sneaky monkey

HI fuzzy logician and qkhitai, You are right. The whole reason Im doing this is so I can learn! so I will try to keep an open mind. I don't actually know all that much about wetlands so who knows, it could really be right up my alley. Coastal intertidal areas are related enough to wetlands so there should be enough overlap to keep me interested. As far as advisors go, this program is interdisciplinary and at some point I will have to pick an additional advisor to work with on top of my current advisor. We are encouraged to work with more than one person so I don't think I would have to switch labs even if I did end up choosing an intertidal project. And the skills I would get are definitely transferable to my entire field so it would probably be worth it. Lots to think about and nothing to decide right now. Thanks for your feedback though!

Hi everybody, I am starting a masters program in the fall and I am wondering if Im having a normal experience for picking a thesis. I have a pretty strong idea of the area Id like to study. Im interested in remote sensing in intertidal areas with an emphasis on understanding the impact of sea level rise. I got into a Marine Science program that has access to a lot of folks doing various work across different aspects of marine science including remote sensing but my advisor is a marine mammal and GIS specialist. For some reason or another, my advisor got the impression that I would be interested in working in wetlands. There is a research team that she is coordinating with that is already doing UAV RS wetland work and she really seems to want me to do research with them. I am interested in the UAV part but really am much more interested in intertidal areas. I will probably go on and do a PhD after my masters but Im wondering what I should do? Should I just do the wetlands project? Its part of a NOAA research study and the funding, resources and support are already there. I would get a lot of support but its not what Im really excited about at this point. Should I stick to my gut and really push to do an intertidal project? Or should I just do the wetlands work and if Im still interested in intertidal areas find a lab for a PhD project that will support intertidal RS. Also, my advisor said she really doesn't recommend people coming into a masters program with plans for a thesis, that they should take a semester or two to see what is even possible before they pick something, so I am willing to admit that I am probably jumping the gun. I also feel like Ive gotten off on the wrong foot with her. I really like this advisor and the program does seem like a good fit otherwise. I do feel a little annoyed that I am being pressured into the wetlands research but I also realize that sometimes for a masters program its more important to just get a project done. Thanks SF in the bay area

Ive been admitted to two masters programs and Im having a hard time deciding. One school is #1 in its field (UC Berkeley environment/ecology) but the graduate program isn't exactly what I want to do. Its a Masters of Landscape Architecture with an Environmental Planning emphasis. A large part of the program is design which I don't really have a background (or interest) in. What I really want to do is coastal ecology using remote sensing for sea level rise planning at an agency like NOAA but Im still not clear if I can do a remote sensing based thesis project for the MLA program. Faculty and graduate advisors have been pretty slow at getting back to me with my questions. The other program is a CSU state school (San Francisco State University) and has an M.S. Marine Science with people who are already doing remote sensing coastal ecology. The program itself is pretty competitive but the school overall isn't. Ultimately I will probably go on to do a Ph.D. but Im wondering how much prestige really matters? Should I do the program Im not so sure about (the MLA EP) just because its at a top tier school (Berkeley)? Or do the program that is already supporting the research I want to do (M.S. Marine Science at SF State) even if it doesn't have the big name panache? Thanks for any advice and feedback!