Princeton interests me primarily due to the work of Dr. Shane Campbell-Staton. I found his work in Mozambique studying tusklessness in elephants as a consequence of the civil war there very interesting. I also know they have field semesters available in Kenya that I’m interested in.
As for what I’d like to do, I’d like to work in conservation via nonprofits or other organizations. I’d really like to work with elephants in Asia or Africa studying their behavioral ecology, response to human conflict & colonization, and the value of their conservation. So, working with NGOs like Save the Elephants would be cool, in my opinion, however a career in academia could also allow me to study elephant behavior more. There are also organizations like the IUCN AsESG that I think I’d like to work with (I have a contact who’s one of the leading members in that organization, the work they do seems incredible).
That being said, theory is also something I’d like to get involved with. My favorite authors are all very theory intensive (SJ Gould, RC Lewontin, EO Wilson), so I’d like, if possible, to develop some theories on top of more practical research.
I’ve heard of SUNY ESF, it seems interesting, again its just OOS tuition that scares me a bit, to be honest. I’ve considered Tech, is it a much better program than A&M (which I’ve gotten into twice now).