Double Major: Anthropology & Biology

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hello everyone! :) </p>

<p>As I am progressing through high school, I'm starting to look at colleges. My two main interests right now are biology and (physical/biological) anthropology. I really like Cornell because of its academics and location among other things. </p>

<p>I know Cornell's Bio Department is awesome, but I haven't heard much about Cornell Anthropology. How is it?</p>

<p>Also, which are some other good schools (if looking at rank, <25) for someone who's most likely going to have a double major in biology and anthropology? (If not a double major, I'll probably complete a major in biology with a minor in anthropology.) Also, I'm just wondering about the academics; I still have time to sort through the specifics of what kind of college I would like to attend. </p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

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<p>Emory has good biology and anthropology courses. Beloit has one of the best anthropology programs of any liberal arts college and presumably has a perfectly adequate biology program. </p>

<p>I’m not familiar with Cornell’s anthropology program, but it has almost 30 anthropology professors on staff so presumably the course offerings will be perfectly adequate for an anthro major. UChicago is another standout, as are Reed, Bryn Mawr, Pomona/Pitzer, College of Wooster, and plenty of other schools. Most major universities and liberal arts colleges will have good anthropology and biology programs.</p>

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<p>Duke has the standout biological anthropology program along elite universities, particularly if you are interested in primatology. </p>

<p>It’s one of the smaller departments when one looks at Duke as a whole, being dwarfed by econ/poli sci/pub pol, but it is one of the larger science departments. I believe it is second only to biology in size, with chemistry, physics, and EOS trailing behind. The intro course enrolls about 90 people, but it is by far the largest. Lower level courses usually have 20-30 students, and most of the seminars have 10 or fewer students.</p>

<p>There are three primary strengths within the department - primate ecology, primate/human anatomy, and primate/human evolution. Courses offered include primate sexuality, human anatomy (with dissection of cadavers), primate conservation, human evolution, etc.</p>

<p>The facilities and resources are absolutely superb. It’s housed in the new French Science Center, and the department has, with the possible exception of Michigan, the largest collection of primate fossils and skeletal remains of any American university. The two professors working on primate and hominid paleontology have been inducted into the National Academy of the Sciences, and they regularly teach undergraduates. </p>

<p>The primate center is also fantastic and has many species that otherwise aren’t found outside Madagascar. Several courses use this resource extensively, and you’ll learn how to tag and sample primates, monitor behavior, etc. If you volunteer there, which is encouraged, you’ll also learn how to feed and care for them.</p>

<p>[Duke</a> University | Evolutionary Anthropology: Home](<a href=“http://evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/]Duke”>http://evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/)
[Duke</a> Lemur Center](<a href=“http://lemur.duke.edu/]Duke”>http://lemur.duke.edu/)</p>

<p>As whenhen indicated, Emory is decent. Other good schools for biological anthro are Harvard, Yale, and NYU among private universities and Michigan and Wisconsin among publics. Going down a few notches in selectivity, there’s GWU and - if you happen to live in one of these states - Penn State, Arizona, and Stony Brook. </p>

<p>I disagree with whenhen’s suggestion of Chicago; it is certainly good for sociocultural and archaeological anthro, but its biological anthropology offerings and faculty are virtually nonexistent. As far as I know, most LACs have few or no offerings in biological anthropology. </p>

<p>One can’t assume that a college with a general reputation for anthro has adequate offerings in biological anthropology; many departments focus mainly or entirely on sociocultural anthropology. The same goes for biology, if your interest is ecology – many otherwise good biology programs at universities like JHU, MIT, CMU, Brandeis, etc. have decidedly weak offerings in ecology and organismal biology. </p>

<p>Addressing your question about Cornell, biology is superb, as you noted. Glancing over the anthro faculty, it seems okay though not great – two biological anthropologists on staff. If you’re a New York resident, it might be a good idea to apply to Cornell CALS; you can double major in the arts & sciences, it’s a bit easier to get into, and it’s cheaper.</p>

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<p>@warblersrule, thank you very much for the thorough response! I haven’t looked much at Duke (mostly because I’m not Catholic - or religious whatsoever), so I’ll need to investigate it further. And unfortunately, when in CALS you cannot major in a field not offered in CALS - namely, Anthropology (which is offered only through CAS). I’m taking an online course through Cornell in biological anthropology right now. The professor I have seems to be really great, but the limited biological part of the department sort of concerns me.</p>

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<p>Penn:</p>

<p>[Department</a> of Anthropology | university of pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthro/]Department”>Department of Anthropology |)</p>

<p>[Department</a> of Biology](<a href=“http://www.bio.upenn.edu/]Department”>http://www.bio.upenn.edu/)</p>

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<p>

Perhaps you are confusing Duke with Georgetown or Boston College, which are both Catholic, though quite liberal as such universities go. </p>

<p>Duke was founded in the early 1800s by a group of Methodists and Quakers, but it was never particularly religious, and the university has long since severed any religious ties. If Duke has any connection with Methodism these days, it is purely through the divinity school. Duke certainly has plenty of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. students, but in no greater or fewer numbers than any other elite university.</p>

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<p>From recent feedback, I am starting to consider Penn (maybe as a second choice), although I can’t say I love the location or the information I’ve heard about the crazy social life. I will concede in saying that I’ve heard similar things about Cornell, but Cornell is closer to home and I think a little city like Ithaca would be perfect. </p>

<p>And I think I heard that Duke was had a religious affiliation from a few of my peers, so I just didn’t include it in my search. I will say, though, that I’m open to it, as long as it doesn’t push religious principles or attendance to mass on students - and it doesn’t seem like it does. I’ll add it to my list!</p>

<p>On a side note, how is the overall grade inflation/deflation at Duke and Penn?</p>

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<p>Bump bump bump.</p>

<p>Does anyone else have any input? :)</p>

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<p>Duke is non-sectarian.</p>

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<p>Technically Duke is Methodist, but that’s a historical designation. All of the top 25 schools as defined by US News (outside of the regional university rankings) aren’t actually religious. Some are more socially and politically conservative than others, but none are religiously conservative.</p>

<p>Would Johns Hopkins have a good bio-anthro program? I know both its social sciences and biological sciences are excellent, so I’d imagine its anthropology program would likely also be strong.</p>

<p>Going off of the faculty’s research interests for WUSL, it appears as if the school has a good program. </p>

<p>Outside of the “top 25” schools, Case Western has an interesting medical anthropology major. It accepts far more students than any of the extremely highly ranked schools (not that it isn’t highly regarded) and has good biology and anthropology. </p>

<p>Btw, Warblersrule mentioned Duke’s primate research activities. I’d just like to throw out that Emory has the Yerkes Primate Institute and some other interesting programs that could tie into a bioanthro program.</p>

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<p>“All of the top 25 schools as defined by US News (outside of the regional university rankings) aren’t actually religious.”</p>

<p>Except for Notre Dame and Georgetown.</p>

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