Credits required
180 Oregon State University is on a quarter-term system. There are four quarters each year and classes are 11 weeks long. This program's 180 quarter credits are equal to 120 semester credits.*
Cost per credit
$350 Based on current tuition rates. No additional charge for nonresident students. Does not include course materials and associated fees and expenses.
Delivery
Online You can complete all or nearly all requirements of this program online. Only the archaeology option requires site-based field school experience. View the curriculum.
Start terms
4 per year

B.A./B.S. Anthropology – Online

Curriculum

This is a 180-credit undergraduate program at the end of which you will earn either a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. Once you are admitted, you will work with an academic advisor to construct a detailed plan for the completion of your degree.

Rachel Hensley, OSU Ecampus anthropology graduate with her children and dog

Taking part in a faculty-led study abroad program enriched Rachel Hensley's experience as an OSU Ecampus anthropology student. Read more »

Degree requirements

A minimum of 180 quarter credits — at least 60 of which must be upper-division credits — are required to graduate with your anthropology degree, including:

Honors degree online

As an undergraduate degree-seeking student, you can apply to earn an honors degree online in your academic major. Earning this prestigious degree gives you the opportunity to collaborate with faculty on research, complete a comprehensive thesis experience and engage in co-curricular activities.

Specialization options

You can tailor your program studies to align with your interests and career goals by choosing from one of the following areas of study:

Sample course topics

  • Evolution of people
  • Peoples of the world
  • Global conflicts
  • Wealth and poverty
  • Forensic anthropology
  • Biological and cultural constructions of race
  • Natural resources and community values
  • North America after the ice age

Additional program features

Archaeology field school

The program's archaeology specialization option requires 12 credits of site-based field school experience. The experience can be completed through a program that's convenient to your location or through one of the OSU field school options.

Transfer credits

Some of the degree requirements can be transferred from other colleges and universities. Please note that a minimum of 45 credits of the last 75 must be completed at Oregon State (online or on campus) to meet the academic residency requirement.

Previously earned credits will need to be reviewed upon admittance to OSU for appropriate articulation. Additional information about transferring credits is available through OSU’s Transfer Credit Central.

Add a minor or undergraduate certificate

As an OSU Ecampus student, you can select from a diverse list of online minors or undergraduate certificates to add to your degree program. Combine anthropology with the Undergraduate Certificate in Food in Culture and Social Justice to position yourself to identify and promote food justice on multiple levels. Or consider a business or environmental sciences minor to create an even more powerful résumé fit for today's job market.

Login

Notice: Oregon State University students may now take part in internships anywhere in the United States. Read more about Ecampus’ authorization and compliance.

State of Colorado: This program requires an internship. Although Oregon State University participates in the National Council of State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (NC-SARA), due to Colorado’s Workers’ Compensation Act, we have limited authorization to offer programs that require internships in the state of Colorado. The Colorado internship site must provide workers’ compensation. In some cases, a proposed internship site may not provide worker’s compensation insurance and, as a result, is not available as an internship site. Please contact Ecampus Compliance and Reporting Coordinator Donald O’Dell with questions.

Related stories

Paying it forward to benefit Indigenous students  

Luhui Whitebear has been closely connected to Oregon State University’s Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws in different ways during her academic career. While pursuing an anthropology bachelor’s degree online with Oregon State Ecampus, she would drop in whenever she came to campus to pick...

Sustainability, anthropology grad finds inspiration amid poverty, disaster

Inside a classroom in the remote countryside of Central Asia in 2013, Joshua Chan Burgos was jolted into a new and ambitious sense of what he needed to do. Volunteering for a nonprofit, he was surrounded by orphans and saw young faces filled with excitement.

Reclaiming tribal histories, one page at a time

A Grand Ronde tribal member, Native American anthropologist and educator, David Lewis is committed to shining a light on our nation’s forgotten and suppressed tribal histories, and sharing what he learns with the next generation of thinkers brings that work full circle.