Every time I search “Best schools for Anthropology” I always get like Harvard, Duke, Penn, USC and I get that those are really good schools but just because they are really high esteemed schools doesn’t mean they are right for me or what I want in an Anthropology program. I want to find a good school for anthropology, that also has an emphasis in cultural, linguistic, physical anthropology or archaeology. Does anybody know of schools with a good undergrad program in Anthro. Lots of people tell me that UCLA or UC Santa Barbara is really good. My honors advisors keep telling us that we shouldn’t just stick to UCs/CSUs. Anybody liked the Anthropology program they were in? Doesn’t have to be a California school and it doesn’t have to be a public school.
Do you have a strong preference for one of the subfields of anthropology? Good cultural anthropology programs are a dime a dozen, but strong bioanth programs are very rare. Not every school offers all four fields, and no college is equally strong in all areas. Duke has the top programs in cultural and biological anthropology, for example, but its archaeology offerings are virtually nonexistent. Chicago, on the other hand, has very good cul anth and archaeology offerings, but its bioanth offerings are very weak.
As for archaeology, schools typically specialize in particular regions of the world – the Maya and Mesoamerica at Tulane, Africa at Rice, the Middle East at Johns Hopkins, the Mediterranean at Brown, East Asia at U Hawaii, and so on – and/or particular techniques, like Texas A&M in underwater archaeology and dendrochronology at Cornell and Arizona. This may not be an issue if you don’t know what you want to study yet, but if you have at least a mild interest in a particular part of the world, it’s something to consider.
If you’re a CA resident, all of the UCs are very good for anthropology, especially Berkeley, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, and UCR. Some of the Cal States like CSULA are very good as well.
You’ll get better recommendations if you provide info about your GPA and test scores, what you can afford (how much merid/financial aid will you need?), and what you’re looking for in terms of size, location, setting, etc.
Look at Beloit College. According to them they produce more future PhDs than any other LAC.
University of Arizona.
Right now my GPA is a 3.75 and I don’t remember what my test scores were. I just finished my first year at a community college and I took the SAT my junior year but I remember my test scores weren’t good. I am probably more interested in Archaeology or Physical/Biological Anthro. I don’t get financial aid but the school size doesn’t matter nor whether it is private or public. And like I said I don’t have a state preference either.
USC is not particularly known for its strength in Anthropology. Among the UCs, UCLA and Santa Barbara probably have the strongest programs; Berkeley is good as well. Programs at both U of Arizona and Arizona state are also quite. Among LACs, Grinnell is probably the best out there.
Bryn Mawr
Beloit
Grinnell
Reed
UChicago
Pomona
Wesleyan
Marlboro
Haverford
Harvard
are the top anthro phd feeder schools
Sounds like you are in CA and would like to look beyond CA schools. Are you able to afford an LAC, full pay or substantially so? That’s important.
Beloit is a great suggestion. How about Reed in Portland? Also check out the Colleges That Change Lives schools. If any look good in general, maybe you could check out its anthro department.
It looks like University of Arizona and University of Illinois UC are ranked highly. Both might be accessible to you.
Want a crazy idea? Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town in South Africa have strong anthropology programs. BA/BS take 3 years, not 4, and cost only $30k-40k . . . not per year but for 3 years. Students often do a 1-year “honours” year, which is sort of a US senior year/Masters year. Classes are in English.
Good luck!
I agree that USC is not an anthro powerhouse, especially at the graduate level, but it has a pretty good undergraduate program in archaeology, and its bioanth/primatology program is small but good as well. There’s far worse places to study anthropology at the undergrad level.
Reed offers only cultural and linguistic anthropology. Since the OP is at least somewhat interested in archaeology and physical anthropology, it’s probably not the best option.
For the archaeology and bioanth sides of anthropology, I second a lot of the above suggestions, especially Arizona, ASU, Grinnell, Beloit, and Bryn Mawr (and Haverford). Students at Bryn Mawr and Haverford have the opportunity to take classes at Penn, which has a superb anthropology program and arguably the finest university anthropology/archaeology museum in the country. Beloit has its own anthropology museum.
I’d add the following among private universities:
[ul][]Boston U
[]Case Western
[]GWU
[]NYU[/ul]
and these among public universities:
[ul][]Florida
[]Michigan
[]Ohio State
[]Penn State
[]Stony Brook
[]U Conn
[]U Mass-Amherst
[]UNC Chapel Hill
[]UT Knoxville
[]Wisconsin [/ul]
I recommend investigating admit rates and financial aid availability very carefully, since you’ll be a transfer applicant. Many private universities and liberal arts colleges (LACs) have transfer admit rates that are much lower than their freshman admit rates. Additionally, merit aid will be very difficult to come by as a transfer. Section D of the Common Data Set has information about transfer admissions at each college.
The Big future College Board is a good place to start your search.
Try searching the forum for past posts by @warblersrule.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2091386-good-school-for-anthropology.html
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18995716#Comment_18995716
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17810479#Comment_17810479
You might also want to try identifying prominent scholars in the areas that interest you, then find out where they work (or studied). For example, a search for Near Eastern archaeologists might lead you to this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hole
The aptly named Dr. Hole is an emeritus professor at Yale, who formerly worked at Rice and earned his PhD at UChicago. The latter has a long history of excellence in NE archaeology. I suppose Rice and Yale may be strong in this area too.
If you’re hunting for, say, circumpolar archaeologists, the trail might lead you to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Fitzhugh
Dr. Fitzhugh earned his doctorate at Harvard. Before that, he went to Dartmouth. I doubt he went off to Dartmouth with a clear commitment to specialize in circumpolar archaeology … but apparently he met a good teacher there who happened to work in a related field. Such is life.
“Like can you Divide and Label the schools up in categories”
Have you been looking at course catalogs? Two weeks ago, several posters have you a good number of college names to look at. What happened?
Can someone provide a list of schools that have a good undergrad Archaeology, Cultural Anthro, Linguistic Anthro, Physical Anthro, Forensic Anthro, and Primatology. Like can you Divide and Label the schools up in categories. Thanks
" I want to find a good school for anthropology, that also has an emphasis in cultural, linguistic, physical anthropology or archaeology. "
That is pretty much what anthropology is. All colleges with anthropology would have that.
What is your GPA and SAT/ACT?
Dont know how or where students study anthro at The University of Iowa, however, the school has totally cool museums. It seems Iowa must have god academic programs that are home to their research. See the sloth! See the exhibit that lets you become immersed in an island with chirping birds. Dont turn the corner fast on that large, toothy fish because staff responds fast to screaming.