Doctoral Degree Program

Minimum standards for admission to the Ph.D. program of the Department of Anthropology are:

1. An upper-division cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) for their junior and senior years of undergraduate work.  We recommend you review FSU's academic standing and GPA calculator. Students must have satisfactory grades in the required undergraduate prerequisite coursework for the specialization which they wish to pursue.

2. Official transcripts must be sent from each college and/or university attended to the FSU Graduate School. Transcripts are considered official when they bear an official seal and signature and are sent directly from the issuing college or university to FSU. Any transcripts uploaded by the applicant are not considered to be official transcripts. Transfer credit posted on the records of other institutions is not accepted in lieu of transcripts from the original institutions.

3. The Revised Graduate Record Examination (rGRE) requirement has been waived until the 2026 application cycle.

4. To be competitive, applicants with degrees in disciplines other than anthropology should have a strong undergraduate coursework foundation in archaeology, cultural anthropology, biological anthropology and the history of anthropology. Archaeology candidates are strongly encouraged to have field experience.

5. Three letters of recommendation from former instructors, employers, or supervisors who know the student's work. Letters from former university-level instructors are preferred. 

6. Original writing sample pertaining to the field of anthropology. See the Writing Sample Guidelines for application to the FSU Anthropology Graduate Program for assistance.

7. For students whose native language is not English, an official TOEFL score of 80 is required by the university.

8. A Statement of Purpose (sometimes referred to as a Statement of Intent) not to exceed 1000 words, clearly identifying and containing: the reasons for your interest in anthropology, the subdiscipline of anthropology you intend to pursue, your career objectives, and your proposed thesis project. We strongly encourage you to get in touch with the faculty member you hope to work with to discuss your interests before you submit application documents.

All application documents (all transcripts, writing samples, letters of recommendation and statement of intent) must be received by Feb.1, 2025. Classes are entered in the fall semester of each year.

The graduate application is online. Visit admissions.fsu.edu to apply.

If there are questions about requirements, program offerings or deadlines, please contact our academic program specialist James Marujo at jmarujo@fsu.edu.

Students should review all college-wide degree requirements summarized in the College of Arts and Sciences section of the current Graduate Bulletin.

Students must complete 36 semester hours of graded course work and 24 dissertation hours for a total of 60 semester hours. Distribution of the 36 semester hours of course work is as follows: 15 credit hours in required courses (see below) and 21 credit hours in elective courses. No more than six hours of graded Directed Individual Study (DIS) may be taken for credit. There is a cap of 12 hours of graded graduate level coursework outside the Department of Anthropology at FSU that may be applied as elective credit.    

Required Coursework:

A total of 36 hours of graded course work is required for the completion of the doctoral degree.

• Breadth (all three courses are required) – 9 credits
  • ANG 5117: Core Seminar in Archaeology
  • ANG 5493: Core Seminar in Cultural Anthropology
  • ANG 5513: Core Seminar in Physical Anthropology
• Theory - 3 credits
• Methods (choose one) – 3 credits
  • ANG 5801: Field Methods in Cultural Anthropology
  • ANG 5074: Seminar in Geospatial Archaeology
  • ANG 5126: Zooarchaeology
  • ANG 5127. Advanced Zooarchaeology
  • ANG 6119. Geoarchaeology
  • ANG 5580 Biocultural Adaptation and Paleodemography
  • ANG 5581 Method and Theory in Human Biology
  • ANG 5824 Anthropological Fieldwork: Archaeology
  • ANG 5074 Seminar in Geospatial Archaeology
  • ANG 5194 Analysis and Interpretation of Archaeological Research
  • ANG 6484 Cultural Analysis
• Electives (choose seven) –   21 credits
  • Electives are chosen from available graduate-level courses in Anthropology. There is a cap of 12 hours of approved graduate courses from another department at FSU that may be used to fulfill the electives requirement. No more than 6 credit hours can be from Directed Independent Studies. There will be no double counting classes as fulfilling both a theory or method and an elective, but additional theory or methods classes can be taken for elective credit.
  • See Graduate Program director for a current list of possible elective courses.

Dissertation Hours:

A minimum of twenty-four dissertation hours is required for completion of the doctoral degree. Students can enroll in dissertation hours after successfully passing qualifying exams (also referred to as “preliminary examination” at FSU) and they must comply with College and University requirements.

Additional Requirements:

1. Qualifying exams which evaluate whether a student is capable of completing dissertation research
2. Dissertation defense to display a completed dissertation and show the ability to answer questions about it from the supervisory committee
3. Prior to the dissertation defense, doctoral students must have a valid supervisory committee consisting of four faculty members with Graduate Faculty Status, one of which must be from outside the department (University Representative).
4. To meet the scholarly engagement requirement, doctoral students will have this assessed and confirmed by the supervisory committee.
5. As per university policy, the doctoral degree must be completed within five calendar years from the time the student passed the qualifying exam and admitted to candidacy. Additionally, students must meet all the manuscript clearance requirements as articulated by the FSU Graduate School.

Note: Financial figures below are approximate and subject to slight increases based upon the new bargaining agreement between FSU and GAU.

Financial support is available for qualified students. Current funding is approximately $19,700 a year for five years, as well as a 9 hour tuition waver, in return for which students are expected to serve as teaching assistants for undergraduate courses. Fully funded students are permitted to engage in outside employment for up to 10 hours per week. Funding is conditional on good standing in the program and available departmental resources.