Anthropology

Mar 13, 2008 21:23

I’m currently a psychology major with a year left. I changed my major many times on my way their, but am luckily only graduating a year behind where I should have. At the beginning of last semester I was introduced to anthropology and absolutely fell in love. But I knew it was too late to change majors or transfer to another school. And I actually ( Read more... )

anthropology

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Comments 58

couture_beauty March 14 2008, 04:19:50 UTC
what specific area are you interested in? If you can narrow down your interest a bit more perhaps there's a professor you can find who would let you do an individual project more on the antrho side of things. My school has an awesome soc/psych field and I've had so many awesome profs let me work with them. Funnily enough, although most psych people don't see the benefit of sociology I've found that most sociology people appreciate a strong background in psychology.
Taking this small piece of experience tells me perhaps schools would be receptive if you could do some research associated with your desired area of study. Really a social psych professor with the right interest should really be able to help you. Talk to an advisor, get as many opinions as you can on it and get the ball rolling now, you have plenty of time to make it work! :)

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 04:23:04 UTC
I'm interested in sociocultural anthropology specificly in East Asia. I have a list of things I want to study in that area, that I still need to narrow down.

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couture_beauty March 14 2008, 04:26:53 UTC
Can you do something with someone in a history department? I have a friend who is an anthro person and he takes classes in all different areas (history, soc, psych) so it seems somewhat feasible.
I can't say I'm 100% familiar but in my experience if you find a really good professor, with somewhat similar interests (your advisor could probably help with this), they will let you do your own thing and your own research. Under their supervision you could even still write a thesis with a full year left. I would for sure look into doing something like that, it will show you took the initiative to follow your interest even though your school doesn't have a specific major for it etc.

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 04:35:26 UTC
I'd love to take more history classes, but the department here focuses mostly on the US and Europe and my area of interest is East Asia. I believe that there are one or two courses listed in the catalog that are in that area, but I've never seen them offered.

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roseofjuly March 14 2008, 04:22:39 UTC
First of all, I'm not sure how a college can have a minor in sociology/anthropology without actually offering any classes in the field. What qualifies you for a minor? Is it considered interdisciplinary?

You will be at a certain disadvantage applying for anthropology programs without any coursework in anthropology. I believe that universities reserve those statements (classes can be taken to make up for the material) for really outstanding candidates with brilliant applications who are very strong in related areas and possibly have fieldwork experience in those areas. If you're not that kind of candidate, do know that you're going to be competing with other average and above-average applicants who were anthro majors or the equivalent.

Possibly you should take some time off and take some anthropology courses in the meantime to bulk up your transcript.

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 04:26:05 UTC
The info on the minor can be found here http://registrar.mst.edu/documents/catalog_ugrd_07-08_programs_N_Z.pdf Just scroll down to sociology/anthropology. All the classes I'm taking will be transfered in, and I made sure that they would all be equvivalent.

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cork118 March 14 2008, 04:32:10 UTC
Ooh, "Psychology of the Exceptional Child" sounds awesome....

Heh, ignore me. :)

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 04:37:16 UTC
I laughed when I saw that the first time. That's more of a crossover with the Education department.

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whichwaytowhere March 14 2008, 04:24:28 UTC
Anyone else out there applying to Anthro programs? If so which ones?

It is great to finally see someone who is talking about anthropology programs. Although, I do wonder how you can be set on doing a PhD in a field you have never taken a class in. Maybe you picked up enough familiarity of the history, theory, methods, and current work from books though. Anthropology classes are super fun and can be challenging if you put the work into it. I really recommend taking some classes before applying.

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 23:24:18 UTC
There are a lot of master/PhD programs out there that don't require a bachelor's degree in the same subject. Some it's very obvious that one is needed though. And I have taken one anthropology class and a few sociology classes that cover pretty much the same thing from what I've read.

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lyricon March 14 2008, 11:53:39 UTC
Of course funding is an issue, but location doesn't necessarily need to be if you're interested in taking some anthropology courses. I'm a non-traditional student and finished up most of my education through online courses, and it's been (in general) a good learning experience and very convenient. One of the schools that took some classes from has a really good anthropology program and offers dozens of online classes (http://www.eou.edu/dde/). They're also a lot cheaper than many of the schools I've looked at, so taking a few anthropology classes through them might be financially feasible as well.

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 23:25:18 UTC
Oh wow thanks for that link, I searched forever trying to find distance programs with anthropology, but didn't really have any luck. I'll definately be taking some classes there.

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green273 March 14 2008, 14:51:19 UTC
I applied to anthro programs this year and got in though my background was in an area language. My sense is that the programs really like to see people who have a clear research direction and a clear idea of what they are doing in anthro. Living for a couple or a few years in Asia in the places you want to study would be a huge asset. I would advise taking time out for these reasons.

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heeroluva March 14 2008, 23:26:58 UTC
Well foreign language is needed for most anthropology programs, so it makes since that they'd accept that. And I do have a pretty good idea what I want to do research.

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