24 Jan 2022

Cornell University

Anthropology, PhD (F22)

Rejected via E-mail on 24 Jan 2022

Note

Thank you for your application to the Ph.D. Program in Anthropology at Cornell University. I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission. We received 186 applications this year for 6 positions. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer doctoral fellowships to many strong applicants. Because of the size of the pool of applicants, we do not provide individual feedback to those who are not admitted to the program. I can say however that we use a comprehensive and careful admissions process to make the difficult decision about whom to admit. The admissions committee met to evaluate your candidacy several times and consulted with three to four additional specialists in your field, wherever relevant. We sought candidates with outstanding prior academic records, strong letters of recommendation, ambitious and effective writing samples, and (crucially) statements of purpose compatible with the scholarly and institutional resources at Cornell. In each case, we had to weigh both demonstrated excellence and the fit with our faculty's expertise. As always, such judgments are complex, comparative, and partial; they cannot fully capture any individual applicant's ultimate potential. We appreciate your interest in our program, and we thank you for sharing your work with us. On behalf of the faculty and graduate student body here, I wish you success with your future plans.

---