Thank you AustenNut for all your thoughts feedback!
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I will look into William & Mary. Thank you!
So much to look into here! Thank you!
This is also a tool that I used in developing my list, except that instead of limiting it to environmental science, I used the degree family of Natural Resources and Conservation, as sometimes schools that are strong in this area will have multiple degrees that could be of interest. Additionally, there will be schools that you just need to know about from other methods. For instance, I was surprised when Susquehanna didnât make the list, but they had degrees in ecology and conservation biology, I believe, both of which were listed under biological sciences.
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Colbyâs Environmental Studies Department offers three different majors, Environmental Policy, Environmental Science, and Environmental Computation:
https://www.colby.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/environmental-studies/academic-program/
You can also do an Environmental Studies minor.
The Environmental Science major is pretty coolâyou eventually pick a focus area, and you can do an established one (they list conservation biology, marine science, environmental chemistry, and environmental geology), or design your own with approval.
As always, I like to check the NCES database to make sure people are actually doing these programs. Here is Colby:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=colby&s=all&id=161086#programs
For this graduating class, they reported 17 primary majors in Environmental Studies (I am assuming that is the Policy major), 21 in Environmental Science (I am assuming that is the Science major). I am not sure about Computationâthey had one tabbed âNatural Resources Conservation and Research, Other,â which might be it. Thatâs not a lot but there were 3 primary majors for Colby with that tab in this other database (different year I believe), so it might just be a small major with a variable number of graduates):
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jonboeckenstedt/viz/BachelorsDegreesAwardedin2022/Dashboard1
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Washington college in Maryland. Canât say enough about the enviro science, Bio, Chem professors. You can double major too. There are GIS internships in town for enviro students (the software that enviro scientists use, you definitely want to walk out of college with experience in GIS). Top students are asked to be TAs when they are juniors (great for resume). There is something called âCater Societyâ that funds studentsâ undergrad research. My child has done envir research with these funds. They work really hard to help students get summer internships and most kids get one. They give great merit to students with your GPA. D3 lacrosse, so you can do watch! Collaborative and close knit. Beautiful campus. Students are not cookie-cutter and come from many states. Also, your grades will get you great merit there.
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Yes, and in fact that is the family with included all three of Colbyâs ES majors.
It gets really complicated, but some of the colleges I named also have both a BA Environmental Studies major, and a BS Environmental Sciences major. The suitable course and degree really depends on your intended focus. I was interpreting the OP as more on the science side of things, but obviously that is entirely up to them.
When you get to, say, Middlebury, they have a very popular (for a small college) Environmental Studies major, but not an official Environmental Science majorâas a standalone. What they do, however, is have various âFociâ, and within the Natural Science Foci they have three âjoint majorsââConservation Biology, Environmental Studies-Chemistry, and Environmental Earth and Climate Sciences:
Substantively, this is pretty similar to Colby! Thatâs basically three of Colbyâs four established focus areas in their Environmental Science major (only missing marine science, and comparing Colby and Middlebury on a mapâthat checks out). But Colby made it a little easier for itself in terms of reporting to NCES.
So . . . as you say, NCES reporting is not really definitive, you have to actually go dig into departmental websites and such to see what they do, because different colleges will often cover the same areas of interest in some way even if it is not reported clearly.
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I know that U Maine wonât likely be the perfect fit because of size (~10K undergrad enrollment). But it could be a good option for a cheap safety to add to your list, in addition to SUNY ESF, which is a wonderful suggestion.
You said that money isnât the âbiggest factorâ. Are your parents able to cover the full cost (for example, $360K at Colby) with no loans for all 4 years at any school? Or will you need aid to afford some of these schools? That info will help us make sure that you have affordable schools on your list.
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If you might want to read brief comments on a few of your tentative choices in the context of comments on other colleges, see this post: NESCAC Spoken Here: - #5 by merc81 .
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Thank you for that link!
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My parents have told me that they have $220,000 and that I am responsible for the rest.
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Okay, thatâs great info to have and will really help with making your lists.
If your parentsâ income is low enough, you may qualify for need-based aid. If you run the Net Price Calculators at some of the selective schools on your list, it will list estimated need-based aid you might get. The most selective schools donât offer any merit aid and only give scholarships to people who have financial need.
You can only borrow a total of $27K in federal loans over 4 years. The $220K you have saved gives you a $55K/year budget. That could be stretched to $60K if you take out the federal loans (but it would be better if you didnât).
So if you donât qualify for need-based aid, youâll need to make sure you have schools that give merit aid on your list, and/or are publics that offer the equivalent of in-state tuition.
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I think that may be a common misconception about Wesleyan (maybe because of its many Broadway and Hollywood alumni?) But they spend every bit as much - if not more - on STEM as they do on the arts and humanities:
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I donât think Iâve seen Connecticut College mentioned. A friendâs daughter is there currently and is thriving. Itâs not a safety (is anything these days?), but shouldnât be a reach either.
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My daughter is at Bates, and it is quite safe (the events of last October notwithstanding). Itâs not all that unusual for campuses to require keycard entry for buildings. Bates has a lot of strengths in the sciences, including environmental science (one of my daughterâs majors), and it has the collaborative environment youâre looking for - worth a look, especially if you can get there for a tour instead of exploring on your own.
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In fact really all of the âtopâ LACs (which obviously includes Wesleyan) are at least very good in natural sciences, social sciences, and math. They canât neglect such areas these days and still compete for the students and grants and so on they need to remain âtopâ LACs.
What many (not all) LACs still skip is âprofessionalâ fields like Engineering and Business. But not the natural or social sciences.
That said, being small schools that try to differentiate themselves for competitive purposes, some devote more resources to certain sciences than others, and this then can be reflected in those specific sciences being more or less popular with their students. This tends to be less of an issue if you are looking at a traditional core science, like Bio or Chem. But the more specialized you get, including in terms of interdisciplinary programs, the more differentiation starts to show up.
All this is basically an extended explanation of why I skipped right past Bio and Chem to get to Environmental Science. Bio and Chem are not typically going to be big distinguishers among general peer LACs (in a good way, it would be very unusual for a very good LAC not to have a very good Bio or very good Chem program). Environmental Science, though, is getting into the sort of thing where different LACs may allocate different levels of resources, or allocate them in materially different ways.
And that can be the fun part, if you have such an interest. On the other hand, if like many you are not really sure what you want to study, then you can pretty much just pick a very good LAC you like, and be confident it will likely be very good in whatever it does offer that you decide to do.
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A lot of schools will have majors called âEnvironmental Studies,â but tracks within those majors concentrating on sciences, social sciences/policy. or humanities. So even if the major is called Studies rather than Science, itâs still worth a look.
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I think some school that would be target schools (or not a reachy) for you, but have the same feeling as the schools you seem to like, would be Hobart William Smith, Connecticut College and Washington College.
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Yes, but also some colleges do not have such an official Sciences track, just a more policy-type Environmental Studies major. Although even then, most LACs will try to make it easy for you to do some sort of combination of majors and minors that would be similar.
Still, I think there is something to be said for an established program, with designated courses and off campus experiences and so on, that seems to do what you want. So if a college actually has a robust Environmental Sciences major, I think that is a plus for that college, but I would definitely not automatically rule out colleges with robust Environmental Studies majors. I would just make sure to then look into what, if any, established structure they have for people who are more interested in the sciency side of things.
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Maybe, not as separate departments, but MolecularBiologyBioChem (MBBC) is a big âdistinguishing factorâ among LACs because you need a critical mass of subspecialties from both departments in order to supply the synergy for he third. That usually means, a medium-sized university, but Wesleyan manages it by being a slightly bigger LAC with doctoral programs.
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