Results tagged “PhD” from Photoethnography.com Blog

April is the time for rain, taxes, and decline letters from grad schools. How can you improve your odds of getting into the program you want to next year?

When grad schools evaluate candidates for their masters and doctoral programs, they generally focus on things such as:

1. Fit. Are there several faculty members or topical/regional concentrations that make you appealing to the department, and vice versa?
2. Preparedness. Do you have field experience and know the local language, and have you taken some anthropology classes before? Why are you interested in this site and topic, and will your project have legs?
3. Intellectual ability. This is generally gauged through the transcripts, letters, and statement of purpose.

How can you improve your strengths in each of these areas?

1. Fit. Go through the department websites, see how the department describes itself and its topical / regional strengths. Make sure there are several faculty at differing ranks that might be interested in your work, and contact them.
2. Preparedness. Summer field schools, MA programs, language study.
3. Intellectual ability. Work on the statement as much as possible. Make sure your letters of recommendation are written by faculty who know you well, think positively of you, and have plenty of time to craft a good letter.

Comments and thoughts more than welcome!

I was reading the latest Anthropology News when I came across a reference to the National Doctoral Program Survey from Arizona State University. I wasn't aware of this. I wanted to put in a link on my blog for people who might be interested in it:

Anthropology programs ranked by best practices: http://cresmet.asu.edu/nagps...

The NDPS ranks all doctoral programs across all divisions (social sciences, humanities, arts, etc.) and a variety of schools. It's hardly scientific as the sample size of respondents per school is small and self-selected; but it does give a little bit of insight into various programs for people thinking about graduate school -- and an area of possible conversation when chatting with grad schools peers.

Be sure to wander around, you can rank programs on more than just best practices, including areas such as climate and professional development.

UIC's program in disability studies is excellent (and there's a new minor at UCLA after the jump):

PLEASE CIRCULATE THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL WHO MAY BE INTERESTED:

The Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Disability Studies at the University 

of Illinois at Chicago is accepting applications from prospective students 

for Fall 2008. The deadline for receipt of full applications is January 1, 

2008. UIC's Disability Studies Ph.D. program promotes the development of 

new scholarly models for understanding disability. Part of this 

intellectual approach involves the education of disabled and non-disabled 

academicians, researchers, policy experts, and clinicians who will join 

with disabled people in the community as active challengers of oppressive 

institutions and environments. The program examines how addressing 

disability in its full complexity can promote the full participation, self- 

determination, and equal citizenship of people with disabilities in society.

A prospective doctoral student interested in the anthropology of Japan recently inquired about what schools I'd recommend. I posted a list last year but thought I'd update it for 2007:

Ph.D. Granting Institutions with Japan Faculty)

• Canada: University of British Columbia - Prof. Millie Creighton
• USA: Boston University - Prof. Merry White
• USA: Columbia University - Prof. Marilyn Ivy
• USA: Duke University - Prof. Anne Allison
• USA: Harvard University - Prof. Theodore Bestor
• USA: Stanford University - Prof. Miyako Inoue
• USA: University of Hawai'i (Manoa) - Prof. Christine Yano
• USA: University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) - Profs. Nancy Abelmann and Karen Kelsky
• USA: University of Iowa - Prof. Scott Schnell
• USA: University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) - Prof. Jennifer Robertson
• USA: Yale University - Profs. William Kelly, Karen Nakamura*

* Italics = denotes junior faculty member who may or may not be taking on graduate students.

M.A. Programs

• USA: Yale University, MA in East Asian Studies
• Japan: Sophia University, Interdisciplinary MA in Japanese Studies - Prof. David Slater
• Japan: Waseda University - Prof. Glenda Roberts

I'll keep updating this list, if you have any suggestions, additions, corrections, feel free to e-mail me or drop a comment below. Last updated: 2007/09/23

I've recently gotten several e-mails from people interested in graduate programs in Deaf Studies or Disability Studies within Anthropology. I've come up with the following list to help people narrow down their choice of schools. It's still very tentative and I would greatly appreciate feedback from people who know of other programs.

Note that for the most part I have only listed places where there are faculty active in Deaf Studies or Disability Studies. However, most of us are first generation scholars -- we received our PhDs at programs where there was nobody who focused in Deaf culture or disability. I do not think we are yet at the second generation of scholarship yet -- where people will be studying more or less in specialized programs. Thus, you should not narrow your focus to only the programs listed, but also look for programs that are strong either in your areal speciality (geographic region) or topical speciality (such as language ideology; biomedicine and social institutions; etc.). You can always ask one of the people listed below to serve as an external committee member or dissertation reader.