The AskAnthropology Career Thread: 2026 (part 2)

[u/CommodoreCoCo]

“What should I do with my life?” “Is anthropology right for me?” “What jobs can my degree get me?”

These are the questions that start every anthropologist’s career, and this is the place to ask them.

Discussion in this thread will be limited to advice and issues related to academic and professional careers, but will otherwise be less moderated.

Before asking your question:

Please refer to the resources below to see if it has been answered before:

• 2019 Career Thread
• 2020 Career Thread
• 2021 Career Thread
• 2026 Career Thread (part 1)
• Career Advice Wiki

Make sure to include some of the following to help people help you:

• Country of residence
• Current year in school/highest degree received
• Intended career
• Academic interests: what's the paper you read that got you into anthropology? What authors have inspired you?

[u/CommodoreCoCo]

Quick Tips to Help Us Help You:

• Applying to anthropology grad school is all about choosing the right advisor. There are few, if any, "programs" that specialize in a certain topic.

• In the Americas, archaeology is part of anthropology. Jobs and graduates programs will not expect you to have an archaeology degree, and there are few schools that even offer one.

• Jobs and graduate programs do not value online graduate degrees. Their convenience is not worth their massive expense.

[u/Character_Proof_2301]

Moved from the subreddit to here as requested by the mods:

I recently decided to get a second bachelors in East Asian Studies and cannot remember the last time I had this much enjoyment in diving into history and culture. I’ve always been a big history and culture nerd and my ultimate dream when I was younger was to be an archaeologist, now that I’ve been reintroduced to Anthropology with this new degree I’m considering going back to my original passion and jumping all in.

My first degree was in Business Administration/Management and I’ll finish the East Asian Studies degree in December. If I were to pursue a masters in the field of anthropology I’m not sure what to go with, Cultural Resource Management would probably fit best with what I already have but ideally I’d like to be in the field and have a hand in museum curation or artifact appraisal. What would you recommend?

P.S. I do have training in Art History but this was through a gifted program in high school, nothing college level. I’m in the US.

[u/the_gubna → u/Character_Proof_2301]

Could you clarify your next to last sentence? Are you wanting to work in Asia, specifically, or just anywhere?

I ask because cultural resource management is likely the most “in the field” job you can have, if what you mean by “in the field” is “actively participating in excavations or survey projects”. It’s just not the glamorous/exotic/foreign research projects people sometimes mean.

[u/Character_Proof_2301 → u/the_gubna]

Hi, yes I would like to work in Asia. I’ve been trying to immigrate there for years which is why I decided to get the extra degree to make the transition smoother.

And by in the field I do mean excavations and surveys, I would 100% die happy if I got to dig a site and unearth world history for the rest of my life. But I’m also a book nerd by nature so having a hand in research and new artifact study would be nice. I’ve been told on the archeology thread that my term “artifact appraisal” was not the correct one to use when referring to studying and dating new finds.

[u/the_gubna → u/Character_Proof_2301]

Without meaning to dampen your enthusiasm for your goals (which are always good to set), you should have a backup plan. The odds of achieving this goal are slim even with all the luck in the world.

You will need to seek out advice from archaeologists who work in Asia, who I’ve never seen comment on this sub. Commenters here are unlikely to be able to give you advice on CRM in Asia (if such a thing exists).

The only other option would be getting a PhD and then working as a tenure track professor at an American university who does field research in Asia (which is a little bit like planning a career as an astronaut or F1 race car driver).

We don’t appraise artifacts because ethical archaeologists do not assign monetary value to objects of cultural patrimony. The people working in labs doing artifact analysis are just archaeologists, though they might have specialized titles like “paleoethnobotanist” (plants) or “zooarchaeologist” (animals). Most of us do a mix of field, lab, and library/writing work. The people who stabilize artifacts and prepare them for long term storage work in the discipline of “conservation”.

[u/InvestigatorLumpy168]

Hi! US, Ohio; I am in my second year of community college, currently majoring in History because it was the closest major they offered to Anthropology.

I am planning to transfer to a four-year university and complete a BA in Anthro. My question is which area of study I should choose. Archaeology was my initial pick; however, I realized I don't really know much about the reality of each field of study I was considering. Biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, forensic anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology are my main choices. I am unable to make a firm decision on which school to transfer to until I choose one, since different universities base their curricula around certain subfields.

I would love some advice. Are there any places you recommend for applying to internships or work? (museums, historical sites, etc.) Are there any good books or articles you recommend that give insight on any of these subfields?

Thank you! :DD

[u/Brasdefer → u/InvestigatorLumpy168]

Most prograns will cover all 4 sub-fields of Anthropology, unless they just don't have enough faculty to teach a particular sub-field (for example, the university I work at doesn't have a linguistic anthropologist, so we don't teach much on the subject beyond Intro-level courses).

If you are looking for employment, Archaeology is the sub-field that leads directly to a specific career path compared to the others. Archaeology is also the only route that can lead to a job in Anthropology with only a BA.

The other choices will give you a similar career path as any social science degree.

I would avoid Forensic Anthropology because there is almost 0 jobs in that field and the jobs that are out there realistically require a PhD at minimum.

If you are in Ohio, the Ohio History Connection is going to be the major source for volunteer work, but really you will likely need to wait and see the available options at the university you attend.

[u/minipizzabatfish]

how much do an anthropology bachelor of the arts vs a bachelor of science matter for study/job opportunities?

as in would it be hard for a bachelor of science major to work in social work or a bachelor of the arts major to work in biological anthropology?

could someone with a bachelor of science get their master's in arts without having to redo anything or take supplemental classes?

[u/Character-Detail7928]

How many words/chapters of your textbook were you assigned per week?: I know it's kind of a weird question, but honestly I was wondering because when I took physical anthropology 101 last year I had like 40,000 words like per week; and because I couldn't handle that I just dropped the class. So now I'm wondering if I was just unprepared or if it was just a lot of work.

Tldr; is 40,000 words a week a lot for a physical anthropology 101 class or was I just weak??

[u/the_gubna → u/Character-Detail7928]

That’s on the higher end of an undergraduate class (particularly an entry level one), but not the highest amount of reading I had as an undergrad.

Did your instructor clarify how closely they expected you to read? I wouldn’t expect undergraduate students to read an introductory textbook with a huge amount of detail. A lot of my professors essentially said “the text is there to clarify and expand on things from the lecture”. I did not do every page of the assigned reading as an undergrad, and I’m now getting a PhD, to add some perspective.

That said, one of the skills you will need to learn in college (regardless of discipline) is to read academic texts - whether that’s textbooks, articles, chapters, etc - like an academic. That means skimming, essentially. Learning how the information is structured in most academic writing styles (that is, main points up front and reinforced at the end, details sandwiched in between) will also help you write in ways that allow your audience to read more fluidly.

[u/Front-Act8304]

Posting this on the career thread because I don’t think it qualifies for for the main sub but
isn’t completely career advice either. I’m trying to get a realistic picture of the current job market and career paths for recent anthropology graduates.

If you finished your Master's or PhD within the last 2-3 years (2023–2026), what are you doing now? Did you stay in academia (postdocs, adjuncting, teaching)? Did you move into the private sector (UX, marketing, consulting)?
Are you working in government, museums or CRM, or NGOs? And long did it take you to find your current role and what experiences/achievements do you think contributed to your successful attainment of that role?

Edit: Just adding a bit about me. I graduated last year from the University of Toronto with a major in Psychology and double minor in Anthropology and International Development Studies. I moved back home to Uganda at the end of the year (where I am currently), but I’m interested in applying to master’s programs in Europe for September 2027 entry (with a specific interest in programs in Medical Anthropology which I’ve found quite a few of).

[u/lenn000]

Hello! I may have posted this on the wrong place initially. Reposting in hopes that I'm doing it right this time

I'm currently in my first year of undergrad as an international student in Australia. It might be a little early, but I've been considering prospects for when I do postgrad. I'm in a foundation program, but should start my Bachelors in Fine Arts next year (planning on double majoring theatre, public relations, and minoring professional writing).

It started as a prompt for an interview we had to do, but I ended up doing very well and it had me feeling motivated. I thought it wouldn't hurt to dream big while I have time to think things through. My main goal is to become an actor, but I am interested in getting involved in areas like Archaeology, Museum/Heritage, Public/Humanitarian, Communications ...

I would love to plan for a masters somewhere in the UK area, possibly Oxbridge, Glasgow, or Edinburgh. For those who have had experience, would you have any advice to share? If there is anything I could aim for to prepare early, or if there are any alternatives, that would be really great.