B.A. Programs and Minor
Anthropology focuses on understanding what it means to be human and how humans make meaning. Anthropologists study people from all angles: how they come to be, what they create, and how they give significance to their lives.
Anthropology explores, and sometimes questions, the distinctions between nature and culture, the human and the animal, “them” and “us.” At the center of the discipline are physical evolution and adaptability, material evidence for past lifeways, similarities and differences among past and present peoples, and the political and ethical dilemmas of studying cultures. Anthropology is a rich and integrative discipline that prepares students to live and work effectively in a diverse and increasingly interconnected world.
Anthropology B.A. program
Our undergraduate program incorporates three subfields of anthropology: anthropological archaeology, cultural anthropology and biological anthropology. Field study opportunities are available in each subfield, and students take courses across all three, in order to develop a multifaceted perspective on being human. Our curriculum covers wide ranging topics, like ancient DNA, primate behavior, California pasts, and Black queer culture. Students have abundant opportunities for experiential learning, including through our research labs.
Learning outcomes
A student who graduates with a B.A. in Anthropology has the following knowledge and skills:
Core Concepts in Anthropology
The student demonstrates an understanding of the core concepts in three primary sub-fields of anthropology: cultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology.
Knowledge of Cultural Differences
The student demonstrates knowledge of cultural variation and the diversity of perspectives, practices, and beliefs found within each culture and across cultures.
Integration of Sub-Fields
The student integrates cultural, biological, and archaeological perspectives on human bodies, behavior, and institutions.
Written Communication
The student demonstrates the ability to write clearly and to formulate well organized arguments that are grounded in supporting evidence while countering evidence that contradicts the student’s claims.
Oral Communication
The student is able to organize ideas and information and articulate them effectively.
Research & Analytical Skills
The student demonstrates knowledge of basic steps involved in scholarly research, including locating and critically evaluating scholarly and other information sources relevant to the chosen topic. The student can recognize and demonstrate a basic understanding of research methods used in the various subfields of anthropology, including but not limited to participant observation, thick description, lab and field analysis, and interviewing.
Understanding of Long-Term Changes in Human Behavior and Conditions in Deep Time
The student has a grasp of long term changes in the conditions that have shaped humans and the environments they inhabit.
Earth Sciences/Anthropology combined B.A.
The Anthropology Department partners with the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department to offer a combined major intended for students with interests in Earth sciences and the laboratory-based aspects of anthropology. The combined major has a significantly different set of required lower- and upper-division courses than the anthropology major. Advising for the combined major is through the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department.
Anthropology minor
We also offer a minor in anthropology, which requires completing three lower-division courses and seven upper-division courses.
Upper-division courses include one in each of the following topical areas: regional specialization, sociocultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological, medical, or environmental anthropology.
What can you do with a degree in anthropology?
Anthropology is an excellent major for students considering careers that involve communication, writing, critical analysis of information, and high levels of cultural interaction. Anthropology graduates pursue careers in fields such as activism, advertising, city planning, cultural resource management, education/teaching, forensics, journalism, marketing, medicine/health care, politics, public health, social work, museums, writing, systems analysis, environmental consulting, community development, civil service, and law. Students interested in research and teaching in anthropology usually continue on to graduate school, as professional employment in the field typically requires an advanced degree.
Photo: Tsim Schneider. Anthropology students practice walking transects as part of an archaeological pedestrian survey and pacing exercise.
Meet our students and alumni
Kayla Ott: Conducting anthropology research in the PEMA Lab
During their time as a student at UC Santa Cruz, Kayla Ott worked as an undergraduate research assistant in Professor Viktoria Oelze’s Primate Ecology and Molecular Anthropology Lab, studying the behaviors of wild bonobos.
Max Ward: Becoming a professional archaeologist
Ward is attending McGill University in Quebec to continue his studies on Indigenous populations and their responses to Spanish colonization. While at UCSC, he held an officer role in the Integrated Anthropology Association (IAA), participated in the UCDC program, which allowed him to intern at the Smithsonian, and served as a course assistant for a summer.
More student stories
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Admissions requirements
First-year students
High school students who plan to major in anthropology at UC Santa Cruz don’t need any special background, other than the courses necessary for UC admission.
Find more information about getting started in the major as a frosh via the catalog.
Transfer students
This is a non-screening major. Students planning to apply to this major are not required to complete specific major preparation courses before they come to UC Santa Cruz.
Additional course transfer information
Before coming to UC Santa Cruz, transfer students are encouraged to complete courses equivalent to the following lower-division anthropology courses: ANTH 1: Introduction to Biological Anthropology, ANTH 2: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, and ANTH 3: Introduction to Archaeology.
Transfer course agreements and articulation between the University of California and California Community Colleges can be accessed on the assist.org website. Students may petition for lower-division courses not included in articulated transfer course agreements.
The Anthropology Department also allows students to petition up to two upper-division anthropology courses from another four-year university (including universities abroad) to count toward the major requirements. Find more information about getting started as a transfer student in the Anthropology B.A. major via the catalog.