Pointers & Guidance for Grad Programs

[Westmore]

Hi everyone, this is my first post but I've been lurking the threads here for the last few months. I'd really appreciate some honest feedback and pointers on my stats for graduate programs in sociocultural anthropology. I would love your advice on a few topics: should I only be looking at MA programs or direct stream PhD programs? Should I retake my GRE? Take another degree? Or just refine my research interests? My long term goal is to pursue a PhD in sociocultural anthropology. 

BG: I'm an American studying in Canada. I'm open to applying to programs in the US, Canada, and the UK

Topic(s) of Interest: Very general interests in anthropology of globalization, technology, multinational corporations in East Asia. Because I lack a degree in anthropology, I lack a clear idea for a research project. (Probably indicates that I should be looking only at MA programs.) 

Programs of Interest: University of Toronto, University of Calgary, University of Hawaii. The pipe dream is UC Berkeley.

GPA: My degree is in General Business with a minor in Anthropology. My undergrad CGPA is 3.30 (I did not fair too well in finance, accounting, calculus) but my final two year GPA is 3.6. Anthropology Minor GPA is 3.93. I have a pretty strong upward trend in my grades after struggling my first year as a double major in Comp Sci and Business haha... 

GRE: V-159 | Q-155 | AW-5.0  

Misc Experience: I work as a Teaching Assistant for a capstone Management Studies course in the business school and I'm a Research Assistant for an organizational psychology project. The project involves coding and indexing workplace ethnographies produced by sociologists and anthropologists. I'll also be second author on the publication.  

I'm planning on taking a gap year as I'll be working as an Assistant Language Teacher in Japan through the JET Program. After a year in Japan I'd like to work on grad school applications and/or be making steps in the right direction to get admitted to my top choices. 

Pointers and guidance welcome! 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Westmore

[nmpps]

It sounds like you have a really strong head start on your application! 

First, given that your degree is in something unrelated to anthropology I'd double check the application requirements to make sure that the program doesn't require a BA or BS in anthropology or a related field. I have never really run into this issue and because your minor was in anthropology you should be good. Even so, it's good to double check.

I also don't think that having broad research interests limits you to only MA programs, especially since you have loads of experience. I'd recommend reading through stuff written by your POI and ask yourself about what's missing and where you could improve upon their work. Regardless of program type (MA or PhD), I think it is important to have a well thought out, contextualized plan of research in your statement of purpose, even if its not specific because you'll flesh it out even more as you go on in your graduate career.

Last, I personally hate the GRE and I think the only reason I could get away with my abysmal scores is because of my breadth of experience and high GPA. That said, if you feel like your overall GPA is weak, then retaking the GRE and scoring well in the quant section could offset it. According to other anthro graduate students, GRE is also super important but having a higher score can't hurt you.

Overall, I think that there are so many factors that play into admission decisions that it won't be one thing that gets you accepted or rejected. By strengthening your application in its entirety you definietly increase your odds. 

I hope this helps! I'm not very good at giving advice so hopefully this is all clear!

[hj2012]

Obligatory "not an anthropologist," but I might have some insight on your research interests and target schools:

1. Are you fluent in Japanese (or whatever language(s) you might need for your dissertation)? That would be one obvious place to focus your attention. From casual observation, a good number of students seem to go from area studies MAs to anthro PhD programs, if you feel you need more academic preparation.

2. That's great you're doing JET! I'd approach your time abroad from the perspective of a field researcher: get into the habit of keeping a diary/notes, seek out opportunities to interact with a variety of people, and see if you can volunteer or intern in sites and spaces that intrigue you. 

3. Considering the lower GPA, I would retake the GRE.

4. If you have not already, familiarize yourself with prominent anthropologists at the nexus of your interests (Ong, Tsing, Miyazaki, etc). See if their theoretical approaches excite you. If not, you might consider other fields: sociology, I/O psychology, perhaps organizational management programs located in business schools.

Feel free to PM me as well!

[hantoo]

I'm a sociocultural anthro student starting a PhD program this Fall so I think I can offer a little help here--there are A LOT of things I wish I had known going into the application process, and looking back there are things I wish I had done differently (I esp. wish I had found this site sooner because there's a lot of great advice here!)

You have an interesting background, and in anthropology programs that can actually give you a big advantage, IMO. Although my undergraduate degree is in anthropology, a lot of my research experience has been interdisciplinary, and that is something that I strongly emphasized in my SOP, and my LOR's were written by an anthropologist/museum specialist, an art historian, and a historian, so my entire application made it clear that I had a diverse education/research experience that informed my current interests in anthro. Your experience as a TA, the experience you will ultimately have from working internationally, and I think some of the research interests you list, will make you a strong candidate.

The first thing that strikes me when I read through your list of anthropological interests and your education background is your business experience. Business anthropology is a specialization that exists in cultural anthro. A year or two ago, my dad told me that there was a "business anthropologist" who came into his office one week to give a few seminars. I eventually got to meet her and hear more about her specialization in studying business/workplace culture. It turned out that she was a PhD candidate in UPenn's cultural anthro program (a top tier school), none of her undergrad experience had been in anthropology, and her dissertation focused on the development of collaborative work spaces and remote workforce management. So, your background in business and the interest you mentioned in multinational corporations in East Asia is actually a really strong place to start if this field sounds like something that would appeal to you. 

Anthropology graduate programs are extremely competitive, and they are probably most competitive when it comes to cultural anthropology. For this reason, you need to be very specific about your research interests. I would recommend reading some scholarly articles related to your interests--see who's writing them and if those people are faculty members at universities (if they are find out where they are), and see what kind of existing research is out there so you can shape your own research proposal. You need to determine: 1) What your research questions are/what exactly it is you want to study 2) Your area of geographic focus to study that topic 3) Why the school you chose to apply to would be the best place to pursue those interests.

In terms of MA vs. PhD, I would encourage you to aim for the PhD if you are able to develop a specific research focus, but maybe also apply to ~2 MA programs if you feel that would be a good back up. In terms of the schools you want to apply to, what I said above about finding out what schools have anthropologists working in your research area is a good place to start. I did not do this for every school I applied to, and I wish I had. The biggest piece of advice I can give about choosing programs to apply to is to not be swayed to apply just because it is a top tier school. Pick a program that fits in well with your interests, where there are practicing anthropologists on the faculty, where you will have opportunities to TA/RA, and where you will be able to publish. Pick the schools where you think you will be able to accomplish the most and get the most out of your experience. 

Finally, with your GPA, etc.--I think your GRE is fine, and I think if you have a strong SOP and LORs, you will be fine. Feel free to message me if you have other questions!

Edited April 25, 2017 by hantoo