Do you recommend your BS/MS/PhD program(s)?
Ask a Biologist Monday 12/20/21
BS: New Mexico State University-both the Wildlife and Conservation Ecology programs are top notch. Lots of great professors, hands on experiences, trips, and opportunities to network, plus affordable.
MS: CKWRI (TAMUK-Kingsville)-one of the top grad schools in the country, for good reason. Well funded, networking is incredible, lots of connections with local agencies and land owners, groundbreaking research.
Answers from Biologists:
Bachelor’s:
Michigan State University
Fisheries and Wildlife-small classes, lots of field experience
Recommend. Tons of great majors, courses, and research opportunities
UGA
Ecology-amazing
Warnell school of Forestry and Natural Resources-Highly recommend
UDel
highly recommended natural resources program
College of Charleston
expensive but well funded, new equipment/labs, and fun!
UC Davis
research powerhouse, great professors, great location. Lots of opportunities to get involved and hone interests with variety of majors. Faculty are great and caring.
yes. Great professors, very hands on and lots of opportunities for research.
SUNY Cobelskill
yes. Very hands on program and great connections to be made.
University of Montana
top wildlife program. Tons of hands on in the field opportunities
program was interesting and professors care. Clubs are wonderful and active. World class faculty
U of Utah
10/10, lots of opportunities, smart professors
UofNM
would recommend
TAMU-Kingsville
Wildlife-prepared me really well
U of Saskatchewan
Biology-professors are awesome, lots of research opportunities, but we don’t learn skills that make us competitive at this time (R, higher level stats, modeling, etc.)
Paul Smiths College
isolated small community. Great for hands on learning
yes if you want a small school
Humboldt State
Wildlife-Amazing. I work with lots of HSU alumni
highly knowledgeable faculty, hands on learning, beautiful place. Relatively small class size
will always recommend. You’ll be eligible for federal jobs. They provide many hands on involved classes.
Biology with emphasis in Ecology-yes!
Wildlife Biology-loved it'
Range management-small program with great extracurricular activities. Degree follows governmental guidelines and qualifies you for the 0454 Range Specialist job series.
University of WI Stevens Point
highly recommend. Tons of hands on field experience and great professors.
UW Whitewater
recommend
CSU Warner College
absolutely. Lots of local networking opportunities and amazing faculty. Cost of living in Fort Collins can be high.
NMU in Marquette MI
great professors, resources, and the area is amazing for biology and outdoor stuff, as long as you don’t mind snow/cold
UCM
pretty basic program. Connections with MDC were great. If you leave MO though, most employers don’t know the school, which has made it harder to find a job.
Earlham College
Biology-small school, HUGE hands-on wildlife/field biology programs
UofRhode Island
amazing
Virginia Tech
great school. Lots of hands on field experience.
Georgia Southern
fine
Evergreen State College
unique opportunities for undergrads. Rare gem
UTKnox
Wildlife and fisheries-highly recommend. Lots of opportunities to get experience, very hands on. Required semester of “fall camp” at different field locations. Everyone in the department stresses field experience. Lots of networking.
SUNY ESF
loved it but it was small so not a ton of opportunities but very hands on.
Purdue
highly recommend. Lots of hands on fieldwork, opportunities outside of class, ID courses are awesome, professors are amazing, and you learn R and other modeling systems.
Iowa State
loved it. Faculty were fantastic and genuinely care. Affordable out of state.
University of Minnesota
Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology-like the program a lot. Required field course. Multiple stats classes. Lots of taxonomy courses. Huge research institute with lots of opportunities. Relatively small major though. Costly though. Not a ton of diversity in the FWCB program though diversity in school as a whole.
Roanoke College
for getting into Wildlife, I do NOT recommend their environmental program
SIUC
not extremely well-suited for getting hired afterwards
Wageningen University (Netherlands)
BS: mixed Dutch and English
TRU
Natural Resources Science-love it. Covers a range of topics. Teach coding in R and GIS. Small program so lots of time with professors.
University of Saint Francis
Environmental Science-staff and student groups are amazing. Very expensive and you have to take religious classes to graduate.
TAMU-College Station
highly recommend. Focus on applicable experience.
University of Maine
Wildlife Ecology-recommend
Master’s:
Reminder: Much more important than the school or program or location is your choice in advisor!
UofOK
not recommended for those needing a natural resources focus.
I have full tuition waiver in addition to stipend. Faculty at NREM are awesome. Courses are okay. Lots of new faculty.
Tufts
Conservation medicine-Highly recommend. Not funded but provided amazing opportunities and professors are great. Small classes, more project based.
GA Southern
would recommend with reservations
CKWRI (TAMUK-Kingsville)
great but definitely do your research on advisor.
Wur the Netherlands
Forestry and Nature Conservation-highly recommend
UW La Crosse
excellent for aquatic research and learning
University of Tromso, Norway
Amazing experience in English
University of Central Florida
Great for learning statistics and well-rounded in ecology and biology
Northwestern
Plant Biology and Conservation-in conjunction with the Chicago Botanical Garden. Opened lots of doors.
GMU
not so great
OEP
good for people who want to learn a variety of things (lab, fieldwork, etc.)
WIU
they have no right attempting to support grad students and seem barely able to support undergrads. Incredibly traumatic experience for me and many other grad students. Professors do not care about students generally. Bullying and harassment.
South Dakota State University
a lot of internal politics but my advisor was great at finding funding and projects for his students
UFL
Wildlife Forensics-obsessed with this program
WSU-School of Bio
do not recommend
Georgia Southern
TERRIBLE. Department does not care. Even did background research on my advisor but it didn’t help. Learned little, made no connections, hated my time there. But I graduated.
University of Montana
learned so much and met so many wonderful folks. Demanding program but most advisors communicate well and realize your life is more than just grad school.
SIUC
grad school is doing cutting edge research on freshwater fisheries management
Wageningen University (Netherlands)
MS: fully in English. Lots of opportunities and freedom to specialize how you like.
Humboldt
withdrawn due to overwhelming sexism from the almost entirely male faculty, including my own advisor. Really pretty area where mountains meet ocean. Education was great, experience was not.
West Texas A&M
Plant Science-strong program with lots of research and internship opportunities
University of Michigan
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: Frontiers MS Program-fully funded program. Friendly faculty open to collaboration. R1 institute with lots of opportunities.
Sul Ross State
Highly recommend. Very hands on. Incredible professors and researchers.
University of Delaware
research is hard and advisors expect a lot, but worth it. Very hands on with lots of field opportunities.
PhD:
Reminder: Much more important than the school or program or location is your choice in advisor!
UofO
10/10
