<p>I'm crazy about animals, and always have been. When I found out that Wildlife, or Wildlife Biology, programs even existed I knew it was exactly what I wanted.
But I'm starting to doubt. Just a little. Not in an earth shattering way. </p>
<p>I want to focus on animal behavior. I'm not very concerned with how their organs work; I'm far more interested with how they think. But I do like physiology and biology, and I'm desperate to take a mammalogy class. I would love to spend my days caring for and rehabilitating animals. Or even just observing them in the wild, though I'd much rather interact with them. </p>
<p>But I have other interests. Writing, for one. I love to write. And, go figure, my favorite subject is animals. But I work very well with people. I might lose my mind if I were stuck camping for ages with no one but zebras to talk to. (Though I love zebras and would take the opportunity to study them no matter how isolating it would be. It just might not be a very good choice, in the long term.) When I was little I thought that I would love to help make a wildlife documentary. I wanted to go to exotic locations and work with a crew to track and document animals and educate the public in it, so that they could learn to love them and care about conservation. </p>
<p>I'm not crazy about math or chemistry. I can do it, but not with joy. And I know it's a very math/chem-heavy major. But if I get to do what I want (work with or observe wild mammals) then it's worth it, I think. I don't know.</p>
<p>Do you guys think this is the major I want? Or is there something similar that suits me more? I'm happy with the idea of being a Wildlife major, but I'm not one yet. i'm really interested in looking at similar programs and figuring out which I prefer.</p>
<p>I'm attending a California CC and am planning to transfer. What colleges should I look at? I've looked into Humboldt State, Oregon State University, and Colorado State University. Does anyone know anything about those?</p>
<p>Thank you so much in advance!</p>
<p>Initially I was going to say that sounds like zoology, but when I looked up the difference, wildlife biology seemed to fit your description more (it seems more focused on animal behavior than the other). If you can find any, you should look up people who’ve gotten their degrees in wildlife biology, and see where they’re working now, and whether those jobs seem appealing.
I don’t know how far from home you’re willing to go (I’m assuming you live on the west coast), but there’s SUNY-ESF (State University of New York- College of Environmental Science and Forestry), which I’ve heard is one of the best colleges for getting a specialized degree in that field, and they do offer wildlife biology. I’m considering environmental or forest science myself, and I’ve heard Humboldt state is good for natural sciences, the curriculum involves a lot of working in the field, but I don’t know anything about the other two.</p>
<p>Humboldt State is an outstanding school for all things environmental science related, but I’m not sure about wildlife biology. I’ve worked with very successful Auburn grads on a habitat restoration project so you might want to check out the school if you can afford it.</p>
<p>I believe University of Montana is also outstanding in the field. </p>
<p>My friend is an animal science major at University of Wyoming and loves it. She’s indicated that the program has a heavy focus on range land management, although IDK what that is. </p>
<p>NAU might be a solid option, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>I think my daughter could have written the original post - everything you said is right up her alley. Her dream job would be working for National Geographic or writing documentaries on conservation. In fact, she’s off this weekend to study sea turtles for a couple of weeks in the Caribbean. At this point, she’s not sure if she is more interested in terrestrial wildlife biology or marine biology, so is looking for a good, solid program in zoology or ecology/evolutionary biology for her undergrad. She loved Colorado State, and is also looking at U of Montana, Oregon State, Western Washington, UNC-Wilmington and several LACs, including Eckerd, Juniata, and St. Lawrence. UC-Santa Cruz and Humboldt are both fantastic, especially for marine science, but unfortunately we are OOS so those would be incredibly expensive. You have many great choices out there - just be sure to find a school where you can get involved in field research early on and take advantage of every opportunity to get hands-on experience.</p>
<p>Field biology may not be a booming field these days, but if its what you love, there are opportunities out there for you. You will just need to be creative about finding them! There is quite a lot of advice on these boards regarding this field, so do a few searches and see what you come up with… And good luck to you!</p>