<p>Any help here would be much appreciated. I will be graduating UCLA in the Spring with a 3.5 gpa if all goes as planned, its a 3.4 right now. I just finished my GRE and received a 161 verbal and a 141 (ouch) Quant. The quant is bad, I know, but I'm an anthropology major. I'm still waiting for the results of the writing portion.<br>
As far as letters of recommendation, I have 2 very good letters, and then either a third from a doctoral candidate here at UCLA who I assisted in coding his research all of last year, or an archaeology prof, that doesn't seem entirely thrilled about it. I participated in field school last summer, and I am working as an assistant researcher for the director of the dig currently. He will be one of the vest letters. I am rewriting, or revising the only considerable research paper I have written in my short time at UCLA. Getting to my next point. I am transfer student from community college. First, will this adversely affect my chances of a funded program? What about a masters program? Secondly, I am a returned to school student who is getting on in age. 37 at graduation. Will that hurt my chances? Lastly, I have not had any opportunity to really define what it is I would like to pursue as far as specific research. I am very interested in studying political party division and it's ramifications on society, inequality, social stratification and materialism. But I don't have any independent research, as I really have not had much time coming from a community college, and working. I must work quite a bit aside from federal work study. </p>
<p>I was really hoping to get into a decent program and was looking at these schools:</p>
<p>UPenn Anthro MA
Stanford Anthro MA
Cornell Archaeo MA
Columbia Anthro MA
U of Virginia Anthro PhD
NYU Amer. Stud PhD</p>
<p>So what do you think? Any chance at all? I understand that a little more research is going to be needed on part as far as deciding who I would like to work with, or if anyone at these programs are working on my interests. But as a prelim, just wondering. Thanks ahead of time. Also, if i'm crazy, tell me.</p>
<p>Oh, I’m hispanic, of Mexican decent, and first in my family to attend any type of college. I’m very low income level. Not sure if that helps or hinders.</p>
<p>Don’t get a letter from a doctoral candidate; get a letter from a professor with a PhD. All of your recommendation letters should be from people with PhDs, because you want people who can say whether they think you can complete the PhD. A doctoral candidate is a fall back, if you can’t find anyone else to recommend you. (Can you get a letter from the professor who supervises the doctoral candidate? Perhaps they can both sign it or the candidate can right the letter but the professor can sign it.)</p>
<p>Being a transfer student from a CC won’t hurt your chances. Being 37 may; although age discrimination is illegal and many (most?) professors won’t care, some professors will reason that you will be in your mid to late 40s by the time you complete a program and that you may have difficulty getting hired as an academic when you graduate. Still, in my department there was a 34-year-old who began the same year I did, and people in their early to mid thirties routinely begin PhD programs so I don’t think it’ll be held against you that much.</p>
<p>None of the stuff in your second post matters.</p>
<p>It’s kind of pointless to tell you whether you have a chance at the above schools if you aren’t sure there’s a fit. In fact, that will be a major factor - if there is no one who can supervise you, you won’t get in, and if your research interests don’t fit with the department you have very slim chances indeed.</p>
<p>All I can say is that your application is borderline; it sounds like you have about 1-2 years of research experience, 2 strong letters and one lukewarm to good one; well-defined research interests; decent GRE scores; perhaps a good writing sample. If your interests are very well-defined in your statement of purpose and that third letter is strong, then you could be competitive. But I would agree with your strategy of applying to some MA programs and some PhD programs. MA programs in anthropology are rarely funded, though.</p>
<p>Also:</p>
<p>-It’s not clear from the website whether Penn’s MA is a terminal one; they say it is part of their PhD program, so you may not be able to apply separately for the MA and complete only that.</p>
<p>-I don’t know what your goals are, but if you want to be an academic and teach anthropology, I would not get a PhD in American studies. The reason is that interdisciplinary scholars always have a harder time finding a job in the academic market. An anthropologist could teach in an anthropology department; they could also teach in an American studies department; they could also go to an applied school based on their research, like a school of public health or public policy. An American studies PhD, though, typically is only competitive at American studies departments and there are not many of them. Some American studies PhDs may be able to go to interdisciplinary schools, but I am in one (a School of Public Health) and I have yet to meet anyone with a PhD in American studies or any of those interdisciplinary “studies” fields.</p>
<p>juillet, </p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I have heard much the same thing regarding an interdisciplinary program such as the American Studies at NYU. I’m also fairly confident that I will end up paying for an MA, and that’s fine with me if that’s what it takes. For some reason I really want to be in New York.<br>
I will ask the doctoral candidate to write the letter and have his advisor sign it. I’m sure he will go for that, and it’s a great suggestion. </p>
<p>Thanks again for a well laid out response. I am lucky to have a few friends I made while on the excavation last summer to really help me with my SOP and my writing sample. The summer was definitely a great idea as far networking with other academics.<br>
Cheers!</p>