PhD Anthropology at University of Iowa

Programme overview

Graduate students will gain an in-depth understanding of anthropology and the discipline’s contributions to the understanding of people and culture, in the past and present. Graduate students will acquire professional and ethical research, reasoning, methodological, and management skills to identify important research problems. They will also learn how to design and execute a project, productively engage with feedback, and successfully report (via writing and presentations) the results of their independent research to diverse sets of audiences.

Faculty: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | Department: Anthropology | Location: Iowa City, IA, United States

What you will study

The doctoral program includes an integrated process of progressively developing and completing reading lists, developing and submitting research proposals to funding agencies, developing and defending a dissertation prospectus, and writing two comprehensive exam essays. Upon successful completion of the comprehensive examination and the dissertation prospectus, a student advances to candidacy for the PhD.

Career pathways

Graduates establish careers at universities, colleges, museums, healthcare institutions, and a diverse range of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. For more information, see Careers and Opportunities on the Department of Anthropology website.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Applicants for admission to the graduate program in anthropology are considered regardless of their previous field of training. Students without previous training in anthropology are expected to perform additional work as necessary to achieve the competence expected for their degree objective. Students normally are admitted under the assumption that they intend to pursue the PhD, with the exception of students entering into the cultural resource management–archaeology MA program. Students without an MA in anthropology devote the first two years to fulfilling the MA requirements. After those requirements are completed, the student's committee may award the MA with admittance to the PhD program. Students with an MA in anthropology from another institution may proceed directly into a PhD program organized around their special research interests.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Graduate and professional admission requirements, costs and deadlines are set by each degree programme; applicants apply through the Admissions Profile application and may apply to only one programme unless applying to a combined degree programme.

Apply through the official page: https://admissions.uiowa.edu/

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