Academic Help

I know this doesn't exactly belong here, but I feel as though i've been a member long enough to understand the rules, and thus I must have a reason for putting it here.

My reason to put it here is because I know a lot of people who post on the forum are very knowledgeable in the area.

Anyway, right now I am double majoring in journalism and anthropology. However, i've recently been thinking about dropping journalism and going to grad school for anthropology to become a professor. Im only a sophomore in college, so i still have time to look for grad schools

But one of my friends was telling me that i should just stay with journalism as a second major, in case anything happens where i cant go to grad school, ill at least have a journalism degree to fall back on, because a 4 year degree in anthro is basically useless, you can basically only use it to go to grad school.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.

A BA in Anthropology does limit your options, oftentimes restricting you to entry-level positions, whereas a Masters or PhD would open many more doors.

However, even with just a BA in Anthropology there are plenty of jobs to be had, although not readily apparent to most, but it rather depends on what type of Anthropology you specialize in.

Cultural anthropologists are equipped to work in public relations and advertising positions in the Business World. In the Academic World, cultural anthropologists can work as museum educators. Cultural anthropologists with an emphasis on medical anthropology also find jobs in community health.

Physical anthropologists can also find work in museums in the same capacity that cultural anthropologists do. Those specializing in primatology can work in zoos as educators and zookeepers. Physical anthropologists that specialize in human biology and anatomy may pursue work in forensics. Forensic anthropologists work with law enforcement, usually to help interpret evidence found in human remains. Physical anthropologists who dedicated much of their education to laboratory-oriented classes can work as lab assistants and researchers for both public and private biological research facilities.

Archaeologists with a BA in anthropology can do work called 'contract archaeology'. This means that they are called upon to investigate sites that are usually about to undergo some construction work. Contract archaeologists quickly go in and make sure the construction of a new building will not destroy an archaeological site that may be hidden under the surface. Archaeologists also may use the education in geology and earth science to work for government natural resource and ecology departments. Archaeologists sometimes work with museums, both pubic and private. The majority of their time is not typically spent in the field. Instead, BA archaeologists working for a museum generally work at sorting, cataloging, and storing huge collections of artifacts.

Linguistical Anthropologists are often multi-lingual and find work as interpreters. With a BA they may find work in international sales, public service, law enforcement, or any of the several fields that are experiencing a growing need for bilingual employees.

However, a dual major of Journalism with your Anthropology degree does open a lot of other opportunities in the publishing world. It isn't that much more work to get two BAs if you plan your course-load carefully.

I never finished my undergrad studies in Anthropology, although I was already well underway preparing for Graduate School, specializing in Paleography, Papyrology and Egyptology. However, the requirement for working in Egypt, needing fluency in German, French, and Arabic in addition to Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic and Coptic was becoming a burdensome barrier.

Note though that in Anthropology especially, Specialization does back yourself into a corner. My Specialization limited my selection of Grad Schools to only three world-wide, and limited my choice and chances for employment after Grad School dramatically.

Still 62% of people with a BA in Anthropology find themselves working outside their field. Although this has more to do with more job opportunities with better pay in other fields outside of Anthropology which is one of the most underpaid of the White Collar fields. Almost half of Anthropology BAs go on to Grad School for the sole reason of getting a higher paid position in their field rather than work outside their field for that same higher pay.

[edit on 3-11-2009 by fraterormus]

reply to post by Schmidt1989

Anyway, right now I am double majoring in journalism and anthropology. However, i've recently been thinking about dropping journalism and going to grad school for anthropology to become a professor.

The best advice I can give is to do what you really WANT to do.
I spent almost a quarter century in the Business world working for a large corporation, then almost 10 years running my own Consulting corp, and finally ended up doing what I REALLY wanted to do all along, being a Professor.
I have to say that those years as a Professor were the most rewarding, even though I made much more money running my own business.
The one thing I caution you about, concerning Academia, is the politics, and the fact that you will most certainly butt heads with colleagues as a Professor.
If you can ignore the politics, and cut-throat tactics, and become the best Professor to your students, you will not only survive, but find self-gratification.
If you want further info. U2U me, and I'll be glad to discuss this further.

My $.02 on this: keep going with both. That will not preclude you from a graduate degree in anthropology if you choose that down the road. The skills you'll learn as a journalist will help your academic pursuits tremendously. Journalism teaches the value of critical thinking and empirical research. It teaches self-sufficiency and the willingness to question what you're being told. It teaches you how to tell when you're being lied to and how to go about discovering truth.

Unfortunately, journalism as a career is becoming less viable every day. I have a BA in journalism. I've been a reporter, copy-editor, page designer and freelancer. I've worked for some very prestigious media organizations, and I've run a weekly paper with a circulation of 1500. And now I'm a bartender. Professional journalists are rapidly being replaced by hacks and pyjama-clad opinionators on the intarweeb. Newspapers are folding and there are about 20,000 our of work reporters in the US right now.

So to sum up: study journalism, but get on that tenure track, my friend. Good luck in your studies.

Follow your bliss. I'll agree with the member directly above about journalism being less and less viable as a fall-back option. At the end of the day though, you'll be much happier working towards something you really want to do regardless of the job prospects.

A Bachelor's Degree will open many doors, and sometimes in totally unrelated fields. If you work hard and apply yourself, get a solid GPA, you'll be much better off in the long run than in pursuing something you feel lukewarm about, just for the job prospects.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much for your insight. From what i've gathered from here and on another forum, I guess sticking with the double major might be the way to go, even though the market is failing.

The thing I have against this is, for one, I need to stay an undergrad for an extra year, but maybe thats not a bad thing. The second thing is if I were to drop journalism, writing would become my minor, as I do enjoy writing.

Further thoughts?

From what I've read on your "tattoo" thread of your perspectives in regard to "modern" humans versus the "ancient", I can appreciate why you wish to pursue anthropology. It seems to me that this is where your heart is, so to speak. But still, it will not do you any harm to have journalism among your set of recognized skills; it will be invaluable for writing up any research projects you undertake and should also improve your chances of getting your work published by peer-review journals.

Therefore I can only suggest what some others have, namely that you soldier on with your double major. Granted, it does mean an extra year, but when you look back on your undergraduate days you will not begrudge yourself that additional time. I returned to college when I was 28 to do another two years and improve my qualifications. It was easier in some ways, because a few years of working experience adds something to our perspective and aids our focus on achieving our goals, but on the other hand it was harder to undertake the study while I also had to be entirely self-supporting. Ultimately though it was well worth the effort.

Whatever your ultimate decision may be I wish you well with it. The fact that you have taken the time to seek opinions indicates that you understand how vital such decisions can be to a person's future. I mean no condescension when I say that quality seems to be quite rare among very young people, but you have it and I applaud you for your insightful approach.

Mike

If it were me I'd keep doing both....
with a journalism add on you might be prime to do press releases and give briefs on department updates and discoveries... something that might just give you an edge over other grad school candidates... remember we live in a publish or perish environment and being able to offer help with that can be very attractive to a department head/ Dean

reply to post by Schmidt1989


I wouldn't recommend dropping out of anything to anyone, but I will say this: you CAN become a journalist - even a first-class one - without a degree in journalism.

reply to post by Schmidt1989
A star and a flag to you, simply to offer encouragement. And ditto to the comments about contract archaeology. As long as the development industry is charging ahead, there is work in that field...academe is a tougher environment. But as one poster said...follow your bliss.

Thank to all who have recently posted. Since I first posted this, I decided that two degrees is going to look pretty good to get into grad school. There are only 3 grad schools in my state, Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, and Pitt. U of Penn is way out of the question because it is an amazing research school and crazy expensive. I live very close to Pitt, so hopefully that can work for me. Penn State can always be an option, although it is about 5 hours away. However, i would really like to look into grad schools over seas. Im both an American and British citizen, so hopefully I can go somewhere awesome in the world. Any thoughts?

When I was an undergraduate I had three majors. All three were unrelated, all three I could be successful at and all three rewarding to me intellectually. Stick with both majors, if only for personal accomplishment, then do whatever you like and will give you a job. I ended up with 8 degrees total, and it doesn't take that long if your talented and want maximum earning potential. Good luck.

reply to post by Ruggeder


I agree.

But tell me, is it just me who finds it somewhat ominous that a thread about "Academic help" is filed under - Ancient & Lost Civilizations...?

reply to post by Ethereal Gargoyle


It was posted here because of the fact that I want to go into anthropology, and this is where the anthropologists of the site are at. It would've made less sense to post it under Space Exploration.

reply to post by Schmidt1989


I know.
I was joking. Or more precisely, I found the juxtaposition of those two categories very comical indeed.
I still do.