Looking for a Grad School?

Graduate school can be a big decision financially as well as the next step towards a career. As many of us know, it is getting harder and hard to find a job in a career that involves anthropology. If you are considering graduate school, you must be able to be prepared with everything that comes with it, financially and the work load. I have my own personal reasons for grad school, but an individual should be going to grad school because they want to not, as a need to. An individual should have an interest and a love for what they want to study and anthropology. (It should be for any graduate student for any field) It is rewarding to get through each graduate semester. It is important to work hard and not be lazy.

If you are looking into graduate schools, UWF has a great program for Anthropology. The program is divided into two focuses: General Anthropology that includes Biological and Cultural focuses and Historical Archaeology. Within the Historical Archaeology it includes Marine Archaeology. Here, the program is heavily archaeology based and there are very few cultural but that shouldn’t deter an individual. The program is looking to build especially in the biological and cultural subfields. And I do encourage looking into UWF as a possible graduate school. Being 30 minutes from a beach and living warm weather isn’t too bad either. The school provides some funding as well.

I am a Cultural track grad student, we are very few but that is what makes it excellent. I came from a small undergraduate university that allowed me to have a very close relationship with my professors as well as peers. And I feel like I can have that same experience here as well. I was looking for a graduate school that was small enough to be able to talk to a professor and be remembered than just a number. I was lucky enough to get that as an undergraduate and I still have a very close and good relationship with a professor of whom I was able to work with on a research project as a colleague than just a student. UWF is not only looking for cultural but those interested in biological anthropology as well (one of the subfields I had never experienced before). There are many archaeologist in the program with various interests and background, many of whom are doing research on marine archaeology in the Gulf. In a nutshell – the program is looking to grow and build, to reach out to anyone who is interested. I have also found that the professors here are also very open minded on many of the student’s thesis ideas.

As a general rule of thumb when looking into graduate schools, be sure to like the program. I have many fiends in various graduate schools across the US as well as around the world and are enjoying their experiences. (Boston, England, Georgia, etc) It is always enjoyable to talk and compare the classes that we are in and the projects/research we are doing at our institutions.

Being a grad student is tough, but in the end it is rewarding and well worth the hard work in the end. I have already had some possible  offers for when I am done with my degree.

If you are interested in the school, you can visit the UWF website or I will be happy to help in any way I can.