Department of Anthropology , Emory University

Applying to the Graduate Program

Emory's graduate program in Anthropology receives applications from a wide range of the most highly qualified national and international candidates.  Students with research interests in any branch of cultural or biological anthropology are encouraged to apply.  We strongly encourage applications from minority and foreign students; our program has a strong record of supporting students' needs in these as well as other areas.

All students admitted are funded at a stipend level of at least $21,000.00 yearly for three years of coursework and (pending satisfactory continuation) an additional year and a half of thesis write-up upon return from their doctoral research field site. Additional support funds are also available.  Because of this high level of support for all students, our program must be highly selective in its admission process.  The average incoming class is 5 to 7 students.  The following information is supplied to inform you about the application and review process, and to afford each applicant the chance to present her or his candidacy in the strongest possible light.

Recruitment open (Posted August 19, 2008)

The on-line system is now accepting new applications and new preliminary applications for international students for Fall 2009 admission.

Application Deadline

December 15, 2008 is the deadline for receipt of applications and supporting materials for all candidates for the Fall 2009 class. We will start to accept new applications at the end of August 2008.

Please begin the application process well in advance to make sure that your application, GRE scores, and letters of recommendation all arrive by the December 15 deadline. Most of these documents will be submitted on-line with your electronic application. A scanned copy of the grades transcripts is required with your on-line application, while an official sealed paper copy should be sent directly to the Graduate School (see below).

If one of your recommenders is unable to submit their application through our on-line Embark portal, they should sent a paper recommendation directly to:

Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Anthropology
1557 Dickey Drive
Atlanta, GA 30322

In the latter case, please make sure to check with your recommender that the letter arrives close to the December 15 deadline, and that it is accompanied by a form signed by you (waiving or affirming your rights under FERPA to review the letter).

You will be able to view the status of your on-line letters of recommendation by logging in onto our on-line application system.

International Students

A preliminary application is required of international students only. On-line submission is the preferred method. On-line preliminary applications for fall 2009 admission can be filed at:

https://apply.embark.com/grad/emory/gsas/prelim/14/

There is no application fee for preliminary applications.

Students who are unable to access and use the on-line application system should use the PDF application instead. The PDF form can be downloaded at:

http://www.emory.edu/GSOAS/prospective/international/

Paper applications should include an email address where the candidate can be reached.

Paper application may be sent to:

Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Anthropology
1557 Dickey Drive
Atlanta, GA 30322

or faxed at +1-404-727-2860

Preliminary applications must be received by November 15, 2008, in time for international students to submit their applications and all supporting materials by the December 15, 2008 deadline, should their preliminary application be approved.

International students applications filed without an approved preliminary application will not be reviewed.

The Application Process

The Application Process and Evaluation of Candidates  

The Emory Anthropology Department is currently recruiting for our fall class of 2008. Only full-time students applying for a doctoral degree are admitted to the graduate program. We do not offer a terminal Master's degree. Each and every application is carefully reviewed by the program's admissions committee, which is comprised of faculty from all branches of the department.  The admissions committee recommends a fraction of the candidate pool for consideration by the department.  All faculty members in the department review the files of these semi-finalists and from this list approximately 12 finalists are chosen.  Finalists are contacted and invited to come to Emory at our expense for a recruitment weekend in mid-February (dates vary each year) to interview with faculty, see the facilities, and meet existing students and their potential in-coming cohort.  Decisions concerning offers of admittance are made during the week following this visit.

Online Application

You may submit your application on-line starting the end of August 2008, download application materials, or request application materials sent to you on the Graduate School web site at http://www.emory.edu/GSOAS/prospective/admissions_info/online_application/

The Paper Application Form

To receive paper application materials, contact:

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Phone: 404-727-6028
Email: grad@gsas.emory.edu

When filling out the forms, please type your information. If not, write very legibly.  In addition to your current and permanent address and phone number, please provide your e-mail address if you have one.  Please provide the GPA of your primary undergraduate institution.  When listing your recommenders, please provide their professional phone number and e-mail address if at all possible. Be sure to sign your application.

As a supplement to the application form, feel free to submit a synoptic resume of awards and/or accomplishments as warranted.  Please limit this information to a single page.

Online:

http://www.emory.edu/GSOAS/prospective/admissions_info/online_application/
(instructions)

and

https://apply.embark.com/grad/emory/gsas/24/ (direct link to the on-line application system)

Please follow the instructions and the steps provided to you on the on-line application system. Please submit your application only when you have completed all parts of the application, and make sure that all supporting materials, including official transcripts and GRE scores, are sent to be received by the December 15, 2008 deadline.

The Personal Statement

The personal statement is an important part of the application.  The statement should be single-spaced and should not be more than two or three pages long.  A clear statement of your intended research interests is the central part of this statement.  If your interests or research plans are not specific, clarify the range of issues in anthropology that you are most interested in pursuing and sketch out plausible contexts you might envisage for studying them.  Any of the following strengthen the personal statement:

(a) past experience or research training relevant to your doctoral research interests ;

(b) papers, publications, or relevant courses taken ;

(c) awareness of the current literature on your field of interest [though citations should be used selectively];

(d) how or why you feel this area is of special intellectual and/or practical importance. 

If you have a specific world area, ethnographic venue or other focus in mind for your doctoral research, please state and explain this; if not, mention plausible sites or contexts of study.  Past credentials and coursework is relevant, but only insofar as it articulates to your present interests and future plans.  Avoid description of non-relevant courses and extended statements about personal history except as relevant to your research plan.  If you have a preliminary sense of which faculty you would be most apt to work with and why, feel free to specify this.  Overall, your statement should reflect intellectual sophistication, good writing, and a sense of important research direction within some area of cultural, medical or biological anthropology. 

GRE Scores

Note that no student can be considered for admission unless a valid GRE score is part of the application.

Our program has no absolute standard or minimum for GRE scores; we consider all parts of the application as a constellation that is unique in each case.  However, low GRE scores often impact negatively on an application unless complemented by other factors (such as high grades, letters of recommendation, or special personal background). 

Please do not wait until the last minute to take your GRE.  Students who do not do well on standardized tests are urged to do one or more of the following

• (a) take the GRE early and give yourself a chance to retake it if necessary for updated scores to be received by December 15;
• (b) study for the GRE in advance (using workbooks or CD-Rom programs), especially for those parts of the exam you may not have recently encountered in academic study.

GRE scores more than five years old will not be accepted.  Please use the 5187 institution code to report your scores to Emory University.

Grades 

Grades and transcripts are highly important parts of the application.  Students should accurately report both their cumulative GPA and the Major GPA on the application form.  For students who have gone to several universities or who may already have begun a Master's program, the GPA listed on the application form should, for purposes of valid comparison, be the cumulative undergraduate GPA. 

Any special circumstances that may have caused major changes in a student's grades should be noted briefly in the personal statement. 

Academic Transcripts

You will need to upload a scanned digital copy of your official transcripts using the on-line application system. Acceptable formats for scanned transcripts include JPG and PDF files. The scanned copy does not need to be in color, and its resolution can be low as long as the courses and grades is legible (150 to 300 DPI). You will also need to send a sealed official paper copy of your academic transcripts directly to the Graduate School by regular mail at:

Emory University Graduate School
Room 209, Administration Building
Mailstop 1000-001-1AF
201 Dowman Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30322

The sealed copy will serve as a confirmation of the accuracy and veracity of the information provided by the on-line scanned copy.

If you are unable to scan your transcripts or upload them in the on-line system, please contact the Anthropology Program Coordinator at:

Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Anthropology
1557 Dickey Drive
Atlanta, GA 30322

1-404-727-7518

and the Graduate School at :

1 404.727.6028 OR
1-800-727-6028 (domestic only)
Fax:+1 404.727.4990
E-mail: gradschool-l@listserv.cc.emory.edu

International Students: Transcripts in a language other than English must be translated, and the translation must be appended to both the digital and paper copies.

Letters of Recommendation

It is important for students to contact recommenders with enough lead time so their recommendations are received by December 15.  Three letters of recommendation are required. Faculty recommenders should now submit their applications electronically through the on-line application system. Letters submitted on-line are received as soon as they are submitted, and students can track the submissions through their on-line access. In cases where on-line submissions are not possible, we do accept mailed letters of recommendations though they are harder for both the student and the faculty recommender to track.

We highly recommend that students discuss their specific application plans, their personal statement, and the larger goals with advisors and recommenders before they finalize the application.  Students may wish to check with recommenders or provide them an easy means of confirmation so that the student knows in advance that the reference has been completed and sent. 

For students who have been absent from college or university life for a period of time, it is generally important to have at least one or two strong references from a university faculty in anthropology or a relevant related field.  References from employers or professional colleagues can be important but need to be supplemented or complemented by academic recommendations. 

Candidates should be sure that the comparative student rating sheet is filled out by each and every recommender.  Students from some larger universities that mail recommendations kept on file may need to contact individual professors to have the rating sheet filled out and mailed in separately to our department. 

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