I promised in my last post that I would include some information about additional environmental graduate schools. I did a little research online and found a wonderful website that already exists and contains great information about this subject. First of all, it includes a Top Ten environmental graduate school list:
1) Tulane Law School, Environmental Law Program: Just under 25% of applicants to the JD [graduate/doctorate level law degree] program were admitted.
2) Michigan Tech, Graduate Program in Environmental Policy: 50-75% of students accepted.
3) Arizona State University, Environmental Technology Program: Applicants are "pre-screened," because they must already have a good science background and have completed the necessary prerequisite courses. Thus, they are able to accept around 75-80% of qualified applicants.
4) Ohio State University, Columbus, School of Natural Resources: In 2003, the School had 47 applicants and 13 of them enrolled.
5) Cal Poly, Natural Resource Management Department: Dr. Mark Shelton told us that a very rough estimate of the percentage of applicants accepted into the FNR [Forestry and Natural Resources] graduate program would be 60%.
6) Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences: Over the past four years, acceptance rates in the Ph.D. program have averaged about 20%.
7) Louisiana State University, School of Renewable Natural Resources: According to Dr. Rutherford, the acceptance rate is around 30%, and their program has about the same acceptance rate as other programs.
8) Purdue University, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources: Dr. Swihart submitted that the acceptance rate is around 20% for applicants whose files are complete and whose interests match at least one faculty member in the department.
9) University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources: This year, the School is expecting to accept 25 of its 160 applicants, according to Dr. Wang. The School is probably more selective than many comparable graduate programs in the Natural Resource and Environmental Science fields.
10) University of Oregon, Environmental Studies Program: According to Dr. Greg Retallack, Head of Graduate Admissions, the program typically gets 120-150 applicants and admits 6-8.
The above list was from the website of a company called EnviroEducation. The rest of the article had some pretty good advice on how to actually get accepted to these school. I suggest you check it out at:
http://www.enviroeducation.com/articles/best/
In my opinion, this list is missing some of the biggies however. So here is my own Top Ten List:
1. Yale School of Forestry
2. Columbia - The Earth Institute or Masters in Environmental Science and
Policy
3. Duke - Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
4. University of California - Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy
and Management
5. Stanford University - Earth Systems Program
6. Boston University - Program in Energy and Environmental Studies
7. Tufts University - Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
8. Cornell University - Field of Environmental Management
9. George Washington University - Program in Environmental and Resource Policy
10. University of Vermont - Program in Natural Resources
Choices, choices, choices.
Here is a funny t-shirt to make you feel better. One of them says:
Grad School: It seemed better than getting a real job. (But remember that you will probably get paid more when you come out, also...)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Emily's Top Ten
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1 comments:
Hola muneca,
I like your blog (random as it may be), but as somebody who has just gone through the eco grad school application/research process, I'm afraid that I have to take issue with your findings.
Granted, it depends upon what you are looking for - graduate studies in the environment and resources arena can range from hard core science/research to corporate environmental management, so it's important to define the parameters. Nevertheless, your omission of the University of Michigan SNRE and the Bren School at the University of California Santa Barbara just begs a response. Both schools are part of the "big four" environmental management and policy schools, along with Yale and Duke. Columbia's Earth Institute has some big names (Sachs, Stiglitz), but it remains unclear to what extent the school actually addresses environmental concerns (both of these "stars" are publicly visible in the poverty and progressive economic policy arena, but the jury is still very much locked up in terms of environmental sustainability (in fact, the arguement could be made that Dr. Sachs' proposals proffer an agenda with negative benefits from a sustainability perspective.)
Stanford is def. a great school for science/research, although the recent creation of the Woods institute and the IPER with the Biz school is an interesting interdisciplinary attempt to transition into the professional realm. While the success of this effort remains to be seen, it will be an interesting program to watch going forward. Bren (UCSB) offers a unique "eco-entrepreneurship" program for candidates with an entrepreneurial focus who are looking for specific technology and new venture business knowledge in the Clean Tech arena. Also a recent addition, this initiative holds a great deal of promise for those with specific interests in eco-entrepreneurship who wish to gain specific business and tech. training along with the Env. degree, but without the broader umbrella of an MBA.
On its own, the University of Michigan's SNRE program is among the best in class, but the real standout at Michigan is the dual degree option (MS Env. & Resources/MBA) through the Erb Institute http://www.erb.umich.edu/
In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I have aplied to Yale (Forestry&MBA), Michigan (MS/MBA), Duke (MEM, MBA), and UCSB/Bren (Eco-entrepreneurship), and they are all great schools, but each has its niche. For those looking to a dual MBA/Masters, Michigan, through the well organized Erb Institute, offers the best organization, support, recruiting, and coordination for students, largely due to the fact that there are nearly 100 dual degree candidates participating in a given year. Yale, after some setbacks, is trying to rebuild its dual degree program, but comes off of a weak track record and time will tell if they can turn it around (has graduated just over 100 dual MBA/MEMs since program began over 25 years ago). Duke offers a great MEM degree, but those seeking a dual MBA/MEM tend to find a lack of coordination between the two programs.
Sorry, concise it was not, but I had to throw down on this one. The bigger question is, dear Emily, WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU APPLYING TO GRAD SCHOOL NOW!!! Get out in the world, do something fun, get your hands dirty, and escape the textbooks and lectures, THEN go back to the classroom. The developing world is where the action is, enviromnent-wise; get out there and challenge your beliefs and apply your knowledge.
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