Getting into graduate school in anthropology: What we/I look for in applicants

I am serving on the admissions committee of my department again this year, and as usual we are in a position to admit at maximum 20% of the total applicants we receive. I don’t want to reveal the confidential deliberations of the committee, but it has gotten me thinking a lot about how to apply for graduate school, what I look for in an application and how people should prepare theirs. What people look for varies from place to place, and different people will have different priorities than I do, but I offer this to help orient people to an application process that is often confusing and opaque to people who go through it. What, then, do I look for when we admit people to graduate school?

GREs and GPA: The GREs and your grade point average are, obviously, not completely transparent and infallible indicators of your innate biological intelligence. However, our school does require them, and we do look at them. Having a low GPA and low GREs is not the end of the world, since strong recommendations and application essays can offset these scores. But you do not want the people trying to admit you to have to dig around deep in your dossier for proof you would be a good candidate. Having high scores could mean any number of things — they could mean simply that you are punctual and have good study habits — but they will never mean anything bad. The first thing that gets your application taken seriously are high GREs and a high GPA. But a GRE book or take a course or whatever — it’s worth it.

Is there ‘fit’ between your project and our department?: I teach in a four-field department with topical specialties in medical and ecological anthropology, and a strong areal focus on Asia and the Pacific. If after earning your degree in English literature, you apply to my department to do a cultural studies-inspired reflexive account of pop music in west Africa, how much ‘fit’ will you have in my department? You will end up without specialists in your topic or area, and you will take an extra year to finish your degree as you toil through a mandatory course in which you learn the details of dental hypoplasia. And no: your longstanding desire to visit the romantic island paradise of Hawai’i does not count as an ‘areal focus’.

Do you have a project?: You can have a successful undergraduate career by at excelling at tasks that authority figures give. In graduate school, on the other hand, we look for people who are motivated to pursue an intellectual project that is uniquely there own. Graduate students are the future and we, the past, don’t know what the future will bring. This mean that in your essay you must demonstrate to us that you have a topic, project or goal that you are seeking pursue and that you will be successful in achieving if only you had the resources of our department at your disposal. Ideally, you should be able to demonstrate to us that it is surprising that you are not already in our program since you seem so obviously to be our colleague.

Letters matter: Your letters of recommendation really really matter, and they are best written by someone who 1) knows you well and 2) can address the quality of your academic work. General character references from your pastor are not as useful as letters from academics who have been part of your ‘project’ and can testify that you have an autonomous intellectual trajectory and that you are likely to succeed in your endeavors.

It is ok if your biography is all wonky: Many people took time off between undergrad and graduate school, or switched disciplines. The question is: can you narrative your biography such that your life has coherence and graduate school is the next necessary step for you? Again, coherence and a project are the most important things (especially if you blew away the GREs and your GPA back before you started backpacking across Latin America), not necessarily an orthodox straight-line academic career.

Contact faculty: In our department, and in many other departments, it is perfectly acceptable to contact professors who you might be interested in working with and talking with them about your project, their project, and how it fits. Read what they’ve written to see where they are coming from. It may be that they agree to write you a letter of recommendation which will strengthen your application, or it may be that they decide that you are not right for the program. In any event, being proactive in building intellectual ties can, when done ethically and collegially, be an important part of deciding if our university is right for you and vice versa.

There is more to say, but this should provide some very rough indicators of what we, and other programs like us, look for in graduate students. This round of applications is largely over, at least in the US, but hopefully this will help people orient themselves to future rounds. Too often people keep the admissions process shrouded in secrecy beyond what is required out of our concerns for the integrity of decision making, so if people have feedback as successful applicants or as people who have admitted people in the past and are willing to share, I’d very much like to hear comments and questions — let the flames begin!

Rex

Alex Golub is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His book Leviathans at The Gold Mine has been published by Duke University Press. You can contact him at rex@savageminds.org

51 thoughts on “Getting into graduate school in anthropology: What we/I look for in applicants

  1. I would add emphasize the “fit” part. Not only should you do due diligence to see if it is the right place for you and your desires, for your own happiness… but if you end up being admitted because you have strong grades, letters and scores, then think twice! You risk being unhappy, not fitting in, and having to do it all over again.

    The reality is that admission is not always a sign of good fit. Sometimes departments admit people because they are strong candidates and because other departments have also admitted them… on the assumption that they will do good work even if no one there can advise them. This is bad for you, so go where you want to go, if you can get in, and rank the rest of them by fit. If the best department for your project happens to be in a scurvy-infested island with too much concrete and huge cockroaches… suck it up and go there. If your favorite department just happens to be in the land of milk and honey, count your lucky stars you are in Texas, as they say there.

    By contrast, the best fitting candidate is hard, but not impossible, to admit without strong scores, grades and letters. So contact those two faculty you really really want to work with and let them know how much passion you have. Tailor your application to them so they can be your advocate in the meeting, and pad that sucker with evidence that even though you failed quantum mechanics (twice) it doesn’t reflect your ability and drive to study bilabial fricatives in Uzbek.

  2. Thank you for sharing this information.

    I studied anthropology in undergrad (with an unofficial focus in linguistic anthro). My profs in Chicago suggested to my 2006 graduating class that we NOT go into anthro, due to lack of jobs, lack of reasonable income, and so on.

    I “listened,” and instead pursued a master’s in speech-language pathology (a clinical degree). Even though I’m enjoying bringing in a nice paycheck at this point, I’m still attracted to the idea of returning to anthro. I’m thinking that I’ll work 4-5 years as an SLP and then consider applying for a program, but I’m not sure how that would work out.

    My current profession could be linked to linguistic or medical anthropology, but I’m just concerned about how I would manage convincing admissions that I could smoothly transition from a clinical to academic route (especially since at this point I’m not linked to any university with my job—I work in a nursing facility). I’m an Arabic, Spanish, and Hindi language-learner, but that’s about it when it comes to continued studies.

    Any thoughts? Would volunteering at the Field Museum be a good start to keeping my foot in the anthro dept’s door? Thank you.

  3. I think there is a lot to be said for what Kelty said, re: fit/happiness. I was offered spots in my country’s top schools and also at another lower-ranked school, but chose based on prestige. This was probably a mistake: I dislike the city, the faculty do not care about me (I think my supervisor would like it if I dropped him, because he would have less work), and I rarely interact with more than 5 graduate students because the program is so fragmented. In hindsight, the less prestigious program would probably have been a much less depression/existential angst-inducing experience for me.

    I would be curious to hear about admissions at prestigious schools like LSE/Harvard/Berkeley/Chicago/Cornell. I had a friend who sat on the Cornell admissions committee and was shocked at how they often weeded out applications based on pedigree and the prestige of previous degrees, etc.

  4. One thing to remember is that by the time it gets down to the final selection, everyone being considered is fully qualified. It is then that sheer whimsy may affect who gets the offer. I remember a story I heard at Cornell–do remember this is over 30 years ago. Test scores, etc., had been used to shrink a pool of 200 applicants for 14 places down to the final 50. About half of them would be offered places, the assumption being that at least half of those accepted would choose to go somewhere else. The story goes that one candidate from a small religious school in the Midwest had secured a letter of recommendation from the Minister of her church. The letter began, “You will love this all-American girl.” A prominent faculty member blurted out, “Damn, we haven’t seen one of those in years.” The lady in question was accepted. Did very well, as I recall.

  5. I know I am only a lowly graduate study, but I would recommend applying to programs that have at least two people doing something close to what you want to do. There is always the possibility that your advisor could leave to pursue a job at a different university, get hit by bus, etc. I have not experienced this phenomenon directly but I have seen the effects of the loss of a particular professor. At both my master’s institution and now my current (PhD.) institution a biological anthropologist who was the only one who specialized in a certain field left. The advisees of these students ended receiving less pertinent advice from their new advisors. There new advisors were supportive and did everything in their power to help thsese students but the new advisors did not have enough knowledge of the bioanthropology subfields to provide students with complete advice. Even though cultural anthropology might not have divisions which are as sharp as those in biological anthropology, you do not want to be in situation in which your advisor takes a theoretical approach that is antithetical to your theoretical outlook or be stuck with a group of professors who are uninterested in your area of focus.

  6. It’s interesting that you don’t mention contacting graduate students at potential universities, especially with regards to ‘fit’. Grad students can provide details about the a professor’s current work or what the professor expects from his relationship with advisees. Of course, they’re not always the most reliable source, but they do have the insider perspective on student life with the department. When I contacted faculty they offered to put me in touch with some of their grad students. A few of the students I corresponded with and met during visits also became very helpful friends/mentors when I began grad school.

  7. Asking the graduate students is probably a good idea, but for some reason I associate that with that post-acceptance stage when you are really taking a look at the whole school.

    To address Bethany’s point, and some others, I think the only reason you really go into graduate school (and being a professor!) is because you love what you study and are willing to make sacrifices for it. So it really makes sense to go to the place that is best for you and makes you happiest. It is not going to be cheap or easy, even if afterwards you have the gravitas of a Ph.D. that you can bring to pretty much any position to make you more ‘marketable’. So if you have an itch you need to scratch… scratch it!

  8. Since coming to Australia I’ve notice that there are completely different styles of writing letters of rec than in the U.S. In letters of recommendation from U.S. letter-writers, it’s hard to wade through the superlatives to figure out what distinguishes one candidate from the other, and it is rare to find a referee willing to mention anything negative. Maybe they’re afraid of the stories of people suing for damage to their career (though that must be a rare occurrence).

    In contrast, here in Australia I’ve seen colleagues write letters for students applying to grad school or even for jobs that are quite candid in assessing both the candidate’s weaknesses and strengths, and it doesn’t stop them from getting PhD scholarships or jobs.

    My Australian colleagues take into account the referee’s nationality when assessing letters of recommendation. If the letter-writer is American, they take the praise with a grain of salt. If the letter-writer is Australian or British, they take any praise very seriously.

    What I’ve started to wonder is: Is this something that happens at U.S. institutions? When you are reading letters of recommendation, do you take into account whether they’re written by an American or a Brit or an Australian? Or do British and Australian applicants suffer because their referees write letters that seem, to Americans, lukewarm?

  9. Perhaps it is just because I interact with Australians regularly for professional reasons, but I’ve always been aware of national differences in letters of recommendation and adjust accordingly. As UH we have many international students and think regularly about the difference between recommendation letters from, say, Malaysia and New Zealand.

  10. I’m a 2nd year cultural student at a big/prestigious school. Personally, just glancing at my cohort, there doesn’t appear to be any singular reason behind acceptance. Some people have thought out projects on acceptance, others have not. Some can immediately be associated with a certain faculty member, others not so much. Some with a background in anthro, others not. And some with wonderful GREs, and some like myself with awful ones.

    I found applying a harrowing experience, and found it odd to be accepted to big schools and rejected by those with less ostensible reputations. So in the end I think a little bit of honesty and sincerity in writing about what you really want to work on- whether coherent (as a project) or not, is the best way. What else can one do- at least you can stand on that- that ‘you’ applied rather than an odd, application version of yourself. There just seems little rhyme or reason to application processes, at least from the outside.

    But I think, even scrolling down a grad student page at a department does reveal, to some extent, why that university chose those students. But then I also think it’s too easy and disingenuous to give advice, having been successful myself at the process. I always think it’s like movie stars, or wealthy people, or those successful in relationships, or success in mushroom picking, anything- it’s easy, and maybe a little nice, to be throwaway with the difficulties of any process that is unknown. A famous person doesn’t know how they became famous, similarly a rich person, or a happy one, and similarly a successful academic, whatever your measure of a person. All I know is that one may hold out hope for bureaucratic mistakes.

    I don’t know that contacting grad students is wise, for like me, I don’t think they actually know why they were accepted to a specific university. But then, I know so many faculty, from the likes of Chicago and Michigan, that will say, time and again, that they would not be accepted these days, and that it was far easier to be accepted back in the day, or at least easier to be accepted with an off-center academic past.

    I do think that the entire process produces people who either feel very lucky or very arrogant, and this shapes their approach to grad school. Neither probably very productive.

  11. It may not be an issue for some, but I think for many students it is worth while to find out what recent graduates from a program are doing. Do they get jobs? Doing what?

  12. As a anthropology undergrad. I found this blog very very helpful. I am currently studying aboard for a semester in New Zealand focusing on ethnomusicology and the maori culture. Does studying abroad help my graduate application? Or is just expected that an anthro major will have done some sort of abroad study? (sorry for my grammar.)

  13. @Gabriele,

    I would say that studying abroad is probably looked upon as a positive factor, but is not terribly important in and of itself, and such things as grades, a good research project, and references will be much more important. In terms of its relationship to your graduate career, it could be more important if you are able to generate a feasible research project from your experiences (e.g., you think there is an issue worth studying about the Maori or your experiences there made you interested in some such issues, which you now have some experience with, etc.).

    That my opinion, for what it is worth

  14. I think it depends on where you apply — some places feel studying abroad is a good indicator that you can do fieldwork and have some idea what you’re getting into. Because we have so many students studying in Asia, we are very concerned about language competency, so if someone can demonstrate that their years living in a monastery in rural Laos has given them fluent Laotian then yes, that is definitely a plus. On the other hand, I’m not particularly impressed by people who have lived in/visited 20 countries in 7 years — however adventuresome you consider it, it doesn’t give you skills/experience in a particular area. At least that’s my feeling.

    Again, fit the study abroad into your project/narrative and make it compelling ,as CJ says,

  15. “I was offered spots in my country’s top schools and also at another lower-ranked school, but chose based on prestige. This was probably a mistake: I dislike the city, the faculty do not care about me (I think my supervisor would like it if I dropped him, because he would have less work), and I rarely interact with more than 5 graduate students because the program is so fragmented. In hindsight, the less prestigious program would probably have been a much less depression/existential angst-inducing experience for me.”

    That was most certainly not a mistake. As long as you finish (the wild card here), you will have a better chance of getting a job than with a degree from the less prestigious program. Ask around enough and you’ll see that grad school is miserable for everyone, everywhere — and also that the prestige (of lack thereof) of your terminal degree-granting institution marks you forever.

  16. “…the prestige (of lack thereof) of your terminal degree-granting institution marks you forever.”

    Oh goody. Hurray for the politics of anthropological education. Sounds pretty antithetical to the discipline as a whole to buy into this sort of thing…

    I understand the fact that this mentality is out there, but it’s my goal to resist it on all fronts.

  17. If thou wouldst seek purity above all, get thee to a monastery or hermitage. There is no other practical advice one can give.

    Should, however, you continue to pursue an academic career, it may be worth recalling Clifford Geertz’s observation that the characteristic pattern of social mobility in academia is down and away from its core institutions. Thus, for example, he notes, one can always find someone who went to Princeton at a small college in Mississipi. You do not find people who got advanced degrees in Mississippi teaching at Princeton. There may be exceptions to these rules, but individuals in question are truly extraordinary.

  18. Ryan- Are we to assume your terminal degree is from South Dakota State University? Iagree with your point though.

  19. jlo:

    “Ryan- Are we to assume your terminal degree is from South Dakota State University? I agree with your point though.”

    Hahaha. Assume away. None of you will ever know since I bring my sharpie to AAA meetings and simply write in the most politically popular university of the year…

    In all seriousness, I am awaiting responses from universities at present, but I didn’t apply to South Dakota. You can rest assured though, I will not be gracing the halls of Yale or Princeton.

    John: It has nothing to do with seeking purity. It’s politics, and we’re thick in it. No big surprise there, but that doesn’t mean all of us in the system’s trenches have to like it and accept it.

  20. One more for John,

    “Thus, for example, he notes, one can always find someone who went to Princeton at a small college in Mississipi. You do not find people who got advanced degrees in Mississippi teaching at Princeton. There may be exceptions to these rules, but individuals in question are truly extraordinary.”

    Ah, I see. So, since Geertz defined the politically influenced migration patterns of anthropologists back in the 1970s or 1980s, we should all just sit back and accept the system since “that’s the way it is.”

    Sounds like a great plan.

  21. No, you don’t have to just accept it. But if you want to change it, you have to get beyond bitching about it. Consider Paul Wellstone’s advice: “Mobilize, energize, organize!” And don’t forget that, precisely because you are taking on big, established institutions and interests, you are in for a long, hard fight. Are you up for it?

  22. This is a very interesting issue, and hopefully one that generates more comments.

    Although I am at MY country’s “best” school (debatable, but always in the debate), the faculty are mostly American (Chicago, Michigan, Harvard. UC-whatever) or British (LSE, Cambridge, London) trained. And, many of my mentors were trying to get me to go to US schools for PhD work, which, though a pragmatic suggestion for a careerist type, was unappealing because I do not want to live in the US, write the ridiculous GREs, or finish my degree when I am 30-something.

    So, it seems that American outward social mobility extends beyond its borders. I find the dominance of American prestige schools is somewhat disheartening, personally, and wish that the exchange was a bit less unidirectional.

  23. John,

    “No, you don’t have to just accept it.”

    Agreed.

    “But if you want to change it, you have to get beyond bitching about it.”

    I fully agree with you. I would put this in the category of long term goals. Wish me luck. First, though, I will have to work within the system. Gotta pay the old dues before I can achieve the long terms goals. More politics.

    “And don’t forget that, precisely because you are taking on big, established institutions and interests, you are in for a long, hard fight. Are you up for it?”

    Well, we’ll find out won’t we? Hopefully we’re all up for it.

  24. CJ:

    “So, it seems that American outward social mobility extends beyond its borders. I find the dominance of American prestige schools is somewhat disheartening, personally, and wish that the exchange was a bit less unidirectional.”

    I agree with you that the dominance of American schools is disheartening, and that the exchange can and SHOULD be a lot more multi-directional.

    This is an issue that is of great interest to me–what we do with our knowledge, and the internal politics involved in the process. One book that comes to mind that addresses this in some aspects is Lem and Leach’s 2002 book Culture, Economy, Power. Any other suggestions?

  25. bq. Well, we’ll find out won’t we? Hopefully we’re all up for it.

    Please don’t forget the value of fellow travelers to any revolutionary movement.

    As someone going on 65, I, for example, am happy to keep plugging away as an independent scholar, supported by a small business that (fingers crossed this year) provides a comfortable income.

    Having been both an adman and a political activist as well as an anthropologist, I note, however, how many people these days are like me; they have advanced degrees in anthropology but are making their livings in other ways than pursuing academic careers. It strikes me that they could provide important support for the discipline if they weren’t made to feel excluded from it because of the jobs they have found.

  26. On the question of “fit”: my choice of university wasn’t well thought out or researched. I wrote one letter to the department chair explaining my interests, got a “come in and visit us”, and that was it (I never did visit). I chose that university simply because I happened to be living in that state when the eureka moment came (as in: “after three years of bumming around, I’m bored; time to go back to school and give these grey cells a workout”). I wasn’t concerned to go to the “best” schools, or to pad my chances by applying multiply. I had one choice and one choice only and I told myself that if I didn’t get in, then that would be it, and end of story.

    As for anthropology, I never took any courses as an undergraduate and the only faintly anthropological book I had read up till then was one of Richard Leakey’s popular books. I just thought anthropology sounded cool but I had no idea what it was/is. As for “project,” ha! I just made something up when I pounded out the application essays at the back of a pub in London in between serving drinks.

    Well, of course I got accepted (why, I’ve no idea). By the time I got the admission letter I was happily working in a newspaper back home (I’m not American or British), with a national byline and thousands of readers per week, and of course I didn’t want to leave all that and become a student again. But it’s hard to turn down a full fellowship so I went anyway, with a promise to myself that I would give it a semester. If things didn’t work out, I’d be home by Christmas. Well, I discovered the “fit” that first semester, settled down to work, made up all undergraduate deficiencies, and had done fieldwork and written a 300+ page MA thesis within two years. And after that I was persuaded to stay for my PhD, so the one semester stretched to five, relatively happy and successful, years.

    Long, long story, and I don’t know anyone else who had my kind of experiences but the moral is: you can’t micro-manage your life too much. Just have to follow that itch, as Rex wrote above, and see where it takes you.

    As for top schools vs “the rest,” my university was not / is not a top school, but it has certain niche areas that it does very well and it’s world-renowned in those areas, but standards are always threatening to slip (due to budget cuts, faculty mobility, etc.). I was lucky that my 5 years coincided with those of my faculty advisor. We both left the campus within a year of each other (me first, luckily). I think if he hadn’t been there, I mightn’t have been so happy.

    Despite the university’s lack of cachet, I’ve gone on to write / edit several books in 10 years, held fellowships at prestigious universities, made a name for myself academically and practically… and I’ve never had a full-time academic job. Not because I’ve been held back by my credentials but out of choice. (Alas, this might be about to change this year as I’ve surrendered to the inevitable longing for stability that comes with, gulp, age.)

    So all in all, an unconventional path and illogical decision-making processes can take you places you never imagined. Anthropology opened up the world to me. I think aside from all the nitty gritty of the application process, what really matters is your passion, whatever that may be.

    Sorry for the long story!

  27. I used to think that it was less the university and more the individuals’ reputations that you worked with that mattered, and your own work of course. I think to some degree this is true, but more and more it seems the university itself matters more.

    So ya gotta go to a Michigan, Chicago or Berkeley to get ahead in this game! Dammit

  28. My own impression is that things have been shifting a bit. I don’t really think there are “stars” in the sense of Julian Steward, Sahlins, Geertz, etc., any longer. Granted there are people who write a lot, but I feel as if something is different about someone like Appadarui or Joel Robbins–perhaps in that they aren’t leading any coherent movement, or training an army of students…

    Someone on here was recently writing about how many of the ‘top’ schools look very different than they did in the past (e.g., Columbia, Michigan, Chicago, Stanford), and that a number of other schools (e.g., UCLA) have been rising, and that it is very much unclear as to what the best schools are.

    In times of change and with the proliferation of graduate programs, old brands always sell well. Speaking about my own instructors, Chicago and Michigan produce very well-read grads., but no one outside their very specific areas of interest would bother to read them, but they still get jobs, because they have a top of the line education.

    This may all be complete non-sense, so someone over the age of 25 should confirm, refute, or modify my this…

  29. I’m an undergraduate planning on applying to graduate schools come this fall, and would appreciate some advice/thoughts on my current plan of action.

    I’m currently abroad, halfway through a 5-month full-time fieldwork project (I took my spring semester off for it, having garnered enough credits elsewhere). Though in the coming year I’ll be turning this research into a senior thesis, I plan on continuing this project on the graduate level.

    After a very extensive search of anthro departments in the English-speaking world, I’ve narrowed my list down to about 7 schools, based on the match of my research interests with those of potential faculty mentors (aka the people whose work has been most influential on mine).

    A concern of mine is that I’ve narrowed myself down to too small a pool (is 7 enough?). In that vein, these schools happen to be some of the most competitive (Chicago, Michigan, Berkeley, Cambridge, LSE, Princeton, NYU) so I run the risk of having no options if not accepted. The thing is, I already have such refined interests that I can’t imagine going to a place where nobody works on my topical issues and region. Or can I?

    Take Harvard for instance- great program, but nobody working on my region. I know this may sound juvenile and overly prestige-oriented, but do you apply to Harvard because it’s Harvard and figure things out if/when you get there, or is that scraping the bottom of the “bad advice” pile?

    And even the schools that have apropos faculty may have only one such person max, so if they leave, I’m screwed. (or am I?)

    This leads to a broader question for those graduate students blogging here– to what extent is your experience shaped by that soul-mate mentor, or do you just brave it on your own regardless of department resources?

    As for potential advisers, when is the best time to make that initial contact? In my case, for instance, should I wait until I’ve written something up from my research and have something concrete to show, or is it the sooner the better?

    Also, what are thoughts on the transcontinental leap from undergrad to UK grad? Everyone I ask seems to have a radically different opinion, but I’ve gotten the impression that UK grad= more pressure, rushed process, but you finish in a neat 5 years; US grad= much better funding, more patience and time to develop thesis but a very drawn-out write up process that can leave you stuck in 12+ years of limbo. Is this a fair breakdown? Of course, there’s also the theoretical differences- feel free to comment on those as well. And does a British PhD mean a harder time finding an academic position in the States afterwards?

    Another question- to what extent should extra-departmental faculty count, and is collaboration possible? For instance, at one school I’m looking at there’s a historian who’s published extensively on my area of interest who would be extremely helpful in my project. Should that be a factor, or should I judge exclusively by the anthro department at hand? Does it make any sense to contact that person?

    Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!

  30. Some thoughts; take what you want:

    1) North American vs. Brit. education: funding is hard to scrounge up in the UK and you will be paying intl fees (I presume?), and the British system is premised on the idea that one has received a more thorough undergraduate training. If your goal is to get a job in the US, an American degree is where it is at (though certainly not impossible with a UK degree). I talked to a physicist about hiring a US vs. a UK educated physicist and she said outright: “I know that if they have gone through the UK, they get less training,” so take that for whatever it is worth.

    2) Why would you go to Harvard just for the sake of going to Harvard? As people have been saying above, if you don’t have a plan that you are passionate about, or you don’t REALLY want to be at a school, you will not be happy or you probably won’t last.

    3) Unless there is a joint program, I don’t imagine you will be interacting with extra-departmental faculty too often. Supervisory styles vary widely, but it is hard enough to get an hour with my supervisor, let alone someone else who has no obligation to me and has their own obligations.

    4) 7 is a large pool of potential schools.

    5) I don’t know what you’re talking about with the “soul-mate mentor.”

    6) It is not always critical to have someone working on the same region as you at your school. It is advantageous, yes, but probably more worthwhile to have people with topical and theoretical interests to your own.

    And, what is your obscure geographic area of interest, anyways?

    4)

  31. 7 is way more school than I applied to.

    I don’t understand what your project is such that it has a strong fit with Chicago, Michigan, Berkeley, Cambridge, LSE, Princeton, NYU. What is the common link between these schools, especially for someone who claims to have “refined topical interests”.

    You might want to think more about fit, imho.

  32. re:DNM
    I also am a bit uncertain at the links between those schools, and if you really found people at each that are in your topical/regional interests, it might do to look at the other faculty to try to get a sense of Department “climate”. Ideally, this should fit you as well unless you relish the “me against the world” maverick role (which some actually do seem to love).

    As far as UK, CJ is right that funding is difficult. Also, you will likely have to take a taught Master’s before starting your PhD, and its especially tough to get funding that year. But its possible. Anyway, the UK system is predicated on a structured (maybe systematic) curriculum (I’m not sure it is more thorough), and so, like I said, you will be a bit re-trained in this tradition.

    Also, it is difficult to describe, but there is a slightly different approach to anthropology in the UK. It’s not hard or fast or anything, but it’s palpable imo… You should decide whether this suits you or whether you prefer it the (North) American way.

    I’d say it is true about the pressure in the UK. Can’t really compare to other places though… Except that I get the impression undergrad is like that as well, and it’s not like that at home. Also, my undergrad was in Canada, not the US.

  33. This is a great and helpful post!

    Does anyone have any information about PhD programs in Canada and their approaches compared to the US system? Do US students usually get any kind of funding (or have to pay extra fees)? Do PhD’s from Canadian schools have lower job acceptance rates than those in the US? This post prompted me to consider Canada in my research on possible places to apply, but I really have no idea about the schools or the higher education system. Though I have an interest in medical anthropology, I’d like to hear about broader programs (social/cultural or even 4-field). Thanks!

  34. Is admission to graduate programs going to be a lot harder this year because of funding cuts a la economic crisis?

  35. Worse yet, more applicants for (possibly) fewer spots.

    I think there is likely to be a rush for chances to weather the economic storm with 5+ years out of the employment loop in grad school, on fellowships, and learning. At my university faculty pay raises are constrained/suspended, temporary staff is getting axed, but grad students are slated to get slightly better benefits than we had in years past.

  36. @ RW. Canadian schools are less competitive than American schools. The most ambitious Canadians tend to go to the US.

    The approach here is something midway between the US and the UK. That is, there is usually a year of coursework, then comprehensive exams, the proposal, language requirement, fieldwork, and dissertation.

    As a foreigner, you will NOT qualify for the largest source of funding, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, but you will qualify for provincial funding (at least in Ontario), and potentially funding from wherever you are from.

    You have not provided any of your topical interests, so I cannot comment on an appropriate school. I suggest you expend some effort looking into this on your own, though.

    If you want a job in the US, you will do better with a recognized American degree. Some Canadians from top schools (Toronto, McGill) work in the US, but not too many.

  37. Hello,

    I am going to apply for the 2010-11 admission and would like to start thinking about the personal statement early. Any reference book or website recommended? Thanks in advance!

  38. Being a prospective international graduate student I was wondering whether the same considerations about international cultural differences came into play when judging GRE scores? In my experience education systems in e.g. European countries do not teach students to handle standardized tests instead focusing on practical application of learned skills. For example there is a cultural disadvantage to international students in some of the reading and verbal sections that clearly favour students who have the kind of understanding of the world that you’d get in an American educational system. There is also an obvious linguistic disadvantage to students with English as a second language. Does this prompt the admissions committee to look more kindly on GRE scores by international students or do they rather see it as a way to raise the bar for international students so that only the very, very best (those who can compete directly with national students in the areas that the GRE measure) are accepted?

  39. Can anyone tell me how to best go about switching from bio anth to cultural anth? I have an MA in bio anth, and really no experience in cultural anth, but want to switch to cultural for a PhD.

  40. What is your advice for someone like me? I am waiting for my applications to get back and I am super nervous.

    1. I graduated from Purdue University with a 2.6, over a 3.0 in anthropology and related ancient history courses (I want to study anthropological archaeology of the Near East).

    2. I have good GRE scores, 1200+ and the writing test in the 99th percentile.

    3. I have three years of field experience, 1 of which was in a supervisory position in the region I am interested in studying.

    4. I took a year as a non-marticulated student at Universiity of Chicago and earned a 3.8 GPA.

    5. I did some community college before I went to Purdue and earned a 3.3, altogether my GPA from all three colleges is over a 3.0.

    6. I have excellent letters of recommendation, including one from a personal friend of my potential advisor.

    7. I met with all of the faculty beforehand, and sent them thank-you notes after the meeting. I feel that the meetings went well.

    8. I wrote really good statements of purpose, detailing how the department and I would be a good fit for each other.

    SO DO I HAVE A CHANCE??? I’m going crazy waiting for the results.

  41. Wow, reading over these comments gives me the heebeejeebees. De ja vu of applications from the past, and the interminable waits.

    My advice is always to apply (people who don’t apply never get in), and then cast your net wide. Students, who have little control over the outcome like to believe that it is a matter of getting the right match between grades, test scores, letters, etc. This is true. But there is a big element of arbitrariness in grad school applications, too. The department you are applying to has more or fewer slots in a particular year, the professor you wnat to work with has no influence one year, but a lot the next. Or that professor gets awarded a sabbatical suddenly, and can’t follow through on a promised sponsorship.

    Bottom line, if you are admitted, don’t be too cocky–it may not be because you were the “very best.” If you are rejected, chalk it up to bad luck. For everyone, cast your net wide. Just like dice, the more times you throw them, the more likely you are to throw the magic number!

  42. A small tip on applying for things: Jobs, grants, graduate schools.

    _Ask not what they can do for you. Ask what you can do for them._

    The strongest appeal in the world is the one that says, “I’ve taken the trouble to understand you, to understand the work you do and why it’s important to you,” followed by, “Here is what I can contribute.”

  43. “I would add emphasize the “fit” part. Not only should you do due diligence to see if it is the right place for you and your desires, for your own happiness… but if you end up being admitted because you have strong grades, letters and scores, then think twice! You risk being unhappy, not fitting in, and having to do it all over again.”

    I completely agree with this. Think about what you want to do, and what your professional goals are, and seek out which institution will give you what you need to gain the theoretical, and practical, skills you need to make them happen.

    So, the U. of Chicago or Columbia would be fantastic schools for someone that wants to be an academic, but a horrible choice for someone wanting to go applied. Reverse that scenario for a future professor to go to South Florida or U. of North Texas (completely applied schools).

    When a school tells you that they “value and teach the four fields,” for their M.A. program, you have to ask yourself how that will make you marketable if you don’t want to go on to get either another masters or a PhD.
    So, in my case I went to one of the completely applied, and easy to get into and cheap, schools above, and I’m now the primary investigator/consultant for a major U.S. city’s federal stimulus development for low-income communities. If I went to an Ivy league school, I wouldn’t have the skills, experience, or ability to do that, perhaps even with a PhD, but I would have serious debt. So while I am very happy I went to a very rigorous, four-field undergrad. program, continuing to learn about things like human evolution, or Meso-American glyphs, for my M.S. would have been pointless for me now.

    So, understand that if you go to an academically based, 4-field MA program, you will either have to get another degree, or a PhD if you actually want to work as an anthropologist. Your choice.
    If I ever become clinically insane and go for a PhD though, its gonna be an extremely competitive program.

  44. I also want to throw something out there for anyone who is applying for grad school in anthro right now. If you were at a prestigious school for undergrad, don’t invest all your hopes and dreams into some sort of homecoming.

    I’ve been told by my old adviser that with so many applications this year, they’re using any reason they can get to weed people out. Most anthro departments discriminate against their own undergrads, so if it’s between you and someone else with an equally strong application from University-of-Whatever, that guy’s going to get it.

    It seems counter-intuitive, since they know you better, obviously, but just think of it as tough love. Probably better for your career in the long run to make more contacts with people in different departments anyway.

  45. Reo, actually there’s a reason for that. I was told at my undergrad. institution by the chair that if I got an MA there, I would not be allowed to get a PhD later.
    He said it might be possible, but he strongly advised against it. This is because each dept. is slightly different, and has a slightly different mix of emphasized theories, methods, sub-fields, etc…
    To stay at just one institution, therefore is to not gain a more holistic worldview needed for our discipline. I completely agree with this.
    Like I said, I went to a theoretically rigorous college, but it just didn’t match my goals when I did a semester of grad. school there. I did research and transfer to a less prestigious program, which was method heavy; less theory.

    It was the best thing I could have done, because I got the best of both worlds. However, the guys in the program at my current school that got there undergrad. there, are behind where they should be with theory, yet with a MS they can actually put together a project from scratch for a client and complete it when they graduate, which is something that very few master’s only graduates can do.

  46. I will graduate from McGill in a year. I am an American student and would like to eventually return to Canada to work. Would it be better to get an American PhD, say from one of the top schools (luck and fit providing) or one from a Canadian university?

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