Anthropology reports highest major satisfaction in survey

By Prasi Desai     11/12/24 9:50pm

Anthropology students are the most satisfied with their major according to last year’s senior exit survey results,  Mary Prendergast, director of undergraduate studies for anthropology, said.

The senior exit survey is a mandatory survey given to all graduating seniors by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness regarding their experience at Rice. Last year, eight students graduated with an anthropology major, though Prendergast said that the major size each year typically varies from eight to 14 students.

According to anthropology and English double major Isabella Campos, anthropology professors are attentive to students’ needs and accommodating towards student schedules — especially as Campos’ role as Hanszen College president sometimes requires her to attend meetings and events during afternoon classes.

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“All my professors have been really great about meeting me where I am,” Campos, a Hanszen College junior, said. 

Prendergast said anthropology faculty are trained to be good listeners and observers as a byproduct of their position as anthropologists. 

“These skills make us highly attuned to students’ needs, their sources of stress and joy,” Prendergast wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We try to create an atmosphere inside and outside of the classroom that is inclusive, and students have told me that they appreciate the ways in which we are approachable, flexible and accommodating.”

For anthropology and medieval and early modern studies major Bri Janson, the diversity and small size of the major is a large contributor to the student experience. 

“It’s a really small major, so you get to interact with people and hear their opinions on a daily basis,” Janson, a McMurtry College senior, said. “It’s really a privilege to study what you like to study and people in the major understand that. It’s a good environment with good people.”

According to Abby Antinossi, an anthropology and history double major, the conversations between students and professors bolster student happiness. These connections with her professors also helped her join an archeological expedition in Belize over the summer.

“I find joy in the amount of care and attention that each student receives from each professor,” Antinossi, a Sid Richardson College senior, said. “You can tell that each professor is engaged and interested in what they do.”

The opportunity for hands-on anthropology classes stood out for Campos, she said. Next semester, she plans to take an archeological field techniques class which allows students to work at an archaeological dig site. 

Janson also said she believed the work done in archaeology is fulfilling, contributing to long-term satisfaction.

“You’re dealing with community issues and you’re seeing what matters to people, which just feels like really fulfilling work,” Janson said. 

Antinossi, Campos and Janson initially took introduction to archaeology, ANTH 205, intending to fulfill distribution requirements, but quickly became more interested in the subject and continued with the major.

“[ANTH 205] was like a gateway drug to anthropology at Rice,” Antinossi said.

According to Cymene Howe, chair of the anthropology department, students pursue a wide variety of careers upon graduating. 

“[Students] seek out careers in medicine, government and law and take up leadership positions in non-profit organizations, education and social service agencies,” Howe wrote in an email to the Thresher. “They are special because they have a shared sense of caring about the world — of wanting to make it a better place and they are supportive of each other too.”

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