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Let's be frank. The main reason that any of us go to university today is not because we all love memorizing the theories of long-dead "thinkers", nor because being awake at 3 am tearing your hair out over the essay that's due in the next day is your idea of a good time. No no... it's because people keep telling you that if you want to get a good job, make money, and have the slightest hope of "doing something with your life", then you need a degree. You need physical proof (i.e. your name on some nice embossed paper) of your intelligence and capabilities. 

So while you're considering your options and deciding what you want that piece of paper to say you're good at, don't discount a degree in social/cultural anthropology.

Starting with the more obvious one... If you study anthropology and you like it, you can do a PhD*, then potentially a post-doc, and if you're in the right place at the right time you might make it to assistant professor and one day, professor. But if academia is not your cup of tea, don't despair! According to an article I read today**, over half of professional anthropologists work outside of academia***, and that's not even counting the people who don't actually call themselves anthropologists but who have anthropology degrees. There are plenty of other things for you to do, whether you have a bachelor's, master's or PhD. A recent newspaper article in The Guardian reports that "anthropology graduates enter a variety of professions and their employability will no doubt increase as the world becomes ever more globalised". 

The American Anthropological Association has a really thorough section dedicated to different career paths that anthropology graduates can take. Take a look here. You should also have a gander at this interview, where John Fox (PhD, Harvard University) talks about his career success in the non-academic world.

What is it then, that you will get from an anthropology degree? Research skills, analytical skills, critical thinking, cultural awareness and knowledge, in-depth knowledge of whatever area you specialize in (e.g. violence amongst youth, health, human rights, religion, etc.) And there are so many places you can go with those skills: government agencies, charities, NGOs, marketing, anything to do with research, policy...

I'm not gonna go on with that because we'll be here all day. And I don't like lists, a list of jobs is not exactly inspiring is it? My whole aim of this blog is to show why anthropology is interesting to study and to show through example, share real-life experiences of the people that have studied/are studying/are working with anthropology. That said, come back next week (yes, next week, I promise) and read the second in the "Conversations" series where a friend of mine will be sharing his thoughts about his undergraduate anthropology education.

* PhDs in anthropology are much more fun than PhDs in other disciplines because we get paid to spend a lot of time in other countries. If you pick your field location wisely enough you can get paid to spend the whole winter somewhere sunny and warm instead of slipping over on the icy streets of Sweden... or wherever you live.

** You need a subscription to read the article but here it is: Anthropology Group Restyles Its Offerings to Lure Nonacademics, by Audrey Williams June.