What Can You Do with Your Anthropology Degree?

Success Stories: What are Berkeley anthropology undergraduates doing today?
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Many Berkeley undergraduates go on to pursue the PhD in anthropology. Some of them even come back to Berkeley. One example: Kira Blaisdell-Sloan, who was an undergraduate major whose senior thesis on historical archaeology was supervised by Professor Kent Lightfoot, went on to obtain an MA in anthropology at Louisiana State University, working on historical archaeology in Nicaragua. After that, she rejoined Berkeley anthropology, receiving the PhD in 2006 with a dissertation on Honduran colonial archaeology. Since then she has taught at both Berkeley and Louisiana State University.

What can I do with a major in anthropology?

The Career Center at the University of California Berkeley conducts an annual survey of the graduating undergraduates. The results from anthropology's class of 2007 show the range of actual career choices made by Berkeley anthropology undergraduates in recent years. With 50% of the graduates responding, 34% were working, 26% were looking for work, 19% were continuing on as post-graduate students, and 21% were occupied with other activities.

Anthropology undergraduates reported going on to pursue the MA in Museum Studies/Anthropology, and in other social sciences. Many students went on to PhD programs in sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, and biology. Almost as popular as these options was law school. Destinations for the 2007 graduates included the New School for Social Research in New York; Arizona State University; the University of New Mexico; the University of Denver; Boston University Law School, UC Hastings College of the Law, and University of the Pacific Law. Some stayed on the UC Berkeley campus for their graduate studies.

Anthropology students are almost as likely to be employed in education or nonprofit activities as in other forms of employment. While 58% of those employed were in the "for profit" sector, 26% were working for non-profits, and 16% reported being employed in education. The average salary reported for these new graduates was $34,557. A selection of job titles and employers for 2007 graduates is presented below.

Non-profit Employers
Assistant, Lawrence Hall of Science
Intern, American Cancer Society
Program Support, Roots of Peace
Program Manager, California Alumni Association

Education
Corps Member, AmeriCorps City Year
Research Assistant, University of California, Berkeley

For-profit Employers
Business Systems Analyst, Legacy Marketing Group
Legal Assistant, Paralegal, Private Law Firms
Market Manager, Backroads
Medical Assistant, Fertility Care of Orange County
Office Manager, Kudsk Construction, Inc.
Project Manager, URIS Corporation
Services Consultant, Cal State 9 Credit Union