Anthropology Graduate Admission
Completed Application Deadline date: January 10th
The Anthropology Department at Syracuse University encourages
students from various backgrounds to seek admittance. In addition to
students with undergraduate or master's degrees in Anthropology, our
current graduate students have backgrounds in public
health, English, history, psychology, journalism, biology, and
zoology. Recent graduates had majors in economics, law, and Spanish
literature. We feel that the breadth of anthropology as a discipline is
enriched by the skills and knowledge of various
other disciplines.
The department of anthropology admits applicants for graduate study at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. Ensure that you check the proper box on your application. In addition, note that the department does not ordinarily provide financial assistance for those pursuing the M.A. degree.
Criteria:
Admission and aid are decided by an examination of previous transcripts, references, GRE scores (strongly recommended by the Department, required for nomination for a University Fellowship), and statements of interest. Applicants should not feel bound by the page limit implied in the graduate school application for the statement of interest. Write a careful, thoughtful statement showing how anthropology at Syracuse relates to your goals and interests. When possible, a sample of recent work (a term paper, chapter of an M.A. or honors thesis, book review, etc.) should be included with your application. Visits to campus and personal interviews by applicants are welcome.
Concurrent Degrees:
Many students choose to obtain a second graduate degree while at Syracuse. Currently two students are completing Master's in Public Administration in conjunction with their Ph.D.s in Applied/Development Anthropology. Twenty percent of the coursework for a Ph.D. in Anthropology can be applied towards the credit requirements of a second degree.
Tuition:
In 2021-22, fees for graduate students are set at $1,734. per credit hour. The amount of time it takes to complete a degree is on average, 1 1/2 years for a MA (which requires 30 credit hours), six years for the Ph.D. (72 credit hours). Health fees are $391. per semester. The Student Activity Fee is $100. per semester.
Financial Assistance:
The Claudia DeLys Scholarship in Cultural Anthropology is an endowed
fund that provides support for field research leading to the Ph.D.
degree, dissertation writing and pre-dissertation field work. Two or
three awards are made annually.
The
university offers 9-month teaching assistantships; for the 2021-22
academic year, they are valued at $11,000. per semester plus tuition;
there are also occasionally full-tuition scholarships available for
qualified MA and Ph.D. students. Most students
currently enrolled in the graduate program in the Department of
Anthropology have received full or partial funding. The maximum duration
of teaching assistantships is 2 years for MA students and four years
for Ph.D. students. Eligibility for retaining
assistantships is found under criteria for satisfactory progress in
the Department's Guide to Graduate Studies. Students with teaching
assistantships are expected to work twenty hours per week during the
academic year. Duties usually involve teaching
discussion sections and marking essays, assignments, and
examinations in lower division undergraduate courses.
Outstanding
students are eligible for University Fellowships and the Maxwell Dean's
Summer Assistantship. The University Fellowship
in 2021-22 carries a stipend of $25,290., plus tuition. In 2021, the
Maxwell Dean’s Summer Assistantship carried a cash award of $4,666.
U.S. citizens interested in studying South Asia are eligible for
National Resource Fellowships through the SU
South Asia Center. In 2021-22, South Asia fellowships are expected
to provide a stipend of approximately $15,000, plus tuition for 24
credit hours. Fellowships to study language in South Asia during the
summers are also available through the South
Asia Center.
Advanced students, especially those who have
completed their doctoral fieldwork, are eligible for other teaching
opportunities. Many teach their own courses at University College – for
example, ANT 111 Introduction to Cultural
Anthropology, ANT 121 Peoples and Cultures of the World, ANT 373
Magic and Religion, ANT 376 Folklore, and ANT 320 Women and Culture. In
Maxwell, such students are also eligible to compete for the teaching
assistantship slots in two gateway courses
for freshmen: MAX 123 Critical Issues for US and MAX 132, Global
Community. Moreover, participation in the Future Professoriate Program
means additional money from The Graduate School. International students
are also eligible for all of these funding
opportunities.
In addition, other kinds of monies are available. There are
competitions for research grants: for summer money from The Graduate
School, and from the Maxwell School through the Roscoe-Martin fund. In
the last few years, several graduate
students in Anthropology have won these grants each year, enabling
them to do summer field work abroad and domestically.
We
encourage our graduate students to compete for external awards,
primarily for their Ph.D. fieldwork. In recent years,
Syracuse graduate students in Anthropology have been highly
successful in these competitions, receiving awards from Fulbright,
Wenner-Gren, NSF, Rockefeller, and the American Institute of Indian
Studies.
Our policy on student loans is that
students must show progress on a yearly basis for the Department to support repayment deferral.
Application Procedures & Deadlines:
Apply Online
This is the preferred method of application for graduate study at Syracuse University. Online applications can be processed faster and more efficiently than those filed on paper. https://www.syracuse.edu/admissions/graduate/apply/.
All application materials should be sent to Graduate Admissions:
Enrollment Management Processing Center
Syracuse University
Graduate Admissions Processing
P.O. Box 35060
Syracuse, New York 13235-5060
If you are sending materials using a package delivery company (i.e. FedEx, UPS, DHL), use the following address:
Enrollment Management Processing Center
Syracuse University
Graduate Admissions Processing
716 E. Washington St., Suite 200
Syracuse New York 13210-1572
Correspondence concerning funding should be addressed to:
Professor Robert Rubinstein
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Anthropology
Syracuse University
209 Maxwell Hall
Syracuse, NY 13244-1090
(315) 443-3837 (tel)
mailto: rar@syr.edu
Completed applications for the Ph.D. program must be accompanied
by official transcripts, three letters of reference, a statement of
interest and a representative sample of recent work.
Students applying for graduate awards are urged to submit complete admission applications as early as possible. Applications
received complete can be processed many times faster than those received in separate mailings. Students must have their complete admission applications to the Graduate Enrollment Management Center no
later than January 10th.
While, under some circumstances, applications may be considered after
this deadline, all funds for student financial assistance may already
have been allocated. Offers
of admission are made for September, the beginning of the academic
year. International applicants will be informed of admission decisions
directly by the Graduate School and the department will notify domestic
applicants of admission decisions.