pleasant exchange you can add: I was wondering if you had any suggestions or advice as I prepare my proposal and application materials for this cycle? I thought perhaps I could strengthen ___, but do let me know if anything else stands out. 

 

[museum_geek]

So apparently my phone interview with UVA went fairly well and I ended up getting an invite to spend a weekend on campus with other finalists in late February.  It's three days and I'll be meeting with the faculty I mentioned in my SoP, touring campus, dinner with the DGS, etc. I think there's 12-15 applicants going and the professor I spoke with said they're taking 5-6 people this year.  Anyone have advice for attending this type of event?  

Edited February 3, 2017 by museum_geek

[benj]

To the person who got the Stanford interview, congratulations! Would you mind sharing what subfield you are in?

[Spaghettyohz]

Has anyone heard back from UCI following interviews? The anticipation!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@Spaghettyohz if it's the same as last year, people should be getting a phone call any day now. 

[Archaeodan]

Anyone else waiting on a response from U Oregon? There was a little problem with my application and I'm hoping they didn't just toss it as a bad job...

[AnthropologyNRT]

4 hours ago, Spaghettyohz said:

Has anyone heard back from UCI following interviews? The anticipation!

Nothing yet. I'm dying over here! Got a Rice interview in two weeks though!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

So I may have an interview at UCL. I was contacted by my POI a couple days ago requesting my dissertation before having a Skype interview. Problem is, I'm currently writing my grad report, so I don't exactly have a dissertation to show yet. x]

 I let him know that today and did offer to share my main deliverable which is written, but we'll see I guess.

Outside of academia, my sister finally publicly announced her pregnancy so now I get to tell everyone I'm going to be an auntie! *Dances* 

Also, today seemed to be a good day. A friend offered to co-write a presentation with me, taking over as lead author, so that I can do 3 presentations at a conference instead of 2 (if all of my abstracts are accepted). All 3 are different presentation formats and I'm really looking forward to doing them.  

[AnthropologyNRT]

So for anyone who was at UCI interview weekend last week. I was contacted by a fellow interviewee who talked to Dr. Chavez. He told them that the faculty convene this coming Tuesday and offers should be made after that. Not sure how solid this info is, but if it can help ease a little stress, figured it is worth passing it along.

 

Hope you all are well!

[AnthropologyNRT]

9 hours ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

So I may have an interview at UCL. I was contacted by my POI a couple days ago requesting my dissertation before having a Skype interview. Problem is, I'm currently writing my grad report, so I don't exactly have a dissertation to show yet. x]

 I let him know that today and did offer to share my main deliverable which is written, but we'll see I guess.

Outside of academia, my sister finally publicly announced her pregnancy so now I get to tell everyone I'm going to be an auntie! *Dances* 

Also, today seemed to be a good day. A friend offered to co-write a presentation with me, taking over as lead author, so that I can do 3 presentations at a conference instead of 2 (if all of my abstracts are accepted). All 3 are different presentation formats and I'm really looking forward to doing them.  

Congrats Auntie GreenEyes-Trombone!

[museum_geek]

@GreenEyedTrombonist I'm sure sending over your main deliverable will be fine. If this professor is really insistent, maybe you can send a chapter of your dissertation?  In any case, getting an interview is exciting news. I'm sure you'll do great!

[obicycleo]

Re: the Princeton faculty facebook posts being discussed on the admissions list: did anyone actually see these?

Just...wow.