How many people actually study Anthropology?

Hi,
I've recently applied and received offers from several universities to study Anthropology, which is all great as I really enjoy it. However I've never met anybody in real life who either wants to or has studied the subject, and posters who intend to take it seem to be in the minority/
So I wanted this post to see if anybody knew how many people usually study it at each/any university, and if it really is such a small minority.
Thanks a bunch to anybody who can offer insight!

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Enough to sustain the degree programmes evidently.

You can probably work this out at some universities through various means - I believe Oxford and Cambridge publish the number of students on each programme on average so you can see how many are doing arch and anth at Oxford, Cambridge is a bit trickier as HSPS covers a wide range of options and not everyone on it will be doing anthropology specifically but may give some idea. UCL and LSE you can see how many people took core modules not available outside of the programme (last year at UCL - 69 in one of the first year core modules not open to external students; at LSE 35 did the dissertation so presumably there were 35 anthropology finalists, although I believe for law and anthropology students the anthropology dissertation is optional...?).

You can also see for UCL and LSE (and perhaps other universities) how many students are on the other modules which are open to all students to take as options as well as being core for anthropology students; at LSE 2nd year options ranged from 15 students (a topical ethnography option) to 63, 1st year options ranged from 49 to 110. At UCL 1st year options ranged from 26 to 156 students, 2nd/3rd/4th year options ranged from 7 (a field module with limited spaces) to 109 students. As noted other unis you can probably look at these things too, for example you might be able to find this out from SOAS if you manage to actually use their website functionally (good luck...).

I originally considered studying it way back when, I've personally just sort of fallen into a parallel route focusing more on ancient cultures rather than contemporary cultures! :smile:

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

Hi there,

I think anthropology as a discipline is very popular nowadays! I study Forensic Anthropology which is a branch of biological anthropology (literally a niche within a niche) at LJMU and we have around 35 people per year studying. I feel like courses offering anthropology as a whole will be quite busy, as they teach both social and biological anthropology, allowing more variety in the degree that many people will be aiming for.

I'd be very interested to hear where you have applied to!

Jorja (LJMU Rep)

Reply 3

RetroSky

Thank you guys so much for the responses, it was really kind.
Unfortunately none of the courses I've gotten offers from have the number of students taking modules public, but I went and checked the undergrad year sizes to get a better picture of what I might be dealing with!

Also I currently hold offers for social Anthropology from St Andrews, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Durham and have a Cambridge interview which has me a little bit terrified.

Again thanks a tonne for the responses!

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by RetroSky

Good luck and well done so far too :biggrin:

Cohort sizes can be helpful to gauge too :smile:

Also remember at Scottish unis in pre-honours years you may well have other non-anthropology students taking the modules as options too, which adds even diversity of backgrounds and interests into the mix (as well as numbers of course)!

Reply 5

UoA Enquiry Team

Official Rep

Original post by RetroSky

Thank you guys so much for the responses, it was really kind.
Unfortunately none of the courses I've gotten offers from have the number of students taking modules public, but I went and checked the undergrad year sizes to get a better picture of what I might be dealing with!
Also I currently hold offers for social Anthropology from St Andrews, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Durham and have a Cambridge interview which has me a little bit terrified.
Again thanks a tonne for the responses!

Hi, this is the University of Aberdeen rep account. Sorry for the delay in replying! I'm not sure if we'll be able to get you an exact picture of the class sizes, as it varies a lot from year to year depending on how many students are taking a degree in Anthropology and how many people are taking the classes as an elective. If you wanted though you can contact [email protected] so the School of Social Science can get you a better picture, or if you have any more questions do let me know here. All the best with your interview for Cambridge when it comes too!

- Matthew, Enquiry Team