Hi! I am really excited about a major in Environmental Studies (basically a mixture of environmental science, environmental policy, and some social sciences), and I was wondering which schools had the best programs for this? Any recommendations for schools to look into would be helpful!
Allegheny
Bowdoin
Colby
College of the Atlantic (small, focused)
Eckerd
Hamilton (Adirondack semester open to students from other colleges)
Hobart & William Smith
Middlebury (oldest ES program in the U.S.)
St. Lawrence (Adirondack semester)
For a while my son was interested in Environmental (but changed his mind) and as we did our research Allegheny came out on top. Very impressive.
Eckerd College. Fantastic program, wonderful professor/mentor program, research can begin as early as freshman year, location allows year round study outside, availability of internships and diverse study abroad program. Great merit aid as well. www.eckerd.edu/environmental-studies/why-environmental-studies-at-eckerd/
You’ve gotten good suggestions of liberal arts colleges above, and one could add many more (Connecticut College, Juniata, Occidental, Whitman, UPS, Lewis & Clark, Sewanee, Macalester, Carleton, Colgate, Pomona, CMC, Lawrence, Wesleyan, and Beloit, to name only a few). There are many excellent options among universities as well, however.
Cornell, Duke, and Stanford are arguably the top options among private universities, with Duke having the strongest program in environmental policy, but most of the top universities are perfectly adequate for environmental studies.
Syracuse is an excellent option among the slightly less selective universities. It has a very strong public policy program with particular strength in environmental policy. Many of its environmental programs are joint programs with SUNY ESF, one of the best colleges in the country for environmental science/studies.
The flagship and land grant universities in your state may provide the best bang for your buck. Most have superb offerings in environmental science and studies – Michigan, Michigan State, SUNY ESF, U Maine, Indiana U, UVM, U Oregon, Oregon State, UC Davis, Berkeley, U Kansas, U Montana, U Wyoming, and so on.
As a slight correction, Middlebury has the oldest undergraduate program in environmental science.