2018 Interviews and Results Thread

[Grace Bones]

50 minutes ago, Archaeodan said:

@Grace Bones Alright, for living in the private housing...closer to city center, Ecclesall Road has some decent cheap apartments/houses you can share. This is around the other uni in the city, Sheffield Hallam, so you can get good places. Get closer to around Hunter's Bar and the houses get giant and way out of student price range, but they are worth a walk past to see (and cry about the riches we will never have as archaeologists, but that's neither here nor there). Sheffield's bus system is absolutely great, so are the more pricey trams, but they go fewer places. 

All of my friends were within the department/were roommates with my department friends. That said, not impossible to like the people you end up living with, but finding good roommates without knowing anyone is a crap shoot. Also that said, most of my department friends lived in the same complex as me...so, I guess both in my case...but I didn't know that going in. Making friends in the department was just really easy, cause the department is small so you see the same people all the time and the people were great. I'd suggest not trying to force it by trying to make a house work if you're moving somewhere where you know no one. What worked for me was putting my social efforts into trying to make connections with people I saw a lot/had something in common with. In my case, that wasn't my flatmates. That said, that was just my experience. 

Eh, your experience coming into it sounds a lot like mine before I went. You're more adaptable than you think. It'll be hard, but you'll do it, and you'll do it well. Trust yourself. 

There is a facebook group for people in my program. Once more people get accepted, maybe I can reach out and see if anyone wants to room together as well. 

 

[osteophile]

On 1/28/2018 at 2:59 PM, phyanth said:

From what I've seen on the boards and results, it seems like the sociocultural and bioanth committees convene separately and most of the results are for sociocultural tracks. Has anyone applying for bioanth tracks heard anything regarding interviews/offers?

Bioanth/bioarchaeology here. I had phone interviews with POIs at Purdue on 1/5 and 1/8. I received an acceptance and funding offer 1/26. Haven't heard back from any other schools yet (Ohio State, Oklahoma, UNLV, UNReno). 

[Mofanth]

Do you guys know if all the interview offers are sent out from UPenn? Or is there anyone who got accepted without having an interview in the past (not only UPenn but in general)?

[yezzy123]

1 hour ago, Mofanth said:

Do you guys know if all the interview offers are sent out from UPenn? Or is there anyone who got accepted without having an interview in the past (not only UPenn but in general)?

I don't know, but I am applying there too and almost had a heart attack when I saw the results today. But it looks like the poster meant Penn State. I wouldn't be too worried as of this moment. Hope that helps. 

[jackofclubs]

21 hours ago, waltzforzizi said:

So many arch acceptances showing up, yay!

Where are you seeing this? As far as I can tell, the results page is really only showing Cambridge and a couple other schools?

[waltzforzizi]

2 hours ago, jackofclubs said:

Where are you seeing this? As far as I can tell, the results page is really only showing Cambridge and a couple other schools?

Sorry. I mean in relation to socio results. 5 since the 29th and 3 before that. Socio has like dozens of updates. I meant just any feedback for arch applications. 

[indigopierogy]

Hi everybody, 

 

So I'm not an anthropologist, I'm a wannabe geographer, but I applied to Louisiana State University's Geography and Anthropology Dept's Ph.D. program. Has anyone heard of this program or applied to it? I'm not seeing anybody saying they applied and its made me worried I wasted that application money!

[phyanth]

@indigopierogy why would you be worried that you wasted your money? If there’s someone there that you genuinely want to work with, and the school is a good fit, then I don’t see how that would be a waste.

[sideeye_emoji]

How are people feeling post-interview? I've had two so far, so I feel lucky, but I don't feel that either of them went well... at all. I feel like if anything I hurt my chances. It'll feel so rough if I come so close only to sabotage myself interview-wise...

[indigopierogy]

4 hours ago, phyanth said:

@indigopierogy why would you be worried that you wasted your money? If there’s someone there that you genuinely want to work with, and the school is a good fit, then I don’t see how that would be a waste.

There wasn't anyone in *particular* I wanted to work with, but I also am looking for programs that study race in the United States, my focus is on white supremacist organizations using ethnographic methods. I'd prefer to work above the Mason-Dixon Line, but I didn't find a ton of programs that appealed, considering many focus on archeology or other kinds of sociocultural phenomena. However, for a Ph.D. program I want to make sure that if I do get accepted, I'm choosing a program that not only will give me the kind of research experience that I want and need but also the kind of prestige of "Oh yeah, they went to get their Ph.D. at a school that is actually good at x, y or z" rather than "Huh, this school isn't actually the greatest for these reasons". I don't know if that's reasonable or not.

[phyanth]

@indigopierogy I kind of see what you’re saying, but am a little confused. Are you saying that you’re interested in sociocultural anth, but can’t find POI’s doing research on white supremacist orgs? Or that you’re wanting to do something with white supremacist orgs and geography? 

Regarding prestige, LSU is definitely a recognizable name, but there aren’t really much in the way of official rankings for anthropology. It also depends on the subfield. And your advisor.

for the record, I also applied to the program at LSU  

 

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by phyanth

[lylark]

9 hours ago, sideeye_emoji said:

How are people feeling post-interview? I've had two so far, so I feel lucky, but I don't feel that either of them went well... at all. I feel like if anything I hurt my chances. It'll feel so rough if I come so close only to sabotage myself interview-wise...

Same! I've had two interviews as well. The second one felt better because I knew more of what to expect, and both were friendly discussions about my project/interests/goals, but it's hard not to ramble on or freeze up. In hindsight I'm realizing I have noooo idea how it went. Still, felt good to at least get this far. 

[waltzforzizi]

Berkeley acceptance.....things are heating up

[phyanth]

18 minutes ago, waltzforzizi said:

Berkeley acceptance.....things are heating up

Congrats!!! You were sociocultural, correct? 

@sideeye_emoji and @lylark, I have one coming up, and am super nervous. I get terrible anxiety in interviews, so I’m terrified of completely choking up. Any interview tips? Or things to expect?

[sideeye_emoji]

@phyanth, congrats! I would just say be as thoroughgoing as you can about anticipating how the interview might go given the info you have. Write down questions you might expect to be asked given your interviewers' backgrounds and practice answering them. Have a short list on hand of people you've read/consider yourself in conversation with in case you blank. And have at least one thoughtful question ready to ask them about the program/departmental culture. (All of this advice comes from my rumination on my failings in my own interviews, lol.) But I'm sociocultural, so YMMV. Good luck, though!!

@lylark, so true-- it's so hard to know how it went! I bet you did fine, though.

[waltzforzizi]

1 hour ago, phyanth said:

Congrats!!! You were sociocultural, correct? 

@sideeye_emoji and @lylark, I have one coming up, and am super nervous. I get terrible anxiety in interviews, so I’m terrified of completely choking up. Any interview tips? Or things to expect?

OMG, no haha. Sorry, It isn't me. Dang, I really need to stop being cryptic with my responses. Talking about results board. I am arch just like you.

Edited February 2, 2018 by waltzforzizi
word choice

[AnthroScout]

When I did my two interview with professors at American, I had "cheat sheets" printed for each professor. They included their names (obviously), research background, a few recent publications or news articles about them, and their alma maters. I treated it just like I did for job interviews and important exams; study as much as you can and have the right information in front of you.

I didn't rely on it, I was just myself for the most part. Having the information in front of me helped me to keep my head in the game and on track.

[phyanth]

@sideeye_emoji thank you for the detailed insight, I really appreciate it! Now, to comb through research...

@waltzforzizi oh goodness, I completely misread your post! Haha, well good luck, hopefully positive news will head your way!

[phyanth]

Has anyone heard about interviews for WUSTL bioanth? 

[indigopierogy]

18 hours ago, phyanth said:

@indigopierogy I kind of see what you’re saying, but am a little confused. Are you saying that you’re interested in sociocultural anth, but can’t find POI’s doing research on white supremacist orgs? Or that you’re wanting to do something with white supremacist orgs and geography? 

Regarding prestige, LSU is definitely a recognizable name, but there aren’t really much in the way of official rankings for anthropology. It also depends on the subfield. And your advisor.

for the record, I also applied to the program at LSU  

 

 

Sorry, to clarify, my field training is Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (my undergrad and MA) but I am looking to get a Ph.D. in Geography. LSU offers a Geography Ph.D. through their Anthro/Geography dept. However, the Geography forum is kind of dead on this site, so I thought I would check out what anthro people are saying, and in terms of LSU, it wasn't much! So I got a little worried! In terms of WGSS programs or Geography programs, there are certain programs that everyone applies to (for example, lots of people apply to Penn State in Geography, it is v. renowned for climatology/physical geography and in WGSS lots of people apply to University of Washington). 

 

This could have something to do with the number of programs though rather than the status of them. Or maybe when there are only 14 WGSS Ph.D. granting institutions, they HAVE to have some level of name recognition within the community. 

What is your subfield in anthropology? 

 

[lylark]

@phyanthI do too, and I know it helps me to feel very prepared, so I also made a whole cheat-sheet with different questions they might ask. I didn't really look at it at all during the interviews,  but it was very helpful to go through the process beforehand. At both schools, they mostly wanted to talk about my project and interests. They both asked me to describe a genealogy of my current topical and regional interests. There were some questions about which theorists I liked (I think maybe a subtle way of looking at which schools of thought I'd adhere to?), and discussion of concretely how I wanted to approach my project, but it was all very casual--not like they were grilling me or anything. They also wanted to know what questions I had, which was nice. I'd definitely come up with a few beforehand if you haven't already. Also, this is kind of unrelated, but at Chicago, the interviewer mostly seemed like he was trying to sell me on the program, which was nice, but he talked a lot about how they were trying to cut back on the competitive atmosphere. As I didn't ask about that, it seemed kind of concerning. I know from talking to people elsewhere that they have a reputation for being academically rigorous, but now I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with that/knows about the department atmosphere? 

[Archaeodan]

3 hours ago, lylark said:

but he talked a lot about how they were trying to cut back on the competitive atmosphere

Hey @lylark, I wouldn't think too far ahead of that comment. Ask them about what they mean by it, but where I went for my masters had the same philosophy and it was a GOOD thing. Competitive atmospheres can be bad, in that it can make for a toxic work environment of people not trusting each other/professors and grad students trying to one-up each other/other nastiness. Think about it this way, if everyone's always trying to win, there are gonna be people who lose, and the morale of the department could be worse for it. In a working environment like grad school, you're there for far too long working with the same people for years...do you really want that kind of rat race animosity in the department as well? Some places recognize the value of being there to lift each other up/fostering collaboration/being a safe haven away from the rest of the shit show of academia where everything is a competition. Limited competitive atmosphere means you can go talk to/use facilities of other professors, talk out difficult questions with other students, basically have a pleasant working environment. Don't knock it or worry about it until you know for sure how they mean it. Chicago's rep is great, I don't think they mean to ease up on their rigor.

[bioarch_fan]

On 1/30/2018 at 11:42 PM, osteophile said:

Bioanth/bioarchaeology here. I had phone interviews with POIs at Purdue on 1/5 and 1/8. I received an acceptance and funding offer 1/26. Haven't heard back from any other schools yet (Ohio State, Oklahoma, UNLV, UNReno). 

Congrats!!! Purdue is definitely on my list for PhD programs to apply to next year!!!  

[decolonizeyourmind]

Is the person or people who posted on the results board about Brown on this forum? It’s easier to reply here. I was accepted via phone call and have yet to receive an official email. She didn’t say anything about the rest of the cohort and I didn’t ask. I did interview, I’m the one they considered archaeology (I study indigenous material culture and decolonizing museum theory) even though I put down sociocultural. My background is not at all in Anthro, so it was a surprise! I’m sure they’ll let others know very soon. Recruitment weekend March 1-3.

[tamaloo]

Does anyone know if UCLA typically does interviews? I saw a post on the board asking someone who got accepted about interviews.