Undergraduate colleges for Cultural Archaeology?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys, I’d like to study cultural archaeology, primarily with Latin-American indigenous studies. I am part Latino, and the subject interests me. I understand that the work isn’t very glamorous, and that field work isn’t very common, but I also enjoy researching and reading about history so the anthropology component is alright for me, as well.

Anyway, with the geographical focus and cultural subdivision in mind, which colleges would you recommend? I’ve been looking at UC Berkeley and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, as their campuses appeal to me, but I can’t find conclusive results regarding the quality of the programs for BOTH my field of archaeology, and the geographical specialty of Mesoamerica and South America. How are these in particular? All recommendations are appreciated, however :smiley:

P.S: Off-topic, but something that I’ve been needing to get off my chest, and I hope you can help. I just finished Junior year of high school. Unfortunately, this has been my worst academic year BY FAR!!! I had missed a lot of school due to anxiety and panic attacks which inexplicably started this year, as well as apathy/depression because of my meds. My GPA dropped from a 4.5 to a 4.2 in a single year. However, due to both my goals in attending a better college, as well as lack of preparedness to attend a distant university, I’ve decided with my family that I will be attending a local, in-state university for two years, in the hopes of improving my anxiety by the time I am ready to transfer to a better university that is more specialized for my career path, and also to buckle down and use my HOPEFULLY-improved grades in college due to mitigating my anxiety for helping me get into a better university, as opposed to my awful downward-trend.

Anyway, I’m sort of undecided as to whether I should attend a local CC, or an in-state university. If if matters, I’m deciding between Brookdale Community College, and Rutgers, both in NJ. Now, I’m mostly concerned on how the university I transfer to, whichever it may be, will take it. On one hand, community college has a dedicated two-year program meant for transfer students, so would an “official” transfer program give me better chances at transferring as opposed to attending Rutgers, which doesn’t really “expect” a two-year transfer? On the other hand, although Brookdale offers classes for archaeology, I think it’s fair to assume that they are worse than Rutgers in terms of quality. But does that matter to Berkeley/Michigan/whatever?

What I’m trying to say is: would they prefer, transferring from a CC or from Rutgers? Does it make a difference if I had the exact same college grades? And would these college grades save me from my downward trend from high school? Do they even give a shit about my SAT/ACT scores? Btw financial costs aren’t very important, as I am very fortunate that my family is well-off to support whatever is best for me, my education, and my health. I know the circumstances are weird, but I’m so lost and all help is very much appreciated.

2

Are you sure you are adequately familiar with your field of interest? Though archaeology and cultural anthropology are both recognized anthropological subfields, cultural archaeology as a recognized hybrid does not exist to the best of my knowledge.

3

You need at least a master’s degree for any sort of career in archaeology, and you need a doctorate for a teaching and/or research position. Any college with a decently strong anthro program and a good spread of archaeology courses (with lab components) would be perfectly adequate for undergraduate studies.

Out-of-state public universities can be quite expensive, and neither Berkeley nor Michigan makes much sense if you’re out-of-state. Both are pretty good for archaeology, but neither is particularly known for Mesoamerican archaeology, and there’s better and cheaper alternatives. (That’s not to say they’re bad, mind you, and they have a very respected Mesoamericanist each.)

What are your grades and test scores? It’s hard to recommend colleges without more information. SUNY Albany is a Mesoamerican powerhouse and possibly an option if you’re in NJ and wanting to stay nearby. Many of the best Mesoamerican and Andean programs are at highly selective universities (Vanderbilt, Brown, Harvard) and/or public universities that are expensive out-of-state (U Texas-Austin, UCLA, Arizona). SMU and Boston U are possibilities, and Tulane is arguably the best undergraduate option in the US. For a good transfer option, UNC-Chapel Hill has developed a very strong Mesoamerican program over the last few years.

Again, keep in mind that there are many, many more colleges that are perfectly suitable for undergraduate training in archaeology. Providing more information about what you would like in a college would help us help you.

I see only an intro archaeology course, and the rest of their anthropology offerings aren’t great. Rutgers is a far better option.

4

@merc81 Sorry, you are absolutely right! According to http://www.ancientdigger.com/2011/07/fields-of-anthropology.html, both cultural anthropologists and archaeologists have the same general goal in mind, so I suppose that I’ll go with archaeology as I am very interested in field work. Thank you!

5

@Archaeologist Thank you so much! I definitely feel at ease getting help from “Archaeologist” about archaeology :))

The distance of the school AFTER transferring from Rutgers (which now I will definitely choose over Brookdale CC) isn’t too big of a deal for me, in fact I’d almost prefer getting a bit further away from home haha. I’m just staying nearby for the first two years (at Rutgers) to see if I can handle dorm life, while not being too far away in case I need more time to mitigate my anxiety.

I have a 4.2 GPA right now, and a massive downward trend due to my anxiety causing me to be very absence and very preoccupied with fixing my condition, which is why I’m attracted to the idea of going to a local college like Rutgers because 1) It’s not hard to get in 2) Hopefully I can get REALLY good grades in college as my anxiety has been improving massively, then I can transfer to a more prestigious school with much better colleges grades compared to my high school grade. I haven’t taken the SAT yet, but I got a 1300 on the new PSAT if that means anything. Do colleges really care about high school grades or test scores for transfers? My grades aren’t anything special, but they aren’t awful so I hope they don’t hold me back too much, especially in light of the anxiety getting in the way.

So yeah the distance of the school from NJ isn’t too big of a concern for me. In terms of what the program offers, I’d really like an archaeology program that involves digging sites and deviates from long, boring lectures. Maybe some independent/group study would be interesting for researching about civilizations, too, and also hands-on activities. Also, smaller classes. That’s not to say I don’t like big schools, in fact I’d to enjoy university life and socialize more in bigger campuses now that my anxiety has been getting better haha. Like Rutgers is a pretty big school, but I visited it and I actually like the campus. But as for class size, I think I prefer smaller classes since I feel like I’m given more attention and individual help. I’ve read that some schools are more selective for transfer students, while schools like Berkeley (which admittedly I was more interested in because my dad went there lol) have better acceptance rates for transfers, so preferably something that is not too harsh on transfers. I prefer warmer temperatures, which is also why Berkeley really appealed to me, but if the campus is nice enough I’m fine with colder temperatures, like Michigan (which has a campus I really like). Also, I don’t really have a preference for Mesoamerican vs. Aldean studies, I find both very interesting, but I guess I prefer indigenous studies over colonial or modern times. I’d say schools like Brown and Harvard are definitely out of my league. So many choices haha, I’m sorry if I wasn’t very specific but I’d love to hear which recommendations you have :smiley:

6

I wouldn’t focus on transferring out of Rutgers because a) Rutgers is a great school b) it’s a bad idea to start at a 4 year institution with the plan of transferring and c) transfer admissions is extremely competitive. The prestige of your college won’t matter, especially since Archaeology will need graduate studies.

7

“I suppose that I’ll go with archaeology as I am very interested in field work”

Cultural anthropology can often involve extensive field work too. Do you more envision reconstructing ancient civilizations from the recovery of artifacts (archaeology) or ethnographically investigating and experiencing current cultures and subcultures (cultural anthropology)?

For that matter, the distinction for you at this stage may be immaterial, in that some schools are strong across the four major anthropological subfields (cultural and social, linguistic and biological anthropology and archaeology). Beloit (moderately selective) and Hamilton (highly selective) would work well along these lines. Hamilton offers a somewhat esoteric geoarchaeology major.