<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>