What colleges are the best for a career in forensic anthropology?

Question

What colleges are the best for a career in forensic anthropology?

Answer 1

I would like to know the answer as well. I am only 12 but I am confident that my career will be in Forensic Anthropology. It really interests me.

I have this University in mind.

University Of North Carolina At Wilmington.

Here is their Forensic Anthropology site

http://people.uncw.edu/albertm/

Hope that helps

Answer 2

The best program by far is the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  It is the ONLY place in the world that conducts forensic studies (decomp, PMI, entomological, etc.)  with human specimens...others normally utilize pigs.  They also hold one of the largest collections of skeletal material outside of a museum (namely the Smithsonian).

Additional schools can be found at:

http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/res...

Answer 3

VCU best program around!

www.vcu.edu

Answer 4

I hope you are prepared for a long journey in education.

I have a degree in Anthropology, my intent was to be a forensic anthropologist. Instead I'm a CSI.

#1 In order to get work as a Forensic Anthropologist, you will most likely need a BS, MS and PhD. That's a Bachelors of Science (or arts, depending on your Anthro base program), a Masters of Science (in either Anthro or anatomy) and a PhD. This means that you probably won't hit the job market until you are about 30 years old, and nearly $100,000 in debt.

#2 Most FA programs for masters and PhD work take 4 candidates a year. That means out of possibly 200 people that apply for spots in these programs, you have a 2% chance of getting in. You will have to have nearly straight As (I had straight As in Anthro), perfect refrences and awesome GRE (graduate requirement examination) scores in order to even get an interview. There are bigger programs, but the good ones are small (University of Indianapolis, UTenn Knoxville, UCali Chico).

#3 Once you get your education, you will need to find a job. This will probably be with a state agency, museum or federal agency (like the Army, who has a Forensic Anthro lab in Hawaii to ID soldier's remains). For the entire state of WI, we have 1 forensic anthropologist. Her actual job is with the historical society, to help ID remains which may belong to Indian tribes or when a skeleton is found to determine if it's historical, or modern. The crime stuff is a side gig.

I know that Bones makes it sound awesome. And the books do too. But it's a really really hard road to get down. It's long, and at the end it's not a career of glory.

Most of the FAs I know work 2 jobs (professor and consultant), their vacations are spent digging up mass graves, and most of them have little social life. They aren't paid spectacularly either.

If I could have afforded it I would still be in school working on my PhD, but the reality was that I am not independantly wealthy, I didn't qualify for much financial aide, and I needed to pay my bills and feed myself! Not a lot of people make it through the gauntlet, which is why there are less than 1,000 FAs in the world (last I saw, the # may have gone up).

I'm still holding out hope that I'll go back to school and get on my way towards FA.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone, but it seems like a great idea until you really start to look at the reality of it.

Answer 5

http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/res...

Answer 6

If you are speaking specifically forensic anthropology then you should do more research than just asking here. Unless a random Forensic Anthropologist decides to log into the site and answer this question most of the advice you get will probably be based off little more than personal preference or  cursory knowledge of the field. The American Anthropological Association usually keeps a current list of schools and their statistics. While most major universities will have a decent anthropology program graduate programs can vary and change with time. Name recognition is not the only thing to look for. Instead you need to have an idea of the current faculty, their interests, their reputation and work. These are the people that will be forming your view of the field and helping you gain a foothold in it. You should try contacting them personally and letting  them know you are thinking of applying (if you are very serious).

If your not quite ready to go into grad school then I would recommend any top 50 school with a substantial enough anthropology department to allow you a broad anthropological background. You can also make contacts that will help you get into the grad school of your choice (or that will fit you best). A minor in biology was also something my friend at Michigan found useful for his graduate experience.

Answer 7

University of Chicago, UIC, New York State,Harvard, Rutgers, Yale.