Major Requirements

The Anthropology major consists of 14 credits, each taken for a grade. You may NOT take a class PASS/FAIL and count it toward your major. The Anthropology major covers the fields of Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, and Cultural/Linguistic Anthropology. Though the Department encourages a broadly based education within Anthropology (and discourages specialization), you may nevertheless indicate one of these sub-fields as your concentration. The major also offers a specialized Medical Anthropology and Global Health concentration as well as a Biological Anthropology concentration which will be described below.

All general anthropology majors must take the required courses—ANTH 001 (or ANTH 005), 002 (or 004), 003, plus two 100+ level courses in Cultural/Linguistic Anthropology and one 100+ level course in each of Biological Anthropology and Archaeology. The other seven units may be taken from one or any combination of these sub-fields, though you are encouraged to take as many as possible in all three fields. An Anthropology Freshman Seminar may be included here. You also should consider taking Statistics as well as a course in research methods appropriate to your field of concentration. A maximum of three non-anthropology courses (and those not already cross-listed with anthropology) can be applied to the major with the approval of the Undergraduate Chair, but these courses should be linked to a more general topic or theme in your concentration. The major also encourages Study Abroad. Minimum Requirement 14 c.u.

To see requirements for specific concentrations, click below:

General Anthropology
Archaeology
Bio Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Medical Anthropology

Declaring the Anthropology Major

In order to declare Anthropology your major, you should first email the Undergraduate Coordinator at anth-ugrad@sas.upenn.edu to make an appointment to meet with the Undergraduate Chair.

Honors Option

Anthropology majors have the option of pursuing major honors. This process has two components- to be eligible a student must 1) Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 within the major and 2) Complete a senior thesis in the year before graduating. For more information, check out our senior thesis guide here or contact the undergraduate coordinator.

For more information, please see the Undergraduate Handbook