I am applying for the fall, deadline was the 15th of Feb and they said I should hear back in April, so, crossing my fingers.

Same as prisoner. i found most deadlines were the 15th of Feb.
Applies ot OSU, UAF, UM, CSU. So really hopping.

yeah most of the school's, well there are only 4, were dec. 1 and jan. 15

Applied for Fall '09. Still waiting decision. Deadline was 1/10.

I was wondering if anybody has had to undergo a interview and what exactly it is like? Im assuming its about like a job interview but applied to why you want to continue your education and study areas.

I think I may actually go crazy from the wait. I broke down and emailed the director today and received a reply that they should let everyone know within the week. . .so close but so far away. Anyone else as disheveled as I am?

I personally think its a good idea to keep in touch with the school, lets them know you care which is always a plus.

I think the interviews are a little different than job interveiws, at least the ones I had. I've only had 2 but hey that works.

Its more education oreinted, obviously, and they tend to throw more curveballs at you. Things like "so why are you nitreste din the programe" well thats an easy one but than i think the expect alot more basic question from you too. I always ask if their is a place i can go to see some of their work, be it museum or web site or something. Just overall i think they tend to be alot more interactive.

I should hear by middle of this month. I also contacted the department to check when they were going to inform applicants.

No interview that I have I know of.

I was rejected. . . :x

Im going to blow them out of the water next year. damn them

That sucks. Hang in there.

[quote:="Dwarmour"]I was rejected. . . :x

Im going to blow them out of the water next year. damn them

Ohhh..sorry to hear. Now you've got nine months to get ready, which is great, and you can go for more than one - three or four.

Well that sucks.
At least you got the right attitude about it by coming back more powerful than they can imagin. And yeah apply to more than one school, my first year out i only applied to one school and also got rejected but well it happens.

yeah i got more in mind for next year. I applied for a distance learning course and hopefully will get into that for a GIS certification to work on for this next year. That should look good as well for next years apps.

If they did not explain why you were not accepted this semester be sure to have them explain what your deficiencies were so you have an idea as to what to correct for the next application.

I'm sure you thought of this, but sometimes people forget to do so.

Cheers, and good luck,

Richard

[quote:="Dwarmour"]yeah i got more in mind for next year. I applied for a distance learning course and hopefully will get into that for a GIS certification to work on for this next year. That should look good as well for next years apps.

What school are you doing the distance learning in GIS?

I imagine that can only help you when you apply again for grad school. If you like GIS, have you thought about going to grad school in Geography? If you focus on GIS, that doesn't necessarily close any doors in archaeology.

Got my rejection letter with no explanation yesterday. I'm gonna contact them and see what happened. Hopefully I'll be able to get some sort of feedback.

Yup got my rejection letters about 2 weeks ago...i say letters cause it was 3 of them, and shot down the grad school options so ill just go back to work and reapply next yer.
yeha i iddnt get much of an explination with mine either, e-mailed them wonder how i coul dimprove and got no reply.

If I were you I would pester the dean of the department, usually Arts and Letters or Social Sciences, and the members of the selection committee - if you can determine who they are - until you get an appropriate response. DO NOT accept this at face value.

Did you guys talk to any faculty/future adviser or the dept. chair prior to applying? If you did, you might want to just go through your previous contact and see what he/she thinks. I didn't have a lot of luck my first shot at applying to grad school. The following year, I started making phone calls and visits and all but one of my applications was accepted. It can be a pain but it really helps to do the leg work prior to applying and to gear your personal statement towards a specific faculty member.

Things will undoubtedly change but it's good if you can identify a a) period, b) culture, and c) artifact/method that you want to deal with when putting together your application packet (or better yet, a specific site/collection and grant money).

From my memory, the selection committee goes through the applications and picks the dozen or so best ones. They then hand off the potential candidates to who they think would be an appropriate adviser. It's then up to the adviser to decide if he/she can take another grad student and if the candidate would be a good match (this is why it's good to initiate contact prior to mailing in your packet). In theory, qualified people can be turned away simply because a potential adviser already has too many grad students and can't take any more.

If you can't finagle something, you might want to consider going in as a non-degree seeking student. I've known many people who were able to prove themselves in this capacity and simply "rolled" into the graduate program when they maxed out the limit on credits.

[quote:="KB"]Did you guys talk to any faculty/future adviser or the dept. chair prior to applying? If you did, you might want to just go through your previous contact and see what he/she thinks

I made contact with the department adviser before and during the application process. After I received my letter, I made contact again; tomorrow it will be one week since my email.

[quote:="KB"]Things will undoubtedly change but it's good if you can identify a a) period, b) culture, and c) artifact/method that you want to deal with when putting together your application packet (or better yet, a specific site/collection and grant money).

I did that as well. It was required as part of the application information. I even have a "shovel-ready"project that I started during my undergrad for Masters work, in addition to being open to other projects.

[quote:="KB"]From my memory, the selection committee goes through the applications and picks the dozen or so best ones. They then hand off the potential candidates to who they think would be an appropriate adviser. It's then up to the adviser to decide if he/she can take another grad student and if the candidate would be a good match (this is why it's good to initiate contact prior to mailing in your packet). In theory, qualified people can be turned away simply because a potential adviser already has too many grad students and can't take any more.

That is very possible and I think that may have happened with me. However, I will not know until I find out what happened for sure in the selection process, so I am holding off any speculation.

[quote:="KB"]If you can't finagle something, you might want to consider going in as a non-degree seeking student. I've known many people who were able to prove themselves in this capacity and simply "rolled" into the graduate program when they maxed out the limit on credits.

I felt that I came to the department pretty academically qualified (pretty good GPA - 3.66- , grad Honors from undergrad Anthro department, excellent and well-rounded references, etc.). Unfortunately, I do not have the time to wait for the next round of admissions due to personal matters. Also, non-degree status is not an option.

Due to this rejection I have had to re-assess my educational path for the next two years. Fortunately, I have come across a program at a different university that will facilitate my long-term educational goal (historical resources management/collections management, etc.) I can still keep my finger in the archaeological pie by keeping involved in the state archaeological association. Also, if I can get into this new program, my previously stated project would still be applicable.

Everything happens for a reason; I'm presently testing that hypothesis.

Yeah in same boat as the rtx2.
Did all the leg work and talked to a proffesor at least one sometimes two from each department and got a good general idea of what they all were like.
Read up on projects that they are doing etc. and tried to figure out projects i would enjoy that would also help with their goals in the department.
Mostly did all the stuff i thought one was supposed to do.
And yes it is alot of work when your applying to 6+different programs and working but hey hopefully next year it will pay off for me...i guess the competition is just really steep.

[quote:="Dano"]Yeah in same boat as the rtx2.
Did all the leg work and talked to a proffesor at least one sometimes two from each department and got a good general idea of what they all were like.
Read up on projects that they are doing etc. and tried to figure out projects i would enjoy that would also help with their goals in the department.
Mostly did all the stuff i thought one was supposed to do.
And yes it is alot of work when your applying to 6+different programs and working but hey hopefully next year it will pay off for me...i guess the competition is just really steep.

Good job. As you note the competition is tough, which is why one needs to do whatever (within reason of course) they can to help their chances. Making yourself known to the decision makers is one of the better things you can do for yourself.

Dano, did you find out why you didnt get in? If not, why not?

I have heard back from two of the schools that i didnt get into but not the other ones.
One of the reasons was funding and the inability for any insturctors to take on more grad students, which is understandable.

The other was that one of my letters of rec was missing so the application was considered incomplete.

I've sent out e-mails to the remaining two but havent had a response yet so i figure i will wait another two weeks and than send them out again.

All valid reasons i suppose its just kinda, well i guess the word would be disheartening to spend the 50ish dollars to apply and just get an e-mail back saying sorry you didnt get in.

[quote:="Dano"]The other was that one of my letters of rec was missing so the application was considered incomplete.

And they didnt give you an opportunity to correct this simple deficiency? That's unacceptable actually. I smell smokescreen. A phone call or an email to you to make sure all your LOR were in order would have fixed this, possibly to your advantage. Exactly how are you to know whether or not your LOR have been mailed? I would complain to the school on this one.

Well Firearch to be perfectly honets i cannot determin if it was or wasnt a letter of Rec.
My only reason for saying so was that it was an online application process which i complted and got an e-mail from the school saying it was completed. I sent my transcripts on overnight delivery about 10-15days before the deadline closed so i dont think it woul dbe that.
And i got e-mails from two of the three people saying that they had sent their letters of rec, so i can only determin that my third letter of rec was the missing link.
I say this because the e-mail i recevied from the scool was something along the lines of "Thanks for applying to *enter school here* we are sad to say you have been denied admission at this time due to an incomplete application. We hope you will reconsider applying again next year."
I got this from the department at the school and am waiting to hear back why my app was incomplete so at this point it is only speculation.

At least you are following up so you can determine where to fix the problem. If one of your vouchsafes failed to help you will know not to rely upon them next time.

[quote:="FireArch"]At least you are following up so you can determine where to fix the problem. If one of your vouchsafes failed to help you will know not to rely upon them next time.

LOL so true its creepy.
This time i'm going for the getting everything laid out ohh about 2-3 months ahead of time and working from there, figure on applying to aaallllooott of schools. Ya know that old shotgun trick...someone has to be desprate right?

I have a couple of comments that may prove helpful.

1. Never wait until a couple of weeks before the deadline to submit - this leaves you little time to correct any errors (i.e. incomplete submissions) and appears to those on the committee that you were not prepared in advance (even if you were).

2. The more contact you can have with profs at a program the better. I saw several notes that "i made contact" but that is not what I am talking about. Networking is key, find them at local/regional/state meetings, write with real interest about their research and ask for information that illustartes how you research interests might interact with theirs. Send copies of your related research to get their comments on (even if they do not respond, at least you name might register). Unfortunately with Grad school being so competitive, and the need for faculty to do their own research to keep their positions, they are looking for students whose goals and abilities will help their research.

3. In the same vein, there was one note that indicated someone already has their fieldwork lined up" Big no-no for some schools. I remember when I was applying (took several years to get accepted) NYU had a major concern with anyone that thought they were prepared to take on their own field projects after having a BA. A) how arrogant to think you know enough to run a project on your own already and B) was not necessarily helpful to what the staff was trying to do. That is not to say that demonstrating an ability to compelete research projects on your own is not good - they want to see that - but to be planning your own personal excavation project already is going to far.

4. I saw one note indicating a 3.66 cum. Very good, but this is highly competitive, others applying for those same spots may well have 3.9-4.0 - and also keep in mind that they may not necessarily have been archaeo majors. The way to compete against that is personal contacts (again). I can not stess enough how important it is to be known by at least one person on the selection committee. If you can not get to their campus, or field sites, at least try to get involved locally with colleagues of the faculty that can talk you up. Recognition of you abilities is a huge help. I teach in a program that does not even have an Anthro major (only a minor), but in the last 5 years I have had two excellent students decide they want to go to Grad school for archaeology. Both were accepted into Grad schools - I would hope partially on my recommendations.

Don't give up, use the next few months to make more contacts, write and present good papers (you don't have to be in school to do research) and try again. Good Luck
DM

DMack,

I agree with most of your points. Though, I still think if somebody has a specific site (or collection) in mind and grant money already lined up, it would be a good idea to bring this up ahead of time, especially if it directly correlates to a potential adviser's area of interest. But I do agree that if it's handled poorly it could definitely come off the wrong way to the admissions committee.

I definitely 100% agree with the importance of making oneself known ahead of time and not just blindly applying to schools. Society meetings were always a great way to do this. The archaeology community in the whole scheme of things is very small; odds are, we are all only separated by a few degrees at most. It's very easy to get to interact with other archaeologists, either formally or informally at MAAC, SEAC, or SAAs. Most people love to talk about their research and many will openly tell you if they can take any more grad students or not.

Another thing that always looks good is to be published. In addition to technical reports, it's actually not terribly difficult to get a paper published in a regional journal, especially if you co-author with somebody who is well known. Even if someone doesn't like public speaking, it's not all that difficult to put together a 10 minute talk or a poster presentation for a conference.

In all honesty, applying for grad school (both times) was amongst the most stressful periods of my life (including when I was in the military) and is something that I would not want to repeat. Between buying all of the transcripts, quadruple checking my personal statement, networking, the GRE, coordinating letters of recommendation, and then waiting 4 months to find out, it was a pretty awful experience.

Obviously, there is a lot of competition out there. I've been accepted at a good school, and from what I heard back the difference was that I stood out. In my case, I did really, really well on the GREs, which offset my poor to midling GPA.

Reference letters are really crucial too. I had a relative who applied to a MLS program and admitted that one reference seemed a little reluctant, and in the end did not send a letter in time. It might be better to have a letter from the shift manager at Chili's saying you worked hard and came up with three innovative solutions to customer service problems than a letter from an academic saying that you were punctual and completed all assignments. If your reference doesn't think you are great, they won't feel compelled to write a great letter and submit it on time.

Not necessarily easy to do, but I also read extensively the works of the three primary archaeologists in the department and took a trip to the campus to meet with all three. When they were sitting around in committee, they knew who I was.

Bottom line: you need to make a strong impression, maybe with high grades or really strong scores or exceptional and innovative experience. Then nail it with networking: both letters from the past and a;sp making sure the faculty know your name when they sit around a table making the cuts.

Don't give up, and best of luck.

Yup that whole dont give up thing is what I'm really trying to work on right now.
Its just i guess what it comes down to alot of freakin work, between sending in applications, meeting with proffesors and than taking the time of work it is a very time consuimg process. But y aknow i guess it will all be worth it in the big run so it will pay off.
On the note of reading up on the proffesors studies. There was one school where I had e-mailed the proffesor and her reply was that it wasnt requiered but highly reccomended that I read up on not only the stuff they were working on but the stuff they had done.
So yeah hard, but when they say its highly reccomended it's probably a good idea.

Dano,

Just keep in mind, the work preparing for and applying, is nothing compared to the work that will expected of you once you are in. My very first morning in a Grad Class we recieved a syllabus that identified the 18 books (monographs, not pamphlets or collections of assorted essays) that we would need for the class - all 18 had to be fully read. In a 15 week semester that is more than 1 per week - and that was just for a single class. :shock:

Not all classes take that route, but all are very different than almost anything you may have seen as an undergrad.

On a related note, I always get a smile when I remember one of my first grad student meetings where we were discussing why we needed the four field approach (It was clear that this particular school mandated it and that you were expected to achieve at least 2 high passes along with passing all 4 fields in your comprehensives). There were a number of students that seemed upset about this and wanted to argue against the need for a 4 field approach. They could not understand why they were being made to follow that track (duh - every piece of literature about the program stressed it - so be sure you are aware of just what a program you apply to mandates).

But the best part was that one particular woman (an older returning student with family to care for as well) was appalled at the idea that there could be any doubt that the school would give her an MA or PhD. After all she had been accepted, so it was just a matter of time. :roll: Several of us had to explain the concept of attrition to her, and that while 15 may be accepted, only 5 might actually achieve a degree. It really was difficult not to laugh in her face at her attitude of entitlement. Eventually I lost track of her so I don't know if she ever finished but 25 years later, I still shake my head when I remember that meeting.

Hehe thanks for the reminder Dmack
I have quite a few friends in grad schools now so I've been hear alot about how hard they are and painfully exhausting. Of course one of my friends is a phsyics major so I assume thats painful because of math. :wink:

I think in the end what does get to me personally is the fact of all the work etc. that can be put into getting into grad school...only to be rejected and asked to apply later. I guess it just ends up being disheartening and i can easliy see from personal experience how some can just kinda want to give up after it. One of those "Guess i wasnt good enough" or the feeling that you did everything they asked for and even gave them money only to be turned away without even a response, thats what gets me.
I'm fine with the workload that they expect, I would honestly not expect grad school to be anything less than pretty hard time consuming work, and if your going for an MA or PhD thats what you can expect when you get one and in the life after.
Like I said its that just kind of legwork need to run around travel through out the country sometimes to see peopleyou may have never met, networking etc. just to get left hanging there, and understanding that you get 3 months to maybe rest and than run around and do it all again for possibly the same result

Alright think I'm done ranting....for now. And I do, contrary to what was posted above, appriciate all the advice that you all have been offering us grad school hopefuls I hope that it all pans out.

Well, I got in for the fall, so I am pretty excited. I wasn't too gung ho during my application process, but made a point to get down and talk to the advisor and some of the profs I was interested in. I spent a lot of time on my letter of intent and my GRE, but it is hard to gauge where I stood next to other candidates.

After being declined at one university, I applied to another that has a program that fits all of my long term goals like a glove. After meeting with the Director/adviser (and talking with his G.A.'s), I walked away feeling comfortable with what they can offer. This is a unique and award-winning program in the country that only accepts around 20 or so students per year to the program.

I was accepted during the first round of consideration. Also, about two hours later I received an email informing me that due to my academic accomplishments, the program was offering me a 4 grand Fellowship.



Please file under "Everything happens for a reason".

Wow congrats to you both sounds like you got a pretty good program running for the both of you glad to hear it all worked out.
So i guess all hope isnt loset after all. :wink:

Bully!