Marine Biologists!!!!!

[purplepuffer]

I am starting to look very heavily into what I want to do with my future, and of course with my new found love of marine aqurium's, I was starting to look into Marine Biology. It would really help me out if you all who are already in this field gave me alittle into what they do as a marine biologist, how they got into it, info on how I can get started and what I need to do, and know a little more of what would be expected of me in this field! All your info would greatly be appreciated as I am trying to find what I want to do!
~~Megan

 

[percman]

megan ya read my mind too............i too am considering this field.......and i am going to be a sr. this year so i need to know so i can look into schools on the coasts.....god knows illinois doesnt have much of a marine biology field........well sorry for wasting your time but ehh oh well..........
Jonathan

 

[purplepuffer]

Yeah, I am a senior too, and I have only rearranged my schedule like five times over the summer, I change my mind alot, but now I think I might have found something that I really like, and I am just want to know a little more about it. And what I need to do to get into it. And I don't really want to stick around in Texas, either. Its always the same, just brown! But it is nice to know that someone else is kinda doing the same as me, (all my friends either know what they are doing, are practically already into their college, and the rest just aren't going). Now I don't feel so different. Thanks!

 

[ja]

Studying to become a marine biologist is alot of hard work. Tons of science courses and only a fraction of your degree in the fun aspect of the marine biology.(The animals)Back in my college days I was a Marine biolgy major at Jacksonville University in Florida but I moved up north and had to change majors. My advice to you guys if you really are determined is go for it. It is a very rewarding field, but you have to "weather" the early part of the major which is molecular biology, organic chemistry, physics and all that boring stuff. Good luck!
P.S. Look for a school that offers specialized marine biology that concentrates on animal life such as marine fish and mammals. Some schools have a much broader range of marine biolgy that you may or may not be as interested in.

 

[kmr]

UC Santa Cruz is awsome. Monteray Bay (sp?) is a great place to study marine biology on the west coast.

 

[reptilicus]

Hi,
yep, heaps of hard work first. Make sure you know your maths (I had to do calculus, statistics, linear algebra and discrete maths), chemistry, physics, geography, geology, and of course biology because you need all of them. It is also a very time consuming course, I have about twice as many hours as some other students do. However, having said that it is also a fascinating course, well worthwhile. Here in Australia at least it is a growing field with more and more jobs coming up all the time.
I'm not too sure about Universities over there in the US, but perhaps you should take a look at a few Australian Universities because they have the reputation as being the best places for marine sciences in the world (in my course there are students from all over the world). Check out a place called James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland (they have a site on the net), it is right on the Great Barrier Reef and seems to be the best place in the world for pure Marine Biology. I am hoping to go up there to to a PhD or something, but at the moment I am just doing a Marine Science degree at the University of Sydney. It is not quite as good as JCU for marine biology, but is better at more general Marine Science degrees, which is better for me as I am not exactly sure what branch of marine biology I want to study yet, and it is easy to transfer later on.)
HTH,
Tom

 

[clayton]

Megan, I am a qualified marine biologist and worked for a couple of years in the field. I have to get some sleep now but feel free to email me at claytonjohnsmith@hotmail.com if I can be of any help

 

[purplepuffer]

Thank you all for your reply's. I really appreciate it, especially with the school year coming up, and choices are needing to be decided by the end of the year. Wish me luck!!!

~~Megan