The art of asking for help getting into graduate school for an anthropology degree is as simple as planning and politeness.
Regardless of how we all feel about them, the Secretary of Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for Archaeology call for a graduate degree in anthropology or a related field. Fall is the season when cultural resource management (CRM) archaeologists and archaeology students start to think about going back to school for a grad degree. Fall is admissions season for PhD programs. Spring is when Master’s programs admit students.
Fall is also when students ask professors for recommendation letters as part of their graduate school application packages. Since becoming an archaeology professor, my engagement with PhD program-bound archaeologists follows a pattern:
August—September is when the initial solicitation emails start coming in
September—November is when I have meetings with prospective students
November—December is when I have to complete the recommendation letters for folks with whom I have agreed to write a letter.
Some years I write a lot of letters; some years I write very few. I have already written about whether or not you should go back to school for a Master’s or PhD. The choice is yours:
Regardless of your degree path, universities ask for a recommendation letter as part of their graduate school application package. The week before the application is due is normally when grad school applicants start to think about getting letters but I encourage you to plan way, way ahead of this due date. Prospective students will reach out to former professors for recommendation letters, which is a good thing since professors tend to consider well-written recommendations from other professors better than those from CRM supervisors or others. Also, professors have a better understanding of the college admissions process than CRMers which means they are well-positioned to write the kind of letter that stands out to the department to which you are applying.
Every archaeologist who goes to graduate school is going to need recommendation letters before they can get in, which means every archaeologist with a graduate degree had to ask a few someones to write a letter for them. Most of the time applicants just reach out to former professors who know us well and are willing to write a letter. This is all it takes.
However, there are some of you who (like me) didn’t really connect with any professors when they were undergraduates. This makes it harder for us to solicit letters since we don’t know who to ask. There are also some folks who want to get into top-ranked schools. So, they’re going to want excellent letters that will increase their odds of getting accepted. While professors who know you well are excellent references, those who don’t know you can be a drag on your application. Folks aspiring to get into a top school are going to need to be choosy about who they ask to write letters and they’re going to want to work closely with their letter writers so there is no disconnect between what the writers say about you and what you say you’re going to do as a grad student.
I have only been a professor for seven years thus far but I have noticed the student who do best in the college application scheme have a few things in common. Here are things I’ve noticed students who get into every school tend to do:
Be selective in who you ask to write you a letter
Students who get accepted to the top programs are smart about who they ask to write letters. They take the time to talk with folks they want to write for them WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE DUE DATE. They only solicit letters from professors who have a good idea of what they want to study as graduate students and have those professors write specifically to their graduate study goals.
I haven’t noticed a particular type of professor who is specifically better at getting students into grad school. But, I have noticed that the professors that write the best letters are ones who know what you want to study as well as you do.
Take a “friendraising” approach
Rather than asking someone to do something for you, think about simply earning a new friend in archaeology that you may or may not ask for a favor. There is great value in adding people to your professional network who have decades of experience.
Also think about how professors feel about being constantly approached every fall by folks who literally tell them the only reason they are even talking to them is because they want them to get them into their PhD program. How do you think it feels when you’re approached by 10-20 students who are “so passionate” about archaeology that they never emailed you before? They never read your books. They never even gave you a second thought until they wanted you to let them into their program. Basically, you did not exist to them until they needed something from you. Their pleas probably wouldn’t be too convincing.
Contrast that with a friendraising approach (https://www.succinctresearch.com/introduction-to-friendraising-for-archaeology-networking/). What if you planned to apply to a PhD department in the fall but spent the next 12 months learning about that university’s program? What if you read articles and books by the people you wanted to help you get into the program months in advance? What if you reached out and contacted professors in that program in the spring, well before PhD application season, and spent time asking them what you needed to do to get into the program? What if you kept in contact with these folks even if you didn’t get into the program?
If you took a friendraising approach, you’d be making a friend whether or not you even got into the program. You never know who’s going to help you in this industry. Having friends far and wide is a huge asset. Entering the game with this mindset means you win regardless of the outcome.
Don’t wait until the last minute
Give yourself at least a year to start friendraising and maneuvering in anticipation of applying to a PhD program. Everything takes at least 40-50 days. Faculty are extremely busy. Those with a proven track record of getting their former students into graduate programs will be asked to write dozens of recommendation letters every year (FYI: I wrote about 30 recommendations for about ten different students in the fall of 2023. Each student asked me to write to more than one university. Each one of them got accepted to one of their preferred schools.)
Waiting until the last minute is a sure-fire way to keep you from getting into grad school. I ask students to meet with me at least a month before their application is due so we can talk about what they plan on doing in grad school. And I ask for at least one month to write the letter. So, folks trying to get into grad school and want my help need to have had a meeting with me in August or September if their application deadline is in December. This gives me the time needed to research the departments I’m writing, professors in that department best positioned to help the applicant, and the time to write the letter. All of this increases your odds of getting accepted to the program where you want to go.
Make sure you have everything in order
The only way professors can write an recommendation is if they know what they are recommending. They need to know what you want to research. It’s very hard to write a recommendation for someone who wants to “explore Blackness” and not fruitful to recommend a student who only wants to “explore Blackness among women fishmongers in Codrington, Antigua from 1750—1800.” The first one is too broad. The second one is way too specific.
You need to give us an idea as to what you want to study as a grad student while demonstrating what your contribution to archeology is going to be. Remember, undergrads are the customers but graduate students are the product of universities. Departments want to have some sort of an idea as to what you’re going to contribute to the wider field because that increases the chances that their product is going to carry on their pedigree in the broader industry after graduation. They are less likely to accept a “one-trick pony” or an aloof, aimless scholar.
You don’t need to know exactly what you’re going to do for grad school but you do need to have it honed down to a specific topic and method. Being too specific can hurt your application but you do need to be clear about what you want to do. For example, remote sensing of Native American agricultural fields is a good plan. Remote sensing of Mississipian Period agricultural fields associated with mound villages in Quitman County, Mississippi from 3,000—2,000 BC is too narrow and specific because it implies that you don’t want to work anywhere else and don’t want to do anything but that tiny thing in archaeology. Archaeology doesn’t need another hyper-specialized archaeologist who only knows one thing and can’t do anything else. There aren’t enough tenure track jobs for the archaeologists who are hyper-specialized in one exceptionally-tiny aspect of archaeology and can’t do anything else.
Draft your personal statements before reaching out
One way to hone your research idea is to draft your personal and research statements. Your research statement is a summary of your experiences, skills, and knowledge as it pertains to archaeology. This is where you tell what you’ve done thus far that makes you a good candidate for admission. Make sure to explain how your research topic is a good fit for the department by connecting it to scholars already working there. A good research statement also explains what your work will contribute to the wider field and how it fits into future research trajectories within archaeology.
To write a good research statement, you’re going to have to do some research on what other archaeologists are doing with regard to what you want to do. This means reading up on relevant research and scholars doing that research, which is good because it may give you ideas as to schools where you should be applying (e.g. schools where those professors are working) and lets you appear knowledgeable about your research field.
Your personal statement is designed to convince the department you are a good fit. It’s supposed to describe a list of skills and experiences that shape who you are and make you particularly well-suited for the sort of research you propose to do. It also explains what you can contribute to the campus community.
While the personal statement is supposed to be focused on your research contributions, I tend to see a lot of students writing a “trauma essay” (e.g. an essay that describes how society has damaged you deeply but you’ve managed to survive). Personally, I think the trauma essay is losing its efficacy for several reasons:
- Too many people are writing them.
- It’s too revealing. Faculty learn about some pretty personal stuff and I feel like it would be hard for them to “unsee” it.
- It makes people think you are “damaged goods.” Why would we want to admit someone who has been deeply traumatized with the mental health crisis currently afflicting students, faculty, and staff at universities? (See my last post if you want to see an example of what I’m talking about.)
- It encourages students to evoke for sympathy rather than inspiration. Please do not write an essay that spends more words trying to elicit sympathy than impress faculty with your skills and abilities.
Again, those are just my opinions regarding personal statements. I see a lot of them each year. I do think it is important to tell faculty some of the obstacles you have overcome because it demonstrates resilience. Reading how applicants have overcome odds, had life-changing experiences, or gone around obstacles can be touching and inspiring. It shows us you are strong, smart, and capable. However, the applications that dedicate entire pages describing personal trauma at the expense of telling us why you want to become an archaeologist rarely make it to the final consideration. Each of us has our reasons for rejecting the trauma essay but, every year, I see dozens of students write them. My suggestion is please move away from that format and towards one the emphasizes what you can do and what you bring to the department.
Think about why you even want a graduate degree
This is something you have already figured out well in advance. Why do you want to get a graduate degree? Why do you want it to do archaeology?
I have some pretty strong feelings about this question and have covered it extensively on this blog. Please read the following articles before reaching out to graduate programs, especially if you’re thinking about getting a PhD.
Once you have read those articles, rethink your reasons for going to college to do cultural resource management archaeology. I know you will come to the conclusion that is best for you.
Asking for that recommendation letter
Asking for help is something we all have to do at some point in our cultural resource management archaeology careers. We are all here to help each other. However, I frequently see students who really haven’t thought about why they’re trying to go back to school. I also get last minute recommendation requests from students I’ve never met. I love helping students further their careers but there is an art to asking for help. Reaching out well in advance is important. As is trying to connect to someone on a professional level before asking for a favor. Most professors are willing to help their students but following these tips will help increase your odds of getting into the school that is best for you.
I’d like to hear from you. Write a comment below or reach out to me if you have anything to say.
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