Best Anthropology Programs in Maryland for 2027

Maryland offers both Anthropology BA and BS plans. Students in either route complete a foundation across medical and global health, ecological and evolutionary anthropology, archaeology, and sociocultural anthropology with linguistics, selecting three of those four introductions. The BS then adds more mathematics and science; the BA offers supporting coursework chosen with an adviser to deepen a region, skill, or subfield. Both plans include method-and-theory choices and applied fieldwork options. A student should decide which outside coursework supports the intended anthropology practice before treating BA and BS as interchangeable labels.

Degree Choice

BA supporting coursework or a more science-intensive BS

Foundation

Three of four introductory anthropology areas

Program Sources: Maryland Anthropology: Degree Requirements

UMBC packages the anthropology degree as a Cultural Anthropology B.A. of 31 credits, and it ends with an independent research project. Four required courses (Cultural Anthropology, Methodology of Social Research, Anthropological Theory and the Capstone) total 13 credits, and the department urges you to finish the last three before your final semester. The Methodology course expects a math general education course with a C or better, with statistics recommended. Eighteen elective credits come from anthropology or sociology, with at most six in sociology and at least twelve at the 300 level or above. Eight students earned the degree in 2023–24.

Required Sequence

Cultural Anthropology, Methodology of Social Research, Anthropological Theory and a Capstone

Research Project

Independent project using various research methods

Elective Rule

18 credits, at most six in sociology and twelve at the 300 level or above

Program Sources: Anthropology Program Requirements – Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health – UMBCBachelor Of Arts In Anthropology, Cultural | Undergraduate Programs | UMBC

Johns Hopkins counts language as part of the major. Of the 44 credits, 14 are for a foreign language taken through the second semester of the intermediate level, and the other 30 are anthropology: Invitation to Anthropology, Ethnographies, Methods and Logic of Anthropological Inquiry, plus two electives at the 100 to 400 level and four at the 300 or 400 level. You need a C or better in every requirement, and satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading isn’t allowed. Languages that count include Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Yiddish.

Required Courses

Invitation to Anthropology, Ethnographies, Methods and Logic of Anthropological Inquiry

Language Requirement

Foreign language through the intermediate level, 14 credits

Upper-Level Work

Four anthropology courses at the 300 or 400 level

Program Sources: Anthropology, Bachelor of Arts | Johns Hopkins University Academic CatalogueAnthropology, Bachelor of Arts | Johns Hopkins University Academic Catalogue

St. Mary’s College sits in historic St. Mary’s City, and its anthropology students take part in archaeological digs in the local area. The major covers cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology and language studies, and an optional Archaeology Concentration adds field and lab experience on projects with the Rappahannock Tribe, Historic St. Mary’s City and regional sites. Internships, study abroad and a visiting speakers series round out the experience. The college lists a 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio.

Concentration

Archaeology, with field and lab experience

Project Partners

Rappahannock Tribe and Historic St. Mary’s City

Subfields

Cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology and language studies

Program Sources: Anthropology | SMCMAnthropology | SMCM

Fieldwork starts in your very first anthropology course at Washington College, and it’s discussion-based from there, with students presenting their own work and ideas. The finish is a Senior Capstone Experience, a year-long independent research project whose final form could be a traditional thesis or something more creative, like a film, a museum exhibit or a report. The major leaves room for a double major, a minor or study abroad, including department-specific trips to Cuba and Tanzania, and the department also runs an archaeology field school.

Capstone

Senior Capstone Experience, a year-long independent research project

Department Travel

Study abroad opportunities in Cuba and Tanzania

Fieldwork

Field work from the first course in the major

Program Sources: Anthropology Major | Washington CollegeAnthropology Major | Washington College

The Hopkins doctorate has a rhythm you can plan around: about three years in residence, a year or more of field research, and a final year writing the dissertation. Twelve courses fill the first three years, starting with Proseminar, and a three-hour exam arrives near the end of the first year. Exploratory fieldwork happens the first summer, backed by a written proposal and a methods workshop. For the comprehensive exams you write two essays, one conceptual and one on your study area, and you need reading knowledge of a relevant foreign language. Returning students take a Post-Field course.

Timeline

Three years in residence, a year or more of fieldwork, then the dissertation

Comprehensive Exams

Two essays, one conceptual and one on the study area

First-Summer Fieldwork

Exploratory fieldwork backed by a written proposal

Program Sources: Anthropology, PhD | Johns Hopkins University Academic CatalogueAnthropology, PhD | Johns Hopkins University Academic Catalogue

Maryland’s doctorate is rooted in applied anthropology. The core runs through Applied Anthropology, Qualitative Methods, Social/Cultural Theory, Ecological Anthropology, Quantification and Statistics, and Theories of the Past and Accomplishments of Archaeology. If you enter with a bachelor’s degree, you also complete an internship sequence of preparation, a six-credit internship and analysis, and the degree is 72 credits, or 60 if you arrive with a master’s. You reach candidacy by passing three written area exams and defending a dissertation proposal orally, then complete 12 credits of dissertation research. Three doctorates were awarded in 2023–24 at this Research 1 university.

Candidacy

Three written area exams and an oral defense of the dissertation proposal

Internship Sequence

Preparation, a six-credit internship and analysis for students entering from a bachelor’s

Dissertation Research

12 credits of ANTH899

Program Sources: Anthropology, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | University of Maryland CatalogAnthropology, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | University of Maryland Catalog