Fall 2010 - Anthro Admissions Results

[lizgb]

Hi there- anyone apply to Duke's Evo Anthro program? What is their deal? I got an email from them Sunday night (Jan 31) inviting me to an interview on February 8th! That's barely more than a week's notice! I have three other interviews this month plus work on the days that I'm actually at home. I emailed them back promptly telling them that I have a conflict for that week and if I could possibly reschedule but I've heard nothing back. Anyone else having this problem?

[applyingwaitingstressing]

haha nope left that detail out ... but i'm thinking if some people are hearing then... they have to be getting close? i hope? maybe?

By the way, did they happen to mention when accepted students might start to hear back?

[Gigsed]

Prof. Goldstein did dominate the interviewing but that was alright for me because he is the person I would most likely work with (or at least work with the most) because his research is most relevant to my interests. but yeah, since he was on both of our calls, maybe one can conclude that he is the "lead" ad com member. does it usually work like that?

yeah, i was expecting prof. magana to be the second interviewer so i was surprised when prof. schein introduced herself. i'm jealous that you got prof. magana because she would have been a little more relevant for me and i was not very familiar with prof. schein at all. i felt so bad but they didn't test me on it or anything and i was able to show that i am familiar with prof. goldstein.

my interview was super short, by the way. and i mean, less than 15 minutes! it was a really quick conversation.

i agree; rutgers has a great program and i would be so happy to be there.

what kind of field work are doing in new brunswick?

That's am inmtesting theory about Goldstein. I was just interested because with the exception of one question during my interview he was the only one of the pair who did any speaking. Because Magana was relatively new I wondered if it was a junior senior thing (she only graduated two years ago in 2008 I think), a result of the medium or that he was a take charge kinda guy.

My interest in New Brunswick is as follows:- my theoretical interest is in small scale populations incorporation and my particular geographic focus is on Mongolian-Americans. New Brunswick was one of the original sites of Kalmyk Mongol migration in the 1950s and they have been holding a Chinggis Khan celebration in New Brunswick sine the 1980s. So for those reasons it is one of the initial sites I wanted to take a look at along with along with Philadelphia.

[punkybugsy]

Hi there- anyone apply to Duke's Evo Anthro program? What is their deal? I got an email from them Sunday night (Jan 31) inviting me to an interview on February 8th! That's barely more than a week's notice! I have three other interviews this month plus work on the days that I'm actually at home. I emailed them back promptly telling them that I have a conflict for that week and if I could possibly reschedule but I've heard nothing back. Anyone else having this problem?

Were you contacted by a POI or a program coordinator? Gahhh I'm still holding out hope for this program. Congrats on the interview though. If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I'm interested in knowing what they're looking for.

[samjones]

That's am inmtesting theory about Goldstein. I was just interested because with the exception of one question during my interview he was the only one of the pair who did any speaking. Because Magana was relatively new I wondered if it was a junior senior thing (she only graduated two years ago in 2008 I think), a result of the medium or that he was a take charge kinda guy.

My interest in New Brunswick is as follows:- my theoretical interest is in small scale populations incorporation and my particular geographic focus is on Mongolian-Americans. New Brunswick was one of the original sites of Kalmyk Mongol migration in the 1950s and they have been holding a Chinggis Khan celebration in New Brunswick sine the 1980s. So for those reasons it is one of the initial sites I wanted to take a look at along with along with Philadelphia.

wow. that is especially interesting about new brunswick! it's always the smaller/hardly known places with really good history, hey? especially in terms of immigrant/refugee history. were you able to reiterate your site interest in New Brunswick during the interview? i bet that would have been a very strong point.

yeah, i noticed prof. magana is new, too. her dissertation must have been awesome to be so well placed so soon! that's pretty exciting.

[Gigsed]

wow. that is especially interesting about new brunswick! it's always the smaller/hardly known places with really good history, hey? especially in terms of immigrant/refugee history. were you able to reiterate your site interest in New Brunswick during the interview? i bet that would have been a very strong point.

yeah, i noticed prof. magana is new, too. her dissertation must have been awesome to be so well placed so soon! that's pretty exciting.

I didn't but I was trying to avoid just rehashing my personal statement and as I had like two lines on that particular point I sorta felt that they would have known that already.

Your right that smaller places are often interesting in that way. I didn't know till recently for example that their is apparently a significant Laotian presence in Providence. The USA is just filled with crazy awesome research opportunities in general.

And I agree by reckoning Magana would have to be pretty hot stuff to be in a tenure track position effectively one year out of grad school. I already like her though cause she's committed to action anthropology.

[lizgb]

Were you contacted by a POI or a program coordinator? Gahhh I'm still holding out hope for this program. Congrats on the interview though. If you don't mind me asking, what are your stats? I'm interested in knowing what they're looking for.

Hmm.. I'm not sure. I was contacted by Lisa Squires, Assistant to the DGS.

My Stats:

double major in Genetics/Evo. Anthropology

UGPA: 3.96

GRE: 710 quant, 570 verbal, 5.0 AW. I also took the subject test in bio and got an 820 (I think?)

Did undergrad research in primate genetics and spent one month at a field school in Kenya.

Duke is the only school I've seen that actually publishes their admission statistics for GPA and GRE and such. They seem to vary wildly from year to year so I don't really know what their looking for. Experience maybe?

I mostly applied to biology or genetics programs- I applied to Duke because they have such a strong primatology emphasis. Love those monkeys!

[lizgb]

My interest in New Brunswick is as follows:- my theoretical interest is in small scale populations incorporation and my particular geographic focus is on Mongolian-Americans. New Brunswick was one of the original sites of Kalmyk Mongol migration in the 1950s and they have been holding a Chinggis Khan celebration in New Brunswick sine the 1980s. So for those reasons it is one of the initial sites I wanted to take a look at along with along with Philadelphia.

Wow. I am learning all sorts of things about the city I've lived in for the past 4 years just by reading this thread. Good luck to you both at Rutgers if you get in. It's a really fun school!

[Gigsed]

Wow. I am learning all sorts of things about the city I've lived in for the past 4 years just by reading this thread. Good luck to you both at Rutgers if you get in. It's a really fun school!

Thanks. Good luck with Duke and your other interviews.

[lizgb]

Thanks. Good luck with Duke and your other interviews.

Thanks! You too.

[samjones]

Your right that smaller places are often interesting in that way. I didn't know till recently for example that their is apparently a significant Laotian presence in Providence. The USA is just filled with crazy awesome research opportunities in general.

yeah, it's amazing what happens in unexpected places. for example, the largest community of somali are... in minnesota!! i lived in minnesota and discovered there's good reason for it, but most people are in awe of it. the same with the huge population of hmong in minnesota, too.

migration patterns/refugee placement is totally interesting.

[Gigsed]

yeah, it's amazing what happens in unexpected places. for example, the largest community of somali are... in minnesota!! i lived in minnesota and discovered there's good reason for it, but most people are in awe of it. the same with the huge population of hmong in minnesota, too.

migration patterns/refugee placement is totally interesting.

Yeah I heard about the Hmong didn't a large number of the men die the first couple of years they were their from homesickness?

[anthaspirant]

Hey Duke finalists: Congratulations! Care to share any more info? Should we assume that all the finalists have been e-mailed already? I guess calling is the only way to get final confirmation, but I'd rather not, and I'm curious if no e-mail means no admit at this point.

[applyingwaitingstressing]

i think you should call. a wise person told me to not let grad cafe ever convince you are in or out... so the best thing to do is go to the source. you can always send an email... the grad coordinator responds pretty promptly. good luck!

Hey Duke finalists: Congratulations! Care to share any more info? Should we assume that all the finalists have been e-mailed already? I guess calling is the only way to get final confirmation, but I'd rather not, and I'm curious if no e-mail means no admit at this point.

[samjones]

Yeah I heard about the Hmong didn't a large number of the men die the first couple of years they were their from homesickness?

yeah, they were calling it SUDS and SUNDS. i don't think people really know what was happening.... ugh! totally heartbreaking, especially if it really was rooted in homesickness.

[lizgb]

i think you should call. a wise person told me to not let grad cafe ever convince you are in or out... so the best thing to do is go to the source. you can always send an email... the grad coordinator responds pretty promptly. good luck!

Really? I have been trying to get Duke to email me back all week and have heard nothing besides the initial invite. It's really irritating, especially since this is kind of a time-sensitive issue.

[applyingwaitingstressing]

sorry - should have specified that was cultural... but in our email it said that interviews were via skype... maybe yours are too and they just forgot that little tidbit?

Really? I have been trying to get Duke to email me back all week and have heard nothing besides the initial invite. It's really irritating, especially since this is kind of a time-sensitive issue.

[anthaspirant]

i think you should call. a wise person told me to not let grad cafe ever convince you are in or out... so the best thing to do is go to the source. you can always send an email... the grad coordinator responds pretty promptly. good luck!

You're right of course. It just seems to me that if someone was able to get a solid number (21 finalists), which I assume is a genuine post, then there's no reason why all the finalists wouldn't have been notified today. I e-mailed the grad coordinator, so I'll probably know sometime after 5 AM my time. The grad school wait has so enveloped my life that I have Gmail automatically texting me when I get e-mails from certain domains (duke.edu for example)... so I'm probably going to get a wake-up text, then I'll get to sleep off the bad news! The only possibility I'm considering is if they left the possible advisers to contact their potential advisees, and some haven't followed through yet. I assume it was a mass e-mail though... But if they're doing "finalists"--meaning, this is everyone who even has a shot, then they filter down to acceptances, and the rest of the finalists go the waitlist--shouldn't they send out rejections at the same time? They don't have to wait to see who matriculates because all the runner-ups will be pulled from the finalists anyway.

Anyway, to clear things up: Was your e-mail from Holly Francis or from someone on faculty? And yes, she has been really prompt and helpful, ESPECIALLY compared to some other programs...

[anthro]

If it helps anyone who is still wondering about Duke cultural anthro, I called Holly Francis today, and she asked for my name and then told me it wasn't on the list. She said there were 21 'finalists' on the list but I didn't press for more details. She basically conveyed the impression that by not being on 'the list' I was completely out of the running. I can't speak to whether those people who are on the list all received a bulk notification e-mail or not. Basically, if anyone is still agonizing, I would recommend calling her and just asking. Although painful, it was worth it for me personally to just be able to try to put it out of my mind and move on. Congrats to those who have interviews and best of luck to everyone!

[papayadance]

Just got this mass email message from UPenn coordinator...sigh.

Thank you for your application to the graduate Anthropology program at Penn.

Our faculty is currently reviewing applications and we hope to have decisions announced by the first week of March. Decisions will first be sent via email, and all accepted applicants will receive a subsequent hard copy via mail.

Thank you and best to you all in your academic endeavors,

Zoe

[lordcromer]

News:

I appear scheduled for an interview with Yale faculty next week.

[punkybugsy]

Update for Duke's Ev Anthro - This may or may not be pertinent, but I noticed an error for a submission in my application and I emailed to clear it up. I assumed they would have told me I was rejected at this point if there was no more hope and they didn't. So for those of us who haven't heard, there may still be a chance.

[anthaspirant]

I can confirm that Duke cultural anthro is done selecting finalists.

[Nina]

My friend has been offered an interview from Stanford.

Also, I saw a posting on the result page about Yale interview.

I did not hear from these two schools about the interview. Does this mean i am rejected?

[Rebecca C]

I'm giving it until Friday and then I'm going to consider it dead to me.

MMm I applied to University of South Florida for Applied Anthro....still waiting....got into UCF for Sociology but that was my backup. UCLA never responded so I'm sure that's out....then there's FSU for Sociology which I'm unsure.

Haven't gotten any funding though I'm on the short waiting list at UCF, hopefully ppl will turn down offers there if they have better ones so that I can have their monies! hahaha. yayaaaay