A Note to Prospective Graduate Students

 


I have nearly all of the graduate students that I can handle at this point, but I will consider accepting a new student for the fall semester. As you are probably well aware, the job market for tenure-track anthropologists is fairly grim nowadays, and since I have no interest in training students who will not be eminently employable, I will only be accepting students who meet the following criteria.

  1. Students should be interested in either primate paleoecology (hominin or otherwise) and/or biogeochemical (e.g., light or heavy isotope) applications in biological anthropology or bioarchaeology. On rare occasion I will accept a student whose primary interests lie in the philosophical or historical fringes of biological anthropology.
     

  2. Students should expect to gain competence in all of the following areas within their first two years of graduate school: human anatomy/osteology, human biology/physiology, comparative vertebrate osteology, genetics, primate ecology and evolution, and the human fossil record. Students should be able to demonstrate mastery, more or less, of two of the above areas during the fourth year. Of course, for those contemplating projects involving biogeochemical techniques, mastery of the relevant material must also be demonstrated by the end of the fourth year.

Also bear in mind that my colleagues and I can only accept about 10% of all applicants to our graduate program. Moreover, all students should understand from the outset that the University of Colorado at Boulder Department of Anthropology has less funding for graduate students than most, if not all, anthropology departments at peer institutions. Thus, at best our students receive just enough funding through teaching assistantships to pay for tuition and the essentials (rent/food); however, most of our students operate at a slight deficit while obtaining their degrees.

If you find all of the above acceptable, I greatly look forward to reading your application! Please get in touch with me at matt.sponheimer@colorado.edu if you have any questions.

Cheers,
ms