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Letter for a 1st-Year Anthropology Student

The Department of Anthropology offers a new course - ANTHROP 3005: Careers with Anthropology - which helps students from all sub-fields of anthropology develop professional skills in preparation for life after graduation. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which students can apply anthropological concepts, research methodologies, and analytical skills in a wide range of careers.

One of the homework assignments is to write a letter to a first-year anthropology student, in which students could either write a letter to their past self or a current first-year student with advice about preparing for careers with anthropology while in college. The assignment synthesized some of the lessons from the courses. 

 

November 18, 2020


Dear Anthropology Student,


Welcome to college and the anthropology department! I’m a 4th year
medical anthropology student and I’m excited that you’re coming to Ohio
State to study anthropology. I’ll spare you the pithy “college is the best 4
years of your life” spiel since you’ve probably heard that enough at this
point. But I’d love to share what I wish I had known when I was standing
in your position. So, here’s my words to a younger me.


  1. When you tell people that you’re studying anthropology, they might
    have a million assumptions what that means as far as getting a job
    after graduation. They may assume that you’re the next Temperance
    Brennan from the TV show Bones and that you’re going to solve
    murder cases and look at bone fragments for the FBI. Some might
    think that you’re preparing to go off to the most remote parts of
    jungle and live among some primitive society taking field notes on
    what they are like. Hell, many people will just ask you what
    anthropology is and what in the world people do with that. But the
    most frightening assumption to me is the look of pity that I receive
    which wordlessly would say, “Oh no. You’re never going to find a
    job”. So, I’m telling you now, the sooner you learn to smile politely
    and shake that off, the better you will be. Don’t start off discouraged,
    you’ll only view the rest of your time just getting more and more
    discouraged.

  2. Anthropology is the best of psychology, sociology, and biology rolled
    up into a diverse toolkit, so practice identifying the skills you learn
    and be prepared to market them. Prepare a brief definition of
    anthropology that you could give to someone who has never heard
    that word before in their life, you will end up needing it more than
    you might think. Once you have that, keep a short list in your mind
    of how that definition leads to a brief discussion of what makes you
    unique as an anthropology student and the specific skills that you
    have, making you different than just any other social sciences
    student. Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn sometimes. When you
    begin having professional interviews, that is what you have to do to
    tactfully be the hirable candidate you know you really are.

  3. Find an internship! Handshake will be your best friend when you
    start trying to do this. Apply to everything you are qualified for and
    take every interview even if it isn’t your first choice. I had 7
    interviews during my 3rd year winter break at a bunch of different
    places around Columbus, and I thought I only wanted to actually
    work for one of those places. When that place didn’t offer me what I
    thought was my dream internship, I thought I was settling for the
    next best thing. What I thought was a mediocre 2nd place turned out
    to be the best experience of my time in college. I had the privilege to
    work at an awesome non-profit where I was able to help people and
    learn so much not only about the job, but about myself and people. I
    ended up extending my internship because I loved working there so
    much. Unpaid internships may seem like a waste of time especially
    for busy college students, but there are scholarships and grants that
    you can seek to take care of the financial part, and the skills that you
    gain from that experience are exactly what you want to come out of
    college with. Your resume will thank you later.


I hope even one thing I said will be helpful to you. College is hard but learn
to make it less hard on you. Make connections with professors and other
students because you need a team to get through these 4 (or 5, 6, 7,
however many) years. Welcome to the best department on campus and go
Bucks!