Undergraduate Advising
Get to know your advising team
Staff advisor,
Mariela Ramirez
Students interested in declaring an anthropology major can meet with staff Undergraduate Advisor Mariela Ramirez to develop an academic plan, and current anthropology majors can get help with updating their academic plans and ensuring progress toward graduation. Mariela assists students throughout their academic journey and helps them reach their academic and career goals.
Peer advisors
Our peer advisors are junior and senior anthropology majors who are trained to assist other students in successfully progressing through the major, including assisting with issues like course selection, academic planning, and the major declaration process. Peer advisors can also share their own experiences with how to tailor the major to personal interests, how to get the most out of the UCSC experience, and how to address common transfer student concerns.
Check for drop-in availability on the peer advising calendar.
Faculty advisor,
Tsim Schneider
We encourage students to get to know all of their professors. Anthropology faculty hold regular office hours and are very accessible. In particular, Associate Professor Tsim Schneider, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Anthropology Department, can advise students on how to work with faculty on independent studies or honors theses, summer internships, field schools, post-graduation plans, applying to graduate school, and more.
Major and minor requirements
Declaring the Anthropology major/minor
University policy requires all students to declare a major before enrolling for their third year (or equivalent). Junior transfer students must declare a major during their second quarter at UCSC. Students should submit a petition to declare by completing the petition for major/minor declaration form as soon as they complete the major qualification (MQ) courses or reach their declaration deadline quarter, whichever comes first. Students who remain undeclared after these deadlines will not be able to enroll in classes until they have declared a major.
Declaration process
Step 2
Make an appointment in Slug Success to meet an anthropology peer advisor to review major requirements and start making an academic plan.
Step 3
Share your Academic Planning Form with the Anthropology Undergraduate Advisor (anthugra@ucsc.edu)
Students will not be declared until planning forms are submitted.
View full details of the major/minor declaration process in the catalog, and see the special considerations below:
Anthropology minor
You must declare your major before declaring the anthropology minor. If you are declaring the minor, you must connect with Anthropology Advising. If you are declaring the Earth sciences/anthropology combined major, you must speak with the Earth & Planetary Sciences Undergraduate Advisor who will lead advising for the combined major.
Transfer students
You must provide the department with an unofficial copy of your transcript from any institution where you took anthropology courses that you would like to apply to the major requirements. Please do this as soon as possible, as it may affect your enrollment in anthropology courses that have prerequisites.
Coursework petitions process
View the department’s coursework substitution policy for more information.
Step 1
Login to your UCSC Google Account, access the Anthropology Coursework Petition, enter your name, select petition type, and complete all form fields.
Step 2
Complete and sign the form in DocuSign.
It will be sent to the anthropology undergraduate advisor for review.
Step 3
The Director of Undergraduate Studies reviews petitions to approve/deny to satisfy lower-division/upper-division elective major/minor requirements.
Step 4
The undergraduate advisor processes coursework in MyUCSC and completes the petition, and the student saves the completed form for their records.
Approval of ANTH 1, ANTH 2, and/or ANTH 3
The student will receive “Other Credit Quick” to indicate satisfaction of the course prerequisite. A “Requirement Waiver” will appear on the Degree Progress Report in MyUCSC to indicate that the major/minor requirement is satisfied.
Approval for Upper-Division Elective Credit
If accepted first by UCSC admissions, the student will see a “Course Directive” on their Degree Progress Report in MyUCSC to indicate that one elective is satisfied.
If not accepted by UCSC admissions, the student will see a “Requirement Waiver” on the Degree Progress Report to indicate that one elective is satisfied.
Independent study
Independent study (or individual study) courses are opportunities for students to pursue personalized learning experiences under the guidance of a faculty member. These courses focus on either lab work (ANTH 197: Lab Tutorial), internships (ANTH 198: Independent Field Study), or general research (ANTH 199: Tutorial). We offer independent study courses for 2 units (6 hours of work per week) or 5 units (15 hours of work per week). For more on the types of opportunities you can pursue through independent study, see our Experiential Learning page.
Enrollment process
Step 1
Student meets with a faculty sponsor to outline the proposed work.
Step 2
Login to your UCSC Google Account, access the Anthropology Petition for Undergraduate Individual Studies, enter your name, select the faculty sponsor, and complete all fields.
Step 3
Complete and sign the form in DocuSign. It will be sent to the faculty sponsor to review and e-sign.
Step 4
The student saves the completed form for their records and enrolls in class using the class number provided via MyUCSC.
Limitations
Undeclared students may not take more than 7 units of independent study courses per quarter. Students who are declared in a major may only take more than 7 units of independent study courses per quarter with authorization from the department. Only one 5-unit independent study course can count toward the major requirements as an elective. Independent study courses cannot count towards the minor requirements.
Anthropology Pass/No Pass grading policy
Anthropology students can choose to take courses required for the major or minor for a Pass/No Pass (P/NP) grading option. Students receive a P (Pass) for work that is performed at C level or better. However, all students must abide by the campus policy that no more than 25% of their UCSC credits applied toward graduation may be graded on a Pass/No Pass basis. The Anthropology Department does not set any additional restrictions on how many required anthropology courses students can take for Pass/No Pass. However, it is recommended that students take very few of their Upper-Division Anthropology courses for Pass/No Pass.
Undergraduate senior thesis
Students who are interested in completing their senior comprehensive requirement by independent thesis, rather than seminar, must arrange for the sponsorship and support of a faculty member before beginning research. An independent senior thesis should be based on original research and reflect the student’s understanding of fundamental theories and issues in anthropology. The thesis should be comparable in content, style, and length (generally 25-30 pages) to a professional journal article in its subfield.
Students who plan to write an independent senior thesis must begin planning well in advance—typically three quarters before they plan to graduate. The senior thesis process usually takes about a full academic year and requires that students be highly self-motivated and committed to their thesis topic. Most students spend at least one quarter conducting research and one quarter writing the thesis.
Course enrollment options
Students who wish to complete the senior comprehensive requirement through an independent thesis will either enroll in a section of ANTH 195S supervised by their thesis sponsor or enroll in ANTH 195A, ANTH 195B, and ANTH 195C. Students interested in biological anthropology should reach out to faculty in this subfield to discuss their plans and see if enrollment in the series is an option.
Thesis topics and examples
Senior theses have been based on independent ethnographic studies, life histories, and laboratory analyses of archaeological or osteological remains. Copies of past senior theses are available for review in the Ethnographic Library (328 Social Sciences 1) to give students a sense of the range of topics available for study and the appropriate structure, scope, and style of senior theses. These documents may not be removed from the library.
Senior thesis process and submission
Step 1
Decide on a topic. This can be developed independently or in conjunction with a faculty member.
Students can review examples of past senior theses in the Ethnographic Library (see details above).
Step 2
Find a permanent Anthropology faculty member who will sponsor and advise you on your thesis. Approach a faculty member you have taken a past course with and who has similar research interests. Students interested in biological anthropology topics can enroll in ANTH 195A after faculty approval.
If you intend to do ethnographic fieldwork, do not complete fieldwork first and then attempt to find an advisor.
Step 3
If the research for your thesis involves work with either human subjects or animals, then you must talk to your thesis advisor regarding the Human Subjects or CARC applications.
Students must submit and gain approval on a Human Subjects or CARC application to present or publish any findings from thesis research.
Step 4
Conduct your thesis research. You may elect to take one to two independent study courses (ANTH 197, 198, or 199) with your thesis adviser or take ANTH 195B so that you can receive units for your research.
Only one independent study course may be counted towards upper-division major requirements.
Step 5
Enroll in ANTH 195S or ANTH 195C and write your thesis. For format, rules, and style information, talk to your thesis advisor and see the American Anthropological Association’s Style Guide.
Your senior thesis must be submitted by the end of the quarter in which you are enrolled for ANTH 195S or ANTH 195C.
Step 6
The final draft of your senior thesis must be submitted to the department so that the Anthropology Undergraduate Advisor can confirm completion of the senior comprehensive requirement when processing major checklists for graduation.*
Senior Thesis Submission and Evaluation Form
*After completing the senior thesis submission form, students will automatically be redirected to DocuSign, where they’ll be asked to confirm authorization to share the thesis by signing their initials on a form. This is required. Students will be prompted to upload a copy of the thesis again, which will be appended to the DocuSign form.
Honors review
If your faculty sponsor determines that your completed thesis warrants review for honors, they will select another senate faculty member from the Department of Anthropology to review as a second reader. The second reader will confirm whether the thesis merits honors.
Other undergraduate resources
Anthropology organizations and journals
UCSC Anthropology student clubs
Student-run anthropology organizations provide extracurricular activities to enhance the student experience. These groups organize events throughout the year, including guest lectures, informational sessions about academic engagement, and social gatherings, like field trips and movie nights. Find out more about which clubs are active through Student Organization Advising & Resources.