<p>I am looking to transfer and wanted to know if UGA has a good anthropology program. I am a student at GSU and their program is alright, not the best when it comes to arche. as only Mesoamerican classes are offered as there is only one professor and the classes are not as varied as I would like, even in cultural anthro and no linguistic classes offered at all; only two classes are offered in biological anthro, so I really need to transfer. I am also interested in Emory, U of Florida and Indiana. If I had the money, UofMich would be my choice, but since I don't UGA may be my best bet. Emory might give me good financial package, so that is on the list and U of Florida and Indiana are my "why not, maybe I'll get lucky and get a ton of aid money" schools. I am also looking to double major in either history, international relations or sociology. Please, give me an insiders look as I have looked at the websites and course list. Emory seems to have a good program as well as the other two schools, expect UGA. Again, this is based on the school website and Indiana w/ Uof F seem to be widely respected for their anthro. program.</p>
<p>“University of Georgia Honors student Tracy Yang of Macon has been awarded a 2011 Rhodes Scholarship to attend Englands Oxford University. She plans to pursue a masters of science degree in global health science. Yang, who is a UGA Foundation Fellow, also was a 2010 Truman Scholar. She plans to graduate from UGA in May with a bachelors degree in anthropology.”</p>
<p>My daughter who is also interested in anthropology and global health met Tracy last year. Tracy and her success speak very highly of UGA’s program.</p>
<p>No it doesn’t, it speaks well of the student and UGA’s foundation fellow’s program moreso than the anthropology program’s quality. Let’s be fair here. The Goldwater Scholars (last year) from here majored in NBB (neuroscience and behavioral bio) and Biology. Should I claim that their success speaks highly of those programs? Note that at least one is an Emory scholar and the other was doing the BS/MS program in biology. Should I say the same about the many departments that our Fulbrights and Trumans came from? No, because I know that not all those departments were that strong (yes, many were, but their success hardly came from the strength of those departments). The students, on the other hand, were. The question should be, what makes the programs between schools different? This needs to be left for the OP to research (mainly the course offerings and emphasis of the programs) and compare. Simply saying that a highly successful student majored in X does not make X good. I have a friend who majored in CS and went on to do 3/2 at Tech and get into an academic honor society. CS at Emory is not strong, my friend was.</p>
<p>Very true and very well written, bernie. Around 20 ( usually less) Foundation Fellows get at least 10 times more support and resources than even a student in the Honors program at UGA. The Fellows experience is not available to other students at UGA.</p>
<p>Thanks for that. Yes, I have done research and gone to the UGA website, but when I compare it to other schools it does not provide as much information like the GSU site for anthropology that has a list of courses that are not even offered anymore. What I want is insider information; yeah, I do the research, but reading something on a page doesn’t compare to hearing it from someone who has insider information. I take everything these websites say with a grain of salt. Again GSU’s site looks strong, but in reality falls short. Please try to help and provide information and not get off topic, although I get that majoring in x and getting a reward for it, doesn’t mean UGA’s program in x is amazing. </p>
<p>I am considering UGA b/c mostly b.c of money issues, but why transfer to a school, trying to get a more well-rounded major when it really isn’t that strong to begin with and similar to the school where I am at? If that is the case I might as well pray to get go aid money from Emory, Indiana and U of F although GSU is not for me and I have been trying to leave for two semesters now. I need a good program b/c anthropology is want I want to do. I want to one day publish research and work at the college level and for that I want to get into a good school although I don’t want to get into debt until graduate and my Ph.D.</p>
<p>Have you visited UGA? I cant’ help you with anything in regards to anthropology-but it seems that you know enough to see through the fudge factor if there is one. Try to talk to the faculty and students in that department. One can pick up useful information just by listening and asking questions. I’ve also heard my son talk about some website that rates the professors and the classes at UGA- maybe you can find it through Google.</p>
<p>Georgia is considered to have a good anthropology program.</p>
<p>Here are the NRC anthropology rankings for the schools you mentioned:
Michigan #5; Emory #6; Georgia #12; Indiana #26; Florida #39
So, Georgia ranks above schools such as Chicago, Wisconsin, Brown, Cornell, Yale, Duke (cultural anthro), Princeton, UNC, and Columbia.
These are graduate rankings so they don’t tell you anything about the quality of the undergraduate program, but they give you some idea of what schools are considered to have strong programs.</p>
<p>For the other fields that interest you, here are the NRC rankings:
History: Michigan #12; Georgia #19; Emory #35; Indiana #35; Florida #94; Georgia State #121
Sociology: Michigan #7; Indiana #24; Emory #38; Georgia #39; Florida #58; Georgia State #92
There are no NRC rankings for international relations, but here are the political science rankings (which include IR as a subfield): Michigan #2; Indiana #13; Emory #16; Georgia State #47; Florida #59; Georgia #82
Both Michigan and Indiana have very good breadth and depth in international and area studies across the board.</p>
<p>Of course, CC is not a great place to get insider information about a particular department—rankings, yes; insider info, not so much.</p>
<p>If you’re in-state for Georgia, that would be your best bet, unless Emory will offer good FA. I wouldn’t expect the out-of-state public unis on your list to offer much FA, especially for a transfer student.</p>
<p>Your best course of action would be to thoroughly study UGA’s anthropology website. Examine each professor’s area of interest and research activities. Check out the course offerings, which are detailed in the Bulletin. It appears that you have a fair amount of freedom in choosing your courses which will allow you to focus on the area that interests you the most. Scheduling a visit to the department and set up appointments to meet with professors that have research areas that interest you. Be upfront with your long term goals of graduate school, etc. and ask how many of their students go on to grad school.</p>
<p>You need to repeat this process with all of the schools that interest you. You will have to be the driver in this process. Unless you actually know someone at any of these schools, I wouldn’t rely on anonymous advice from an internet forum to base your decisions on.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Thanks. I have done all of that and have begun to research professors since yesterday. GSU is out and although I love their sociology dept. their political sci dept is weak (that was my major) the courses are mostly American Government, Global Issues and very few classes that are outside of that with random subjects thrown together; their History dept (most intro classes and the interesting classes are all on the same say at the same time) is weak as well. Emory’s sociology dept. is alright, but I feel like GSU is better. I have even begun to contact financial aid offices of these schools, but it seems to me UGA would be my best bet money wise unless Emory gives me better aid as their anthro program is better and what I would want, which was why I been looking at U of F and Indiana. So, it seems to me I just to make a list of pros and cons, but thanks to all of you that have answered and please continue to do so.</p>
<p>If anthropology is the area that you are considering for graduate school, then that should be your main focus for undergrad as well. Besides just being interested, what are you looking to get out of your second major?</p>
<p>Back in the 80’s my college roommate was a double major in anthropology and art history. Anthropology was her focus. She obtained her doctorate and is currently a college professor in cultural anthropology. I have no idea what kind of ranking UVA’s anthropology dept had at that time. In your case I’d focus on communicating your long term plans to the professors/advisors for that dept and ask how their grad school placements are. Just in case you change your mind on anthropology, it is good to be at a school that has other academic options.</p>
<p>In general out of state public schools don’t have much in the way of scholarships for transfer students and financial aid generally doesn’t cover OOS tuition and living expenses. You could check into what Emory’s policies are. UGA would be about the same as GSU in terms of cost.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you. Make sure that you know the transfer application deadlines for each of the schools that you are considering. I imagine those are coming up very soon.</p>