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Searching for Schools: Finding Ones That Specialize in Conservation Studies When researching colleges and universities that might be right for you, there are several factors to consider: location, size, tuition costs, student-faculty ratio, extracurricular activities, and even how "green" a campus really is. However, finding a school that offers a strong program in your field of study is a top priority. Evaluating academic programs requires research and planning. In addition to information found online or in books, try to visit the schools that are your top candidates to get answers to the following questions: Does this school have an established reputation for your chosen major? How does it rank in national surveys? What does your major's curriculum and coursework include? What internships, work-study programs, and job placement services are available in your field? What is the job placement rate for alumni in your major? How many students are accepted into the program, and what are the entrance requirements? Though you may have chosen your ideal school, there is unfortunately no guarantee it will choose you. Be sure to have three or more schools in mind when applying and begin the application process well in advance of the deadline. It is indeed a "process" - you'll be required to complete lengthy applications; submit application fees; write essays; and provide transcripts, test scores, and references; and possibly be personally interviewed by school officials. Comparing and contrasting diverse schools is an important part of making your decision. To help you jump-start your school search, we've listed distinct conservation and environmental majors below. For each major, we've selected ten schools* that specialize in that particular field. This list does not contain every major or every school, nor does it necessarily include the "best" in the field; it is intended as a useful starting point as you begin your research. Botany Environmental Engineering Environmental Law Environmental Policy Fisheries Science Forestry Landscape Architecture Parks and Recreation Management Soil Science Zoology Botany (Area: Biological and Life Sciences) Brigham Young University http://www.byu.edu Cornell University http://www.cornell.edu University of California, Berkeley http://www.berkeley.edu University of California, Davis http://www.ucdavis.edu University of Delaware http://udel.edu University of Florida http://www.ufl.edu University of Texas, Austin http://www.utexas.edu University of Vermont http://www.uvm.edu University of Washington http://www.washington.edu University of Wisconsin, Madison http://www.wisc.edu Environmental Engineering (Area: Engineering) California Institute of Technology http://www.caltech.edu Georgia Institute of Technology http://www.gatech.edu Johns Hopkins University http://www.jhu.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://web.mit.edu Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu University of California, Berkeley http://www.berkeley.edu University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign http://www.uiuc.edu University of Michigan, Ann Arbor http://www.umich.edu University of Texas, Austin http://www.utexas.edu Virginia Tech http://www.vt.edu Environmental Law (Area: Law) Georgetown University http://www.georgetown.edu George Washington University http://www.gwu.edu Lewis and Clark College http://www.lclark.edu Pace University http://www.pace.edu Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu Tulane University http://www.tulane.edu University of California, Berkeley http://www.berkeley.edu University of Colorado, Boulder http://www.colorado.edu University of Maryland http://www.maryland.edu Vermont Law School http://www.vermontlaw.edu Environmental Policy (Area: Public Administration) Carnegie Mellon University http://www.cmu.edu Duke University http://www.duke.edu/ Harvard University http://www.harvard.edu Indiana University, Bloomington http://www.indiana.edu Syracuse University http://www.syracuse.edu University of California, Berkeley http://www.berkeley.edu University of Maryland http://www.maryland.edu University of Michigan, Ann Arbor http://www.umich.edu University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill http://www.unc.edu University of Washington http://www.washington.edu Fisheries Science (Area: Biological and Life Sciences) Auburn University http://www.auburn.edu Clemson University http://www.clemson.edu Frostburg State University http://www.frostburg.edu Michigan State University http://www.msu.edu Mississippi State University http://www.msstate.edu New Mexico State University http://www.nmsu.edu North Carolina State University http://www.ncsu.edu Oregon State University http://oregonstate.edu University of Alaska, Fairbanks http://www.uaf.edu University of Washington http://www.washington.edu Forestry (Area: Agricultural Sciences) North Carolina State University http://www.ncsu.edu Oregon State University http://oregonstate.edu Syracuse University http://www.syracuse.edu University of California, Berkeley http://www.berkeley.edu University of Georgia http://www.uga.edu University of Maine, Orono http://www.umaine.edu University of Minnesota, Twin Cities http://www.umn.edu/tc University of Washington http://www.washington.edu Utah State University http://www.usu.edu Yale University http://www.yale.edu Landscape Architecture (Area: Planning and Design) Arizona State University http://www.asu.edu California State Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo http://www.csupomona.edu Florida A&M University http://www.famu.edu Iowa State University http://www.iastate.edu University of California http://www.ucla.edu University of Maryland http://www.maryland.edu University of Pennsylvania http://www.upenn.edu University of Virginia http://www.virginia.edu University of Wisconsin, Madison http://www.wisc.edu Virginia Tech http://www.vt.edu Parks and Recreation Management (Area: Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies) Clemson University http://www.clemson.edu Colorado State University http://www.colostate.edu Cornell University http://www.cornell.edu Eastern Kentucky University http://www.eku.edu Kansas State University http://www.ksu.edu Michigan State University http://www.msu.edu North Carolina State University http://www.ncsu.edu Pennsylvania State University http://www.psu.edu University of Florida http://www.ufl.edu Washington State University http://www.wsu.edu Soil Science (Area: Agricultural Sciences) Texas A&M University http://www.tamu.edu University of Arizona http://www.arizona.edu University of California, Davis http://www.ucdavis.edu University of Florida http://www.ufl.edu University of Georgia http://www.uga.edu University of Illinois, Chicago http://www.uic.edu University of Nebraska, Lincoln http://www.unl.edu University of Wisconsin, Madison http://www.wisc.edu Washington State University http://www.wsu.edu West Virginia University http://www.wvu.edu Zoology (Area: Biological and Life Sciences) Arizona State University http://www.asu.edu Auburn University http://www.auburn.edu Colorado State University http://www.colostate.edu Harvard University http://www.harvard.edu North Carolina State University http://www.ncsu.edu North Dakota State University http://www.ndsu.edu Pennsylvania State University http://www.psu.edu University of Michigan, Ann Arbor http://www.umich.edu University of Oklahoma http://www.ou.edu University of Wyoming http://www.uwyo.edu *The list of colleges and universities was derived from a combination of sources, including U.S. News & World Report, The Gourman Report, National Doctoral Program Survey, and Guide to Graduate Environmental Programs. It's Not Easy Being Green If you're going to school to study environmental issues, you might consider how environmentally friendly your prospective campus is before you enroll. After all, a university or college has just as great a responsibility to practice what it environmentally preaches as individuals and businesses do. In the National Wildlife Federation's State of the Campus Environment, a report on a survey that studied and ranked various environmental practices of college campuses across the country. To read the complete report and find out more about how our nation's schools stacked up in the areas of conservation, recycling, landscaping, transportation, and environmental curriculum, go to http://www.nwf.org/campusEcology/HTML/stateofthecampusenvironment.cfm.

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