High school student considering a career in Anthropology/Archaeology?

Question

I'm going to be a Junior in the fall and I wanted to spend a lot of my summer working on my future career. Figuring out what I want to do and what college to go to. I'm very interested in Anthropology and Archaeology. I would like to hear from people with that career. What got you interested in your career? What is a typical day like for you? What type of education/schooling would I need in college? What are some of the best colleges for Anthropology/Archaeology? Can Anthropology/Archaeology help in any other careers?

I live in Michigan right now, if that helps with anything. I'm not worried about going to college in a different state. Anywhere is fine with me. : )

Answers to any of these questions and/or any other information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

I'm an Archaeology major with a focus on Anthropology, and focus my research on Iron-Medieval Ages Eastern Europe.  Obscure enough?  Not really, since there are innumberable subdivisions of the discipline.  There aren't that many colleges and universities offering bachelor degrees in Archaeology in the U.S, most likely since most consider it to be a subset of Anthropology, along with Cultural, Biological, and Linguistic Anthropology.  You have a great school for these social sciences right in your home state of Michigan.  The most well known in the U.S. for these disciplines is the University of Chicago, but very difficult to get into.  The Ivys, of course, have good programs in each, and a few liberal arts colleges are noted for their programs in these disciplines, like Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr, and Dickinson.  If you decide to persue a career in these fields, it's a load of hard work with an additional 4+ years in grad school, grants to write for research, slim pickins in professor positions, and not the best paying jobs (professors make about $40,000 starting out, and after more than 10 years of tenure, maybe about $80,000), which is why I'm deciding to go to law school for Art Law (requisitions and illegal artifacts, stuff like that).  The Archaeology major at my school requires an eclectic blend of History, Art History, Anthropology, and Geology.  Nowadays, there are many specialities in the discipline, from soil specialist to ethnobotany.  There's a lot of science involved.  If you want to be a Cultural Anthropologist, like Bronislaw Malinowksi or Clifford Geertz, you want to pick an area to specialize in (likewise if you want to specialize in a cultural area in Archaeology, like Classical, Egyptology, Near Eastern, etc.).  An archaeologist usually does field work in the summer (or over some break period when it's not too hot), starting probably around 6 am to late afternoon, spending the remaining time in the lab and labelling artifacts (most of the time it's shards or just dirt).  It takes years to publish.  These majors, like any liberal arts degree, help with any career really.  They train you to think critically and analytically, useful for any job.  Most majors go onto law school or work in business.  An Anthro major at my school, to give you an example, now works high up in NBC.  Don't get to overzealous at planning your life.  I entered Julliard before realizing I wanted to change.  Have fun!