i am a junior at Iona Prep in Westchester,NY and i just got a letter in the mail today inviting me to go to Stanford University for an 8week program they have in the summer and i was checking out their courses and i decided if i like the school and if i get into it then i would study and major in Genetics, but then i would like to attend another school and take Herpetology because i would like to become a professional herpetologist. my question is does anyone know of any schools that have herpetology as a course and a good reputation for their science courses? thanks for any responses
KLik, you'll LOVE Stanford!!! I got my B.S., B.A., and M.S. there. The campus is gorgeous and there were times, I wish I didn't have to study to enjoy all the facilities they have. lol! Their science depts, (and pretty much everything else) is world renown. Good luck! As for herpetology, when I was there, I wasn't into herps so I don't really know, but I was interested in vet. med. at one time and UC Davis and Tufts have great vet schools- may be you can enquire there. Also try asking the NY Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo)'s reptile dept and ask the people there about which schools have herp programs. I would think they would be in communication with herp researchers who have relationships with universities. Also, while you're at Stanford during the summer, ask the profs in the Bio dept if they know where the herp experts are.
thanks for the info Spot and last weekend i applied for an internship at the Reptile House in the Bronx Zoo.
Excellent!! I hope you get the internship, there's no better place for animal studies in New England! But 'just curious, when are you going to have time to do this internship if you're going to Stanford in the summer and all?
congrats and good luck, when i was searching i couldnt find any school that had a herpetology course. they had a zoology course u could take and after u could specialize in reptiles or something like that
University of Georgia has a great vet school. I'm not anywhere near a science major, but we take our horses there, and around Athens, the best place to take a sick animal is the vet school or a local vet who studied at UGA. I'm not sure how far you want to travel, I know you're in New York. Tuition's pretty inexpensive, as far as that goes. It averages about $2,000-$3,000 a semester, depending on your major and the lab fees. Georgia is a world apart from New York, or anywhere in the north. It's very hot here, and HUMID as all get out. But Athens is a gorgeous, great place, and only about an hour from Atlanta. Check it out at www.uga.edu, and you can search from there for the majors. However, as far as the school standing, I believe Stanford is better than UGA. I do know a lot of science/pre-med majors, and they love it. Science is not my thing, I ended up with c's in Astronomy and Geography (it sounds easier than it is!) Good luck at college, you'll love it!
KLiK, I got on my school's (Northern Arizona U.) class catalogue and discovered that we offer herpetology as a graduate-level course. But get this- the prerequisites for the class are all freshman-level classes I have already taken or am going to take. SWEET! I know what I'm taking next semester! Personally, I did not like Stanford (too big for me), although (as Spot said) their life sciences programs are reportedly excellent. I have heard good things about UC Davis as well and may have ended up there myself except the price for out of state tuition would have left me with student loans to pay back for the rest of my life. I chose NAU because classes are small, I have real Professers with PhD's teaching my classes instead of graduate students, and their BIO program is top-ranked(Go to www.nau.edu/biology if you're interested). But that's just me, a lot of people like going to bigger schools. Good luck with the search! One final thing: some schools are really good for undergrads, and some are better for graduate students. Before you apply to a school, make sure they will give you attention as an undergrad, and don't just treat you like dirt until you get into graduate school!
i was told that i could do the interning during the winter and spring and then i just have to tell them a weeks notice before i leave to check out Stanford. thanks for all the comments and i still have another year of HS before i make a choice on which college to go to so i still gota lot of checking schools out before i make my decision
Unfortunately, as far as I know, there are no schools that currently offer degrees in Herpetology. You can however take undergraduate courses in herpetology and some graduate programs have classes. Most herpetologists have degrees in wildlife biology, natural resources, environmental sciences, biology, anatomy, physiology, genetics, evolution, animal behavior, even anthropology. It really depends what area of herpetology you want to focus on. They focus their research in these fields on reptiles and amphibians. So it's kind of a round-a-bout way of doing things, but that's how it's done. I do know that more and more schools offer herpetology classes (we currently offer it as an independent study which may be possible at schools that don't officially offer it in the course book). Good luck!
Biochic is right! Many universities will let you design your own major if they don't already offer it. I sorta did that at Stanford where I got undergrad degees in Biology and stuff but designed my own masters program thru the bio dept. -My suggestion to you is that you start doing research on the faculty at whichever universities you're interested in and see if they are experts or have contacts in herp. or anyother subj you'd like to pursue. I knew about the think tank members and leading profs at Stanford when I applied and mentioned them during the application process - which I'm sure didn't hurt me in the admission process. and they helped me with my major and its design.
