So, I want to be an anthropologist, though I’m not sure what subfield yet, but I want to give myself the best foundation possible since it’s quite competitive to be an anthropologist or archaeologist. Would multiple bachelor degrees be useful? There’s anthropology, then history, classical studies, European studies, medieval and early modern studies, museum and cultural heritage studies, as well as latin and greek being offered as minors, all depending on what university I go to (I’m currently in community college), but the universities I’m considering all have at least history and another degree that goes along with anthropology.
Would it be worth it to double, even triple major? Would multiple bachelor degrees help me stand out in a beneficial way? And as for minors, would it be useful to have several of those instead of multiple bachelor degrees? How useful are minors anyhow? I just want to get ahead as much as possible, both in college and my future career, and any and all advice helps.
(Sorry if wrong forum btw, I couldn’t find anything else that fit well)
If you double/triple major or take multiple minors how many core anthropology courses will you end up with? Just keep in mind that the more majors/minors you take the fewer courses in each you will have unless you end up taking more than the requisite credits required to graduate (which would take more time to complete and cost more money). If you stick to the regular 4 year credit requirements for a single major then by taking 3 majors you are going to dilute each area to a more generalist degree when compared to an honours or specialists degree. That can be fine but you might want to investigate, in case you might be considering graduate school in the future, how many senior level courses in your program area they are going to want to see.
The classes you take are more important that how many majors/minors you end up with. There will be other factors as well that can come into play – ex. some colleges limit the number of majors/minors you can take, some colleges have a large core curriculum that make it hard to have multiple majors/minors etc.
If you’re thinking archaeologist, then a minor in an appropriate language (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, etc) would be helpful.
A lot of anthropologists today are “modern” anthropologists in that they study subcultures in contemporary settings rather than isolated villages in the rain forest.
Rather than collecting degrees/majors/minors, it might be more effective to pursue research opportunities and internships in each field in order to help you decide which area you’re most passionate about pursuing.
I spoke to an archaeologist at a living museum, asking for some advice, and he said that the undergrad degree is more generalized anyway, more to gain general knowledge and decide what subfield you’d like to specialize in for your masters and if you want to work in the field or in a museum, so I’m not so worried about my anthropology bachelor being a general anthropology degree. Also, I’m not too worried about it taking longer as I’m doing my best to get through college quicker, taking summer classes and minimesters, and so it may still just take four years, just with less free time in between, which I don’t mind.
I had spoken with an archaeologist at a living museum, and he recommended taking a year or so between undergrad and graduated school to work as a digger at different sites, getting experience and extra money. So, I’d go into graduate school possibly with experience plus extra degrees. I just don’t know if the extra degrees will help me in securing the jobs or later after I get my masters if they’ll be of any use. I also don’t know if I can even get an internship while getting my bachelors as it doesn’t seem as though there’s many openings in my area.
So my daughter switched majors and is going for her cultural anthropology degree with a Poly Sci minor. @stradmom, I have to laugh since she is back (third time in two years), to Indonesia on the Island of Borneo and this weekend will be in a rainforest to learn about and save the orangatanges ?. She is living with a family in the indigenous region working on a film festival to promote their culture lol.
Not really. If you want to be an anthropologist, you should major in anthropology. If you’re interested in archaeology, either anthropology or a classics major would likely work out.
You should take classes in some of the other fields - especially classics, Latin and Greek (or whatever languages you need to do the kind of anthropology you want to do - if you’re interested in South Asian cultures, for example, Latin might be less helpful than Hindi), probably history.
But no, you don’t need multiple majors or minors, and it really won’t help you “stand out” in any significant way. It would just indicate that you have a semi-deep level of inquiry in a related field, but you can do that without a minor.