Graduate students are awarded fellowships, scholarships, and teaching and research assistantships to the fullest extent permitted by available funding. Graduate Fellowships provide tuition plus a living stipend for 5 years, contingent on continued appropriate progress toward the Ph.D. degree. Stipends and fellowships require service in the form of teaching and/or research assistance. Other university awards are given on a competitive basis to exceptionally outstanding students. These include James B. Duke Fellowships, International Fellowships, and Deans' Fellowships. Applicants are also encouraged to seek fellowships for graduate study in anthropology that are awarded by non-university agencies, as these frequently offer high stipends and several years of continuous support. Various university and external funding sources provide awards for predoctoral and doctoral research, including field research in anthropology, and students are encouraged to apply for these at the appropriate time. Some additional funding as well as part-time teaching positions may be available to students beyond the fifth year.
All students admitted to the Cultural Anthropology Ph.D. program
are fully funded for 5 years. For the 2009/10 academic year, funding includes payment
of tuition and fees plus a living stipend of $19,450 plus payment of individual health insurance.
Admission is competitive
with approximately 3-5% of applicants offered admission.
- Applicants must submit their applications and supporting documents online at https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=DukeGrad
All requested supporting documentation must be sent to Duke Graduate Admissions, Box 90065, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708. We strongly encourage students to apply by December 1. If you apply later, there may not be time for all your supporting documents (transcripts, recommendation letters, etc.) to arrive by the time our departmental reviews begin in early January. An incomplete file may affect your consideration.
- The statement of purpose is an especially important part of the application as it gives applicants a chance to describe their research interests. There is no single way to write a good statement of purpose, but you may see the statements of four recent successful applicants at (in progress).
- At the beginning of their statement of purpose in the application, all applicants must also list three keywords best describing their research interests (for example: Mass media, indigenous rights, Latin America).
- Applicants must submit a 10-20 page sample of written work in hard copy, pasted into the online application, or by e-mail attachment (to Holly Francis, Department of Cultural Anthropology, 205 Friedl, Box 90091, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0091, hfrancis@duke.edu) by December 8, 2009. Please submit by only one method.
Frequently asked Questions about GRE's:
Scores of Graduate Record Examinations must be submitted. Each applicant file is reviewed completely and decisions are made based on the whole file, not just GRE's and GPA's. Prospective students often ask about these statistics, however, so we provide the following information:
The average GRE scores for the Fall 2009 entering cohort, are: Verbal: 594 (range 450-700); Quantitative - 644 (range 550-760); Analytic Writing: 4.5 (range 3.0-5.0); TOEFL: 105; GPA: 3.7.