Educate me about Anthro please!

[blade123]

I'll start out by saying that I received my BA in Linguistics last December. I was never passionate about linguistics, but I did like it. I felt pressured into picking something and that I had no time to explore my options (I had completed all of my gen ed's during high school and I didn't see the purpose in spending money on something that did not pertain to my degree). One of my good friends who is pursuing her Ph.D. in classical archaeology took me to her dig site and opened my eyes to something that was awesome!

I have looked into grad school options pursuing archaeology and am figuring out that I do not have the educational background. Should I go back to undergrad to get a bachelor's in anthropology? Linguistics has gotten me no good job (go figure!) so I am simply flowing in the breeze.

I will gladly take any advice/suggestions/educating anyone has to offer!

[aetaival]

Were you looking at getting into anthropological archaeology or classical archaeology? Classical archaeology would require you to go back to school for a degree in classics (or at least that you take some classes in the classical languages). In order to get into classics graduate programs you need to have extensive knowledge of either latin or greek. Anthropological archaeology you probably wouldn't need further schooling, but you would need to get some experience in the field and make sure that your personal statement explains explicitly why you want to be in the field. If you have some extra money and just want to 'try out' archaeology, you should go to a field school (http://www.archaeological.org/fieldwork/afob has a listing of field schools). Or you could try to get a CRM job, though most of them require that you have done a field school first. www.archaeologyfieldwork.com and www.shovelbums.org are both good places to look for CRM jobs.

You should be absolutley sure that you want to go to graduate school for anthropology before you apply. It is extremely competitive to get in; most PhD programs accept one or two people each year out of 100-200 applicants. While you don't need a degree in anthro, you are going to have to make sure that the rest of your application is stellar to make sure that you stand out from the people who do have a degree in anthro. However, if you do decide that this is what you really want to do you should go for it!

[grinsngiggles]

Totally agree with Aetaival. Don't just get a degree in anthro, though, unless it's specifically an archaeology program. Archaeology programs place a high premium on field experience and are very competitive. If you just wanted to do cultural anthropology, you could totally make a case for switching from linguistics. Archaeology, however, requires some field knowledge.

You should also know that time for degree for archaeologists is very long as compared with other fields. They often have to return to their field sites multiple times and with visa problems, government actors, local activists and citizens with whom they may have to negotiate to get access to their sites, things can take a long time to even get rolling. Don't apply without knowing that it's what you want to do. Do a field school first. Go on digs if you can. if you go back and get another undergrad degree in arch, make sure the program has opportunities for you to join in digs over the summer and gain experience.

[tacoTimeScholar]

You should be absolutley sure that you want to go to graduate school for anthropology before you apply. It is extremely competitive to get in; most PhD programs accept one or two people each year out of 100-200 applicants.

False. Even at top tier schools that let 4-8 people in to cultural anthropology each year. At middle tier schools, particularly Master's programs, they might let in 10 out of 40-50 applicants. Lower tier schools acceptance rates can near 50%.

[anthropologygeek]

Taco time- I have never heard of this high of rate. At one of the schools I got into when applying for my phd they stated they whole anthropology department accepted 10% of people that applied. Also where I got my masters told everyone they accepted 5% of people. And my undergrad a diver said my undergrad accepts 5-10%. I've never heard of a 50% acceptance rate or I would of definitely applied to those places as safety schools. And I know a lot of people who would apply to there because they are having trouble getting in anywhere.