program information

Information for Prospective Students

Application Deadlines ~ Required Application Materials ~ Criteria ~ Diversity ~ Financial Aid ~ Transfer Credits ~ Sub-field course requirements ~Funding for Fieldwork ~ Placement

The information below addresses some of the most frequently asked questions about the Program. Please consult Program Information which contains a fuller description of the doctoral program and the courses of study.

Application Deadlines

We accept applications only for courses of study beginning in a Fall Semester. The Anthropology Program does not accept students for the Spring Semester. Those who wish to be considered for financial aid must have a completed application with all supporting materials, including test scores and recommendations, in the Office of Admissions at the CUNY Graduate Center by January 8, 2008. The final deadline for all other applications for admission for the 2008/2009 academic year is April 1, 2008.

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Required Application Materials

Each applicant is required to provide the following materials:

  1. The Graduate Center's application form, can be completed online or downloaded from the Office of Admissions (212-817-7470), and an application fee of $125. Members of the Admissions Committee will be keenly interested in your "Statement of Purpose," which should be no more than two pages in length. This short essay should convey a clear sense of your academic background and preparation for doctoral study, as well as your intellectual direction and plans. NYCEP applicants should follow the special instructions on the NYCEP tracking form.

  2. Two letters of recommendation from persons familiar with your academic work and your capacity to do doctoral study in Anthropology.

  3. Official transcripts from each college or university you have attended.

  4. Official scores from the GRE General Test. Consult the Educational Testing Service [609-771-7670; www.gre.org] for more information.

  5. Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) if necessary:

    International students must present authoritative evidence of sufficient competence in the English language to pursue a regular course of doctoral study at the City University. It is required that students who have not studied and earned a degree in an English-speaking country take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), administered internationally by the Educational Testing Service, and request ETS to report examination results directly to the Office of Admissions, CUNY Graduate Center-College Code 2113, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10016. Inquiries concerning this exam should be made directly to Test of English as a Foreign Language, Box 6151, Princeton NJ 08540, USA, or most American embassies and consulates in cities outside the United States. For additional information call 1-800-GO-TOEFL or on the Web at http://www.toefl.org or http://www.ets.org.

  6. For the cultural anthropology sub-field, a writing sample is required. Submit a writing sample, for example a research paper, reflecting your scholarly and critical abilities.

    None of these requirements can be waived.

Optional Application Materials

  1. For sub-fields other than cultural anthropology, a writing sample is optional. You may submit a writing sample, for example a research paper, reflecting your scholarly and critical abilities.

All required documents should be sent directly to the Office of Admissions at the CUNY Graduate Center. When all required items have been received, your file will be ready for review by the Anthropology Program's Admissions Committee. The Program cannot keep track of specific materials for individual applicants, so it is your responsibility to ensure that your materials reach the Office of Admissions before the deadline

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Criteria

Admission to the PhD Program in Anthropology is very competitive. The Admissions Committee for each of the four sub-fields meets from mid-February until mid-May to review completed applications. Four essential factors are considered: a solid academic record and relevant professional and research experience; excellent references; strong test scores; and an articulate personal statement. No single item is considered in isolation.

You will be notified by the Office of Admissions as soon as the Committee reaches a decision about whether or not to admit you. Because of the number of applications requiring careful consideration, some are placed temporarily on hold and reviewed at subsequent meetings. If you have not heard from us, please contact the Office of Admissions to make sure that your application is complete before you contact the Anthropology Program.

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Diversity

The PhD Program is committed to encouraging diversity among its students, and we strongly encourage applications from minorities. Our student cohorts over the years reflect a wide diversity of ethnicities and nationalities. The percentage of students of African and Hispanic/Latin descent remains well above the national average.

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Financial Aid

Because CUNY is a public institution, the Anthropology Program is able to offer only limited financial aid, and awards are made to a small number of students. Those wishing to be considered for financial aid must apply by the January 8th deadline. The Graduate Center offers a number of special multiple-year awards to students with exceptional promise or specialized skills. These include the Robert E. Gilleece Fellowships and the Minority Access/Graduate Networking (MAGNET) Fellowships (Financial Aid). Special committees comprised of faculty, students, and administrators make these very competitive awards on behalf of the Graduate Center as a whole. A small number of entering students obtain fellowships from sources outside of CUNY such as the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (developing countries fellowships), and The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies. See Student News: Grants, Fellowships, and Prizes for news on grants awarded to current students. Information on financial aid and special awards may be obtained from the Office of Financial Aid and the admissions packet.

After passing the First Exam and earning 45 credits, students may apply for a Writing Across the Curriculum Fellowship. After the first year, a number of students receive Graduate Teaching Fellowships (Student News: Grants, Fellowships, and Prizes). For many students, adjunct teaching positions at one of the CUNY undergraduate colleges are an important source of support. Rather than serving as a Teaching Assistant, a common practice at many universities, adjunct lecturers at CUNY colleges design and teach their own classes. This teaching experience often plays an important role in our students' subsequent success on the academic job market.

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Funding for Fieldwork

Students have opportunities for early fieldwork experience through faculty directed practicums, summer field schools and field trips. The Program encourages students to make a preliminary reconnaissance trip to a potential fieldsite. Normally the Program holds an annual competition for summer research funds. With close faculty guidance students write proposals for their dissertation fieldwork and submit them to external funding agencies. Students in the Program receive outside funding for their research at an exceptionally high rate. Funding agencies have included: the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, Social Science Research Council, L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, IREX, International Fund for Animal Welfare, The Open Society Institute, CARE Archaeology Foundation, Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Ford Foundation - US Community Forestry Research, Foreign Languages and Areas Studies (FLAS), American Museum of Natural History, Kellogg Foundation, Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada), and the Smithsonian Institution.

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Job Placement

Many factors determine success in academic and non-academic job placement. The Program's four-field requirement together with exceptional opportunities for fieldwork and teaching experience, provide CUNY anthropology graduates with credentials not commonly available from other doctoral programs. As noted above, most students acquire significant undergraduate teaching experience at the various colleges of the CUNY system and other colleges in the area while completing their degrees. Many students establish a track record of writing successful proposals and winning external funding for their research (Student News: Grants, Fellowships, and Prizes). The Program expects students to participate in professional meetings, and many organize sessions and present papers (Student News: Publications, Conferences, and Other Recent Activities). It is not uncommon for our students to publish a paper while they are writing their dissertations. The Program's placement record varies from one year to the next and from graduate to graduate. We are proud of our placement record and of the achievements of many of our alumni(Student News: Recent Graduates, New Jobs). It is a source of pride that three alumni (one cultural, one physical, and one linguistic) have gone on to win distinguished MacArthur "genius" awards. CUNY anthropology counts more MacArthur winners among its alumni than any other anthropology department save the University of Chicago.

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Transfer Credits

After a student has successfully completed the First Exam, it is possible to request the evaluation of transfer credits. Taking into account the advice of the student's sub-field coordinator, and the student's academic record in the doctoral program, the Executive Officer (chair) evaluates the courses the student would like to transfer. Normally this occurs after the student has passed the First Examination. Official Graduate Center policy allows for the transfer of a maximum of 30 credits. Students are sometimes confused when they read this and expect to receive more transfer credits than are approved. To obtain a doctoral degree from CUNY a student must complete a total of 60 credits, of which a minimum of 30 must be earned at CUNY. Thus, our policy allows for transfer of up to a maximum of 30 credits. In practice this is extremely rare.

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Sub-field course requirements

Students are required to take one course in each of three sub-fields other than their own. This requirement is may be waived depending on a student's earlier course work. A request for a course waiver may be considered if the student has taken either one graduate level course or two undergraduate level courses in a sub-field. Taking into account the advice of the sub-field coordinator for the sub-field course in question, the Executive Officer (chair) evaluates the course(s) a student wishes to have considered to obtain a waiver.

Information about financial aid, housing, degree requirements and general course offerings may be found in the Prospective Student section of the Graduate School website. The Anthropology Program's Website contains schedules of recent and current course offerings and course descriptions, faculty members, and program events. The student news section is the place to look for information on our students' record of participation in conferences, publications, winning grants, and landing jobs. The faculty section contains a list of faculty and information on their research interest and publications. The faculty news section provides current information on their activities, publications, invited lectures, awards, and so forth.

Questions may be addressed to Anthropology student Kareem Rabie (krabie@gc.cuny.edu).

You may also contact:
Dr. Thomas McGovern - Archaelogy sub-field coordinator (nabo@voicenet.com)
Dr. Donald Robotham - Chair, Cultural Admissions Committee (drobotham@gc.cuny.edu)
Dr. Edward Bendix - Linguistics sub-field coordinator (EBendix@gc.cuny.edu)
Dr. Eric Delson - Physical sub-field coordinator (delson@amnh.org)

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last modified 09.07.07
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