<p>Hello,
My son is currently a junior seriously considering majoring in anthropology, with an eye on continuing his studies in archeology. He is currently in the top 6% of his class (33 out of 570) with a 99 cum avg., taken several AP history courses and will be taking his SAT later this year.</p>
<p>His love is archeology, but we've been told to major in anthropology first, then specialize later. We live in Pennsylvania and he would like to stay somewhat close to the state for undergrad. </p>
<p>Financial considerations will play a big part in his decision. Our thinking is since grad school is on the horizon, maybe try for a less expensive option for undergrad. Does this make sense?</p>
<p>Some schools he is considering:</p>
<p>Penn State
Temple
Stony Brook
Mercyhurst
Penn (outside shot, especially financially)
Lycoming
Pittsburgh
Maryland</p>
<p>All suggestions welcome, as we are sailing in uncharted waters. Thanks.</p>
<p>I did the same thing when I was in college many, many years ago - U of Mich. has a great program as does Penn. Of course, that doesn’t take into consideration the finances. Since your son seems to be a top student, some of the school choices may be a little beneath his academic level, and some I’m not familiar with. I would do a search for archaeology programs - I think some may have an undergrad program or at least courses available for undergrads. I received a BA in Anthropology, but I never went for a Masters in Arch. I did manage to take some classes in it though as an undergrad.</p>
<p>It’s a fascinating subject to study. But if he does goes through anthro, he’ll wind up with a lot of courses about both past and current civilizations, courses on evolution, and studies about primates.</p>
<p>If he’s willing to consider liberal arts colleges, Beloit is the top of the heap for anthropology (and they have arch classes in their classical civ. dept.) More anthropology Ph.Ds have come out of Beloit than out of any other liberal arts college in the country. And with his grades, and good SAT scores, he is sure (or pretty sure) to score good merit money.</p>
<p>As I mentioned in your other thread, I have a junior S planning the same thing as yours. I am fortunate to teach at a university that happens to have a very good anthropology/archaeology undergrad and PhD program. I have talked to the faculty in the program and they told me that it is not necessary to attend the ‘best or top’ anthro undergrad programs for grad school admissions. They are looking for students with great grades, great GRE scores, solid field work experience, good letters of rec, and a solid statement of purpose. Any good university/college will provide that. Find a school with a good anthropology program and he will be fine.</p>
<p>I specifically asked them about the schools my son is considering…University of Wyoming, University of Montana, Montana State, and Truman State. No problem with any of those. They also specifically mentioned that they currently have 2 PhD students from Fort Lewis in CO as an example of the diverse undergrad institutions that they have students from.</p>
<p>University of New Mexico has a Top 50 anthropology dept. The anthro dept. offers 3 different concentrations for undergrads–including one in archeology. (The others are ethnology and evolutionary anthropology.) The dept is well funded and has well-respected core faculty. Profs are approachable and a well-liked by both undergrads and grads alike. (I know 2 anthro profs at UNM. They regularly invite students to their homes for dinner and discussions.) </p>
<p>Undergrads have plentiful opportunities for field work throughout the Southwest. (Colonial Spanish, Anasazi and archaic Indian cultures, as well as paleo-archeology/anthropology are all done by the dept. New Mexico has a bounty of historical cultural sites.)</p>
<p>UNM is smallish state flagship university–with about 22,000 undergrads. The student body is diverse and friendly. Recently about 1/3 of the freshman class has been from OOS.</p>
<p>The Amigo Scholarship offers OOS students who have a 23 ACT (1060 SAT) and 3.5 GPA or 26 ACT (1170 SAT) and 3.0 GPA $11,000/year towards tuition & fees, plus an additional $500/year for transportation. (This brings OOS tuition & fees down to in-state rates: $6,882/year. Room & board is $8086/year.)</p>
<p>I would think that most PhD. programs in archeology would pay you (or at least you pay your way by being a TA.) I have a cousin who got a PhD in archeology, but couldn’t find a position (even from Harvard), he’s now a college counselor at a private school. </p>
<p>Make sure you get that work experience, a college friend of mine liked archeology until she spent the summer on a dig and hated the experience. That was the summer before her senior year. Oops!</p>
<p>^I agree. I would assume that if your son wants a career in this field, he should go to a top notch PhD program and such a program would surely provide funding.</p>
Good programs in New World archaeology (i.e. North American and Pre-Columbian archaeology) are a dime a dozen. Lesser known schools like Northern Arizona U provide perfectly adequate training and fieldwork opportunities. </p>
<p>Good programs in Old World archaeology are significantly more difficult to find. A student interested in classical archaeology would be much better served in classics than anthro, due to language requirements. Programs like Egyptian archaeology are even more selective, and only students from 12 or so mostly elite universities have any real shot at PhD programs. Again, languages are the key factor. </p>
<p>If your son is interested in something like environmental archaeology (WUStL), underwater archaeology (Texas A&M), Pacific archaeology (Hawaii), African archaeology (Rice), and/or Celtic/Iron Age Europe (Chicago), it might be prudent to avoid schools that focus entirely on an unrelated subfield, though it is not really necessary at the undergraduate level. That includes many (most?) of the less selective western/midwestern publics.</p>
<p>Selectivity of graduate programs varies wildly. Arizona has one of the most selective programs emphasizing North American archaeology and maintains a rather high 10% admit rate. Other schools like Boston U and Berkeley receive upwards of 200 applications for 1 or 2 funded spots. Students interested in Old World archaeology absolutely need to aim for the best school/program they can get into. Students interested in New World archaeology have more flexibility. </p>
<p>As for your list…</p>
<p>Penn State – Great option. Recent ramped up its department
Temple – Good for classical archaeology, decent for anything else
Stony Brook – Good for Near Eastern archaeology, decent for anything else (GREAT for biological anthropology as well)
Mercyhurst – Not familiar with it
Penn (outside shot, especially financially) – Best option on the list. Great for most things
Lycoming – Good for biblical archaeology, mediocre to decent for anything else
Pittsburgh – Great option
Maryland – Pretty good option. OOS funding can be dicey</p>
<p>Other possibilities – Cornell, NYU, Oberlin, Franklin & Marshall, Haverford, Boston U, U Mass-Amherst</p>
<p>The top programs fully fund. The PhD programs (including anthropology) at my university pay about $17,000 per year for a 50% assistantship appointment. OOS tuition is waived and health care benefits are offered. They are also unionized. Additional funding is offered to the top students.</p>
<p>I just wanted to reiterate that anthro and arch. are not the same thing. Cultural anthro is a good background to have for arch. because you understand different cultures in the present and past, but there’s also biological anthro, which is more about evolution. Arch. is strictly about the study of ancient civilizations, although Indiana Jones makes it look like so much more!</p>
<p>I think that a good anthro undergrad program does make a difference, if not to the grad school, then at least to the student. There are schools with wonderful arch. museums and archeaological digs, with profs who are tops in the their field, and then there are those who just teach anthro.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would explore each one of the depts. in each of your college choices. There are bound to be differences between them. And if you do find one with an arch. major, then you’ll be that much farther ahead. </p>
<p>I did a search for arch. majors and this is what I found:</p>
<p>Haverford and Penn are excellent schools. Dickinson is also good. I would rank Penn State below those. I don’t know Lycoming at all. You also have Princeton in NJ, but again, finances get in the way.</p>
In terms of overall quality and selectivity, I definitely agree. I’m a huge fan of LACs, and Haverford is one of my top three favorites. For archaeology specifically, though, I vehemently disagree. Dickinson is very good for a LAC but lacking compared to most decent university programs. Bryn Mawr’s program is decidedly weaker than it was about 10 years ago, but I’d say it’s more or less on par with PSU for its specialty (PSU gets the nod in other areas). I do agree that Penn is the better option, though losing MASCA was a heavy blow.</p>
<p>
Princeton is a terrible option for a would-be archaeologist compared to its peers. I can think of only one notable archaeologist there, and she does research only with no teaching duties. Additionally, their museum is notorious for having questionable acquisitions policies.</p>
<p>My favorite archaeology grad student (at a tippy-top program) got her BA in History at McGill, which is a world-class university in a uber-cool city (more ways than one) and a decent financial option as well (which is why she was there). She got lots of dig experience during college, enjoyed her college education immensely, and one way or another presented as a great candidate for PhD programs when she applied (the winter after she graduated, after six months on a dig in Jordan).</p>
<p>You should not have to pay for graduate school in archaeology. You may not get into a good program, but if you do you will be funded.</p>
<p>Warblersrule - don’t forget you can take classes at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Penn if you go to any of those. It’s not the most convenient thing to go to Haverford and study arch. at Penn, but it is doable. </p>
<p>I admit it’s been many years since I looked into anthro/arch. programs. I almost went to Penn State, but I fell in love with Michigan and went there instead. They have a great anthro dept.</p>
<p>Look for a school where, one way or another, they get undergrads out in the field, digging. Also, totally agree: see if he can refine his particular interests in archaeology. Some schools offer “lite” programs. So, look at actual course offerings and into the backgrounds, research interests and field activities of the profs he’d be working with- makes a difference. If you have finaid considerations, see if the school extends aid to study abroad or other programs.
At D1’s college, archeo is a part of the anthro dept. Agree that the studies go hand-in-hand.</p>