does your undergraduate school for anthropology matter?

[jarklor05]

I'd like to go to Michigan but the cost is inconvenient and they don't accept ap courses as general credits. I'm not sure if I'll even make it in.

I was thinking about the university of Madison. Or would penn state (not university of pennsylvania) be a better option? Does this really matter that much?

[smg]

Yes and no.  I went to a no-name school with a so-so anthro department and things seem to be working out okay but a better school would have had more resources and opportunities that I could have theoretically made use of.  If you want to be an anthropologist I would focus on getting into a school, probably any school with an anthro department will do, and focus on getting good grades.  If the school you end up at has fieldschool or semester abroad opportunities jump on them.  If you can TA as an undergrad do it. If you can snag a research gig for a prof do it. If their is an honour's program with a thesis option do it.  Think about minoring in another discipline. It probably doesnt matter whether its philosophy, math, geography, computer science, chemistry, etc; this could augment your future research as an anthropologist in exciting and unique ways.  Going to the best school wont matter if your an average student with average grades and average interests. 

[Daisy123]

I agree...I think at the Undergrad level, its all about waht you do with your opportunities, and how you form and shape yourself a potential researcher. but, for your question, do you mean does it matter for grad school? for work ? for what are you asking specifically 

[mountainroad]

It depends; there isn't a universal answer to this question.  I think the best answer I can give is yes, it does matter somewhat.  However, going to a prestigious program does not guarantee your success and going to a lesser-known program does not prevent it.  I graduated from a regional public university after transferring from community college and got accepted by a top PhD program with full funding.  It is possible.  Like SMG said above though, there are resources available at some programs that do make it "easier."  When I visited the department of the program I will be attending this fall, I observed that every graduate student I met there had done their undergraduate studies at Ivies or other top programs (like the University of Chicago) and some of them had earned master's degrees at those places before applying to this PhD program.  As an illustration of the point I am trying to make, when graduates there met me, they asked who my undergraduate advisor was.  They were all so accustomed to their peers having been advised by famous anthropologists as undergrads that they assumed that they would probably have heard of the person who advised me, as an admit to their program.  One of the greatest advantages of getting a bachelor's degree from a highly ranked institution is that there is a good chance that the faculty looking at your application at the graduate program you are applying to will likely know the people who wrote your letters of recommendation.  Everything else equal, people are going to be inclined towards a recommendation given by someone they know and trust....

 

With all of that having been said, as evidenced by people like myself and SMG and certainly others on these forums, it is possible to distinguish yourself as an undergraduate just about anywhere.  However, you might be forced to be more proactive at some places versus others.  When you get to the point where you are applying to graduate schools, you will need to have some body of evidence that you are a capable scholar and have the potential to do the level of work (particularly research) that is conducted in graduate school.  Though I did not go to a top-ranked program with famous advisors, the anthropology education I received was of good quality and I was fortunate to have advisors who cared and provided me with the resources I needed to stand out.  Thanks to my undergraduate advisors, I was able to apply to graduate schools with a well developed research project, a couple of conference papers, a minor publication, and the theoretical knowledge to write a good statement of purpose that explained why my contribution is important in the context of anthropology.  The cultural capital that facilitates those things is simply more abundant at the "big name" programs.  Depending on how supportive the faculty are at whatever program you attend, you might find yourself having to figure out how to do all of those things on your own.  You can do it but it is easier if you are being advised by someone who knows the system inside and out and whose signature on your letter of recommendation will ensure that it is read closely.  

 

One more thing: whereas having a good GPA and GRE scores is not the highest priority (the quality of your research and your "fit" to an institution is), you must make good grades and do as well on the GRE as possible because a low score can preclude funding even if the faculty at the program you are applying to like your research and believe you are a good fit.  Also, I am assuming that you know how mind-numbingly competitive that PhD programs are.  If you go through these forums, you will find countless very smart people who are good scholars and capable of doing academic research of the highest quality.  As I was told by a POI at a program I visited (that ended up turning me down) who expressed a lot of interest in my work, sometimes the admitting faculty have to practically look for excuses to turn some people down.  A department that is able to admit a maximum of 10 graduates might get 200 applications.  A majority of those will be fully qualified to do the work.  They will have to narrow them down a lot and might get down to about 20 candidates that they all think are great and would be more than happy to admit and work with.  At that point though, they have to find some reason to turn half of that group down.  You want to eliminate every possible deterrent on your application because at that point, the difference between who gets in and who doesn't can be almost arbitrary.           

[annwyn]

I come from a school that is barely ranked on a regional level, let alone a national level and I got accepted to some pretty high ranked PhD programs.  But I also got shut down at a couple of schools where my advisor warned me they won't take anybody from my school.  So, it doesn't necessarily matter.  Are you only comparing Penn State and Madison?  In that case, pick the one you like.  Work your ass off and it won't matter either way.  If your serious about the PhD, you'll be working your ass off anyway.  What SMG and Mountainroad have said is spot on.  If there is an advisor there that is well respected in the field you are most intersted in, that might help. 

Edited March 17, 2015 by annwyn

[Ajtz'ihb]

I did my undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania (a.k.a. Penn/UPenn, the ivy) and I'm currently in a Ph.D. program at Tulane, which has one of the best programs in the world for my area of study. The other students here come from a huge range of places: small liberal arts schools, including some I was unfamiliar with before I arrived; huge state universities (including Penn State); highly-ranked private schools like Vanderbilt; and international universities like UNAM, del Valle (Guatemala), and Montreal. I also know some students who were denied admission coming from highly-ranked schools.

 

About half the students here have masters' degrees from other universities (which is something I recommend doing only if you're still figuring out your own interests).

 

Based on my experience in this environment, I would say that your undergraduate school matters but not for the reasons you probably think.

 

Professors are not going to be impressed by the letterhead on your transcript, so don't start thinking about which program is more prestigious (frankly, you won't know much about what programs are good and not until you've finished your undergrad anyway). What matters instead is the connections you're able to make with serious scholars who can help direct you to good fieldwork or other research opportunities, and who can help connect you with graduate programs down the road. I was very lucky to make connections with scholars at Penn who were well-regarded in my area of study and who ( a ) wrote me strong letters of recommendation and ( b ) helped guide my research interests as they were developing. Those are the type of scholars you can find just about anywhere, not just the places you think are going to look prestigious.

 

So really try to investigate the people working at these universities, the resources they have available for student research, etc. That matters far more than the name.

 

And for what it's worth, Madison is a wonderful place to be a student and they have an excellent group of anthropologists in that department. I highly recommend it.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Ajtz'ihb

[jarklor05]

Thank you so much for these amazing responses. Nevertheless, I'm still worried about getting accepted into a phd program already.

So, I'm assuming anthropology phd programs look at the holistic picture. It's not just about gpa and test scores.

I still have some questions. Should I focus my research on one specific subfield of anthropology? Also I know that I haven't started college yet but is there anything you would recommend me doing to prepare myself for college level anthropology? My highschool had an anthropology course so I took that and I've been reading some books.

Edited March 18, 2015 by jarklor05

[annwyn]

In my opinion, at an undergrad level you should only worry about persuing the four field method.  Get a well balanced exposure to each subfield, most likely your program will require this anyway and you will get a chance to discover the subfield you love.  I took research positions in a variety of subfields, and that really helped me define which one I wanted to study.  Sometimes something is wildly different in practice than it is in the classroom.

As far as prepping for college anthro, I think you will be good to just prep for college.  You seem to be thinking pretty far ahead, so I probably won't offer much you don't already know.  Time management is key.  Course loads in college can be pretty different from even a rigorous high school program.  Make sure you give yourself the time outside of the classroom to study and do homework.  If you are concerned about what classes to take I would suggest taking a wide variety of classes (again, probably mandated by your university anyway).  They are all useful. 

 

I'll share a little story which I like to share with my incoming Freshmen classes.  I was a biochemistry major as an undergrad, and my course load was extremely heavy and didn't have much room for anything outside science and math.  My university had a set of General Education Requirements that were outside of my field, but I put them off because I wasn't interested, and was very focused getting my science classes in the correct order when they were offered.  I had 4 quarters left of my bio-chem degree when I took my first anthropology class.  It was heaven and I knew this is where I wanted to be.  I was able to switch majors and get done in that last year, but it was a mess and then I stayed on for an MA to get more experience in the field before seeking a PhD.  The point: take a wide variety of classes at the college level EARLY in your college career.  That way, if you find you really do just fall in love with something you didn't even know existed, you have time to explore it and develop it.

 

That's my two cents.   

[Ajtz'ihb]

I pretty much agree with annywn across the board. Your department will probably have you declare a subfield as your "concentration" but it's wise to get as strong a foundation in all of anthropology as you can early on. 

[SSCCATAGAPP]

I spoke with a professor who went to a top ten program (according to the NRC) for their Ph.D. and in the program there were only students from elite schools like the ivies and have read or learned how to read dense theoretical texts. Coming from a large state school, they felt unprepared and unwelcome in that environment. The kind of previous preparation is probably more important than name, but in socio-cultural, you might have to sit next to people who've read Foucault in undergraduate and places that teach that tend to be places that are also elitist. I know experiences can be specific to the individual, but academia is undoubtedly elitist. If you didn't get exposure to that previously, it might be hard. But content comes second to the tactics you learn - I'm privileged in that I'm coming from an undergrad that is reputably one of the hardest academically, and though I have not read much anthropology in terms of content, I have learned how to approach texts. If you're bright and motivated, you'll succeed regardless of where you go, but certain places prepare you for graduate school better than others.

 

That said, the schools you've listed are great schools and it depends on how you prepare yourself, so take challenging courses and courses you think would prepare you for whatever subfield in anthro you want to go into. Best of luck!