Anthropology Personal Statement Essay

I. Educational/Personal Statement
Anthropology is the study of humankind. This is the basic definition, but there is so much more to it than this. Anthropology studies humans in the past and present, through human remains and artifacts, culture, language, etc. Some anthropologists also study primates because of our similarities anatomically. Some primates are studied in depth because humans share an ancient common ancestor with them. There are four-sub fields in anthropology; physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology and archaeology. I have had to take introductory courses for the four sub-fields and have been in other courses where the sub-fields intersect. It is important to incorporate multiple sub-fields when doing certain kinds of anthropological studies to have a holistic perspective. Anthropologists not only gather and synthesize data, but have to remember …show more content…
My least favorite general education courses were not in the anthropology department. They were from different departments; one was a theatre course and the other was a liberal arts course that was also counted for my supplemental writing skills course. Both courses assumed students had prior knowledge to the courses even though most students were taking their first course in these departments. Also, the professors were not clear on what they expected of students in the beginning of the class. The theatre class added projects and papers at the end of the semester that the students felt unprepared and blindsided. That being said, without the general education I would probably not have taken an anthropology course and found the department in the first place. Honestly, it would be beneficial to both the major and students at Grand Valley, if some type of anthropology class was required in the general education program. Obviously, I am biased though because I enjoy most of the anthropology courses I have