<p>hey, i attend a top 25 lac and im an anthropology major. My interest is mostly in biological anthro and i want to go on to get a phd. However, the anthro department at my school is almost entirely focused on cultural anthro with one linguistic anthro class thrown in. its like all disciplines of anthro beside cultural are completely ignored. I was looking at the course selection list for the university of michigan today and i was absolutley stunned by the breadth of anthro classes they offer. they offer a wide variety of biological anthro, linguistic anthro, and archaeology classes in addition to cultural anthro, and they even offer concentrations within the major. </p>
<p>If i wanted to go on to get a phd in biological anthro, or possibly even linustic anthro, would my degree put me at a disadvantage due to it being cultural anthro focused despite the fact the the degree is called simply a ba in anthro?</p>
<p>why am i at this expensive private school if i have so many more interest class options at a public school? :( i feel stupid. ive heard top lacs are really good feeders to phd programs, but i just dont get why because there curriculum just seems so limited.</p>
<p>also, if u guys know of a better forum to post this in, let me know cause i wasnt really sure what forum this should be under</p>
<p>If you can’t pursue your desired course of study at your present institution, then you should definitely consider transferring. It’s why I and many other people here applied to transfer. You’re also not remotely stupid. Most people don’t know what they’d really want to major in when they apply to college. This is exactly why most colleges give you two years to declare a major, so you can actually figure out what your passion is. By all means go to Michigan or some other place that offers biological anthropology if that’s your passion. Michigan and many other larger universities are very well respected by a lot of institutions, and send many people on to top Ph.D programs. At the end of the day those places will also be much better preparation for a Ph.D in biological anthropology than what seems to be offered at your current institution, and you’re likely to have a happier college experience.</p>
<p>You’ve hit upon one of the limits of LACs and strengths of larger publics, more course offerings. </p>
<p>You could try also posting your question on the Graduate School forum. </p>
<p>My degree was in Anthropology at UCB, and I mainly did physical anthro, but it’s been so long ago that I wouldn’t want to give you advice about grad school admissions. However, even for the present time, I agree with tsakashvili, that it seems like another school with more offerings in what you’re interested in would be beneficial.</p>
<p>entomom, UCB was once great in physical anthro…those days are gone.</p>
<p>To the OP: I faced a similar problem in the same field. I decided to study abroad at a university strong in bio anth and it paid off.</p>