<p>mom’s clarification of the difference between anthropology and history is generally a good one, although many (many) historians are now working on cultural history, so the lines are blurred somewhat. perhaps past vs present in terms of cultural study would be a stronger way to separate history and anthropology respectively. there is a distinct difference not so much in what you study but how you study it.</p>
<p>archeology requires some very specific tools and skill sets. you do field work. it can be a rather technical field, and if you’re looking to incorporate technology into your study of ancient egypt or the mediterranean, then this approach would be more common than going into history or cultural anthropology and using computer science.</p>
<p>you mentioned that you have course preparation for ancient history. i, and many others, have told you that you do not have enough of it. 1.5 years of history courses and half a year of latin are not enough. they’re not nothing, but they’re not enough even for entry into a masters history program that will lead to a PhD.</p>
<p>the NYU and cornell programs you constantly mention are not quite entrances into PhD programs either. they are terminal and will in all likelihood still not give you enough background for a PhD in history. history programs have some very specific requirements, and those requirements are language proficiencies. in all honesty, you would be better served to take 2 years to learn languages and then apply for combined MA/PhD programs than to enter a terminal “world history” degree. you will have difficulty juggling the courseload of a history masters on top of the language classes you’ll need, and just getting the masters without adding to the languages will mean that you won’t get into any PhD program. really and truly, if you want to get into a history program, learn latin, greek, and french or german. you will never get a PhD in ancient history without being able to read and translate three of these languages. not a single school will give you the degree. they most likely won’t even let you write your dissertation if you can’t pass their language translation exams.</p>
<p>this is something i cannot stress enough. for ANY PhD program, you need to pass two (or more) language translation exams. all the history courses and terminal masters degrees in the world will not change whether or not you can translate one page of latin or one page of academic-language french (using a dictionary) in 2 hours maximum. this is a requirement to get your masters in the first place, and then you have to pass a second translation exam to move to the qualifying exam for the PhD. if you pass that (where you must read, memorize, and analyze the arguments of 150 academic books relevant to your field and pass written and oral exams on them), then you get to write the dissertation, and then you get to orally defend it after 3-5 years of working on it.</p>
<p>anthropology requires knowledge of french or german, if not both. archeology as a subschool will still require this proficiency because much of the secondary literature you’ll need to read will be written in either language. the languages for humanities/social sciences degrees are not arbitrary. you will need to translate material yourself on a regular basis and may occasionally find yourself presenting conference papers in another language.</p>
<p>so yes, you have some history courses and a history masters already. and with improved GREs and proper LORs, you could scrape your way into a low-to-mid tier masters program (terminal). but without the languages, a 4.0 and a perfect GRE score won’t get you a PhD.</p>
<p>with your profile as it is, right now, you can’t get into any masters program in history or anthropology. not even your NYU or cornell ones. you are not competitive enough. meeting their minimum requirements listed is what you have to do to simply get them to read your application. they will not accept students that only meet the minimum. and as it stands, you don’t meet the minimum, which means your application gets put in the circular file. with new GRE scores and real LORs (from professors, this is an absolute must, i’m sorry), you might get into a terminal program, but you won’t get into NYU’s or cornell’s. they’re both still too competitive for you. meaning that your profile is not good enough. and again, you won’t get into any PhD program, even if you get 7 different masters degrees, without the languages.</p>
<p>if i were in your position, here is what i would honestly do:</p>
<p>1) study like mad for the GRE. get 600V or higher (for history/anthro/archeology) or 700Q or higher for CS. if, on the third time around, you can’t break either of those scores, then decide to do something else with your life. find a new way to make that move to new york.</p>
<p>2) contact your masters’ advisors. make yourself known to them, through email, on a personal basis. tell them about your grad school hopes and tell them your profile. let them give you an honest opinion on whether or not you’ve got a shot. also use this as an opportunity to make an intellectual connection with them. you NEED one LOR from a professor that advised your masters project. if you can’t get that, then again i would recommend letting the grad school thing go and moving onto something else.</p>
<p>3) while getting the GREs and the LORs, then take one year of languages (for history) and do not apply to any grad school, even a masters program, this fall. you won’t be able to do a masters and get 2-3 languages at the same time, and without the languages, you can’t get into any PhD program. apply in the fall of 2010, and during that year, take a second year of languages. for CS, i’d recommend what others have suggested: look at your target schools, look at their undergrad programs for CS, and look at the courses required to get a major in CS. if any of those courses are not on your transcript, take those this fall and, in the fall of 2009, apply ONLY to low-tier or mid-tier masters programs. no PhD programs, no ivy leagues, no top 20 CS programs. the rest of your profile is too shaky for those. if you get 700+Q, schools will still get your previous GRE test scores and they’ll see the one good score as more of a fluke than the two bad ones. your lack of research experience in CS will keep you out of PhD programs and top CS masters programs. if you want to get in somewhere, significantly lower your sights. after you get the CS masters, then try for a PhD program in mid-to-upper tier depending upon your performance in the masters degree.</p>
<p>or don’t take any of my advice. don’t take the languages, don’t take the math courses, and maybe retake the GRE but don’t do anything differently this time around. don’t get in contact with old professors either. apply to the top programs and ivy league schools for masters AND PhD degrees with letters only coming from industry and not academia. and then wait for the small paper envelopes to come rolling in.</p>