<p>rjk,</p>
<p>I agree that Duke and Michigan are peer institutions, so as usual there is no need to be so defensive. In terms of the best bang for the buck, Michigan would almost certainly be the best option, as I noted above. In terms of quality, however, Duke is slightly stronger than Michigan in biological anthropology and has unique resources like an extremely large fossil collection and the primate center, which includes species found nowhere else but Madagascar.* Several of my BAA professors (such as Elwyn Simons) were members of the National Academy of Sciences or holders of various other awards in the field of biological anthropology. For a student interested in some of the other subfields of anthropology - such as archaeology - Michigan is quite a bit stronger than Duke. It all depends on what one wishes to do.</p>
<p>*While there are a few other primate centers, they are primarily animal testing facilities funded by NIH.</p>