What would a physical anthropology major entail?

Question

Im planning on attending NYU this fall and I wanted to major in physical anthropology. What kind of classes will i be taking and whats the courseload like? I need advice from anyone who has gone down this path or anyone who knows anything about this major.

Answer 1

Really disagree with the chap above.

A BA is a great degree and so is a BS. Really just depends on your own interests, do whichever is best suited for you and you will receive a fine education.

In terms of your actual question, the first person pretty much had it-- lots of evolution classes, kinesiology, primate behavior, etc. And I don't know about NYU but my uni offers either a BA or a BS in phys. anthro-- for the BS you must take more science/math related courses.

Answer 2

At NYU you will probably have to take many general education course such as English, Math, Science, Humanities, etc.  However, concerning your major, you will probably major in anthropology with a focus in physical anthropology.  This means that you will more than likely take one or two classes in each sub-discipline.  Concerning physical anthropology possible course can include: an intro class (w/ a focus on human bio-cultural evolution; human adaptability, variation, and genetics; primatology & primate behavior), medical anth (look at the relationship of culture & biology in an ecological perspective),  human osteology and paleopathology (develop a basic familiarity with human skeletal remains, standard anatomical terminology, and methods and techniques of data collection), biological human reproduction (self explanatory), human variation.  Some of these classes might be difficult but would depend on how well you understand the material and how much you study.

Currently, I am in biological human reproduction and it is very interesting and not too difficult to understand.  However, I have had friends that have taken osteology and though they really enjoyed the class, they had to really focus on the class (if you like a hands on class, this would be it).  I hope that this helps.

Answer 3

For the physical anthropology major the basic types of classes you will take for the major will be things like human and primate evolution, human ecology, archaeological methods, various prehistory classes, and maybe some genetics. Oh, and fieldschool, that's fun!

Since I am getting a B.S. in anthropology I also have to take all the general math, biology, chemistry, and statistics classes. These aren't necessary for a B.A., but since i'm mostly interested in the biological side I felt that the B.S. would be more useful for me.

Answer 4

The guy above is right but it also depends on what type of physical anthropology you are interested in. If you want to be a primatologist you should take more classes related to primate evolution, morphology, ecology, etc. If you want to go into paleoanthropology then you'd want to take more classes related to human evolution, osteology, etc. And so on. In the first two years you'll have to take a lot of general classes and will be able to figure out what direction you want to go from there. However, if you want to go on to get a graduate degree, something you will have to do in order to be a physical anthropologist, then concentrate on your GPA, getting to know faculty in the department for references and doing a senior thesis. Good Luck.

Answer 5

Listen to that young lady above. A BS means you have an education, while a BA means you just are schooled. Of course, you do not have to stop at the BS degree.