I live in nebraska so unl will be slightly cheaper but, I really wanted to get further away from college and ku seemed like my best bet to do that. I guess my deciding factor would be to know which one would prepare me more for my anthropological aspirations, would you people happen to have any advice for me on that?
What are your anthropological aspirations and interests?
I don’t think either department is very highly ranked, but here are some other factors to consider.
KU has a doctoral-level graduate program with a significant number of graduate students. UNL only has a master’s-level graduate program with fewer graduate students. On the one hand, this could mean that undergraduates will get more faculty attention at UNL. On the other hand, you should check on how many undergrad majors are in each department. I suspect the number of undergrad majors is probably relatively small in both departments, so there might be an advantage in either department in terms of access to faculty and being among a relatively close-knit group of undergrad majors.
With a larger number of faculty, KU can offer wider range of courses and faculty will have a broader range of research interests. If you check each department’s website, I think you’ll see this is the case. KU also offers more coursework in all the subfields of anthropology. The research interests of UNL’s faculty seem somewhat overweighted toward North American Indian archaeology.
KU offers much more in the terms of courses and programs in related fields such as languages and area studies.
There are additional factors you might consider, too, if you can find the information, e.g., have any faculty received teaching awards; research opportunities for undergrads; where did undergrad majors get accepted for grad school; etc. Also, consider where faculty did their graduate work and how long ago.
I would recommend a visit to each department and trying to arrange to meet with a faculty member, and possibly, some undergrad majors. See if you can sit in on some classes. Also, see my post in this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17382726/#Comment_17382726
That said, I’d generally recommend making your decision on the basis of the overall best fit for you, instead of just deciding on the basis of a single department. OK, so, besides cost and a preference to go to school farther away what about Lawrence vs. Lincoln? Both are good college towns, but they are different. What about other factors? I think you really need to spend some time visiting each school if you haven’t already.