One of the purposes of this blog is to document--from start to finish--the processes involved in becoming a linguistic anthropologist. These processes include my intellectual questions and challenges, adventures in graduate study from admissions to dissertation writing, and other reflections on language, identity and anthropology. One of the motivations behind this type of forum is to dialogue about graduate programs in anthropology based on my own experience with it. When I was applying for my PhD program, I had so many questions about the process and it felt that there were few places on the internet where genuine discussion was taking place. It appeared that confusion and anxiousness was the status-quo for applicants and candid discussion about the application process was hard to find. Of course everyone (including myself) has the (perhaps) childish desire to find a "how to get into grad school" website that outlines "must-dos" to get into your program of choice. For example, everyone wants to know what the minimum or desirable GRE score is and what to say on your personal statement. Yet, perhaps these aspects are mere distractions from the real important questions at hand. Applying for graduate school is difficult and emotionally draining. But, if you know that before you begin, at least you will not be surprised by it. I certainly was not accepted to all the schools I applied for. But, I did, in the end, get into the school that was probably best for me. I think now that because I had many years outside of university, I was able to understand that something as important as PhD study takes time. I prepared myself for over a year for the application. I don't think that this should be something entered in haste.
Here are a few consideration that I would like to share about the steps I took that were very helpful and other aspects of the application process that I didn't learn until after I had already applied for my degree. As my graduate work proceeds, I will amend these according to the things that I learn.
Things that I believe helped me get into graduate school:
1. I studied really hard for the GRE. I don't consider myself naturally very skilled at standardized testing. In fact, as an activist and researcher in the field of education, I am very much against standardized testing both in terms of its practical effectiveness to demonstrate skills and the intrinsic values and motivations behind its implementation at all levels of education. Additionally, I had already taken the GRE once when I applied for my master's program, and I didn't do very well. I realized that if I wanted to have a strong, well-rounded application, I had to get at least a decent score on the test. In order to do this, I required a significant change of attitude. I tried to think positively about the test as a game for my intellect. Then, I study for at least two months. I took many practice tests (all of which are free online). I didn't take a paid course, but focused on self-study. In the end, my scores were dramatically improved. Take the GRE seriously, and you will not regret it. I know that I didn't get into graduate school because of my GRE scores. But at least when I was applying, I didn't have to fear that my GRE scores were the excluding factor for which I was rejected.
2. I emailed as many professors as I could before you apply and tried to meet with them. Many of the professors I emailed didn't respond to me. But, some did. I made a trip to visit these schools before the decisions were made. I think this gave my application some help at least in one case. I wish that I had emailed these professors earlier, but I didn't have my project ready ahead of time in order to email them about it. I should have worked on creating my project earlier in order to be able to contact the professors earlier.
3. I showed my project to several people--friends, former professors and relatives in order to get advice. I wrote many many drafts of my project. It took me months of research and writing to come up with the final draft. This process helped prepare me for beginning graduate school and it made my project more professional than it otherwise would be.
4. My many years outside of undergraduate work helped me to establish a specific project based on my real life interests. I know that other students develop a project during their undergraduate study. In any case, I believe that a specific project was important to my application.
Things I only learned after I applied:
1. In order to be accepted into most programs, your project needs to mirror not the former work of the professor with whom you would like to work, but his/her current research. While I was applying, I saw many professors at all the schools I was applying to whose past work was of great interest to me. Yet, professors want students who can teach them something of interest to them. This means your work should be very closely tied to the current interests of certain professors at the school. This will be one of the most important indicators of successful admission, I believe. This fact was emphasized to me by a professor at Columbia, whose work I greatly admire. She was very kind in telling me the truth: that acceptance into graduate school requires students to go where ever the professor who is doing similar research works. While I was very focuses on a few certain universities, I overlooked other schools that probably would have been a great fit on academic terms.
2. At coffee with a PhD from the university at which I will be attending, my friend told me that it is essential to have a clear idea about what you want to do after your PhD before you start your program. Do you want to teach? Do you want to do research? Do you want to work in the private sector? Although it is difficult to know how you may change throughout your PhD program, it is important to make decisions early on to set yourself up for a successful post-graduate career. I hope that I can follow this advice.
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