Undergrad senior seeking grad school advise!!

[Jocelyn-xo]

Alright so for the longest time I wanted to be like Bones and pursue forensic anthropology. Texas State has a MA program for forensic anthropology and that was my plan. I am now realizing that I am more passionate about getting a MA or PhD in bioarchaeology specifically in the region of the Andes or Peru, My undergrad anthro department focused on Maya archaeology so many of my undergrad classes are related to the Maya region. Would it be easier to get into a program that focuses on that? Does it make a huge difference if I get an MA or PhD? I have zero funds for grad school so I will be living entirely off of grants or end up in a huge amount of debt (which I've accepted). I have been on 2 study abroad trips: One an archaeological field school in Belize and another not a field school but still studying the Maya in the Yucatan, Should I do another field school? I know I need an internship as well but I have yet to find one near me that relates to bioarchaeology. Any advice would help!

[phyanth]

Did you by chance go to PFB? 

I would try to do a field school in the region you're interested in, if financially possible. You can't help the coursework that your department had, so I would focus on how that coursework prepared you to do further work in bioarch. Be specific on what you want to study in Andes/Peru, and how you are going to execute that research. It may be easier to get into a Maya focused program, but is that what you really want to do for the rest of your life? The PhD level requires that kind of commitment. You may be able to change what within the Maya you would like to study, but if you completely change what you want to do once in a program, then that program may not be able to offer the kind of training you would want. Don't worry so much about having a Maya focused background and focus more on how those experiences will help your dissertation level work. Field schools all share some basic techniques, and so they will be happy to see that you at least have some field training. It sounds like you don't have a specific focus, so you may want to also look at M.A. programs, which still have funding.

My M.A. offered complete tuition remission and assistantships.  

[Bschaefer]

My BA and MA focused on Andean bioarchaeology. I took classes that spanned across Latin America so having the regional focus is fine. That really shouldn’t hinder you because all experience is good experience in anthropology. It would be easier to get the MA and network in the Andean sphere and then apply to PhD in Andean Bioarchaeology rather then directly PhD. Can i ask why you want to switch regions?

[bioarch_fan]

11 hours ago, Jocelyn-xo said:

Alright so for the longest time I wanted to be like Bones and pursue forensic anthropology. Texas State has a MA program for forensic anthropology and that was my plan. I am now realizing that I am more passionate about getting a MA or PhD in bioarchaeology specifically in the region of the Andes or Peru, My undergrad anthro department focused on Maya archaeology so many of my undergrad classes are related to the Maya region. Would it be easier to get into a program that focuses on that? Does it make a huge difference if I get an MA or PhD? I have zero funds for grad school so I will be living entirely off of grants or end up in a huge amount of debt (which I've accepted). I have been on 2 study abroad trips: One an archaeological field school in Belize and another not a field school but still studying the Maya in the Yucatan, Should I do another field school? I know I need an internship as well but I have yet to find one near me that relates to bioarchaeology. Any advice would help!

I'm a bioarchaeology MA student; however, my specialty is in Europe (particularly Italy). I, like you, started out wanting to do forensics, but that changed quickly when I talked to my undergrad advisor and she told me that I should think about doing bioarch primarily and do forensics on the side. Now I am a lot more bioarch and very little forensics. The question about MA vs PhD really depends on what you want to do with your work. If you want to teach...yes you need to get a PhD. It's very rare for MAs to get a teaching position. If you just want to work for CRM firms here in the US or for a field school in Peru, then maybe a MA will be fine. It all truly depends on what you want to do with your future. I do say that you should definitely get some experience doing a bioarchaeology field school if you can. That will greatly enhance your application and it will also help to make sure this is what you want to do with the next few years of your life.

Don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions!