<p>I'm trying to search for the best undergrad program for ecology or wildlife studies; something along those lines. East coast school would be best. My profile: academics: 4.0 GPA, 3rd in class, rigorous classes, 1820 SAT, 29 ACT. extracurricular: Cross Country, Mock Trial, Culture Club, Rotary Interact, National Honor Society, Winter and Spring Strength and Conditioning Programs (will have been in activities for 3 or 4 years at time of graduation), volunteering weekly at schools and library, play clarinet in high school's Wind Ensemble for 4 years. Thank you in advance for any help.</p>
<p>If you’ll go a little west–Wisconsin Madison.</p>
<p>[UW</a> FWE: Main](<a href=“http://forestandwildlifeecology.wisc.edu/]UW”>http://forestandwildlifeecology.wisc.edu/)</p>
<p>University of Florida </p>
<p>[Office</a> of the University Registrar](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/programs/majors/wildlife.html]Office”>http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/programs/majors/wildlife.html)</p>
<p>Georgia:
[University</a> of Georgia: School of Ecology](<a href=“http://www.ecology.uga.edu/]University”>http://www.ecology.uga.edu/)</p>
<p>Vermont:
[Home</a> | The Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources](<a href=“http://www.uvm.edu/rsenr/]Home”>Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources | Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources | The University of Vermont)</p>
<p>SUNY:
[SUNY-ESF</a>, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry](<a href=“http://www.esf.edu/admissions/programs.htm]SUNY-ESF”>http://www.esf.edu/admissions/programs.htm)</p>
<p>And, if you’ll consider going west:
Minnesota:
[Fisheries</a> and Wildlife : College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences : University of Minnesota](<a href=“http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/FW/index.htm]Fisheries”>http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/FW/index.htm)
[U</a> of M: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior](<a href=“http://www.cbs.umn.edu/eeb/]U”>Ecology, Evolution and Behavior | College of Biological Sciences)</p>
<p>Colorado State:
[FS</a> Study Options](<a href=“http://warnercnr.colostate.edu/fs-study-options/]FS”>http://warnercnr.colostate.edu/fs-study-options/)</p>
<p>Washington:
[College</a> of the Environment](<a href=“http://coenv.washington.edu/]College”>http://coenv.washington.edu/)</p>
<p>Oregon State:
[Department</a> of Fisheries and Wildlife - Oregon State University](<a href=“http://fw.oregonstate.edu/]Department”>http://fw.oregonstate.edu/)</p>
<p>Montana:
[Wildlife</a> Biology Program - The University of Montana](<a href=“http://www.cfc.umt.edu/wbio/]Wildlife”>Come Get Wild)</p>
<p>Virginia Tech sounds like a place you might want to look into as well. One of the best schools in the country for your intended field. Good luck!</p>
<p>[College</a> of Natural Resources and Environment | Virginia Tech](<a href=“http://cnre.vt.edu/]College”>http://cnre.vt.edu/)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/pros_undergrad.htm[/url]”>http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/pros_undergrad.htm</a></p>
<p>[Department</a> of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences](<a href=“http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/]Department”>http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/)</p>
<p>Zapfino’s got a good list.</p>
<p>You really may want to consider heading out west for the major. With your stats I’d also add:</p>
<p>UC Davis (great ranked program)
UC Santa Barbara
U Arizona</p>
<p>I’d also add U Colorado (Boulder) to Colorado State along with Purdue, Michigan State and Ohio State to Minn and Wisconsin in the midwest.</p>
<p>Would it be a better idea to major in biology, and then go to grad school for environmental studies? That has been suggested to me also. Also, my guidance counselor has mentioned Cornell University, is that any good?</p>
<p>OP, what path you take for a major will somewhat depend on what you want to do with your degree. </p>
<p>Also, most of the schools suggested have been out of state publics. Are your parent’s willing and able to afford oos college costs? Before you set your sights on one or several of these schools you would be wise to find out how much your family can afford.</p>
<p>Very few privates offer such a major so–pretty much publics on the list.</p>
<p>OP, Cornell is excellent for both basic and applied ecology.
[Department</a> of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology](<a href=“http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/]Department”>http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/)
[Courses[/url</a>]</p>
<p>About Cornell: You have some good stats, but your SAT is a bit on the low-end for Cornell. It might be worth a shot, though. At Cornell, the biology depts are cross-college, i.e., they are shared across the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. The CALS is the land-grant college for NY State; Cornell operates it under contract to the state. Admission to it is somewhat easier than admission to CAS, but NY State residents might have an edge. For a NY State resident, the cost of CALS should be lower, too, than for a non-resident. I don’t know how much cost would be a factor for you and your parents, however. </p>
<p>Judging by your screen name, are you from NJ? If so, you’re lowest cost might be at your state flagship, Rutgers, which has programs in biology and related areas. However, some public universities in other parts of the country still might be less expensive. I say “public universities” because if you want to major in Wildlife Biology/Ecology, it’s a subject that typically is offered only at public land grant universities with a college of agriculture or natural resources. (Although at the graduate level, there are a few private universities, e.g., Yale or Duke, that offer programs in applied areas.)
[url=<a href=“http://rci.rutgers.edu/~deenr/undergrad/index2.html]Rutgers”>http://rci.rutgers.edu/~deenr/undergrad/index2.html]Rutgers</a> Undergraduate Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources](<a href=“http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/cals/dnr/undergraduate/courses/index.cfm]Courses[/url”>http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/cals/dnr/undergraduate/courses/index.cfm)
[Rutgers</a> Human Ecology](<a href=“http://humanecology.rutgers.edu/major.html]Rutgers”>http://humanecology.rutgers.edu/major.html)
[Department</a> of Environmental Sciences Web Page](<a href=“http://envsci.rutgers.edu/programs/envsci_ug.shtml]Department”>http://envsci.rutgers.edu/programs/envsci_ug.shtml)</p>
<p>This brings me to my next comment and your counselor’s recommendation about doing an undergrad major in biology, followed by graduate study in environmental studies. Your original post mentioned “Wildlife” so my assumption was that you specifically wanted recommendations about Wildlife Biology/Ecology programs. When you say “ecology” or “environmental studies”, it could mean a lot of different things. A lot of kids want to study the “environment”, but there are multiple types of programs and multiple pathways for doing so. The first consideration is whether your primary interest is basic ecology (i.e., research-oriented) or applied ecology. If it’s basic ecology, then you can pursue that in a biology department. Some biology departments offer a specialized track in ecology. Many universities divide their bioscience departments into subspecialties, e.g., a department of ecology & evolutionary biology or some similar title. Other universities still keep the traditional department structures, so you might find a dept. of zoology, which would include the coursework on general and animal ecology. If your primary interest is applied animal ecology, then you be looking for a dept. of wildlife or fisheries & wildlife or some similar title. These departments will be found in colleges of agriculture or forestry/natural resources at public land grant universities. (Often, agriculture programs and natural resources programs are combined into a single college, depending on how a particular university is structured.) Some universities have interdisciplinary majors or depts. of environmental science. “Environmental science” usually refers to more than just ecology as studied in a biology dept. It also includes the chemical, geological, atmospheric, and other aspects. So studies in environmental sciences might include environmental toxicology, air pollution, water resources, etc., usually from an applied perspective (prevention, remediation). “Environmental studies” is a broader term that might include aspects of environmental science, but also includes social science and humanities aspects of the ecology or the natural environment, e.g., environmental law and policy, historical changes, “nature” writing, environmental ethics, etc. These links to programs at Illinois and at Minnesota give some good examples of the range of applied programs that are available:
[For</a> Future Undergraduates in NRES :: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois](<a href=“http://nres.illinois.edu/future_undergrad]For”>http://nres.illinois.edu/future_undergrad)
[Environmental</a> Sciences, Policy and Management : College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences : University of Minnesota](<a href=“http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/ESPM/index.htm]Environmental”>http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/ESPM/index.htm)
[Forest</a> Resources : College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences : University of Minnesota](<a href=“http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/FR/index.htm]Forest”>http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/FR/index.htm)
[Forest</a> Resources : College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences : University of Minnesota](<a href=“http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/FR/index.htm]Forest”>http://www.cfans.umn.edu/UndergraduateStudents/CurrentStudents/MajorsandMinors/FR/index.htm)</p>
<p>You can certainly do an undergrad major in biology and then do another type of environmental program in graduate school. If you decide to major in a basic bioscience, you have a much broader range of both public and private universities available to you. At the private universities, there is a greater possibility of financial aid than you might find as an out-of-state applicant at a public university. (So you’d have to compare the cost of a private college or university with financial aid vs. the generally lower cost of many public universities.) It all depends on where your primary interests lie, and what you’d like to do with your degree.</p>
<p>There may not be many private schools offering the major barrons. However, that doesn’t negate the point that the OP should find out finances before picking an out of state public school that will most likely provide little to no financial assistance.</p>
<p>Cost is not a major factor for me. I am from NJ. I would like to go to a school that challenges me greatly. zapfino, I’m not sure what you mean by basic and applied ecology by your description, but my interests are in research of animals/ecosystems/living things and taking that knowledge and using it to possibly better those described groups. Is this more of a conservation interest? Or should I study the basis of such things (though biology and others) and then use that knowledge accordingly?</p>
<p>^The simplest way to explain it is that what I refer to as “basic ecology” is what you would study in a biology or ecology & evolutionary biology dept. Of course, that knowledge can be applied, but I merely was trying to differentiate it from programs that more clearly are applied in nature, e.g., wildlife management & fisheries, restoration ecology, etc.—the types of programs found in colleges of agriculture/natural resources. It sounds as though your interests cut across both of these emphases. You’ll just have to look at the coursework required for specific programs to see what appeals to you the most. Some schools, e.g., Wisconsin, offer a cross-departmental major in conservation biology that draws on both basic and applied coursework. [Biological</a> Aspects of Conservation](<a href=“http://www.biology.wisc.edu/Academic_Programs/BAC/]Biological”>http://www.biology.wisc.edu/Academic_Programs/BAC/)</p>
<p>[Colorado</a> College Biology Department](<a href=“http://www.coloradocollege.edu/dept/by/New%20Webpage/BlockPlan.htm]Colorado”>http://www.coloradocollege.edu/dept/by/New%20Webpage/BlockPlan.htm)</p>
<p>As mention Oregon State</p>
<p>zapfino, you got my curiosity killing me right now, 
My daughter is at the end of her JUnior year and is dead set on majoring in WildLife Ecology as well, and I am not sure she realizes all that you said in this thread!!! I know she wants to help animals(land) (i.e rescue, aid, etc). Can you provide me some more info on the best schools to look into. I dont have her stats in front of me right now, but i will get it for you, if that will help! Thanks so much!!!</p>
<p>North Carolina State University [The</a> College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University](<a href=“http://cnr.ncsu.edu/]The”>http://cnr.ncsu.edu/)</p>