I am a rising senior in Georgia and looking to find a job in Hydrology. Currently, I am only looking at small (>4,000 students) schools out-of-state with an exception to Berry College. The other schools I am looking at are Sewanee University, Colgate University, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College.
Does anyone know of colleges that offer hydrology or freshwater degrees that are small and preferably not in Georgia? Any help will be appreciated, Thanks.
Pure hydrology is narrow. Would you consider a broader bachelors program?
Colorado School of Mines is a great school. Their programs in Geological Engineering and Geophysical Engineering do include hydrology. So maybe you have to consider that in your search. And search more more similar schools.
The other options would be a marine science program of which there are many. Two (very different) examples are
A reach school like William and Mary, and a smaller program like Eckerd College (<4k) the latter has both Marine Science and Geosciences.
You likely need to go bigger - you can find both in geology and environmental science. There are other “water” or marine type degrees but these schools specifically have Hydrology programs. UTC might not but showed up on a list and I bet they have some elements (I left it in due to location…vs. others on your list like Berry and Sewanee).
I’m not sure an LAC is the right place specific to what you want to study.
Good luck.
U of Arizona
Colorado State
Oklahoma State
RPI
St. Cloud State
Temple
UC Davis
UCSB
UNH
UT Chattanooga
Wisconsin Stevens Point
Colorado State is a very big school, but hydrology is part of the Warner School of Natural Resources which makes the school feel smaller.
On the undergraduate level, you may benefit from pursuing a broader understanding of natural physical systems along with specific courses in hydrogeology, such as through geosciences or environmental studies programs. Through this approach, you would learn material foundational to the the pursuit of hydrogeology, such as geochemical principles and computer modeling. These sites offer specific suggestions of colleges strong in these areas:
Thank you for the suggestions. I will look more into Colorado State and Stevens Point in Wisconsin.
My main concerns were not having a personal relationship with professors and students in larger schools. However, I will look more into Werner thank you for your suggestion and mentioning Werner is smaller.
Thank you for the lists I will look through them and see which schools pique my interest.
If you want to go really small Northlands has a water science major. They give a lot of merit if budget is any concern.
University of Wyoming is only 8,000 undergrads and has an Environmental Geology and Geohydrology major. Being a state university they have a lot of resources (plus a hydrology Ph.D. program) and a lot of additional majors/minors available including GIS which would be a wise double major or minor.
Not exactly what you’re looking for but if you want small, Sewanee has a Watershed Science certificate and is well known for it’s environmental science programs in general.
Can you tell us more about your budget and academic background? That can help us to know whether honors programs at larger schools might be able to work to get you smaller classes with a more intimate environment or whether certain schools should even be in consideration.
Please note that the suggestion of Sewanee reinforces a choice appearing in the original post.
Hydrology may be found as a subarea of civil engineering or environmental engineering.
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is a small college with such a major.
https://ecatalog.sdsmt.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=17&poid=1584&returnto=3800
My deepest apologies.
As an example of a hydrologist with experience at smaller colleges, this professor attended Mount Holyoke and teaches at Hamilton.
Are you high stats? A public school with an honors college might be a good fit- you have the resources needed for your major but a little bit of the small school LAC vibe.
I know two working hydrologists- one is a civil engineer (big state university) and the other has a degree in marine biology (another big state university).
I don’t think you need a small college to develop relationships with professors btw… faculty LOVE students who are passionate about their subject, and even at a very large university, your classes start to get small once you specialize.
Stats?
Smaller schools do predominate in this Princeton Review list pertaining to classroom experience:
Note that Mount Holyoke, as an example from your original post, appears in the site.
Some schools you might want to consider include:
Eckerd (FL): About 2k undergrads and its geosciences program might be a good fit as well. It also has a popular marine science major.
Hobart William Smith (NY): About 1600 undergrads. Its geoscience major might be a good fit and there is also a minor in aquatic science.
Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY): About 5900 undergrads and has a hydrogeology major available.
Salisbury (MD): About 6400 undergrads and its earth science major has tracks for both geoenvironmental science and marine geoscience.
SUNY Brockport (NY): About 5100 undergrads and you can read about its hydrology program within its water management major.
Union (NY): About 2100 undergrads. Its geosciences major would probably most closely align with your interests, but the courses in the environmental science major may appeal, too.
U. of Idaho: About 8800 undergrads and can read about its undergraduate hydrology program. There are numerous other areas of related areas of study as well.
Running out of energy, but you may also want to check out Rollins, Cal State-Monterey Bay, Roger Williams, Southwestern, and U. of Maine as some other possibilities.
After looking into Warner it seems they only offer Masters. Do you know if they also have bachelor degrees as well?