<p>S is considering a major in anthropology and one of the schools we are considering has a small anthropology department...as in 2 tenured faculty.</p>
<p>Positives: faculty have PhD's from solid programs...UNC and SMU. Curriculum is primarily prep for graduate school as it requires 4 courses with a research methods/analysis focus. it has much more of a focus in this than does our state flagship anthropology program which is highly regarded.</p>
<p>Should we be concerned?</p>
<p>Small departments can be great because you get a lot of one on one time with the professors. This can really pay off if your son plans to pursue anthropology at a graduate level. The profs are also more likely to involve students in their research, since they have so few students to draw from. Small departments can also be challenging if the professors don’t plan their sabbaticals very well, the last thing you want is for him to be in need of some classes and for the profs to be away. Planned sabbaticals would be a good thing for your son to discuss with one or both of the profs as he’s considering his decision. They can help him plan his courses so that, if there is a sabbtical coming up, he can be minimally impacted. </p>
<p>Most small departments allow/require a lot of interdisciplinary work, which can be really beneficial IMO. You major in anthropology but you take courses in say, history for example that count towards your major. Very rarely in life will you ever deal with strictly one knowledge area or another, more often we’re being asked to synthesize expertise from many different areas. So practicing that in college can be beneficial. </p>
<p>If he’s really interested in the smaller school, he may want to email the professor and ask if he knows of some current anthro majors that your son could talk to to get more info on the departmetnt. </p>
<p>Also, I wouldn’t be too worried. He’s not a college student yet and he may decide he wants to go to the smaller school, but then end up majoring in something completely different than anthropology after all. Students change their minds quiet often.</p>
<p>Yes, I would. Perhaps not to completely discount the school, but it is a real shortcoming. He may end up with a dislike for one of the two, which doesn’t leave him any room for class selection. And during four years of college, at least one of them is likely to go away on sabbatical for a year, which could be particularly problematic if the school requires a thesis and this is the professor with whom the student wanted to work. Finally, if either person isn’t tenured, who only knows what might happen, and what the school would do – many faculty aren’t replaced in the same department. </p>
<p>At a minimum, I’d look at a couple years of actual course offerings to see what specific courses are really offered vs. what’s in the catalogue. In particular, are there enough students so that the upper division classes don’t get cancelled? I’d also ask about the number of majors who have graduated in the past four years and whether they’ve pursued graduate work, and if so, in what field and where. </p>
<p>If the school is very strong in some ancillary areas that your son could build strong minors around, that could help a lot, but it is certainly something to think through.</p>
<p>If it were me, I’d research the department in question. Is it an usually small dept for the school, or is it a smaller college with small depts.? How are the professors rated (recognize that this is not scientific at all, but if both are “universally” panned, steps to look more deeply at the situation could be taken)? Could he observe classes? Contact professors to discuss major? Is it one of the more highly regarded majors at the school? Do they have any visiting faculty in and out to add variety?</p>
<p>It could be a huge opportunity to be part of a small, actively involved dept. or it could feel a bit limiting after four years. Does your son favor the research/analysis focus?
Tricky question, especially since few high schoolers have experience with anthro and may or may not “take” to it in college. The “fit” of the school overall is also important.
I’d be as concerned about how the faculty teaches as where they graduated from school.
Good luck.</p>
<p>If a student is really serious about graduate work in the future, going to a school with a department of less than 5 full-time tenure track faculty can turn out to be a serious mistake. A combination of sabbaticals and retirements can hurt when it comes to graduate school recommendations (and also contacts with graduate school faculty.) It will also affect the availability of upper level electives (in ways a student couldn’t predict upon entry.)</p>
<p>So really it depends how small.</p>
<p>I just graduated from a tiny tiny department. I majored in Medieval and Renaissance Studies - an interdisciplinary major. The “department” has a chair but that position switches every two years. The rest of the faculty are based in other departments (i.e. history, French, religion) and generally teach a combination of Med/Ren and not Med/Ren classes, so you’re never really sure what you’re going to get. There were three of us majoring my year.
And I loved it. I loved the attention, I loved that I knew every professor in the entire school who taught anything related to Medieval history and I loved how much freedom I had. My friends, in bigger departments, had more specific guidelines to follow but because the chair of my department was also my adviser, we could work with my schedule and my interests to create my major.
As for writing a thesis - I understood from the getgo that there was NOBODY on campus who could really help me with my thesis (medieval military history in France and England.) My adviser studies intellectual history and my eventual thesis adviser is an expert on medieval Spain. But it didn’t matter; what I learned from them was how to conduct research, not the details of the late 14th century English longbow which was something I was more than able to learn on my own.
If they offer the major, it’s possible. I was worried at first that there wouldn’t be enough medieval history classes offered, but I was amazed by the wealth I had once I started looking.<br>
And as for professors going on leave - there is one professor at my school who teaches Intro to Early Medieval history and for my first three years of school he was teaching only graduate courses. My last year he came back to undergrad and while I took one of his courses, he didn’t offer the Intro class - he will next semester. I wish I could have taken it, but I took so many other valuable things that it didn’t matter in the end.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that this anthro department and my Med/Ren department were identical; Med/Ren is obviously a more interdisciplinary subject in a lot of ways. But I wouldn’t discount a department just because it’s small.</p>
<p>My D is in a very small major. It happens to be the marquee major at her school and is spectacularly well-funded. They gave her keys to the lab on her first day of classes and she knows everyone in the department. She has gotten unbelievable attention, including people coming across books, opportunities and even an internship that mesh with her specific interest. I’m not sure I would be wild about a small major that’s not well-funded or might be teetering on the edge, but in this case, it totally worked out. Oh, and they have visiting scholars every semester who usually stay for two years before moving on. These are the top folks in their field.</p>
<p>I’d be wary. The school may be in the midst of budget-cutting and not see value in keeping the major.</p>
<p>Well, done, posters! You have already stated all my various positions on this question.</p>
<p>Small departments, like small colleges, have both pros and cons, well enumerated above. And you can’t have any certainty going in whether you’re going to experience more of the benefits or more of the drawbacks.</p>
<p>So, yes indeed, I would worry. But to be perfectly fair, if my kid were to choose a larger department or a different college, I would probably worry equally. Just about different things.</p>
<p>We’re very good worriers at my house.</p>
<p>I am a good worrier, too, lol!</p>
<p>If your child is really serious about anthropology, then he probably will need to go to grad school. So, the bigger question is how useful will this department be in facilitating entrance into a good grad school program. If his professors are well-known and form a close relationship with him, this will be an advantage. But, if the dept. is considered small and not very well-respected, your son will have to overcome this possibly unfair reputation in applying to schools.</p>
<p>^^ maggiedog has said what would be the biggest worry for me. DS, before his college search really began 5 years ago, was very sure of 2 things- he wanted to be a Geology major and he wanted to go to grad school for his Phd in Seismology . We found that most LAC’s [ which had originally appealed to him] had smaller Geology depts and fewer Geology classes than Universities- our focus then shifted to U’s with the more profs and classes. Glad we did…He chose a U with a top 10 Geology dept, but more important, an extremely well respected program run by a top Geologist who is known and respected at grad schools.
Anthropology, like Seismology, is a small specialized area, and grad school professors know their colleagues well . LOR’s are extremely important to STEM grad school admissions committees, so if grad school is the goal, I’d advise aiming for a well known and well respected dept.</p>
<p>You say two tenured faculty. Are there any others?</p>
<p>As grad school is likely, as others have mentioned, one of the ways to check the quality of professor is to see how much they’ve published. If the two tenured professors are widely published, then that bodes very well (except that they also might be highly recruited by other schools). If there are other non-tenured professors, what is their publication history? These stats are one way of determining how connected they might be with departments in other universities if your son does go to grad school.</p>
<p>As the spouse of a humanities prof in a top 15 grad program, I would add to some of the comments above. If grad school is the goal, then recommendations from professors who are known and respected researchers in their field are critical to admission at good grad programs. Sadly, profs at LACs often do not meet that criteria – they are fabulous mentors, teachers, but not leading scholars/researchers. My husband has shared snippets of admissions decisions to his program where there are smart kids from excellent LACs who are denied, typically because(1) the writing samples are well-written but do not show the capability to do more than explain and (2) recs from unknown profs. </p>
<p>As the parent of a rising senior, we struggle with this dichotomy – small school where our late blooming son will be listened to and feel confident enough to explore his talents vs. State university with well-known faculty who could, if he connects with them as a Jr/sr, after he makes it through intro level lectures, be great mentors as well.</p>
<p>All in all, 2 tenured faculty is very small dept, either because the school has struggled to keep folks or has determined that dept is a low priority. I agree that further investigation needed, talk to current majors, find out about grad school admissions from the past 5 years etc.</p>
<p>I was concerned that the small-department school my son looked at (but did NOT go to) had so few classes offered (in addition to having only two faculty members). To get the basic degree, he would take all but two classes. To get the honors degree, he would take Every Single Class they offered in the department. I know that there are wonderful opportunities for independent study and research, and I hope he avails himself of some of those opportunities where he goes. But I really hated the idea that there was so little variety and choice of classroom classes.</p>
<p>I’m glad to see there are posters who were happy with small-department choices! </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the replies. I had some idea of the questions we need to ask but this helps to clarify. Many things mentioned that we had not thought of.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I’ve done the grad school thing and am a non-tenured lecturer at a research university so I know the basics of grad school and how universities operate, which helps. FIL is a recently retired humanities prof having taught at SIU and UM-CP so he is also a help.</p>
<p>I think professors being known is more of an issue for LACs in the sciences than in the humanities or social sciences. My husband swears that there is no one doing respected published research and attending the major conferences in his field (cancer research now, before that research involving e coli and dictiostylium dischordium (may have spelled the latter wrong!) at any LAC.</p>
<p>I loved my small department at a medium size university - but it was small not tiny. And because of the way it was set up I had access to a bunch of grad school professors.</p>
<p>Agree with all the issues raised above. Another thing to consider is whether he is laser-focused on anthropology or whether he could be happy working closely with a sociology, poli sci, or history professor if worst came to worst.</p>
<p>All great comments.
Many dedicated anthro majors would be very happy to focus on one-two profs. I did it in a small dept at a small college and got into a very desirable grad program. When you are exicted about your major- and the profs are super, a quite special relationship can develop.</p>
<p>The issue is, it can allow for a limited perspective in the field- imagine if these 2 profs, eg, were interested in A and B and your son develops a fascination with C- nowhere to run. Even if he picks up the ball himself and does his own research, he won’t necessarily get an accurate read on his breadth and depth- and the conclusions he begins to draw- from specialists in another area. Another issue is how up are these two on current trends? Will they expose him to the latest intellectual perspectives, the sort gleaned from active research, participation in conferences, contacts with profs from other U’s, etc. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, I have no regrets about my small dept.</p>
<p>Next problem is the interdisplinary- it’s one thing to take, eg, a straight history class for perspective. It’a another to take, say, Islamic culture and find it taught by a religion prof who is primarily interested in the Christian world. Or, face team-taught classes (a trick to meet enrollment minimums is often to combine subjects) where, eg, “women’s roles” is also taught by a gender specialist from the English dept, who teaches through literary examples.</p>
<p>Real examples from my D’s search. Agree- it’s vital to check course catalogs and prof backgrounds and interests, and who actually teaches- inlcuding part-timers, semester-hires or the occasional grad stu from another U.</p>
<p>I majored in a relatively obscure field in college at a SLAC with only 3 professors in the department. Unfortunately, the individual who taught the vast majority of the classes had kind of an unpleasant personality, didn’t like to be challenged in class by students who disagreed, and had a particular view of many issues that she kind of imposed on students. It was NOT a great experience and I seriously considered transferring. Didn’t actually decide on the major until I was a sophomore. </p>
<p>My major piece of advice would be to make sure you actually meet the two faculty members – if you’re planning on taking a large number of classes with them. (If you can’t do that, then maybe call them up and chat by phone.) Also, investigate whether there’s any kind of cross registration where you could take classes at a neighboring college as well. Finally, remember that faculty can and do change jobs – so don’t have your heart set on taking courses with warm and cuddly Professor So and So, who might not be there next year.</p>
<p>How are the courses in the rest of the school? His education will be mostly those courses. Is the overall school a much better fit than other schools with larger depts in his proposed major? Don’t get so focused on the major you forget about the rest of the package.</p>