If I wanted to become a Physical/Forensic Anthropologist, where could I get a job?

I am a senior in high school and I am looking into Physical/Forensic Anthropology. I here that the field is not in great demand and that scares me! I was wondering if anyone knew if you could get a job with the FBI or with crime labs. Are physical/forensic anthropologist qualified to work as forensic scientists? Also, I just want to get a poll, do you think it's worth it for me to go into this field?|||This is a very specialized field. You state that you are a senior in high school. Do some research and check the job availability opposed to how many people are majoring in this field. Forensics is very broad field and as a forensic anthropologist there may not be many jobs. You can stay in forensics but make yourself more marketable. There is forensic chemistry, forensic psychology, forensic sociology, the list goes on. Hope this helps.|||the government or a university...


.|||Forensic anthropologists are specialized in understanding the human skeleton (osteology). So they are qualified to identify bones and any other work that goes along with that. A physical anthropologist is a more broad description and can describe anyone who works with primates, human evolution, skeletal bio, etc.





This is definitely not a job high in demand. Crime labs typically cannot afford to pay a forensic anthro (especially one with a PhD) so they only call them when necessary. So they typically don't have forensic anthros as employees because they don't always need them. They're only called in to identify if bones found are human or non-human, and figure out the identity (sex, age, ancestry, size, etc), how long the bones have been out lying around, and other such info about the bones.





Forensic anthropologists can work in their own labs, for research labs, government and advertising agencies, and in academia.





Since you're still young, I'd say keep doing more research and see what other jobs are available for physical anthropologists. Forensic anthros have to deal with smelly, decomposing, maggot-ridden, bodies; work long hours carefully digging out bones from a site, get rotting human body fluids on their clothes and skin, etc. It's great you know which part of anthropology you feel strongly about. In undergrad college, you will get your bachelors in Anthro which requires you to take classes in all of the subfields of anthro. If your college offers Forensic courses, take those too.





A forensic anthro is not qualified to work as a forensic scientist. Forensic scientists deal with everything from chemistry, physics, biology, toxicology, etc. and also need to be trained in the proper documenting techniques, as well as procedures need to collect, study, and identify evidence from crime scenes. That requires extra training, and forensic anthropologists really only study the human skeleton.