What is the best collage for anthropology? what classes should i take in high school? what can i do n 8th grd?

Question

i want to prepare myself for being an anthropologist but i'm not sure what to do, what classes to take in high school to better prepare myself, or what i can do in 8th grade since i can't choose my classes, or even what i can do during the summer. any ideas?

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of anthropology you want to go into eventually.  There are four categories within anthropology: Cultural Anthropology, Physical Anthropology, Primatology, and Linguistics.  Every college is different depending on who they have teaching there.  I chose to go into forensic anthropology (which is under physical anthro) and so I went to one of the few schools in the country where you can get a Master's in this, but you'll need to figure out what specific area you want to go in first before deciding on a college.  Once you figure that out, do some research into Anthro departments and send some e-mails, I'm sure some of the professors would be happy to help.

When I was in high school there weren't a whole lot of classes that focused on anthropology directly, but there were some that eventually helped.  For example, in anthropology you have to know the human skeleton.  Taking anatomy and physiology put me ahead because I knew the skeleton before taking basic physical anthropology.  To be honest, watching a lot of Discovery channel about other cultures or archaeology does help to give you a good idea about what we do.  Also, go read some articles that are on-line, they're usually pretty interesting.  Hope this helps you a little bit.