this post is really late, but i thought a post about rec letters could be really helpful for future classes !!!
why are rec letters important?
they allow colleges to receive a more in-depth academic profile of you than a transcript or GPA
teachers can directly communicate with a college to advocate for you
these letters are written from a more objective standpoint than your own portrayal of yourself in your application
how do i decide who should write my rec letters?
first, look at your college’s specific requirements for a recommendation letter
this will be found on the college’s undergraduate applications website
ex: some colleges want a one counselor rec and one teacher rec, some want three recs with two teachers and an out-of-school source, etc. you just have to make sure to look
most colleges want two letters of recommendation by two different teachers
should be teachers from your junior/senior years, or one who has taught you for multiple years
i personally would recommend one math/science teacher and one humanities teacher
pick a teacher…
whose class you got a good grade in
whose class you genuinely enjoyed
who knows you on a personal level
who will be able to write a personal, customized letter, not just a generic one. colleges will be able to tell if they actually know you and appreciate you as a student based on their language
who you worked with outside the classroom or in an extracurricular setting (bonus, not required)
when should i ask a teacher for a rec letter?
as soon as possible
seriously, these teachers will be swamped with requests for rec letters. the sooner you ask them the sooner yours will be done and the better it will be
ask your teachers during…
the end of junior year
the summer in between junior and senior year
very early in the fall of senior year
how do i ask a teacher for a rec letter?
there are two ways to ask:
e-mail
pros: you have a digital record of asking them and it’s easier to trade information
cons: the request could easily get lost
in-person
pros: the request is more personal and the teacher is more willing to help when seeing an actual person
cons: you can’t keep reminding them or pestering them, otherwise your teacher will be annoyed
i personally would ask in-person, and then use emails to exchange information or send reminders
once your teacher has accepted your request, send them the following soon after:
a list of colleges they need to send these letters to
any of the colleges’ guidelines or requirements for rec letters
due dates for the rec letters
a résumé (this is just nice for the teacher to have)
any things you want them to explicitly mention in your letter (ex: if you worked really hard on a twenty-page research paper for that class)
anything else they ask for
❔❕okay, now what?
congrats! you just secured yourself some kickass rec letters
continue to gently remind your teacher until the letters are sent, and send more information if they need it
don’t pester or overdo it
your teachers will send their letters to your colleges
if any problems arise, the teacher will fix it (this year my biology teacher accidentally sent the wrong document so she called all the schools to let them know and she was able to reupload my letter)
BREATHE. SMILE. RELAX.
i hope this post is helpful! if you have more questions about rec letters or the college process in general, message me !!!
I have revived my Tumblr to find many messages asking “what do I do next” when it comes to Archaeology/Anthropology. So I thought I’d create a post explaining what I went through to get to where I am now, and hopefully give some information to those who are pondering on the next steps to take in this truly wonderful field of study.
Quick academic about me:
Undergrad: Ivy League, Major: Anthropology-Geography, Minor: Religion
After Undergrad: 1 year of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) & Substitute teaching
Graduate School: England MSc in Archaeological Information Systems
After Graduate: 10-month long research grant in Cambodia
Now: (USA) Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, Archaeology Track
I come from a low-middle class family, all of my academics have been funded through financial aid or through grants that I’ve applied for. A lot of the time school and research can get expensive, but that doesn’t mean you have to be wealthy to pursue it!
Per usual, please feel free to DM me at any point with questions (here or IG @ aal.archaeology), I’m always happy to help to the best of my ability. Success in this field is really dependent on networking!
I’ll set this up based on the various landmarks of my academic career:
1. Undergrad
Themes: Ask for help, build your resume, write down everything
No matter where you are going to school, it is so so so important to use the resources around you. Becoming a professor is HARD work, and each one of your professors went through a lot to be able to stand in front of you and teach you. They’ve likely had years and years of research experience, which is probably still happening behind the scenes of teaching and grading papers. More often than not, professors want to help you, they want students to be excited about the research they’ve worked so hard on, and they want to do what they can to help you achieve your career goals.
Therefore, if there’s a class you’ve taken or a professor whose research you’re interested in, tell them. This is how I got my first experience with archaeology (before I even knew that I wanted to do archaeology). I randomly took an Anthropology class that sounded cool, and after the first class, I was like WOW I love this topic so much and I really want to know more about it. I went up to the professor that was teaching it, told her I was really interested and asked if she knew of any research opportunities available. She then hired me as a student researcher in her lab to do data entry for one of her archaeological projects in Mesoamerica, and after working for her for a few months, she asked me if I wanted to go with her and her team to Mexico for fieldwork.
(my timeline at this point: 19 years old, end of Sophomore year)
From this experience, I learned how to apply to grants within the University and funding outside of the University, and was able to FULLY fund my research experience in Mexico. During this fieldwork, I got to work with 3000-year-old artifacts, do archaeoillustration, and eventually got my own chapter published in the book that my professor wrote about the research that was done.
After I got back from Mexico, I started exploring archaeology further. A new professor entered the department who specialized in “digital archaeology,” and his research involved tracking looting patters in Syria using satellite imagery. I thought this was crazy so I then went up to him and asked if I could help him with his research. (the common theme throughout this entire process is just asking for help). From this experience, I learned that I loved the possibilities that technology brought to the study of archaeology, everything from 3D modeling to identification of sites in satellite imagery to spatial mapping in GIS. With this professor, I was able to form an “internship” with him, and continued doing that and other minor projects within the department. I ended up modifying my major to incorporate coursework from the Geography department and created my own “Digital Archaeology” major.
(my timeline at this point: 22 years old, Senior year)
As graduation began to creep closer, I had been able to get a good amount of lines on my resume. I had:
research assistant/ data entry
fieldwork in mesoamerica
x2 internships with digital archaeology prof
multiple “small” projects around the department i.e. making posters, painting 3D prints of bones,
all of the coursework I had done on GIS/ relevant digital experience
started a drone club at my school (it flopped, but it still counts as a line on the resume!)
All of these lines became useful when starting to think of jobs and the “next step”
UNDERGRAD HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS:
Ask for help, your professors are there for a reason, it will almost always lead you to new opportunities. These relationships last well beyond your graduation and definitely come in handy later, make it count!
Write down EVERYTHING that you do. Did you help out with a conference? Write it down. Did you do a couple hours of data entry? Write it down.
Follow your leads! I started my anth journey in Mesoamerica and ended my undergrad in Near Easter digital archaeology (and I entered college wanting to do astronomy?). Change is natural, let it happen.
2. Gap Year Between Undergrad and Grad School
Highlights: Job applications, field school, CRM, uncertainty
Something that I was always told during my undergrad was that you really need to do a field school and some CRM to be taken seriously post-grad. This shows that you actually want to be an archaeologist outside of the classroom environment. Field Schools and CRM give you valuable experience such as: excavation methodology, report writing, grant applications, teamwork, leadership, etc.
I started applying for jobs probably about 5 months before I graduated and ended up securing a job at a CRM company in LA. They liked how much I had done during my undergrad, but they really wanted me to have a field school under my belt before I started working for them. Because I had already graduated and didn’t need course credit, I was able to do my field school at a discounted price (these things really do get expensive, and this was a difference of about $2k). I think this worked out in my favor waiting until the summer after I graduated because it saved me a lot of money in the end.
After my field school was done, I started work that September inCRM. This job ended up being nothing like what I thought it would be, to be honest. I was an Archaeological Field Technician that was part-time/on-call, meaning I only got work when they needed someone to go monitor a construction site. I only got work once every month, sometimes every couple of months, so I was making hardly any money. I realized this quickly and decided to become a substitute teacher to supplement the CRM job. I HIGHLY recommend doing this if you end up in the same situation. Not only does subbing fill up all of your non-working days, but it also gives you the flexibility to choose when you can work and gives you teaching experience that you can put on your resume. That CRM experience can be really important, so it’s good to stick it out long enough to quit.
Why didn’t I like CRM? For me, my job was very sparse, included driving long hours to a construction site, sitting there all day in case archaeological material popped up, and then driving home. Sometimes it was just walking back and forth across a massive field full of cow poop looking for arrowheads, and often it felt like I was just clearing land so that a big building could be erected. I was really missing the research component to all of it. The pay was also not great.
GAP YEAR HIGHLIGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS:
What I got from this year was very valuable, even though it wasn’t necessarily that fun, however.
I got the experience I needed in CRM
I got some teaching experience (also volunteered to mentor clubs and research at local high schools during this time)
I started doing some networking (I found some alumni that were doing work that I wanted to be doing and reached out to them)
and most importantly, I realized that I really do love school and wanted to go back for my Masters
So I started looking into Masters’s programs. This is kind of a scary thing especially in the US because school is expensive. I still really wanted to do Digital Archaeology, and I couldn’t find a single program in the US had a focus in this topic, and especially couldn’t find one that I was willing to pay for.
The UK, however, had plenty of Digital Archaeology programs, and the programs were only a year long and a fraction of the price in the US. I decided to take a chance and apply, got in, and then suddenly I was moving to England. (in hindsight I really didn’t spend much time at all making this decision, but it worked out in the end).
3. Masters Program
(my timeline at this point: 23-24 years old)
I chose the program I applied to based on its focus on the techniques that I wanted to use, namely, remote sensing, GIS, and 3D modeling. I really wanted a degree qualification that spoke for itself, and therefore applied for an MSc in “Archaeological Information Systems.”
I had done some networking during my gap year and connected with an alumnus who was doing research in Cambodia using digital methods, and she offered me the opportunity to join her fieldwork. I agreed to join her in Cambodia during my degree, and also applied for a research grant for the year following my master’s degree to continue fieldwork in Cambodia.
I used this opportunity to fuel my dissertation topic and focused all of my writing and coursework throughout my grad school experience around Cambodia. While I was surrounded by people studying Roman architecture and Medieval Studies, I spent my time doing independent work and building a network in Cambodia.
This program was a great experience for the most part, I was surrounded by beautiful medieval architecture and had a great community throughout. I personally didn’t really like the UK school system compared to what I had received in the US, however. This was largely because of the way coursework was set up. (If you want to know more just DM me).
MASTERS HIGHLIGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS:
Follow networking opportunities, and find someone doing what you want to do (or close to it) and let them help you take the steps to get there
If you’re going to do grad school, do it in something you know you love. Don’t waste money on a program that isn’t right for you.
Make sure that the program you apply to allows for flexibility so that you can do research on what YOU want, not what THEY want.
Halfway through my Master’s degree, I received word that I had been accepted for the research grant (Fulbright) and would spend the next year living in Cambodia doing independent research.
4. Gap Year Between Masters Program and PhD
If you’re planning on a Ph.D., I think its a really good idea to do something before applying that relates to what you want to be studying. This shows that you’re dedicated to your research and to a life in academia, and have the ability to produce something from your work.
My master’s degree was nice because 1) it was short, only a year-long, and 2) allowed me to focus research on what I was interested in. This gave me the experience I needed to lead into a year of independent research.
This year of independent research was definitely contingent on receiving the grant in the first place, and I think that I would have started job searching again had I not received it. However, the small things I did leading up to applying for it really helped in qualifying me to receive it.
I had:
All of the undergraduate research experience
CRM experience
teaching experience
fieldwork experience
a master’s degree that focused on the region
established a network of people in the country beforehand
a couple “publications” from fieldwork
This grant fully funds me living in Cambodia, and has allowed me to participate in cultural exchange with some amazing people here in addition to allowing me to partake in archaeological fieldwork across the country.
Again, I cannot stress enough how important it is to network. If you like something, find someone else who likes the same thing, send them an email.
Networking got me my experience in Mesoamerica, Digital Archaeology, my CRM job, my research experience in Cambodia, and so so much more. All because I sent that first email.
5. PhD Applications
I applied to 1 school. I got in. Its a really good school. I’m still in shock.
However, I think I really did set myself up for success in this one.
The biggest advice I can give in the world of Academia is:
NETWORK
Talking to people who have gone through what you’re going through are the BEST help. They can mentor you through these experiences, offer you new opportunities, or lead you in the direction of someone else who can help.
PLAN AHEAD (but be open to change)
Okay, so you’re applying to grad school. What do you want to focus on while you’re there? What do you want to do with the degree when you’re done? Do you want to start working? Do you want to do more research? What opportunities are out there for research funding? What is the job market looking for? Is there anyone in my network that can help me get there?
None of these have to be concrete plans, they just have to exist in some shape or form so that you have the ability to latch on to one when the opportunity arises.
If you’re doing something that you love doing, you’ll find a way to make it happen. All opportunity comes from the amount of effort you put into getting it!
Thanks for reading and best of luck on your studies!
To all the students out there preparing or filling out college applications: don’t freak out.
Take it from me - no matter where you go, you will not be unhappy. College is a pretty big deal, but where you go will not dictate your life and your experiences. Here are some words of advice:
1. Only apply to schools you feel confident about. Applying to schools that don’t have your major or interests is a waste of time, energy, and money. Apply to schools you would be proud to attend and can see yourself at. This was a struggle for me - I wasn’t accepted into my dream school, but my backup school was still one I would be comfortable with attending (I know I didn’t come off that way on this blog).
2. Don’t lie on applications. You want a university to want you for YOU, not for this made up person on paper (or, in most cases, online). Of course, bring out your best qualities and characteristics, but don’t go telling a school you are the president of a club or founded a group, if it isn’t true. Be you!
3. Don’t get stressed if you don’t get into your first choice. That was me. I was crushed and felt sad, which is normal and OK. That was something people often forget to mention: it’s okay to be sad about college. There are so many other universities out there (approx. 2,169!) and you will find one that you will fall in love with.
4. Make the best of the school you’re at. I thought I would hate my school, but after being here for two weeks, I’m realizing that I do like it. I like the city (town), the school, and the people. Give it some time. And if you’re going to your first choice, don’t go in with extremely high expectations. Be realistic, but still have fun!
Good luck to everyone sending out applications this fall and winter. You’ll all do great!
Hey guys! I know I normally give away free college essay editing for the month of November and I’ve done so without fail for the past few years but this year I unfortunately missed it.
There has been a big personal issue that I’ve been dealing with since early October, and I’m still working through my thoughts, feelings, and emotions and just kind of practicing a lot of self care, and that’s what led me to miss this year’s free college essay editing sesh.
As things look up, I’m hoping to be able to do a week or so of a make-up college essay editing session for you guys later this December during my holiday break.
For the time being, please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have regarding college, the college admissions process, college essays, etc. or just give me topics you’d like to hear me try and share advice on.
I officially decided I’m going to be a viola performance major so that’s fun. the college application process has been stressful but it’s almost time to start my submission process yayyy. so ya I guess this blog will follow me all the way through college fun times :))
side note: ask me questions about applying!! i had soooo many questions so I’d like to help if I can!!
i’m going into my junior year of high school, the time when many students are getting ready to apply for college. many of my friends and peers have been concerned about what, exactly, they should be doing to prepare this year, and when. so, we held a college information session. this may be geared towards my specific area/region, but hopefully everyone can take something out of this. here are some tips that we learned:
ON COLLEGE VISITS
questions to ask:
what is your freshman retention rate?
what is the percentage of students that graduate in 4 years? (new statistic: ¾ of students don’t; the average student takes 5 ½ years to graduate)
make sure there is written documentation of your visit
when reviewing applications, colleges note “touch points”– these include things like taking an official tour, sending in those cards you get in the mail, or something as easy as emailing one of their admissions counselors with a simple question. they’ll keep your information, and it may give you an advantage over other students because you showed you’re seriously interested in their school. so, even if you’re taking an informal campus tour, make sure to stop in the admissions office and fill out one of those cards with your information. it’ll be added into their system as a touch point– and you’re already one step ahead!
TESTING
some things to remember:
the SAT and ACT are, for the most part, equally accepted by colleges.
certain schools may require an SAT subject test. make sure to check out programs you’re interested in so that you can prepare all of its requirements.
the SAT is a test of aptitude, while the ACT is more knowledge-based and straightforward.
if you’re bright and a good test taker but maybe you don’t get the best grades, the SAT may be more fit for you.
if you’re more studious and focused on grades and retaining information you’ve learned in class, the ACT may be a better match.
a guidance counselor recommends: take both tests once, and whichever you feel you performed better on, take it again.
many colleges like to see growth in scores because it shows you’re really working towards something. this may change depending on the selectivity of the school, but consider this before only sending your best score.
if you know what colleges you’re interested in, check and see what they prefer/require before taking the tests. most likely, you’ll save yourself a lot of time, effort, and money in the long run.
SO, WHEN SHOULD I BE DOING ALL OF THIS?
here’s a timeline of what was recommended for your junior year
October:
take the PSAT again (this is the year that you can qualify for NMSQT). i’m not sure if this applies everywhere but i know where i live, this is a requirement.
if your school uses Naviance, make sure you have your login information. you should be using the tools it provides to research colleges and find out more about jobs you may be suited for.
November/December
take the ACT or SAT. if you’ve already taken the SAT, i suggest taking the ACT before doing the SAT again.
this is around the time you should start visiting colleges if you haven’t already. if you can’t go to schools, look for information sessions and college fairs near you. if you’re on a college’s email list, they’ve likely sent you dates that they offer tours or perhaps are even hosting information sessions closer to you.
April/May/June
start asking for letters of recommendation!! many teachers give letters on a first-come-first-serve basis, so get ahead. usually you want to have 2-4 of these. think about programs and schools you may apply for, and think about what subject teachers may be most helpful in your application. also, check schools’ websites and see what they recommend/require. outside letters are also okay, if they’re from someone who knows you and your work ethic well.
consider taking the SAT or ACT again.
schedule your senior year. it’s no longer a time to slack off; colleges now look at your grades as late as third marking period. continue to challenge yourself, but also take electives that interest you to get a better idea of what careers you may want to pursue.
get the Common App essays from your guidance counselor. you should at least think about these over the summer to get an idea of what you’ll say in your application essays.
August
this is when the Common App is available for that year. many, but not all schools, use this. do your own research to decide if it’s a necessity for you.
MISC. TIPS
very few students partake in college interviews anymore. requesting and interview may set you apart from other students (touch point!), but it is definitely not required or even recommended by the vast majority of schools.
if you know you will be going to grad school or a higher ed program, think about where you want to concentrate your money. a cheaper but respected undergraduate school may be a great idea to save money for a great graduate school. (you probably don’t care where your doctor went for their undergrad, but where’d they go to med school?)
MAKE SURE YOU’RE MEETING YOUR SCHOOL’S GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS.
check to see what courses certain colleges recommend you take in high school. this may be a good way to plan the rest of your high school schedule, and also gauge whether or not you can achieve a college’s expectations.
Hey guys! As the beginning of the school year approaches, a lot of you are probably starting the college application proces. When I applied to colleges last year, I remember spending hours just looking for helpful resources and advice. So, I decided to make your life a little easier and create a masterpost of college app resources! Let me know if you have any resources you’d like to add to the list. I will also edit this post whenever I find new sources to add :) Good luck cuties, you can do it!
Collegevine - This website helped me SO MUCH when I was writing my supplemental essays! If you click on the link, it will take you to a page with a huge list of colleges. Here, you can click on a college and be taken to a page that breaks down each of their essay prompts. This is super helpful for understanding the prompt and writing an essay that is focused and answers the question!
