Anthropology

In addition to their undergraduate transcripts, the GRE exams, and two letters of recommendation, applicants are required to submit a writing sample and a statement of their purpose in studying Anthropology at USC. While our standards are flexible, we particularly seek students whose GPAs are above 3.5 and GRE scores are above 148 on quantitative and 160 on verbal parts of the test, and above 4.5 in analytical writing... We look closely at the letters of reference and grades, life experiences, and writing samples of students with lower scores, for evidence that they will be able to complete our program.

Your personal statement is an important way for us to get to know a little more about you and decide whether our program will be a good fit for you. Use your personal statement to tell us about your experiences that you feel will contribute to your success in the program, but which may not be evident from your transcripts. Let us know the subfield(s) in which you wish to specialize and the kinds of topics you would like to research.

You do not need to have a fully formed proposal, but we would like to see that you can identify a good research topic that can be supervised within our department. Please indicate those professors with whom you would like to study and explain why. In general the more focused your interests, the easier it will be for you to finish the program and for us to evaluate whether we can meet your research needs. Please make your statement as professional as possible (e.g.: A person\xc2\x92s desire to be an archaeologist when they were a child is perhaps less relevant than what has happened in their more recent history that has made them decide to pursue a graduate degree in Anthropology.)