[Serris]

I'm a graduate of Egyptian Archaeology, hopefully going on to do an MSc in osteoarchaeology.
I'm just wondering if there are any other archaeology graduates here and if you've continued onto post-graduate study, what have you chosen to do?

[naty_forty]

At which uni are you completing your graduate studies?

[ancientone]

Yes - a (very) mature student who went back to Uni at Manchester. Changed my subject to Archaeology. Did Bachelors and Masters there and currently doing PhD.

[naty_forty]

Originally Posted by ancientone

Yes - a (very) mature student who went back to Uni at Manchester. Changed my subject to Archaeology. Did Bachelors and Masters there and currently doing PhD.

How was your experience at Manchester, it's one of the unis I'm considering for my graduate studies in archaeology, near eastern specifically. Do they have a good department in that area?

[AATTMM]

Uh-huh, just graduated from Durham, now off to Cambridge to do the archaeological heritage strand of the MPhil in Archaeology =)

[Athena]

I'm hoping to turn my genetics PhD into an archaeogenetics degree by the end of it...

[Robertdepaor]

I found choosing a postgraduate degree archaeology difficult especially finding a postgrad that would substantially aid employment. Many of the MAs available seem not to be designed for the jobs market. While some of the more common specialties are reputed to be greatly oversupplied. For a career in field Archaeology I wonder if work experience would be as valuable. Do most people here make their choices based on raw interest?

[AATTMM]

For me, yeah it was based on interest since I'm interested in heritage studies. Although if I'm honest I probably was considering future careers as well, since I originally wanted to do a masters in medieval archaeology, but wasn't sure if I'd want to do a PhD afterwards, and so with just a masters in medieval archaeology I probably wouldn't have been prepared for any job. With my heritage masters, hopefully if I don't do a PhD, I am prepared to enter the workforce - though volunteer work experience is vital as with most archaeology-related things =(. You're probably right about many archaeology postgrads not being suited to employment since many seem to be designed as a PhD preparation course. I think many museum studies MAs are the exception to this, especially the ones with a management element. For field archaeology, I imagine experience is far more valuable than a degree - especially since it is theoretically possible at most universities to have gone from Year 1 undergrad archaeology to having an MA in archaeology with having only done 2 or 3 weeks digging. I think an MA would help though, since I think it's pretty hard to make a career out of field archaeology - correct me if I'm wrong but most of the good money in archaeology is in the academic side of it =/

[apotoftea]

Originally Posted by AATTMM

Uh-huh, just graduated from Durham, now off to Cambridge to do the archaeological heritage strand of the MPhil in Archaeology =)

That sounds really interesting Did Heritage as part of my BA and it's subject that deserves a lot more 'air time' as such!

[Robertdepaor]

In my own university it is now possible (thanks to budget cuts) to graduate majoring in archaeology without any excavation experience what’s so ever. In Ireland from the late 90s till 2007, field work was far more profitable then the comparatively tiny public sector. That’s all gone now though . I have noticed many environmental specialists in the private sector hold doctorates.

[Serris]

I'm glad there are some more Archaeology students/graduates here
I'm looking into doing my graduate studies either at UCL or at Edinburgh...I want to go into Forensic Anthropology I think rather than staying with just Archaeology :/