How impractical is a major in anthropology?

Should I major in anthropology?

• I'm a junior in high school and I've been seriously considering what I want to do in college and after I graduate. I've really been thinking about anthropology because I really like learning about other people's cultures, languages, interests, and why they behave the way they do. So really my question is, would anthropology be a good fit for me? After college I also really want to do something like the Peace Corps, but more permanent, like a real job. So I was also wondering what organizations are like the Peace Corps but permanent? Would a degree in anthropology help me in that job? *If I did major in anthropology, it would either be linguistic or sociocultural anthropology.

• Answer:

  You are the best person to judge what you would like to major in. Second would be people who know you, and your advisors at school. There are many organizations that do developmental work. What you might ask yourself is what skills you bring to these, and what you would like to do. Studying people's cultures is a cool thing, but in hard-skill terms, what does that mean you want to do? As far as some job ideas, you can go to your local library's reference section and have a look at the career books. They're great resources. A couple of online places that list some jobs that might fit your descriptions are idealist.org and relief web, but those don't really tell you *about* the jobs. It might give you an idea of what's currently out there, though.