Admission to the Master of Arts in Anthropology program

Deadline

The deadline for applications is February 15 each year for fall semester admissions.

Apply

To be admitted to the anthropology graduate program, you must apply to both the Graduate College and the Anthropology Department. 

Applying to the Graduate College and the Anthropology Department

To apply, complete the online application, and upload the electronic copies of the following materials to the application.  Detailed instructions are included in the online application.  Materials include:

• a one- to two-page letter of personal introduction outlining:
  • your professional goals
  • academic focus
  • any other relevant information
   
• a resume or CV, including:
  • specialized coursework
  • major class papers
  • publications
  • professional presentations
  • employment experience
   
• two letters of recommendation written and sent by academic or professional references

Regular or provisional status

Regular status

In order to be admitted as regular status, you must have:

• an overall GPA of at least 3.0
• a GPA of at least 3.0 in all anthropology courses taken, with no grade below a C
• 12 hours of anthropology courses, including at least:
• 1 archaeology course
• 1 cultural anthropology course
• 1 linguistic anthropology course
• 1 physical anthropology course
• 1 course in statistics

Note: If you are an archaeology student, you must also have passed an acceptable field school before we can assign you to graduate regular status.

Provisional status

If you do not meet all of the above requirements, we may admit you in graduate provisional standing.  You must fulfill all of your deficiencies before we can admit you in regular status. 

If you have a GPA between 2.75 and 3.0, you may also be admitted in graduate provisional standing.  Normally, you can apply no more than 12 hours of graduate credit earned while in graduate provisional status toward a graduate degree.

Deficiencies

Students who are missing a course in one of the four anthropological sub-fields or a statistics course are often admitted to the program.  These courses can be taken once admitted to the university either at the graduate or undergraduate level. 

We recommend enrolling in a graduate-level course to fulfill elective credits while making up for the deficiency if you are missing a requirement in:

• archaeology
• cultural anthropology
• linguistic anthropology
• physical anthropology