Environmental Studies Question

[nox26]

Hi, so I'm wondering what the chances are of attending a good grad school to get an MS in Environmental Studies without a science background? My background is marketing, by the way.

[NoNO]

I'll give you an answer that is appropriate for your question, it depends.

[nox26]

Okay, well I've looked and noticed most require a science background. Others don't but I would still assume they prefer it. I have a high GPA and relatively high GRE scores but I'm still not sure they would be enough to gain me acceptance to any competitive programs.

[UltraPro]

I would email people your interested in working with, and then go from there.

[UltraPro]

it also depends on how many science classes you have, and your high GPA is a plus but will be weighted less because of Humanities grad inflation compared to science.

[Rachel B]

I'm majoring in environmental studies at my current institution and will be attending an M.S. Environmental Science program in the fall. I've looked at a ton of Environmental Studies graduate programs so I can share with you what I was able to find out. While you don't have to have a science degree for ALL environmental studies program, many programs have prerequisite requirements like biology and chemistry. Because it's so interdisciplinary, environmental studies programs welcome students from other degree backgrounds like political science and the humanities, but because the emphasis is still on "environment," those science classes are important. ALSO, there are M.A. and M.S. Environmental Studies programs and the M.A. requirements may be very different from the M.S.

I suggest looking at specific programs, their concentration options, and what kind of academic background they desire. I'm just including some links to programs I looked at and if you have additional questions or need help, feel free to PM me.

CU-Boulder http://envs.colorado...am/C22/Masters/

UPenn http://www.sas.upenn...ps/graduate/mes

Kentucky State http://mes.kysu.edu/

U Oregon http://envs.uoregon....s/mastersabout/

Edited April 25, 2012 by Rachel B

[iowaguy]

I have an M.S. in Environmental Studies, it really depends on the particular program. I went to the U of Montana (middle-tier program, very interdisciplinary - choose your own emphasis) and the background of my fellow students ranged from art to literature to politics to science. Your best bet is likely an interdisciplinary program, and as previous posters suggested you might wish to take a science class or two to beef up your background, depending on what you want to specialize in.

Good luck in your applications, my Environmental Studies M.S. allowed me to make an excellent career change and put me on a very fulfilling career path in line with my interests and passions.

[Gneiss1]

I did my undergraduate studies in enviro sci and ended up oing out of my field for my masters (though not as drastic of a change). To prevent any lack in background I just bought a few textbooks and read up on areas I was weak. I'm not sure how many science classes you took in undergrad for general requirement but you could probably pick up a few lower level classes at the local community college if needed. A good background in math (esp. statistics), chemistry, and physics is helpful but not as critical as for some of the other sciences. Also MIT has some nice courses for free online:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/#earth-atmospheric-and-planetary-sciences

There is nothing special about learning environmental science and it isn't particularly difficult. Do you know what you are hoping to do career wise? Enviro sci has a bit of a broad field in job application. If you are able to secure a job perhaps with an environmental consulting company and find a way to utilize your marketing skills to kind of get in the back door that would help. Also, when it comes time to apply to schools I would definitely contact potential advisers first and put out a decent amount of applications to reasonable schools.

Best of luck!

[blaspheming]

I recently graduated from an environmental studies MS program. People had backgrounds in biology, engineering, environmental science, history, sociology, psychology, etc. You have to decide what realm your research will fall within (biology, political science, history), and you have to find an angle to observe a certain type of environmental problem. My background was geography/environmental science and my MS thesis was grounded in political science, so you don't have to stick with your undergrad focus. If you want to stick with marketing, I'm assuming you'll be going the route of marketing sustainable goods and how to achieve specific environmental goals through marketing. But I don't know much about that world

As long as you complete some prerequisite coursework and hammer out a good statement of purpose, I think you will easily get into a master's program.