Our rising senior son has a good list of around 15 schools to get down to 10 or so for Environmental Science/ Ecology & Evolutionary Bio related major. Before it gets locked down I’d be interested to hear of any suggestions.
He’s favoring UC schools though we are OOS (NJ), also mid-large research publics on coasts/ lakes - he wants to do research asap. Visited and liked UCSB, UCSD, UCI, UMD, UVA/ JHU (unlikely), UVM. More to visit over summer are UWisc, UT Austin, Northeastern.
I’d like to at least look at some private/ LAC for maybe more chance of merit and/ or confirm his current list is the best fit.
First go at ACT 29, retaking soon. GPA 3.8.
Varsity & club soccer, 2 year president of Env Club, lots of environmental community service, youth soccer referee, University Bio lab intern.
He’s a social lad, probably some partying, maybe not Greek, definitely sport inclined and wants a location with options for things to do and be part of the community.
Thanks for any input and good luck in your process.
How is your financial picture since you have OOS colleges on your list? UCSB/UCSD and UCI will offer little to no financial aid to OOS students so you are looking at being full pay at $65K/year. If this is financially doable for the UC’s, you should add UC Davis to the list since the Environmental Science programs are highly ranked.
He will also need to bump up his ACT to 31+ for the UC’s.
Thanks, his counselor suggested Davis too and I like what I’ve read. Full tuition won’t be easy, though not out of the question, but wherever we consider the full $ seem to be somewhat close to that. We don’t want to do in-state and tbh Rutgers isn’t nearly as favorable to NJ students as UC and some of the others on his list for their in-state.
I have been researching schools for my youngest daughter with an eye towards similar majors, although I have been focusing on schools with a higher acceptance rate and lower selectivity than those on your list. A few schools you might consider:
Western Washington University - Look at the Huxley College of the Environmental and the Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies. Many students in the ES major and a very broad range of courses.
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - Quite specialized, but take a look at its relationship with Syracuse University. The campuses are adjacent, and you can take classes at Syracuse. Of course, sports at Syracuse are Division I.
University of Minnesota Morris - Probably an admissions safety and very affordable, with an attractive biology and environmental studies program. It probably won’t fit some of your other criteria.
New College of Florida - Very unique curriculum.
Eckerd College - Lots of ES majors and marine biology as well.
If you look at LACs, pay close attention to the range of biology courses offered. Some focus almost exclusively on human biology. Some offer a wider range of courses, including those that might be of greater interest to someone interested in environmental science, such as limnology, botany, animal behavior, entomology, herpetology, wildlife biology, ornithology, mycology, and ichthyology.
When looking at environmental science/study departments at LACs, a big turn off is when a school leads with the school’s student run farm (usually a large vegetable garden). My children started playing and working in the garden when they were toddlers. We are looking for something more…
In terms of an alternative grouping to your son’s current list of schools, he could look into LACs strong in environmental studies such as Hobart William Smith, Allegheny, Eckerd and St. Lawrence. Depending on his specific interests, his research opportunities could be enhanced at undergraduate-focused colleges of this type. All of these schools do offer merit scholarship recognition, I believe. More selective LACs could of course be excellent, though at most their financial assistance would be need-based only. I concur that Davis could be a good UC addition.
Lots of terrific suggestions in dadof2d’s post above. I second NCF, Eckerd, and SUNY ESF in particular.
There have been many, many threads on environmental science over the years, so I recommend doing a search. A few to consider:
Allegheny
Colorado College
Connecticut College
College of the Atlantic
Franklin & Marshall
Juniata
Lawrence
Ohio Wesleyan
Warren Wilson
Whitman
Wooster
There are many good options among the highly selective LACs as well - Bowdoin, Carleton, Colby, Colgate, Hamilton, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, and so on. Merit aid is unlikely/nonexistent at these schools. Admission may be more likely at the test-optional or text-flexible LACs like Bowdoin.
Among universities, take a look at U Miami, arguably the finest undergraduate program in marine science in the US. Tulane is a good option as well. Both schools are reaches until he gets that ACT score up, though.
Ithaca College offers cross-registration with Cornell, which is hard to beat for resources in environmental science and organismal biology.
URI is a perfect option for you and is priced very reasonably. Your sons stats would make this a very doable option but it is a more competitive major and connected with its world class oceanography programs. Here’s how they frame the major. And the also have the bay campus for many of these classes.
“Environmental Science and Management is a multi-disciplinary major, incorporating course work in water resources, wetland ecology, wildlife biology, soil science, forestry, and land use/environmental quality relationships with other disciplines. This is a comprehensive major that includes a solid background in the basic sciences and exposure to a broad array of subject matter relating to environmental science and management. This major provides solid preparation for more specialized study at the graduate level. There are three minor fields of study available within the Department of Natural Resources Science at URI that may serve as focus areas for students in the Environmental Science and Management major: GIS/Remote Sensing; Soil-Environmental Science; and Wildlife and Conservation Biology.”
Thank you everyone. We haven’t looked at the majority of these schools so will now with interest. We aren’t from the US so not familiar with a lot of schools. Appreciate the suggestions greatly. And he’ll be working on the next ACT score.
I see they’ve already been mentioned, but with the stats you listed and wanting to consider LACs, definitely put a priority on checking out Juniata (PA) and Eckerd (FL). Both are very good in the environmental fields. Eckerd gives U Miami a run for their money for top of the Marine Science field with my nod going to Eckerd since U Miami uses a ton of grad students for the “fun” stuff and Eckerd does not. Eckerd also has their facilities on campus. U Miami’s is on the other side of town. (Eckerd’s campus is right on the water, UM is not.)
All three schools ought to be on your list to be investigated IMO.
Thanks. Tulane seems a good fit, and I’ve been advocating URI for a while. He’s not keen on going to FL - it seems most of the boys at his school are targeting it. Makes sense for good Marine/ Env Science programs so we will explore the options.
We were planning a trip to Syracuse and so also SUNY ESF, can’t ignore the tuition.
Environmental science/studies is very broad so most schools cannot be strong in all areas. Also, there is no way to cover all areas in depth in the context of an undergrad degree. Ideally, you want to match your interests to the schoo’s strengths. LACs and smaller research U’s tend to have programs centered around either geology or biology. Based on your expressed interests you should look for bio centric programs. Within bio-centric programs there tends to be a skew toward either terrestrial or marine environments. It is not clear from your post which way you are leaning. As you might expect, marine centric programs tend to be located on the coasts, and terrestrial centric programs tend to be located more inland.
If you have interests in the built environment as well as the natural environment, then a school with civil/environmental engineering and/or urban/environmental planning is important. If you have interests in energy than engineering programs can be important. If you have interests in environmental health then medical/veterinary/nutrition schools can be important. If you have an interest in food systems then nutrition is important. Of course, this only makes a difference if these schools/departments participate in the program and/or are accessible to you.
One can usually tell where the strength of the program lies by determining in which department it resides and you can tell which departments participate by looking at the available courses.
In larger public universities, programs tend to be centered around industries (forestry/wildlife, agriculture/nutrition, marine/fisheries, energy) that are important to the particular state (so they get research funding).
Googling “Land Grant colleges” (for terrestrial), “Sea Grant Colleges” for Marine and “Sun Grant Coleges” for Energy
can provide a starting point.