Biology majors going into Physical Anthropology Ph.D programs

[LongGraduatedStudent]

I'm an undergrad at Integrative Biology major at Berkeley. Most of the programs I am looking at are molecular anthropology labs in Anthropology departments (UPenn, Penn State, CUNY, NYU, UCDavis, UFlorida). Many of you already know, our Anthropology department is shit when it comes to physical anthropology (see http://www.dailycal....es_extinction) so thus I am a biology major.

Does anyone here know how difficult it would be for a biology major to get into a graduate program in an Anthropology department.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Deven

[thomez]

Read the link. That's really disappointing to read about the state of affairs there. I was looking into the joint program in Medical Anthropology (with UCSF), but I suppose that is a bad idea considering they do not have a single Biological Anthropologist at the moment. Yes, I know they teach Medical Anth as part of cultural, but get real, it is biology at its core.

To get to your question, I think an undergrad background in Biology will be perfectly suited to many modern BioAnth programs and it should be beneficial when applying to such.

[shaydlip]

I'm an undergrad at Integrative Biology major at Berkeley. Most of the programs I am looking at are molecular anthropology labs in Anthropology departments (UPenn, Penn State, CUNY, NYU, UCDavis, UFlorida). Many of you already know, our Anthropology department is shit when it comes to physical anthropology (see http://www.dailycal....es_extinction) so thus I am a biology major.

Does anyone here know how difficult it would be for a biology major to get into a graduate program in an Anthropology department.

This is done pretty frequently. Don't worry about it, but you might want to see if you can minor in anthropology.

It's more important that you get good recommendation letters from the physical anthropologists in integrative biology.

[LongGraduatedStudent]

This is done pretty frequently. Don't worry about it, but you might want to see if you can minor in anthropology.

It's more important that you get good recommendation letters from the physical anthropologists in integrative biology.

Due to the stupidity of the anthropology department's policies I don't have the time to minor. Human Paleontology and Human Osteology here are taught by Tim White in IB. His courses are cross-listed between IB and Anthro. I took both courses through IB. Because of that they will only apply credit for one of them towards the minor even though the class is identical regardless whether you register through IB or Anthro.

I recently "defected" from "pure" paleoanthropology to human population genetics after realizing that most of research on early human migrations is now done with genetics, so most of the professors I know most are paleontologists. I am going to be requesting Letters of Recs from Tim White (paleoanthropologist in IB) and Tony Barnosky (mammalian paleontologist in IB) for sure, and then either Leslea Hlusko (physical anthropologist in IB) or Charles Marshall (paleontologist) for the third one. I have been working in the Human Evolution Research Center led by Tim White for two years now and I know Prof. White pretty well, so I am hoping his rec will go far.

My top choice is UCLA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology under John Novembre, but all my secondary and tertiary choices are anthropology departments.

[shaydlip]

Due to the stupidity of the anthropology department's policies I don't have the time to minor. Human Paleontology and Human Osteology here are taught by Tim White in IB. His courses are cross-listed between IB and Anthro. I took both courses through IB. Because of that they will only apply credit for one of them towards the minor even though the class is identical regardless whether you register through IB or Anthro.

I recently "defected" from "pure" paleoanthropology to human population genetics after realizing that most of research on early human migrations is now done with genetics, so most of the professors I know most are paleontologists. I am going to be requesting Letters of Recs from Tim White (paleoanthropologist in IB) and Tony Barnosky (mammalian paleontologist in IB) for sure, and then either Leslea Hlusko (physical anthropologist in IB) or Charles Marshall (paleontologist) for the third one. I have been working in the Human Evolution Research Center led by Tim White for two years now and I know Prof. White pretty well, so I am hoping his rec will go far.

My top choice is UCLA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology under John Novembre, but all my secondary and tertiary choices are anthropology departments.

I would say definitely get one from Hlusko, particularly if you want to do genetics work. Although White is very famous and finds good fossils, he is not well-regarded by many physical anthropologists. In fact, after google-scholaring Hlusko, she should be your main target for a letter of recommendation. Does she not know you well?

[LongGraduatedStudent]

I would say definitely get one from Hlusko, particularly if you want to do genetics work. Although White is very famous and finds good fossils, he is not well-regarded by many physical anthropologists. In fact, after google-scholaring Hlusko, she should be your main target for a letter of recommendation. Does she not know you well?

Hlusko and White are married, so I would imagine how people view them would be rather linked. I will be going for a rec from White regardless, as while some people don't like him, his rec still holds a lot of weight.

I have never had a real class with Hlusko; she knows me because I took a freshman seminar with her and I've taken one of her graduate seminars (Primate Biology Group) a couple times (this seminar is just a seminar where you sit a listen to people present their research, no actual hw/tests/grades). Most of the departments I've looked at want recs from professors I have taken courses with or whose labs I've worked in. I don't know if seminars count for that.

Berkeley's population genetics programs have grown tremendously since my sophomore year, when I first took a genetics course (IB 162 Ecological Genetics); I think I know the professor of that class well enough to try to get a rec from her. I will be taking two more upper division genetics courses next semester IB 161 (Population and Evolutionary Genetics) and IB 163 (Molecular Evolution), so I can't ask the professors of those courses for recs.

Also does anyone have recommendations on how to email the professors whose labs I plan to apply for?

[anthropologygeek]

Just say hi my name is Jane doe I'm interested in ...... and have done .......... I'm interested in your research and was wondering if your taking any students this coming year