<p>I am a senior in high school and after finding many forums like this, I have found that most people suggest a bachelors in Biology and a Masters (and PhD) in a more specific field of Zoology. What is your opinion?</p>
<p>I live in Florida and would like to stay in state, but I am also open to good schools around the country. Can you suggest any?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>UC San Diego and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. [UC</a> San Diego Home Page](<a href=“http://ucsd.edu/]UC”>http://ucsd.edu/)
[::</a> SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY, UC SAN DIEGO : TO SEEK, TEACH AND COMMUNICATE ::](<a href=“http://scrippseducation.ucsd.edu/]::”>http://scrippseducation.ucsd.edu/)</p>
<p>Marine Biology, biological oceanography, marine sciences or marine zoology careers are fundamentally graduate study fields. That is, you’ll have one heck of a time trying to get a job with just a Bachelor’s degree. Therefore, it’s good advice to major in just about any science discipline because you’ll do most of your marine subject coursework in graduate school.</p>
<p>Check the curriculum vitae of the faculty at many Marine Biology departments.</p>
<p>Also, I hear that U of Florida’s undergraduate department is not bad at all, Florida State, too. So it may not make financial sense to go out of state or study at a private school like U of Miami (reputedly excellent in Marine Biology). If you do go out of state, for the best bang for your buck I’d look at U of South Carolina, which has an excellent Marine Biology faculty. Other top Marine Biology departments are:</p>
<p>U California-San Diego (Scripps)
U of Washington
Oregon State University
MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
U of Rhode Island</p>
<p>Absolutely stay in state. Even with a grad degree, you’re choosing a career path that will never provide a high income. Nothing wrong with that. However, to go into debt for it would be totally foolish. Unless you have wealthy parents footing the bill, choose a relatively inexpensive school.</p>
<p>^ Agree. If you look at University of California, San Diego, which houses the #1 rated Scripps Institution of Oceanography [::</a> :: SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY, UC SAN DIEGO :: :::](<a href=“http://sio.ucsd.edu/]::”>http://sio.ucsd.edu/), there is no undergraduate Marine Biology or Oceanography degree… just the usual Biology, Chemisty, BioChemistry, Geology (part of Oceanography), etc. Oceanography, Marine Science, etc. is a graduate level specialization in the fields of biology, chemistry and earth science.</p>
<p>I can endorse Miami. The University of Miami requires its students to double major in one of the “basic” sciences, (Biology, Chemistry, Physics or - possibly - Geology) in addition to their Marine Sciences major. There are also numerous research opportunities available to freshmen.</p>
<p>DunninLA correctly notes that Scripps is a graduate-only program, as is the comparable program on the east coast (MIT-WHOI). While one can get a very good undergraduate education at UCSD, it would certainly not be worth OOS tuition. For that matter, I doubt any OOS publics would be, unless you get an extreme amount of financial aid.</p>
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Florida has lots of great options! </p>
<p>The Rosenstiel school at Miami is the strongest program in FL and one of the very strongest in the country. UF has an extremely strong zoology program and has decent offerings in marine science, as does FSU. USF is less selective and would make a nice safety; it’s very strong in marine science. Among smaller schools, Eckerd is extraordinarily well represented in marine science. New College may be worth a look, but I’m less familiar with their offerings.</p>
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I agree with them. For a solid grounding in marine biology, you’ll need a wide range of courses at the undergraduate level anyway - genetics, ecology, biochemistry, botany, evolutionary biology, embryology, etc. You’ll also need a solid grounding in chemistry (one year of basic chem, one year of organic chem) and preferably at least a basic background in physics, statistics, and/or computer science. </p>
<p>There’s nothing you can do with a marine biology or zoology degree that you can’t do with a biology degree, but the reverse is not always the case.</p>