Geology/water resource major

Hello,
I am looking for opinions on Geology/water resources/hydrology as a major for my D. She loves geology, and is very interested in a career as a hydrologist. I have found there are few undergrad schools for hydrology/water resources. A couple of the schools we have found that have this major are SUNY Oneonta and University of Texas at Austin. She is a good student with 1900 SAT M 680 CR 590 W 630 29 ACT GPA 93.5 UW. We are NY residents so I don’t know what her chances of getting into Texas are. She will be retaking both tests in the fall, maybe increase her chance of getting into UT. I’m not familiar with Oneonta enough to be able to guide her. I am thinking maybe she should major in geology (at an LAC) and get a master’s in hydrology, because there are many grad schools that have this major. I do know, however she would not need a master’s to work as a hydrologist. So,wondering also if it would be worth even getting a master’s, because the pay rate isn’t significantly higher than those without a master’s. Thoughts, anyone?

Is her interest in water quantity or water quality? Since water is western gold, western schools tend to have strong geohydrology programs at both the undergrad and grad levels in their geology and engineering departments or natural resources schools. Wyoming, Colorado State, Arizona State, University of Arizona for example. Utah too. The focus is both surface and groundwater, and water quantity and quality.

Penn State is also strong in this area.

My h is a water attorney and deals with water engineers and geohydrologists. I cannot think of one that went to a LAC. They all went to public universities and have engineering degrees or master’s degrees.

Penn State for hydrogeology

She is interested more in water quality. The schools you both mentioned are bigger than she wants. Not sure if Penn State you are referring to is the big campus in University Park?

Yes, in State College, PA. The focus on water quality often will show up under environmental science or natural resources schools or majors and as a biochemistry or geochemistry focus. You might come up with more options using that approach.

I assume you were referring to UT Austin in your original post? It has 50,000 students. Penn state University park is around 46,000.

Yes UT Austin. I didn’t realize Penn State is similar in size and has what she wants.

Also check the University of Minnesota. Like a lot of other universities that offer programs in water resources, it’s large. http://www.espm.umn.edu/
It is less expensive for out of state students than many other public universities.
At Minnesota, the water resources and environmental science courses are in the Dept. of Soil, Water, & Climate. You might find that water resources is sometimes combined into a soil science dept., depending on how a particular university structures its academic units.

My s is interested in studying geohydrology either from the geology side or the civil engineering side. We visited Penn State’s engineering program in March. I was struck by Penn State’s ability to make such a large school not seem so large afterall. All the Penn State grads I know say it seems big at first but it really is not. So you might have your d visit the geology side of the program and see what she thinks. Penn State is expensive for OOS students, so if money is an issue …

Penn State is a college town in the middle of a more rural area. Minnesota is in the middle of Minneapolis. My brother lives near it. I really like the Twin Cities, lots to do and lovely. It has harsh winters though. So your d may have a preference city v rural and climate.

Since you are a NY resident SUNY Binghampton might be an option. Under geology they have an environmental science focus with hydrology classes.

Thank you all for your info. I will check everything out.

I was struck by Penn State’s ability to make such a large school not seem so large after all.

Goldensrock why did you feel this way about Penn State?

To give you context, I went to Wisconsin for law school which is also around 45,000 students. Penn State seemed better organized. If you look at a campus map, it looks like though the school has grown over the years, they have strived to keep a basic rectangle shape to the campus so it is not spread out all over the place. There is a physical sense of unity. “We are Penn State” is not just about University Park but the whole university system. So there is a cultural sense if unity. That seems to flow down into the various schools. I was blown away at just how well organized and run the engineering school is. I did not sense that was unique to that program. The university’s mission is to educate undergrads and grads students. That really came through. The rest I guess was intuition. Given how well organized they are and how much they care about providing a quality education, it just felt like a school where most students find their place or their niche. Penn State grads have confirmed my impressions were accurate.

Thank you. It’s too bad it’s so expensive for out of state students!

Agreed. Though we can afford Penn State without loans, our family has decided that my s has two perfectly good engineering programs he can attend that only have a coa of $20,000. There is then $$$ leftover in the future to help him get established.

UT Austin is also very expensive for OOS and is highly competitive to get in for OOS.