I am in my late 20s and graduated with an anthropology degree from an academically challenging school a few years ago. Due to various family and personal health issues my GPA is not strong (just under most average grad school cut-offs for applications) however I have a pretty strong GRE score with a score in the 87th percentile in verbal and average writing and quantitative scores. Here’s the real kicker, I may be able to scrounge up some references but they probably won’t be strong ones and I entered the major late so I only have 1 relevant field experience in archaeology. I would like to continue in that field, is there a chance at being successful by going to a lower-tier school, and does anyone have any suggestions for archaeology programs that I could get into? OR would returning to school for a degree in another area of interest/skill at my age either as an undergraduate or for something like an MBA be a better investment? OR should I just ignore academia altogether and just work menial low-wage jobs for the rest of my life. (Basically, I have no one to guide me through this and I have been burned so many times that I don’t even have my own instincts to follow and I don’t know where to ask)
Thanks for reading.
What specific area of archaeology are you interested in? There are many opportunities to gain field experience here: https://www.archaeological.org/fieldwork
My D came to archaeology late, at a school that does not offer it as a major, so she is now seeking out master’s programs that will then put her in a stronger position to eventually apply to top-tier PhD programs. What is your end goal? To work full-time in archaeology? To work as a professor and do digs when classes are not in session?
I have various interests and I do think it would be cool to concentrate on a civilization or something outside of the US. Most likely, I would work for the government or a private business as an archaeologist rather than primarily teaching.
There’s a wide gap between going back for a PhD in archaeology or getting an MBA and “menial, low-wage jobs” fot the rest of your life. There are a lot of BA holders who never get a graduate degree and have satisfying careers that pay them enough money to live a middle-class lifestyle.
The first thing you need to do before you make this decision is see how much demand there actually is out there for the jobs you are considering, and what credentials you need to get them. You said you want to work for the government or a private business as an archaeologist, but is there a market for that? I did a search at USAJOBS. There’s one listing for an archaeologist in 76 locations; it’s unclear whether they are looking for 76 archaeologists (one at each location) or 1 archaeologist who can work in any of the 76 locations. I think it’s the former. But it’s the kind of listing where the government doesn’t necessarily plan to fill all of those positions.
I searched on Indeed.com for archaeologists and found some openings - some at state governments and some at private businesses. There were 110 listings, but some of them were professor openings and some of them were intern positions. The interesting thing is that the private and state ones didn’t require a PhD. The private ones only asked for a BA and 2-3 years of experience. The Idaho state opening didn’t say what their education requirements were, but they definitely wanted someone who had American archaeological experience. The Missouri State Parks job, and one job as a Lead Archaeologist, wanted an MA in archaeology. I only perused a few, but I didn’t see any that asked for a PhD.
Personally I think an MBA would be a better investment, insofar as there are probably a lot more and varied openings for an MBA. But it depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a professional archaeologist, then an MA in archaeology is probably the way to go - you’re not going to get to do that with an MBA.