<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am looking at large state schools in the Midwest, and I'd like to choose the ones with the best environmental science programs. Right now I am looking at Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Missouri. Which one of these has the strongest reputation?</p>
<p>Maybe Michigan or Purdue</p>
<p>All of them are going to have comprehensive environmental science programs. Wisconsin is likely the most well known although the others all have at least serviceable to outstanding programs. Program reputation tends not to matter for most environmental fields although this varies by subfield. </p>
<p>If you’re not aware, environmental science is an extremely broad field which encompasses everything from sediment analysis to urban planning. Therefore, simply asking which school has the best/most reputable program isn’t the best way to go. I’d imagine, based solely on its location, that UMinn has a fantastic urban planning program while the University of Nebraska has excellent offerings in agricultural irrigation.</p>
<p>Is cost an issue for you? If you are out of state or don’t live in a state with reciprocity to a given school, the cost for an OOS students is pretty high at some of these schools, and they don’t give good aid to OOS students.</p>
<p>cost isn’t an issue for me, i’m not sure what I want specifically so it would be nice to have a school that is solid across the board</p>
<p>I would concentrate on the Land-Grant universities as they tend to have the widest variety of environmentally related programs and courses.</p>
<p>As an example, I am very familiar with the U Iowa and Iowa State, Iowa State is the Land-Grant school. They have a wider variety of majors to choose from.</p>
<p>At U Iowa, you would be looking at Env Science, Civil Engineering, Geology, and Geography as the primary environmental science type majors. </p>
<p>At Iowa State, you would be looking at Env Science, Geology, Meteorology, Civil Engineering, Ag Engineering, Forestry, Nat Resource Restoration, Wildlife Biology, Fisheries, Community and regional planning, landscape architecture, agronomy, agroecology, horticulture… as the primary environmental science type majors.</p>
<p>Much better selection of potential majors and coursework at Iowa State vs U Iowa. </p>
<p>Land-Grant schools on your list…UW, U IL, Mizzou, U NE, and U MN.</p>
<p>I would probably have Iowa State on my list over U Iowa, Mizzou, KU, and possibly U Neb depending on your area of interests.</p>