A programmatic powerhouse. Full financial aid and funding. A lens-worthy location. The reasons students choose the UC Irvine School of Social Sciences for their graduate pursuits are many. The Department of Anthropology within social sciences is known for its collegiality, creative teaching and research, and leading role developing new methods, theory and applications of anthropological knowledge. Faculty and graduate students are known for their research in economic anthropology, the anthropology of law, migration studies, urban and environmental studies, science and technology studies, security studies, and data studies. UCI anthropology graduate students move through a carefully designed series of courses that focus in the first year on the field’s history and theory then in the second year on ethnographic methods and research design. Graduate students also take a wide array of elective courses, both in and outside the department. Many pursue concentrations in critical theory, feminist studies, or medicine, science and technology studies.

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UCI anthropology offers admitted students 6-7 years of guaranteed funding. Faculty and students also have a very strong record earning competitive research funding from agencies like the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Social Science Research Council, Fulbright Foundation, and Ford Foundation. This past year, UCI anthropologists brought in $1 million in external grant funding.

UCI anthropologists publish widely, reaching anthropological, interdisciplinary and public audiences - through journal articles, books, films, digital exhibits, sound installations and other media. UCI anthropologists also have diverse career paths - in academia, business and the public sector.

UCI's campus community is notably diverse, and is known for supporting first generation students.

In 2015 and 2017, the New York Times ranked UCI as the #1 university doing the most for the American dream. In 2020, Money Magazine ranked UCI the #6 best college in the U.S. and U.S. News & World Report ranked UCI the #9 public university in the U.S.