Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology (Columbia College)

Anthropology at Columbia is the oldest department of anthropology in the United States. Founded by Franz Boas in 1896 as a site of academic inquiry inspired by the uniqueness of cultures and their histories, the department fosters an expansiveness of thought and independence of intellectual pursuit.

Cross-cultural interpretation, global socio-political considerations, a markedly interdisciplinary approach, and a willingness to think otherwise have formed the spirit of anthropology at Columbia. Boas himself wrote widely on pre-modern cultures and modern assumptions, on language, race, art, dance, religion, politics, and much else, as did his graduate students including, most notably, Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead.

In these current times of increasing global awareness, this same spirit of mindful interconnectedness guides the department. Professors of anthropology at Columbia today write widely on colonialism and postcolonialism, on matters of gender, theories of history, knowledge, and power, on language, law, magic, mass-mediated cultures, modernity, and flows of capital and desire, on nationalism, ethnic imaginations, and political contestations, on material cultures and environmental conditions, on ritual, performance, and the arts, and on linguistics, symbolism, and questions of representation. Additionally, they write across worlds of similarities and differences concerning the Middle East, China, Africa, the Caribbean, Japan, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, and other increasingly transnational and technologically virtual conditions of being.

High school transcripts, secondary school records, or GED/TASC test results are required from any student with less than 30 earned college course credits.
Applicants with a GED or TASC and two or more years of high school are required to submit their high school transcripts.

IELTS - overall score of 7.0.
TOEFL IBT - overall score of 100 on the internet-based.
TOEFL PBT - overall score of 600 or better.