anthropology departments?

posterX
Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:26:48 +0000

Great post, but I have a minor quibble. You wrote, “The “top” schools (Penn, Chicago, Yale, Berkeley, Michigan, etc.) are best saved for grad school. For historical archaeology, I would suggest slightly less selective schools with a better undergrad program.” This makes a good point, that the big powerhouse schools are not necessarily the best place for undergraduate work. I fully agree, of course, as I am a huge proponent of LACs. However, you can not generalize to the extent you do. Among the “top” schools you’ve identified, Yale happens to have the strongest and most selective undergraduate program in the country and actually has one of the smallest undergraduate programs of any top research university. Chicago is also on the smaller size.

You just can’t lump together places like Caltech, Yale and Princeton - which have small undergraduate programs but also happen to be among the top universities in many areas - with places like Berkeley and Michigan, which also happen to be top universities but which are well-known for giving much less attention to undergrads (i.e, not as many fellowships, not as close advising, larger classes, fewer opportunities per student in general). Just look at academic support spending per student, as measured by COHE - Caltech, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, etc., are at the very top of the list along with places like Swarthmore. Large universities like Michigan, Ohio State, Penn, Penn State, Cornell and the like are far, far down the list.