I am a high school junior and I am currently considering a few different majors for college including environmental science. I know that liberal arts may be a bad idea for a science major, but I am intrigued by the generous aid that some schools offer as well as the small school charm (a lot of unversities around the mid-atlantic aren’t as scenic as the small schools). I would only go to a liberal arts school if it had a REALLY good environmental science program and good job placement.
I know getting employed in science is fairly competitve, and with this in mind, would it make a difference (pay, employability, etc) if I got a degree at a liberal arts school or a public university?
Also, any college suggestions for the best possible outcome with this major? (Looking around Maryland or Pennsylvania but I can also look in the northeast).
Middlebury and Colby are liberal arts schools with very strong programs in this area.
You really can’t go wrong with either – many universities are very strong in environmental science (Cornell, Michigan State, UC Davis, U Florida, WUStL, etc.) as are quite a few LACs (Conn College, Whitman, Carleton, Allegheny, College of the Atlantic, etc.).
I recommend looking for colleges with geology programs, since the lack of a geology department limits environmental science offerings. Surprisingly, even some colleges with lots of money and strong science offerings, like Grinnell and Emory, have not invested in geology departments. Among LACs, check out the Keck Consortium schools in particular.
https://keckgeology.org/member-schools/
The upside to majoring in geology or environmental science is that they’re fairly unpopular majors at even the largest schools, partly because earth science is taught so poorly at the secondary level (why is there still no AP Geology??). I studied environmental science at a university (Duke) and thought it was the best of both worlds, offering the small classes of a LAC (my largest class in my major had 30 students) and the resources of a major research university (a marine lab, a primate center, a 7000 acre forest with research stations, etc.).
Science majors like biology, chemistry, and geology are liberal arts majors, so that’s not true. There are two primary differences between liberal arts colleges and universities:
(1) Universities have graduate programs like MA/PhD programs, medical schools, and law schools. Liberal arts colleges usually don’t.
(2) Private liberal arts colleges are typically very small, enrolling around 1000-3000 undergraduates. Most universities range from somewhat larger (~4000-6000 undergrads) to much, much larger (upwards of 30,000 undergraduates).
The liberal arts include fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences and mathematics, of which all could be potentially foundational for environmental studies.
For some excellent environmental studies programs, look into Allegheny, Bowdoin, Colby, College of the Atlantic, Hamilton, Hobart William Smith, Middlebury, St. Lawrence.
LAC’s are excellent choices for this major. My daughter attended Juniata College and majored in Environmental Science. She is now applying to grad schools for her Masters. As mentioned, many LAC’s have embraced this major and have growing numbers choosing it as their major in the sciences.
I appreciate everyone’s feedback! I should have mentioned that my SAT is probably going to fall around 1280-1300 and I will probably have around a 3.8-4.0 (4.0 so far, it all depends on next year) for context.
If you are sure you want environmental science or an adjacent major, another school to look at would be SUNY ESF. It is LAC-sized (1800 undergrads) but also has cross-registration with the immediately-adjacent private Syracuse University, which broadens the range of available classes. In addition to enviro science, ESF has majors like environmental resource engineering, bioprocess engineering, and enviro engineering, which may offer enhanced employment prospects with a bachelor’s-level education as compared with pure enviro science in which a graduate degree is often needed. https://www.esf.edu/academics/ It’s a good school to consider if you’re interested in hands-on field work. For an OOS public it’s relatively affordable.
U of Vermont is also great for all things environmental, and as a smaller, majority-OOS flagship it has some of the virtues of an LAC.
Agree with warblersrule’s recommendation to look at LAC’s with geology offerings; also look for strength in GIS as that’s an important skill-set in the environmental field these days.
I really should look into SUNY ESF more. I did not know about all of those opportunities you had listed so thank you so much for your suggestion!
Juniata and Allegheny get recommendations from me based upon student experience I’ve seen - esp Juniata. If you happened to want to consider FL, Eckerd in St Pete is a terrific ES school too, but I’ve no idea if heading that far away is appealing or not.
Your stat’s should be fine for many of the colleges mentioned here. You might be a reach for some of the top 50 LAC’s. My daughter landed on the plants and trees side of environmental science. She has done multiple internships for the National Forest Service in Alaska and worked in summer programs in West Virginia and Marin County with the Redwoods in California.
New College of Florida is an LAC in Florida that has a good environmental science program. I would look into it if I were you. LACs are VERY good for science, contrary to popular thought. It’s the engineering part of STEM that doesn’t usually exist at LACs. Science and math are core parts of the liberal arts.
Adding anothetbecommendation for Juniata. They have a field station where students can live for a semester just doing environmental stuff.