<p>I've transferred around and switched majors multiple times. I started out at Fordham University, and I ended up at RIT. I'm a senior, but I decided to take this quarter off and intern full time, and study abroad in the spring so I won't graduate until May 2013. I have time to study for any tests I need to, as well as take on 1 or 2 more internships or research before graduating, since I have this summer 2012 and winter 2012/13 quarter free.</p>
<p>Now my problem is this...I currently have a 3.14 CUM, and a 3.3 PFOS GPA, which I'm not feeling is very competitive. I'm only involved in the gay alliance on campus, and I also volunteer as a peer mentor for the study abroad programs, but I'm not sure if that is enough.</p>
<p>I'm thinking either Geology MS, Environmental Policy MA, or MBA:</p>
<p>Geology based program at:
University of Washington
University of Texas - Austin
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>An environmental policy degree at like
GWU
American
or a NYC based college</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>get a MBA? is that even possible with a science degree?</p>
<p>I kind of have a strong personality and I've always felt like I'd be really good at business, so maybe getting involved in the environmental related business field perhaps? I also like policy, but I don't really know if there is good enough money in that with just an environmental policy based degree - little low on the salary charts for my tastes, and geology is interesting but all the programs look super competitive.</p>
<p>any suggestions, or even what I can do to improve my chances would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Well, I’m in the geology department at UT-Austin, so maybe I can speak a little to that at least.</p>
<p>You say you have some time left before you’re going to graduate school. If you are interested in geology, you should use that time to get some research experience. REU is one of the biggest funding sources for undergraduate geology research (google it), but you can work your connections in your school as well. Plenty of people come to graduate school and burn out quickly, because research sounded fun in principle but the reality doesn’t bear that out. If you’ve demonstrated that you genuinely enjoy research before you get to grad school, even if it’s in an area that you don’t end up pursuing, that is a major plus in your favor. </p>
<p>Similarly, you should contact professors you are interested in working with before you apply - if they want you badly enough, they will make sure you are admitted.</p>
<p>Good GRE scores will work in your favor as well - good ones won’t get you in, but bad ones could keep you out. GPA works the same way, so keep trying to bring that up. No one cares about your extracurricular activities in grad school applications, so don’t sweat that.</p>
<p>Then again, you’ve still got quite a broad range of potential career paths cooking here. You probably shouldn’t go to graduate school just to have something to do, because those are the people I have seen burn out over and over again. Go because there is something that you do that you are passionate about. Unlike college, grad school is really not a good time for self-exploration. If you are still undecided, go and work for a few years, and I bet you’ll have a much better idea of what you do and don’t want to do.</p>
<p>Oh and one other thought - the M.S. is often not a terminal degree in geology programs. UT-Austin is a big exception to this, because of a very strong industry (read: oil) connection. Master’s students compose about half the department here.</p>
<p>At many other universities, it is rare to be admitted as an M.S. student. People are generally only admitted as Ph.D. students, and get an M.S. if they fail their qualifying exam/prelims/comps in their second year or so. UW appears to be in this mold, and Michigan doesn’t seem to guarantee funding for M.S. students, so it likely is as well.</p>
<p>I want a higher education, but my problem is that I don’t want to do anything and probably won’t be able to do much right out of college with a bachelors in environmental science, so my question is what can I do? I can’t really afford to just work in retail and I can’t live in anymore mediocre cities or towns.</p>
<p>I’d like to live in a big city and earn my next degree, the problem is I’m not sure exactly what has a promising future and what fits me best.</p>
<p>You first need to figure out what it is you want to do.</p>
<p>As mentioned above, graduate school is not a time for self-exploration. Academic graduate degrees are the result of an intensely-focused program designed to make you a professional researcher in your chosen field and an unmatched expert on one specific narrow topic (whatever you do your thesis/dissertation on).</p>
<p>If you don’t know what you want to do, you shouldn’t apply for graduate school. You need to seek out research experiences or internships to explore career possibilities. You’re going after a degree in environmental science - there’s any number of options I can think of, from working with companies that clean up toxic waste sites to doing ecosystem surveys for a federal land management agency. Talk with your professors and career center. :)</p>
<p>No MBA program worth a damn will admit you without a couple of years of business experience, preferably with some managerial roles.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re going to worry a ton about salary… I hate to say it, but you’re just in the wrong field. Environmental work is not on anyone’s list of top-paying career fields. As a first-year park ranger with the U.S. Forest Service, I’m at GS-5 in the civil service and make about $35,000 a year. It goes up from there, but even with a master’s degree, rangering won’t make me rich. I’m OK with that.</p>
<p>I guess when it comes to salary…that is really important to me. I live a very well-off lifestyle, and when I’m independent anything under 80-90K is probably going to be a big problem for me. I mean maybe 50-60K will be decent if I have a spouse, but I honestly don’t think I would be satisfied based on my lifestyle. I also want to live in a big city at least throughout the rest of my 20s… I’m living in Rochester, NY (mediocre), but it just isn’t big and active enough for me - I’d prefer somewhere like NYC</p>
<p>Now what I’m thinking is…
Drop the idea of going for anything really environmental science related… at least in regards to science or policy (there isn’t money in that)</p>
<p>Geology - $$$ but super competitive (I do like this, but I’m hesitant about a Ph.D)
MBA - Not possible until 3-5 years of work experience, but doable afterwards</p>
<p>New Option (and not sure why I didn’t mention this earlier):
EHS & Public Health related fields. - Occupational health and safety etc…</p>
<p>My concentration is actually in environmental sustainability, health and safety, so I will have 20 elective credits in this field. I’ve found some good programs I like, and this may possibly be a good option for me.</p>
<p>It’s going to be hard to find a job in geology in a big city, at least at the entry-level. Private employment is mostly by mining/petroleum companies, which are going to have you out in the field to start. Ditto working for public agencies such as USGS or the Forest Service. If you get a Ph.D you can go toward academia, but a lot of those jobs are in small towns too.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is, the narrower you make your criteria for a job, the less likely it is that you’re going to find a job. Be willing to be flexible. I took a barely-paid AmeriCorps internship in Juneau, Alaska - that turned into a career-track job and a fully-funded graduate program. Keep your options open.</p>
<p>Also, neither geology nor EHS jobs offer starting salaries of $80-90K. That’s just not a realistic expectation. Experienced professionals in those fields can end up at those pay levels later in their career, but you’re very unlikely to be hired straight out of graduate school with that salary.</p>
<p>Average salary for EHS specialists employed by the U.S. government: $73,000
Average salary for EHS specialists employed by management, scientific, and technical consulting services: $57,600</p>
<p>Yeah I know EHS doesn’t start off at high numbers, but it can make it there, and in bigger cities I would hope they would start off at higher salaries.</p>
<p>And if I were to go into geology, I’d probably focus in the petroleum geosciences. If you take a look at this link they make fairly decent money, but chances of me getting into a good program and getting hired may be difficult.</p>
<p>[GeoSalaries</a> Rise Almost 8 Percent - AAPG Explorer April 2011](<a href=“Explorer”>Explorer)</p>
<p>I enjoy larger cities… and a lot of science jobs and environmental jobs are just not in areas that I want to be in. I guess I made the mistake of majoring in a subject I enjoyed, because the careers seem to not be the ones I like. haha.</p>
<p>Haha no kidding. I would also like an awesome and interesting job that pays a ridiculous amount of money to support my extravagant lifestyle in a cool city that I could get with minimal extra work. Life is tough though, isn’t it?
</p>