Graduate Admission Statistics

Competition for admission is high. Applicant's written statement of purpose is very important as it allows the faculty to look for excellent writing ability, clarity of purpose, realistic assessments of both self and the anthropological profession, and an indication that this department has been chosen for a definite reason. Additionally, letters of recommendation are of interest to faculty, particularly if they are detailed and focus on the intellectual abilities and accomplishments of the applicant. GPA is considered as part of the application as well, however, GPA is not necessarily a good indication of a student’s capacity to succeed at the graduate level. Therefore, the whole application is considered in regards to admission. The Biological Anthropology PhD program application requires the submission of GRE scores. While GREs are encouraged to be submitted with your application, if due to extenuating circumstances related to the pandemic this is not possible, applications without GRE scores will still be given full consideration. Applicants are able to submit their application without official scores prior to the application deadline. Scores will be matched electronically to your application once they are received by the University of Washington.

How many applications were submitted for autumn 2020?

Subdiscipline

# of Applications

# of Admits

# of Acceptances

Archaeology

22

4

2

Biological

15

3

1

Sociocultural

69

8

5

What were the average scores of the students who were admitted for autumn 2020?

Subdiscipline

GPA

Archaeology:

3.6

Biological:

3.6

Sociocultural:

3.7

What is the graduate student enrollment at the end of Spring 2021?
There are 54 graduate students in the Department. The subdiscipline enrollment is as follows:

Subdiscipline

# of Graduate Students

Archaeology

18

Biological

13

Sociocultural

30

Reasons why applicants may be denied admission:

  • low GPA
  • low GRE scores (for biological anthropology admissions only)
  • low TOEFL scores
  • insufficiently competitive with other applicants
  • department has inadequate faculty and curriculum for applicant’s interest area
  • applicant’s interest area not applicable to our program
  • statement of purpose is unclear as to why the applicant wants to study anthropology
  • applicant does not indicate a definite reason why our department has been chosen for study
  • applicant’s assessment of the anthropological profession is unrealistic
  • writing skills undeveloped
  • interest area is unfocused

In order for all applicants to become acquainted with programs that might suit their academic needs, we ask applicants to consult the American Anthropological Association Guide (A Guide to Departments: A Directory of Members http://www.aaanet.org/publications/guide.cfm) for the application criteria of anthropological institutions here in the United States.

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