Looking for specifically Wildlife Rehabilitation as a major, we’ve only found one four year college with this specific major. It doesn’t have to be a four year program, but my student wants the “college experience” of living on campus, although it doesn’t have to a “traditional” college, she doesn’t want to live independently, nor do we think she’s ready to do so. Any insight is welcomed!
I would start with the list of AAVMC accredited schools. A link is included on this webpage, along with a list of types of courses you should confirm the school has if you want to pursue wildlife rehabilitation:
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Are Wildlife Conservation or Wildlife Management options off the table?
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Thank you!
Not off the table, no, we’ve found some but the wildlife rehab is exactly on point and we want to be sure we’re not missing something.
My thought is to be sure to look at the curriculum that she is interested in. Schools with the same major name can offer different classes, and you may find the class tilt she likes under a slightly different major name.
It may help you get more input here if you can expand on the aspects of Wildlife Rehab that she likes.
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Thanks, yes as we look through curriculums we usually rule out the ones that are geared towards pre-vet, she has no interest in being a vet and also doesn’t want a math-heavy curriculum. Lots of biology/conversation courses interest her. She wants to help wild animals return to their natural habitats when possible. Trying to find a hidden gem with this post being so specific 
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As you look at the different schools, be sure you are looking at ALL the available programs. Some may not even be in the same college/department.
For instance, Oregon State University is one of the schools on the AACVM list I attached above. It has a pre-vet Biology major in the College of Science and an Animal Sciences major in the College of Agricultural Sciences) that I think also can satisfy pre-vet requirements.
But it also has a Zoology major in the College of Science (which specifies it does NOT satisfy pre-vet requirements) and a Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Management major in the College of Agricultural Sciences. I suspect you may find similar options at other schools on the list.
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In my mind, wildlife programs would be more prevalent in the West. I know several students in Wildlife Conservation or Wildlife Mgmt majors at Montana State and at UC Davis.
Whether or not you live in a western, WUE-eligible state, you may want to use their tool to find programs related to Wildlife. Just type Wildlife into the Program/Major field to filter. You can also filter by state and degree level; you mentioned it didn’t have to be a 4-year program.
https://www.wiche.edu/tuition-savings/wue/wue-savings-finder/
Finally, I’m sure you know she doesn’t have to get a degree in exactly Wildlife Rehab to end up working in that field.
Just an example, but here is a Wildlife Ecology program at Montana State that has very little math.
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Virginia Tech? It doesn’t seem to be math heavy and has lots of options.
https://www.vt.edu/academics/majors/wildlife-conservation.html
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Not exactly what you are looking for, but how about Michigan Tech? They have a degree in Wildlife Ecology that looks like it spends a lot of time out in the field. This includes a whole semester in the 3rd year.
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Lees-McRae offers a wildlife biology degree with a specific minor in wildlife rehabilitation. I don’t know anything about the school, except it kept coming up in our searches when S23 was looking for a school with a wildlife biology and conservation major. It was too small for him, so we didn’t investigate further.
Hiram College has a wildlife rehabilitation pathway under its animal biology program.
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Here is a list of 77 schools that offer a bachelor’s in either wildlife biology or in wildlife, fish, and wildlands science and management and have on-campus housing. If you let us know more about your daughter’s interests (areas of the country, climate, appetite for intercollegiate athletics or Greek life, desired vibe, preferred size, her academic background, and the budget), we could provide greater assistance in providing suggestions.
For instance, studying wildlife conservation at Juniata (approx. 1200 undergrads in Pennsylvania) would be a different experience than studying wildlife biology at Grand Valley State (approx. 19k undergrads in Michigan) which would still feel totally different than studying wildlife ecology and conservation or wildlife management at Texas A&M (about 58k undergrads).
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Thank you everyone, we’re looking into all of this info. So appreciated!
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