Anthropology Schools?

warblersrule
Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:13:12 +0000

mjmgrcc, your daughter’s stats are going to be quite important when selecting schools. It’s difficult to choose schools without knowing roughly where she stands in terms of GPA and test scores (SAT or ACT). For this reason, it’s very early to start looking, even in the broadest and most general terms. At the undergraduate level (or graduate!), there is no such thing as a “best” program, only what’s best for you - and that could change easily depending on various factors.

She’s probably going to need at least a MA/MS in biological/physical or forensic anthropology to obtain work in that field. Many, many schools send students to excellent programs in these areas; I’m currently studying at a not-very-good fourth-tier public, and one of my good friends is starting such a graduate program in the fall.

When you do start the process, preferably in a couple years, here’s a few pointers…

As with many posters, you’re going about the process of college selection somewhat backwards. I would first create a tentative list of school based on the following factors:

[ul][]Public or private?
[]Small (<2000 students), medium (2000-10,000), and/or large (10,000+)?
[]Rural, suburban, and/or urban?
[]Is financial aid a concern?
[]Are special factors (e.g. disabilities support or strong LGBT community) needed?
[]Should certain extracurriculars be available (e.g. fencing or Model UN)?[/ul]

Once you have your tentative list, you can start evaluating the strength of the anthropology departments. Long-time poster Carolyn posted an excellent way to do so [in this thread](http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1822982-post4.html).

I would also recommend checking out the following books, some of which your local library may have:
[Fiske Guide to Colleges 2010](http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2010-26E/dp/1402209606)
[The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, 2010](http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Guide-Colleges-2010-Students/dp/0312570295/ref=pd_sim_b_1)
[Rugg’s Recommendations on the Colleges](http://www.amazon.com/Ruggs-Recommendations-College-27th-Colleges/dp/1883062764/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276527352&sr=1-1)

All of that said…

[ul][]tk21769 is correct that Michigan has an excellent anthropology program. It has about a half dozen researchers concentrating in biological/physical anthropology (more if you include primatology), which is a fairly good number. With in-state tuition, it’s a bargain.
[]Beloit would be a poor choice. Their program focuses almost entirely on sociocultural anthro and archaeology.
[]For forensic anthropology, there is no better place to be than [UT Knoxville](http://web.utk.edu/~anthrop/majors.html) and its infamous [“body farm.”](http://web.utk.edu/~fac/) If she can get into Michigan, Tennessee should be fairly easy to get into. Financial aid would be very slim for an out-of-state student, however, making it a better option for graduate school than undergraduate.
[]Boston U has recently started a forensic anthropology program that promises to be quite good - it would be worth checking out. Its anthro program is quite good, as is the associated archaeology program (the only free-standing archaeology department in the US). Boston U has long been generous with merit scholarships, so it may be more affordable than one might think, if her grades and scores are good enough.
[*]Among the elites, Duke arguably has the strongest [biological anthropology program](http://evolutionaryanthropology.duke.edu/), which is a separate department (and major). It focuses more on human/primate evolution, anatomy, and ecology, however, than forensics.[/ul]