<p>Forgive in advance my cross-posts on this subject. It doesn’t seem to fit perfectly into any category.</p>
<p>My daughter is currently a freshman in college and wants to attend an archaeological field school this summer, one that provides training (college credit is nice, but not essential) not just an opportunity to volunteer grunt labor. Her college has been less than useful (only told her that the longer the better) so I thought if I cast my net widely enough I might find someone with some knowledge.</p>
<p>She has already found a rather comprehensive list of field schools worldwide and links to how those schools describe themselves. What she hasn’t found is --</p>
<li><p>Anyone comparing different schools. The costs vary widely. Is there any reason to pay twice as much for the Harvard school as the Stanford one, for instance? If the training is more extensive, we are willing to pay more.</p></li>
<li><p>Any sense of the admission percentages generally or at different programs. If she applies to a place will she probably get in (she is at an Ivy and has good first semester grades)? Should she apply to 2-3 to be sure, or is 7-8 a better idea? The applications need to be made right now – she wants to do enough, but not to waste time and money being paranoid.</p></li>
<li><p>Any advice on making her application competitive. Her school doesn’t offer the intro archaeology course until spring, so she won’t get a recommendation there or the second archaeology course she is taking beginning today. What source of recommendations would be the most useful? Her first semester classes were two languages, an ancient lit class, and geology, with the highest grades being one language and the lit. I don’t know if this shows aptitude for field work. They always stress how physically demanding it is – should she have her fencing coach certify she can handle it?</p></li>
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<p>So any feedback on any of these questions or about particular programs would be appreciated. Her preference would be to dig in Egypt (she is an Egyptology major) but what few programs are there are too short and her school advises she would do better to go somewhere longer to get a better grounding in archaeology generally. So she is open to digs anywhere, with a preference for older sites. But a strong academic program will trump age.</p>