Schools with strong biology programs?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I am currently a freshman at a midsized liberal arts college in New York. I just recently switched my major to Environmental Science because I decided to do what I love and pursue a career working with animals.</p>

<p>However, there are not many zoology courses offered at my school - there are only 2! I know that some colleges offer many classes in zoology, and since I love and want to work with animals, I want to take as many courses in this subject as possible.</p>

<p>I am looking to transfer - I do not want to major strictly in zoology because I think that would be very limiting, so I think biology would be my best bet and would open more doors. But I really want a college that would allow me to take zoology courses as a bio major. Right now I do not care about location but I do want a larger school (15,000+ would be great).</p>

<p>Thank you for your help!</p>

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<p>Most of the best zoology programs - Michigan State, any of the OSUs, Hawaii, UF, etc. - are at large publics that do not offer much if any financial aid to OOS students. </p>

<p>U Conn has a reasonably good ecology program and is probably your best option given your size restraints. Cornell might work as well.</p>

<p>It’s a bit late in the game for transferring, though - most transfer deadlines have already passed for the fall.</p>

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<p>warblersrule: what other large publics have good programs? I appreciate the help!</p>

<p>Also: I would be transferring for the spring 2013 semester.</p>

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<p>I know you said you don’t want to major in zoology, but here is a website that purports to show the colleges in the US with zoology majors - which would imply that they have a good range of zoology courses:</p>

<p>[Schools</a> colleges universities with Zoology majors in USA](<a href=“http://www.a2zcolleges.com/majors/zoology.html]Schools”>Zoology Schools | List of Zoology Colleges & Universities in USA | A2ZColleges)</p>

<p>Note that there art two SUNYs on the list.</p>

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<p>I should clarify my earlier post. As I noted in another thread today, I think majoring in biology rather than zoology is usually a good idea. Even so, most of the colleges with decent coursework in organismal biology (ecology, botany, zoology) are large publics. </p>

<p>

I have discussed this many times over the years, as have others. In no particularly order, I’d say Michigan State, Ohio State, NC State, Oklahoma, UF, Hawaii, and Wisconsin are the best. </p>

<p>UNH, Washington State, Oregon State, Miami U, Auburn, Humboldt State, Colorado State, Texas A&M, SIUC, U Maine, Oklahoma State, and Wyoming are also quite good. Expanding to ecology programs, you can add UGA, Michigan, any of the UCs (esp. Berkeley, UCLA, and Davis), Colorado-Boulder, Washington, Rutgers, Arizona, SUNY ESF, etc. Generally speaking, most land-grant universities have decent offerings.</p>

<p>I would be wary of the link annasdad posted. Many of the schools listed do not have zoology programs (e.g. Duke, UNC, UCLA, Berkeley, Michigan, etc.), and several universities that do (NC State, UF, WSU, etc.) are missing. That said, it may be a place to start to find places with good organismal offerings, as many of the suggestions are reasonably strong in ecology or organismal bio.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much, this is really helpful. I am going to look into those schools without a doubt. :)</p>

<p>Also, do you know anything about the programs offered by Stony Brook University and UMass Amherst?</p>

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<p>See my post in this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1183866-schools-zoology-major.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1183866-schools-zoology-major.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thank you for that, very helpful.</p>

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<p>I’m having difficulty narrowing down my options, mainly because so many schools offer biology programs and zoology courses. :confused: looking for options mostly on the East Coast and Midwest if that narrows it down at all! :slight_smile: thanks everyone.</p>

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<p>Also, size-wise, decided that at least 10000 or so would work as well!</p>

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<p>College of the Atlantic? If you’re interested in environmental & marine biology . . .</p>

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<p>dodgersmom: wish it wasn’t SO small, love the location and the programs there seem interesting!</p>