The Doctoral Program in Cultural Anthropology admits a small number of carefully selected applicants each year. This policy promotes a high degree of contact between faculty and graduate students which is central to the plan of study each student will pursue. 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 6 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 Duke Endowment 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 sixth year.
All students admitted to the Cultural Anthropology Ph.D. program
are fully funded. For the 2008/09 academic year, funding includes payment
of tuition and fees plus a living stipend of $18,980 plus payment of individual health insurance.
Admission to the program is not necessarily dependent upon previous anthropological
course work or any other specific program of study at the undergraduate level.
Students are selected for intellectual promise, skill in spoken and written
communication, and conceptual and analytic ability. Admission is competitive
with approximately 3-5% of applicants offered admission.
- Applicants must submit their applications 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 http://www.culturalanthropology.duke.edu/grads/Statements.html
At the beginning of their personal statement 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 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 15, 2008.
Frequently asked Questions about GRE's:
Scores of Graduate Record Examinations must be submitted. But 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 2006 entering cohort are: Verbal: 686 (range 620-730); Quantitative - 640 (range 540-770); Analytic Writing: 5.5 (range 5.0-6.0); Analytic: 590; GPA: 3.9.