I’m a junior in high school right now and I’m starting to look at potential colleges. I’m from the D.C. area and I want to study geology in undergraduate and then go on to study vulcanology or paleontology in graduate school. I know there are some good schools around this area such as PSU and SUNY but I really want to leave the east coast. My GPA is about a 3.85 unweighted and a 4.5 weighted (taken 6 APs so far.) I’m the president of an Honors Society and am in multiple clubs and organizations as well as being on the swim team. My SAT is a 1980 but I’m definitely going to bring up my CR so I’ll have a higher superscore (have yet to take the ACT but am going to in April.) I was wondering what schools I could possibly go to? I’m very interested in the University of British Columbia and University of Washington however I’m also interested in rural schools such as the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Are there any other good schools like this in the Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Colorado area? I know Mines in Colorado is good too but I’m very interested in looking into some rural schools that are a lot different from where I live now. I’m also a big into backpacking, mountain climbing, and skiing so it would be awesome if there were some nice backcountry and wilderness areas around. I would hope wherever I go could land me a job in the field for a while before going on to study volcanology maybe somewhere like Fairbanks. Any suggestions? Thank you so much.
Hey this is one of my areas of expertise so perhaps I can help you out. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory is run by the University of Utah and uses many researchers from Montana State U. One of the leading Yellowstone geologists is based at the University of Montana although IMO the facilities of both MT schools pale in comparison to those at U Oregon, CU Boulder, and Mines. The University of Wyoming has a pretty good geology program but the political climate of the state means that environmental issues are often swept aside there as compared to places like Boulder and Missoula.
All of the Mountain West through West Coast schools known for geology have outstanding outdoors programs.
You may also be interested in smaller schools in the Keck Consortium.
@whenhen Thanks for the information. In terms of the Montana schools do you think one is significantly better than the other? I can only visit and apply to so many schools. Thank you so much!
IMO Montana State is better than U Montana but both are rather poorly funded, and only so so academically outside of a few fields. I will say that I prefer Missoula to Bozeman, but both are nice college towns.
Keep in mind that most of the schools I discussed are rather pricy OOS (the WY, MT, and UT schools give merit aid and make establishing in state residency rather easy), so keep in mind that you may not be able to afford most of the options. Fortunately almost every reputable geology school offers at least one course in geophysics, igneous/ metamorphic petrology, and structural geology/ stratigraphy, and geochemistry which are the essential core courses an undergrad student interested in volcanology needs.
Also for obvious reasons the University of Hawaii - Manoa offers an outstanding program with incredible UG opportunities. Certainly not the school for someone who doesn’t like an urban envision and wants to ski however.
Finally check out this blog post from a member of AGU (very important geophysics organization).
http://blogs.agu.org/magmacumlaude/2013/02/24/so-you-want-to-be-a-volcanologist/
Oh and one last thing. I’m don’t know if the DC based Carnegie Institute of Washington - Geophysical Laboratory allows high schoolers to tour on certain dates but if they do, you should check it out. The people there may be able to answer any questions you, as a high schooler, have about the field. If you can’t just go to one of their public events to learn more about the discipline.
https://www.gl.ciw.edu
Thanks so much I’m checking it out right now!
Another recommendation here for the strong academic program at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Moreover, the outdoor recreation opportunities in the Black Hills region can’t be beat. Another very good Geology department in a great location can be found at Western Washington University, whose program also includes volcanology.