Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology

Anthropology majors develop expertise in historical and contemporary cultural and linguistic diversity as well as skills in reading, research, and writing that give them excellent preparation for many professional careers. Some students go on to graduate school to become professional anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists and pursue careers in teaching, research, museum work, or applied anthropology and archaeology. Many go on to careers in law, medicine, social services, and other professions, where they find their work greatly aided and enhanced by their background in anthropology. In addition, many businesses are interested in hiring anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists today, since our current era of globalization demands an appreciation of different cultural and linguistic perspectives. And, finally, we have a wonderful program that allows enterprising undergraduate majors to complete both the BA and an MA in anthropology with just one additional year. Anthropology is the study of historical and contemporary cultural and linguistic diversity throughout the world. It is a broad field that is divided into four areas:
Socio-cultural anthropology: the study of contemporary societies
Archaeology: the study of the material remains of past societies
Linguistics: the study of the structure and principles of language
Biological anthropology: the study of human evolution and human biological diversity
Our faculty include specialists in the first three of these areas. We have three archeologists on the Anthropology faculty who specialize in the archaeology of South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Four faculty are linguists, with particular expertise in Native American, Middle Eastern, and Melanesian languages. The majority of the faculty are socio-cultural anthropologists, whose teaching and research interests span the globe and engage numerous theoretical and topical interests. Particular geographical concentrations include the cultures of East Asia, Indonesia, Melanesia, the Caribbean, Native Central and South America, Europe, and North America. We have affiliated Anthropology and related faculty in other departments and programs whose coursework contributes to the Anthropology major.

High School Transcripts.
Typically, the most important factor in the admission evaluation process is demonstrated academic achievement in a challenging secondary school program.
The admission committee looks for applicants who have completed the most rigorous academic courses available in their secondary schools and recommends that prospective students should exceed minimum high school graduation requirements. We require an official transcript. The secondary program should include no fewer than 16 academic courses and must include the following courses:

English 4 units
Mathematics 4 units
Foreign Language 2 units
Science (from among biology, chemistry, and physics) 2 units (*)
Social Studies 1 unit

A TOEFL or IELTS score should not be more than two years old. Depending on the school, most admitted graduate students attain a minimum total score of 90 on the internet-based (iBT) TOEFL (including sectional minimums of 22 in speaking, 22 in writing, 23 in reading and 23 in listening). The minimum paper-based TOEFL score requirement is usually 600, and the minimum IELTS score requirement is 7.0.