Fall 2017 Archaeology Applicants?

[terraaurea]

Hello! We've got a thread for all of Anthropology, but how about all you Archaeology-specific applicants? Who are you? What do you study? Where are you applying? Have you heard back from anyone? Nervously twiddling your thumbs? Gather 'round! 

[Quickmick]

Nautical Archaeology here. Who am I? Tough one. Inter disciplinary UG (history/philosophy/environmental studies) currently in the home stretch of a MS Environmental Science program and looking to fold that training into the social sciences/humanities with the goal of becoming a complete scholar on the other side of the rainbow.  I applied to 1 Anthro program, 6 History programs and 1 STEM program. Haven't heard anything yet, but don't really expect to until the first week of Feb (maybe some news in the next couple of weeks).

Edited January 18, 2017 by Quickmick

[terraaurea]

On 1/17/2017 at 8:44 PM, Quickmick said:

Nautical Archaeology here. Who am I? Tough one. Inter disciplinary UG (history/philosophy/environmental studies) currently in the home stretch of a MS Environmental Science program and looking to fold that training into the social sciences/humanities with the goal of becoming a complete scholar on the other side of the rainbow.  I applied to 1 Anthro program, 6 History programs and 1 STEM program. Haven't heard anything yet, but don't really expect to until the first week of Feb (maybe some news in the next couple of weeks).

Awesome! What schools did you apply to? And same here, I have a couple things I'd like to hear back from in the next week or so, but most of them probably won't be until February (or at least hopefully, because for a lot of them if you don't hear back until March you're SOL). 

[Quickmick]

@terraaurea I applied to TAMU (Nautical), Berkeley, Cornell, Northwestern, UCSD, Princeton, Georgetown (History: Environmental/Latin America), and my MS institution. I am (I think) mentally prepared if I am shut out at the first 7, though I think I have a fair chance. I aimed high, as--to me--the only viable percentage for academic plans comes from attending a top tier school/faculty. If I am shut out it may just be an indication that I am right where I should be! We will see what happens in the next few weeks, though I won't know about GRFP until probably late March. However it shakes out, any of these options would be a  privilege, and going through this process has certainly brought introspection if nothing else.

good luck!

Edited January 19, 2017 by Quickmick

[terraaurea]

9 minutes ago, Quickmick said:

@terraaurea I applied to TAMU (Nautical), Berkeley, Cornell, Northwestern, UCSD, Princeton, Georgetown (History: Environmental/Latin America), and my MS institution. I am (I think) mentally prepared if I am shut out at the first 7, though I think I have a fair chance. I aimed high, as--to me--the only viable percentage for academic plans comes from attending a top tier school/faculty. If I am shut out it may just be an indication that I am right where I should be! We will see what happens in the next few weeks, though I won't know about GRFP until probably late March. However it shakes out, any of these options would be a  privilege, and going through this process has certainly brought introspection if nothing else.

good luck!

I love your philosophy! That's how I've thought about a lot of things. Aim high, then if you settle in the middle, congrats, you're still ahead! I've heard great things about nautical stuff in Texas. I also applied to Cornell, but first to their Classics department (they let you put a second choice though so I put their Archaeology MA). I'm coming straight out of my BA (I graduate in May), so I'm anxious about how lots of my programs accept people straight from the BA into the PhD--meaning competition is even more fierce...No matter what, the introspection is important, and good luck! 

[eggz]

Hi! I just graduated with a BA in May 2016 and I'm applying to PhD programs for North American archaeology, specifically the midwestern and southeastern US. I applied to UW-Madison, UCSB, Michigan (Ann Arbor), and UNC Chapel Hill. I've already been accepted to UW-Madison and UCSB, but I'm anxiously awaiting other decisions. I'm a bit stressed out since I also don't know how going straight from a BA into a PhD will affect my chances, but at least I have two schools to choose from. It feels good to have some other people to commiserate with during the wait. Good luck to everyone! 

[museum_geek]

@eggz Congrats on the acceptances and welcome to GradCafe!  If you don't mind me asking, how did UW Madison notify you?  I'm applying for a different subfield than you (cultural) and there's no updates on the wisc.edu portal for me.  I wasn't expecting them to notify so early - guess I'll be checking my email even more frequently now!

[eggz]

@museum_geek My POI sent me an email with an unofficial acceptance. However, I haven't heard anything officially and there are no updates on my portal either

[terraaurea]

Hello @eggzand @museum_geek! Congrats on the acceptances! My family lives about fifteen minutes from Madison, and I'm in Milwaukee, so I can vouche for how nice the campus is. When you applied to Ann Arbor, what department did you apply to? 

[eggz]

@terraaurea It's good to hear that Madison has a nice campus! When I applied to Ann Arbor, I applied to the Anthropology department and indicated archaeology as the subfield. 

[Ajtz'ihb]

@eggz Congratulations on your acceptance! Madison is a fantastic city and a wonderful place to be a student. 

[Ajtz'ihb]

Also, somebody mentioned the GRFP. Everyone--everyone--needs to apply for this. Apply your first year and if it's not accepted, try again your second year. It's a big chunk of no-strings-attached money and you can combine it with your university stipend assuming you're offered one.

A lot of undergrad advisers neglect to mention the GRFP to their students who are applying to grad school, and some PhD advisers I guess just assume their starting students already know about it. It's a complete dereliction of duty on both counts. Everyone should be applying for this fellowship.

Seriously. Apply.

[Bschaefer]

@Ajtz'ihb they did change the solicitation where you can only apply once now, so either your first year or second year, but regardless, like you said, APPLY 

[frscsci]

Can you apply if you will have had two years of a master's? (I'm coming from the natural sciences). 

[Bschaefer]

@frscsci yeah of course, but there needs to be a gap of a year or so between when you finished your masters and start of the PhD. I would check the solicitation but yeah it just depends 

[frscsci]

4 minutes ago, Bschaefer said:

@frscsci yeah of course, but there needs to be a gap of a year or so between when you finished your masters and start of the PhD. I would check the solicitation but yeah it just depends 

That''s what I feared...I'm going straight from an MS to a PhD so I'm ineligible.

[Quickmick]

I would highly recommend reading the solicitation. I applied this past fall ('16) for '17, I applied with one year of my MS complete and IIRC the solicitation said I could only apply with up to one year of graduate work complete (so I could have applied once the year before, too) but I don't remember seeing anything about gap years between MA/MS and PhD restarting your eligibility.

It is a little wonky, as if you are a senior you need lors, as I did, and it was a little odd: I had to ask my committee chair and a member to write me a letter of recc for a grant that would be given to me for a program I had not yet been accepted to. While I imagine that I will get accepted to my MS granting institution it just felt kind of backwards. I wondered too, if they wondered why I was doing it given the fact that I am (and would be) funded anyway. It is very prestigious, would offer me more opportunities, give me a raise, and--as I pointed out--would make me "cost less." One thing to consider, if your funding comes with any kind of TA/RAship that is probably your link to uni health insurance, so you may have to buy your own out of the grant pay which means the raise wouldn't be as much as you think.

It is another case of lick the stamp and wait, as I expect to hear around the last week of March and their decision very well may affect mine....If you apply make sure you adhere to the formatting requirements or your app will not be reviewed. Hope this helps someone! Good luck.

 

[terraaurea]

I just got a call from the University of Cincinnati. They said the read my app, really liked it, and want to fly me out there for the interview weekend in late February (starting Feb. 23)!! I'm so pumped!

[sierra918]

6 hours ago, frscsci said:

Can you apply if you will have had two years of a master's? (I'm coming from the natural sciences). 

You can apply with an MA but there has to have been a 2 year gap and you can't have finished more than 12 months of graduate coursework during that gap.

[Ajtz'ihb]

"One thing to consider, if your funding comes with any kind of TA/RAship that is probably your link to uni health insurance, so you may have to buy your own out of the grant pay which means the raise wouldn't be as much as you think."

In most cases that I'm aware of, stipend, RAship, tuition waiver, and insurance are all separate components of the "package." I took NSF funding for two of the years I otherwise would have been on stipend but had no trouble continuing on with the university insurance or my RAship.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Ajtz'ihb
Sorry to just put that in quotes, my formatting is misbehaving.

[Quickmick]

@Ajtz'ihbgood to know, I only mentioned it as it has been an issue for someone i know, but am unsure of the the exact particulars, other than it has been a sticking point. If I get more details I will share.

[bioarch_fan]

On 1/26/2017 at 3:05 PM, terraaurea said:

I just got a call from the University of Cincinnati. They said the read my app, really liked it, and want to fly me out there for the interview weekend in late February (starting Feb. 23)!! I'm so pumped!

Congrats!!! University of Cincinnati is one of the top programs in the US for classics. Two of my undergraduate professors have a house in Cincinnati and both are classics professors and one worked at Cincinnati at one point. Cincinnati was only about an hour and a half from where I did my undergraduate work.

[terraaurea]

17 minutes ago, bioarch_fan said:

Congrats!!! University of Cincinnati is one of the top programs in the US for classics. Two of my undergraduate professors have a house in Cincinnati and both are classics professors and one worked at Cincinnati at one point. Cincinnati was only about an hour and a half from where I did my undergraduate work.

Thanks!! Great faculty, library, program--it's fantastic! I'm looking forward to seeing the campus and meeting everyone. Where did you do your undergrad?

[sierra918]

On 1/26/2017 at 3:05 PM, terraaurea said:

I just got a call from the University of Cincinnati. They said the read my app, really liked it, and want to fly me out there for the interview weekend in late February (starting Feb. 23)!! I'm so pumped!

Congrats!!

[terraaurea]

Just got waitlisted at UT-Austin. Not really surprised or disappointed because I had trouble really picking faculty whose research I liked to mention in my personal statement.