Ph.D. in Anthropology (Social Cultural and Archaeology)
and Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology

The Application

The Department of Anthropology and Graduate Division accept applications for admission to the Anthropology and Medical Anthropology programs once each
year for the fall semester only.

The application must be completed online.

Applications must be submitted online by no later than Midnight December 15, 2007. If you are mailing hard copies of forms B through F2, the postmark must be no later than December 15, 2007. This strict deadline is applied to the Official Graduate School Application. Materials that can be accepted after December 15 are limited to letters of recommendation, official transcripts, and the GRE or TOEFL scores.

Applicants for the Anthropology Ph.D. must specify the emphasis: Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, or Sociocultural Anthropology.


Applicants must hold a Bachelor of Arts degree or its equivalent from an institution of acceptable standing and may hold an Master of Arts in Anthropology or another field. Previous concentration in Anthropology is not required. The Department does not accept applicants interested in the Master of Arts in Anthropology degree only. The University's Graduate Division requires a combined junior and senior grade point average of at least 3.0 of an applicant to be admitted.

Students interested in medical anthropology may apply to either the UCB program or the UCSF program but not both. Students should carefully review information about both programs before making a decision.

Applicants must specify the subdiscipline or major to which they are seeking admission.

In judging applications, the Department is interested (in order of importance) in:

Statement of purpose.
Statement of personal history.
Letters of recommendation.
Grade point average.
GRE or TOEFL scores.

Statement of Purpose
The applicant's Statement of Purpose should be concise (maximum 2000 words) and very explicit about the applicant's interests and anthropological goals. These statements are read carefully and are taken very seriously. If the applicant wishes to submit a sample of his or her written work, the sample should be brief (no more than three pages).

Statement of Personal History
The applicant's Statement of Personal History should be maximum 2000 words.

Letters of Recommendation
The Department prefers that referees use the recommendation forms provided with the application form (Form G), but will accept any written reference. If evaluators choose to use their own format for their letter, please ask that they include some sort of ranking, as is requested on the prepared form. We can now accept electronic letters of recommendation on the Form G .pdf file as provided by the Graduate Division on the Graduate School Application (link:http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/grad_app.shtml)


GRE or TOEFL Scores
All English-speaking applicants are required to take the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and to have their scores on this examination reported to the Anthropology Department at the University of California, Berkeley by the Educational Testing Service. Foreign applicants whose native language is English and those who have studied for one year or more in schools or universities where English is the language of instruction must fulfill this GRE requirement. Further information on the GRE, together with application materials, dates and places of administration for the current year, may be obtained from the Educational Testing Service at the following addresses: P.O. Box 955, Princeton, NJ 08540 (for candidates east of the Rockies), or P.O. Box 23470, Oakland, CA 94623-0470 (for candidates west of the Rockies).

In order for these materials to be considered in a timely manner, it is advisable to take the GRE before the end of October. Although the GRE is also offered after the end of October, please be aware that any delay in receiving the scores can render an application "incomplete" well into the January decision-making period.

Foreign applicants whose native language is not English and who have not studied in an English-speaking university must take the TOEFL test, but do not need to submit GRE scores. For more information on the TOEFL, see page 17 of the Graduate Division's application booklet.

See Admissions F.A.Q. for frequently asked questions about the admissions process.

Ph.D. in Anthropology
(Social Cultural / Archaeology)

Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology

Master of Arts in Folklore

Undergraduate Program

Faculty

Office Hours

Lecture Series
290 Lecture Series
MedAnthro Lecture Series
ARF Brown Bag Lecture Series
Emeritus Lecture Series

Student Organizations
K.A.S.
A.G.O.R.A.
Graduate Student Contacts