I want to major in ecology but the only schools that I can attend don't offer that major...?

Question

I am going to college on a scholarship so I am limited to a choice of 12 colleges after 5 semesters at my local county college. None of the 12 schools offer a major in ecology, the only thing one of the schools offers is zoology. Are the two fields even closely related? Could I go to graduate school with a bachelors in zoology to get a masters in ecology?

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, I'm only going into my senior year of high school and I don't know much about this stuff.

Answer 1

hey yeah you can easily interchange between ecology and zoology, I'm a marine biology graduate and I am going to do a Masters in Ecology. In my experience many of the courses I took as a marine biologist (which is an offset of Zoology) were ecology based, marine and fisheries ecology, benthic ecology and ecology and environmental science to name a few.

look up the college website and look into the course listing for their zoology course I bet there are many ecology courses on offer within the zoology major.

good luck

Answer 2

Talk to an advisor at the school.  Major in the closest thing you can like enrironmental science or just biology.  Get a job that will pay for a masters in the field while they employ you in a similar field at entry level.  

Answer 3

You could go to graduate school with a bachelors in zoology and get a masters in ecology if you meet that program's requirements.

For example:

San Diego State University

http://www.bio.sdsu.edu/ecology/prog_ms....

Admission

    Typically, students eligible for admission have:

        * Overall undergraduate GPA > 2.85 for the last 60 semester units, and at least 3.0 for all upper division biology courses.

        * General GRE scores should be at least 540 on the Verbal section, 610 on the Quantitative section, and 4.5 on the Analytical section. Analytical Writing has now replaced the Analytical section of the GRE, and students should achieve a score of at least 4.5. A GRE Biology subject test is not required.

        * For foreign students, a minimum score on the TOEFL exam of 550 (paper exam) or 213 (computer-based exam) is required.

        * A Bachelor's degree in Biology or related Field (e.g., Environmental Science, Range Management) from any accredited college or university, with coursework comparable to the undergraduate program in Biology at San Diego State University. Students may be asked to take additional coursework to fill curriculum deficits.

The Graduate Degree Program in Ecology

Colorado State University

http://ecology.colostate.edu/prospective...

Admission Requirements

You must have a bachelor's degree in any of the agricultural, anthropological, biological, biochemical, mathematical, or physical sciences from an accredited college or university, and a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0.....

Zoology is a biological science. So just find out where you want to go to get your Masters, then make sure you meet that school's requirements.

Answer 4

It's not a dumb question. I did a triple minor in college with a biology core. My other two minors were marine studies and environmental studies.

If you want to approximate a degree in ecology you should check the availability of ecology courses at the various schools you're considering. At my school there were lots of ecology courses available and I took them all! I'd also recommend that you consider doing a minor in earth sciences to get a better understanding of the physical environment as that is critical to understanding ecosystems.

Answer 5

The only dumb question is the one not asked.

Depending on your interests, you can major in either zoology or botany and go on to work in ecology as a grad student. In my case, I got all my degrees in zoology with just one undergraduate course in ecology. Guess what my teaching specialty was. Guess what field I consult in. What else?