Anthropological Education
Interested in majoring in anthropology? We are here to help you!
In the United States, many colleges offer a general four-field anthropology bachelor’s degree. This degree will expose students to each of the four subfields: linguistics, cultural, biological, and archaeological anthropology. While it is less common, there are programs that do offer specific undergraduate degrees in a subfield.
Anthropological training concentrates on three broadly transferable skill areas: understanding human diversity, building research skills for collecting and making sense of information, and communicating effectively.
Looking for an Anthropology Program that offers BA/BS, MA/MS, PhD, and certificates? Search the database of AnthroGuide institutions by location, highest degree offered, degree type, online classes, anthropology clubs, or faculty/staff expertise.
Mentorship Opportunities
Mentorship can help early career professionals build their network, define their professional goals, and gain needed support to navigate the job market.
The Ina Rosenthal-Urey Mentorship Award pairs undergraduate anthropology majors with mentors from both academia and practice, who will support them in learning about their educational and career options after graduation. Mentees also receive a $500 award and complimentary AAA membership. Applications are due each spring.
AAA sections also provide mentorship opportunities. Please check out AAA section websites to learn more about Annual Meeting and year-round mentorship opportunities.
Three-minute Thesis Competition
Thanks to a generous sponsorship from the National Institute of Social Sciences, we are able to offer prizes for a juried competition in which graduate students who have completed (or expect to complete) their Master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation in the 2024-25 academic year will be given a chance to summarize their project in three minutes.
Last year, the grand prize ($400) went to Jessi Robbins for “Doin’ Time: Entertainment and Exploitation at Decommissioned Prison Museums in the United States.” First runner up ($200) went to Yeon-ju Bae for “Better life, better nature: The politics of ethical interaction in a Korean Buddhist return-to-the-farm village.” The second runner up ($100) went to Anita Zandstra for “Identity and alterity in a comedy series from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, during the presidency of Evo Morales.”
Learn more about the Three-minute Thesis Competition
AAA Resources
External Resources
- Versatile PhD – Versatile PhD’s mission is to help graduate students identify and prepare for possible non-academic careers. We want them to be informed about academic employment realities, educated about non-academic career options, and supported towards a wide range of careers, so that in the end, they have choices.
- Anthropology Career Readiness Network – The Anthropology Career Readiness Network website provides resources for anthropology students, graduates, and instructors. Resources include job seeker tools and exercises and a Speakers Bureau, which allows you to browse the profiles of anthropologists working in industry, nonprofits, and government roles.
- Lambda Alpha National Anthropology Honor Society
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Career Outlook
- Employment Opportunities for Undergraduate Anthropology Majors – Graphs illustrating the occupation of anthropology graduates who responded to the US Census 2015 American Community Survey.