<p>So I got accepted into Amherst College but my mom prefers ND because their anthropology program is rated as one of the top. How is Amherst's? Do anthropology majors receive a lot of grants?</p>
<p>Amherst is an elite liberal arts college. Notre Dame is a well-regarded Catholic university. Rank of the anthropology department isn’t nearly as important as which school would be a better fit for you. They are very different places, though you can get an excellent education at either.</p>
<p>Amherst gives need based aid in the form of grants and work study without regard to your planned major.</p>
<p>The top 3 Anthro schools if I remember correctly are 1. Harvard, 2. UC Berkeley, 3. UCSD</p>
<p>I would have reservations about attending a school with any kind of religious affiliation and doing Anthropology.</p>
<p>UCSD is not near the very top of the heap for anthropology. Given Berkeley’s increasingly lopsided offerings, it too has no place in the top 3. Arizona, Michigan, Harvard, Penn, and Chicago do have a claim to that status.</p>
<p>Amherst is not particularly known for anthropology, unlike others like Beloit and Grinnell. It is always somewhat telling when a college combines anthropology and sociology. The 5 college consortium means you’d have more courses available than at most LACs, though.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I agree about UCSD and Berkeley, but would argue that even the schools you list as the top aren’t what they were in the 90’s. Departments are becoming increasingly lopsided or are breaking up. Harvard bio anth, for example, is now independent as human evolutionary biology. I would throw Michigan in the ‘becoming lopsided’ group, but it’s still in far better shape than Berkeley. Chicago is strong cultural and arch, but again, the few bio anthropologists are scattered. The days of strong 4 field departments are gone. The strength of anthropology programs at universities really needs to be discussed at the sub-field level.</p>