Hi! I’m a senior looking for a good small liberal arts college with strong anthropology (especially cultural anthropology) and archaeology departments that could hopefully lead to graduate school for archaeology. I live in Virginia, so I’d love for the college to be on the East Coast/not more than a day away by train. I’m definitely looking for something smaller, and cheaper would be better (though hopefully I’ll get some scholarships). I’d love a school near a big-ish city, but I can work with anything. So far, the best colleges I’ve found have been Haverford, Ponoma, Davidson (maybe?), and maybe George Washington University, but I would love more suggestions and information!
Also info on me–4.4 weighted GPA (3.92 unweighted) and mostly honors or AP classes. 670 math, 780 writing, and 800 reading. Extracurriculars mostly involving lit mag (I’ve had a few editor positions) drama, orchestra, and some community service. I also did an internship with a small local publishing company junior year.
I’m also looking at Brown because they have great departments for what I am looking for, but I think they might be a little beyond what I could get into.
Will you qualify for need based aid or are you looking for merit based aid?
Look into Beloit.
Are you female? If so, consider Bryn Mawr.
I’ll probably qualify for need based aid mostly just based on the fact that my brother is in college, but I’m definitely looking for merit based aid as well. I am female, but I’m a little leery about all-girl colleges just because it seems a little restrictive, but I will look into Bryn Mawr!
Look for a department with substantial offerings in the subfields of cultural and social, linguistic and biological anthropology and archaeology.
Schools
Pomona
Swarthmore
Hamilton
Grinnell
Wesleyan
Reed
Macalester
Oberlin
Pitzer
Bryn Mawr
Beloit
Sarah Lawrence
A few of these colleges offer a major in the somewhat esoteric geoarchaeology, a generally good sign.
You can screen based on your personal criteria.
You may want to give first consideration to 1) colleges at which anthropology and sociology are separated into distinct departments and, as another guideline, 2) at least twenty courses are offered annually (anthropology/archaeology).
College of Charleston is a public college with a liberal arts focus that has both anthropology and archeology majors . You may be competitive for the Honors College with your current stats. The school has approx 11,000 students but the Honors College makes it a smaller experience.
D was consistently running into Randolph-Macon students & faculty at digs in Greece. Might be worth a look unless you want to go farther from home.
@IceFox416 Even if the school isn’t interesting to you, when you are near Philly, be sure to check out The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Penn. It is really outstanding!
Anthropology does not necessarily need to be complemented by multiple geosciences courses; however, given the option, you may want to choose a school with the availability of both anthropology and geosciences majors.
Would Swarthmore be a good place for what I’m looking for? I’ve visited twice and I loved it, but anthropology and archaeology do not seem to be its strongest suit. It has a Sociology and Anthropology department, but does offer like 25-ish anthropology classes annually. There is no archaeology minor or major, but they do have a consortium with Haverford, Bryn Mawr, U Penn, and such.
Swarthmore could be excellent for you with respect to your interests, particularly since you have already had a positive experience there.
Archaeology often exists simply as an anthropology “track.” This is perfectly acceptable. (The availability of a geoarchaeology major, mentioned earlier, would be a nice bonus, however.)
Bryn Mawr is the best known LAC for archaeology. Grinnell and Reed are both very strong in anthro, not so sure about archaeology.
Anthro is particularly strong at Grinnell.
Years (and years) ago I participated in a summer archaeological field school with The College of William and Mary. Don’t know how the department is now, or if the emphasis is primarily on historical archaeology (as was that particular field school) but at the time I really liked the professors and the W&M students.
If you intend to work as an archeologist eventually, I would be very selective about choosing a program that will offer you the best coursework options, guidance, and research opportunities/experiences.
If you can get admitted, I think you will be more likely to find that at larger schools like Cornell, Penn, and Brown. Although the schools are larger, the programs aren’t huge and you will have the opportunity to plan a specific program that aligns to your interests.
I would schedule meetings with specific departments and professors at each school and investigate which programs have the most to offer for your interests.
Since I hadn’t included Haverford in post #4, I’ll mention it specifically now.
Re #15
Most, if not all, of the smaller schools recommended on this thread appear to have adequate program depth and plenty of opportunities for research.
Your subfield of interest will matter quite a bit because language preparation is key for grad admissions in archaeology. PhD programs in classical archaeology, Chinese archaeology, Egyptology, etc. will expect applicants to apply with at least 2-3 relevant modern and ancient languages under their belts. Ancient languages in particular are rarely offered at liberal arts colleges, so that may be a limiting factor.
Be aware that colleges tend to specialize in different regions and time periods. A college that’s very good for Maya archaeology may have virtually nothing to offer a classical archaeologist (and vice versa). Methodological and theoretical approaches can be very, very different between archaeological subfields, so it’s wise to keep your interests in mind while selecting a college. If you are interested in paleoethnobotany, zooarchaeology, ceramics and residue analysis, or remote sensing for example, check to see if a college has laboratory and faculty resources in those areas. Large universities have the luxury of specializing in a variety of geographic regions and archaeological subfields, but the same is not true of liberal arts colleges.
As others have said, Bryn Mawr offers the best program in archaeology among liberal arts colleges, keeping in mind that it focuses almost exclusively on Mediterranean archaeology. Davidson is a decent option for both Old and New World archaeology. GWU has some highly distinguished faculty in ancient Mediterranean studies; I cannot comment on its other offerings.
Oberlin, Wesleyan, Beloit, and the other obvious suggestions have already been made. I would add Dickinson, Wooster, Cornell College, Colgate, and Lycoming. Brandeis is a university but small and very good, and Tulane has superb offerings in archaeology.
Barnard, with its cross-registration with Columbia, is perhaps your best bet after Bryn Mawr and Haverford. Wellesley is also quite good.
Great comment, @Archaeologist !