Forgive me if this is the wrong forum, bit I wasn’t quite sure where to go.
I’ve spent most of my schooling alternating between home school and public school and did an intermittent multi-year stint in community college before deciding to focus on work.
In the intervening years I discovered my real passion and what I want to do with the rest of my life. The problem is that during my community college years, I’ve sort of found the college structure sort of limiting. I know exactly what I would like to study, how I want to study it, and when. In fact I spent a significant amount of time drafting a full curriculum for a four year degree (Liberal Arts with an emphasis on Archaeology). I even carefully researched and selected books and nearby experts that I could consult for the topics I’m less familiar with (or not local, as the internet is a marvellous thing). The problem is that while I could do!low my curriculum on my own with the resources I’ve found, I don’t see any way to actually get college credit much less a degree for it.
Any ideas? Thoughts? Is there a college that would allow me to follow my own curriculum (I’m open to negotiation since obviously I am not an expert)?
I don’t know the specifics of your situation or what you would want in a college other than this freedom, but look into colleges that seem interesting to you. Look at the website for their humanities program and see if they would allow you to do a “create your own major” kind of thing- a lot do, but it would probably be limited by what classes the school actually offers as well as your advisor’s opinion. It would probably be best to find a school that has an established archaeology department, or at the very least offers a minor in it, otherwise you might find that the course options in that area are very limited.
Although plenty of people are truly self-educating and might not need an official degree to have expertise in something, the way our society operates is with the system of higher learning where you get a degree. I think you’d find your options limited if you did just teach yourself instead of getting a degree.
Good luck
Check out Hampshire college. You design your own curriculum/education, and they do have archaology:
https://www.hampshire.edu/academics/academics
And Brown University:
http://www.brown.edu/academics/college/
Other schools to check out:
Univ of Rochester
Smith
Hamilton
Amherst
Look into New College of FL too.
I had thought about those schools, but when I looked over my transcript I was reminded of why I dropped out. My GPA was pretty uninspiring (2.1). I seemed to have this pattern of doing really well one semester, thanking the next, doing sort of mediocre the following, and then doing super well again. I tried to figure out of I could raise my GPA, maybe take a bunch of easy classes, but since I’ve already completed so many credits it looks impossible.
So is there an alternative to elite private schools?
I’d really like to just maybe work with a more open university or college to create my own independent study program. I wouldn’t object to taking a class here and there as needed, but mostly I’d like to learn independently.
In a perfect world I guess I would talk to an academic counselor and a head of the archaeology/anthropology department and modify my curriculum a little bit to meet BA requirements. Then I’d do the assignments I set myself with periodic check-in with the appropriate instructors to submit work for grading and to verify progress. Then at some point I would have met graduation requirements and get a degree.
It seems like it ought to be pretty simple, but maybe I’m just unrealistic.
But what do you want to do? Do you want to be an archaeologist? Do you want to be a writer? Or do you just want to learn?
An archaeologist almost definitely means PhD. A writer doesn’t need any college. Learning doesn’t require college.
Think backwards - what is your ideal career? Then, do you need college or not for that career?
You can “just learn” many many ways without paying for college.
The more people think about the end game, what they want to do, the more they can decide if and where they want to go to college.
One way to think about a career is look in the NYT classified, or Monster or Careerbuilder. Put in a few key words and see what jobs strike your fancy, then see what degrees are required, if any.
There are tiers to archaeology work.
At the lowest is volunteer/trainee which has no experience required, but you have to pay for the privilege (insurance reasons, plus expense of equipment and travel). This is where I’m at right now.
Next is field technicians which do mostly the same work as the volunteers, but unsupervised. They get paid money (it’s lousey and you’ll never get rich and leaves you kinda broke during the off-season). The requirements are a bachelors in archaeology/anthropology and a year of field experience. This is where I want to be, my dream job. I could run my online business during the off-season. I don’t care about making big money, I just want to do the work.
Upper level is site supervisors and academics who write papers or plan out digs, they require graduate studies and pay a bit better and often end up teaching. This is not where I want to be.
So yes, I really need a bachelor’s in archaeology. I actually know most of the stuff, but it doesn’t really count for a trying without a degree. I’ve been mistaken for a graduate student when I go on digs, they’re always really confused about my being a community college drop out.
Hampshire college is not an elite college. In 2014, it admitted 67% of students. Talk to them.
Here’s a school that offers cultural anthropology online:
http://www.ashford.edu/degrees/online/ba-cultural-anthropology.htm
There is an unconventional university with US accreditation called “Open University” based in the UK. You may wish to explore what they can offer.
When someone grants you a degree it is because you followed their program of study. Their reputation and department reputation is built on that. A program made by experts in the field and curriculum development. Not by a community college drop out giving themselves assignments. So if you want a degree you have to find one that you at least complete the major in. Otherwise why do you need one? It isn’t unusual for amateurs to have experience on digs. Especially in paleontology, many amateurs contribute to the field. So just go locally and get a degree in anything for cheap. Take extra classes and do outside learning on your own. DePaul in Chicago has degree completion programs I think, and they have archeology, although no one needs that as an undergrad degree.
Also look at Evergreen State and a more flexible and less expensive college option, it is really low cost and it has the closest program I can think of
“You don‘t have to take any specific prerequisites to complete your bachelor’s degree. Advisors and faculty help you figure out what to take to meet your graduate school or professional goals.”
http://www.evergreen.edu/academics/home.htm