I am 17 and homeschooled. I want to become an anthropologist. Please be brutally honest with me. Bad or good idea?

An Anthropologist is a person who has a masters or Ph.D. in anthropology and either work for a university, a museum, a government entity, or a private entity. Most anthropologists spend a great deal of time doing fieldwork -- both as graduate students and as anthropologists. In general, it doesn't pay well and you may live for months or even years on a dig site. Dig sites are dirty, prone to all kinds of weather, and the work is slow and tedious. The elation of making a find is very real. People who love anthropology love it. People who don't go in a different direction. As a high school student, you have plenty of time to decide. You can take anthropology classes at college and even get involved in fieldwork before you make your final decision.

As for costs, you are looking at four years to get a bachelor's degree, two more to earn a Masters, and anywhere between three and seven more to get a Ph.D. To earn a Ph.D., you have to do original research and publish that research. The cost of all of that depends on many things including whether you attend public or private schools, and what kind of financial aid you receive.

Now is a really good time for you and your parents to start looking into colleges you might want to attend, the costs, and how your family income relates to possible need-based financial aid at these schools.

You realize you will need a Masters degree, if not a Docotrate degree for this field. Jobs in this field are few and far between. Having a job you love is wonderful. BUT you still need to pay the bills and living paycheck to paycheck is stressful. And you are assuming you can get and keep a job in your field. You can be lucky to get a grunt job at a museum.

Do you research into what jobs you qualify for and how available those jobs are. Talk to people in the field.

You should be going on college visits now. Call and get a meeting wiht the admissions office, get a tour of the campus. And ask for a meeting with the head of the anthropology department or a professor in the department.

If you want it, go for it. Mid way through college you can change your mind if you want. Good luck.

It's a huge mistake to be homeschooled, but that's a subject for another answer. I work with anthropologists who do some fascinating things. But they have Ph.D.s, which is what you're really need. Then get a job teaching at a university and you can do your research in far corners of the earth. If it's your passion, do it.

It's an interesting field to study, but there aren't many jobs out there, so the competition is fierce for the ones that are available. So that means that you may have the credentials to work as an anthropologist, but end up working at Starbucks or some government job that doesn't relate to your field. It's your life and your choice, but you still have to be able to support yourself.

I homeschool my kids and nephews. I tell them to follow their passion, not the prophet.. If you decide to get a job based on the income, you will spend your entire life miserable. That isn’t living.. Wake up.. Go to a job you hate. Come home exhausted. Eat. Shower. Bed. Repeat. Look forward to a vacation once a year.. Wouldn’t you rather look forward to work? Now, you may not end up in your dream job out in the field to start with. You may end up in a museum at first or writing your colleagues research papers and filling out grant papers.. All jobs start with grunt work.. But eventually you will get your chance even if you have to volunteer for it first.

If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.

i would do it if thats what you want to do, you only live once