Anthropology

The faculty also encourages students to obtain an understanding of the other subfields through course offerings in physical anthropology, and by providing credit towards the major for select courses offered by the Ancient Studies and Modern Language and Linguistics Departments, among others.

As anthropology majors, students gain knowledge, skills, and conceptual tools that prepare them for a wide range of careers, professional training programs, and graduate school. Anthropology is a popular major for people intending to pursue professional study in medicine, psychology, education, business, and human services (e.g., social work, nursing, etc). Our majors also have entered MA and PhD graduate programs in anthropology across the country, as well as the MA in Applied Sociology program at UMBC. As with most liberal arts majors, undergraduate majors in anthropology who wish to engage in anthropology professionally generally continue to graduate school.

For anthropology majors who do not intend to continue to graduate school, many government, non-profit, and private sector job opportunities are available, especially in positions that involve human interaction and where an understanding of multicultural issues is beneficial. This includes employment at social welfare, health-related, and program evaluation agencies and organizations, private marketing firms, and companies involved in international business.

Undergraduate majors in sociology study substantive areas of sociology, methods of sociological research, and sociological theory. Although bachelors degree recipients do not have enough expertise to become professional sociologists, their training equips them to understand sociological research and work in public, non-profit, and private organizations where those skills are useful.

The knowledge learned in sociology is most useful in government, health, social service, and educational organizations, and in personnel, human resources, and marketing departments of private businesses and public agencies. When combined with courses from other fields, such as health science and policy, accounting, social work, or administration, a sociology major prepares the student for a wide range of occupations, especially in the public and not-for-profit sectors.

Sociology also provides appropriate training for graduate study in many professional fields, including business, public and health administration, law, and social work. You can also pursue graduate training in sociology, such as the regular M.A. or combined B.A.-M.A. degree program at UMBC in aging and medical sociology.

The UMBC sociology major is especially useful in career planning because it offers unusual flexibility. This enables you to emphasize courses in the areas in which you are most interested. Students may also take a minor in sociology.

You can also refer to the UMBC Undergraduate Catalog 2011 and/or the Sociology Student's Guide for further information about the Academic Program and Course descriptions.