SUMMARY
Majoring in Natural Resources and Conservation is a valuable choice and typically a required first step for undergrads trying to begin a career as an environmental educator, a preserve manager, or a gis systems specialist. Interestingly, natural resources and conservation is a fairly common choice being the 28th most popular area of study. Last academic year, there were 21,077 natural resources and conservation degrees conferred. In-state tuition for natural resources and conservation at private colleges is, on average, 4.5 times more expensive than their public rivals.
With an impressive 820 schools offering natural resources and conservation odds are that any colleges you are excited about will have a degree program for you. If you're hoping to surround yourself with other natural resources and conservation students, look at institutions in California which have the most undergraduates admitted to natural resources and conservation annually. Zooming out, the best region to major in natural resources and conservation is in the Far West region with University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Santa Barbara, and Humboldt State University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick for the best conference to major in natural resources and conservation is the Pacific-12 Conference with University of California-Berkeley, Oregon State University, and University of Washington-Seattle Campus representing the conference. From our list of the best colleges, our belief is that the best college for natural resources and conservation is Harvard University.
The objectively 'best' school does not have to be the best school for you. There might be a bunch more perspectives to consider when selecting college. External stuff such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food could modify your thoughts on which university to attend. Here at Authority, we weighed the pros and cons for you. If, as an example, you want to know which natural resources and conservation university has the best campus, the answer is Harvard University. If, for example, you are very interested in which university has the finest campus, we have an entire page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through government databases, student reviews, professor reviews, and more so we can evaluate every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our well researched list for the colleges with the best student life here and, from that list, our pick for the university with the best student life for natural resources and conservation is Cornell University. Curious why? Continue scrolling to learn more about our top choices. Many of our picks just might shock you.
If price is a major deciding factor in your decision on where to go to school, you might consider avoiding Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York appears to be our most expensive school for natural resources and conservation, at least for out of state students. We do have an entire list of the most expensive universities that could put the price tag of Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. For more context, you could be interested to know that natural resources and conservation is the 32nd most expensive degree in the United States, with an average bill of $51,800. To zoom out a little, the most expensive state for natural resources and conservation in the nation is District of Columbia at American University and George Washington University, the primary universities in the state, of $49,070 and $54,453. To zoom out even further, the most expensive region of the country for natural resources and conservation is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Amherst College with a cost of $57,640, Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.
Our cheapest region for natural resources and conservation is the Southwest region which is represented by New Mexico Highlands University with a cost of $8,712, Eastern New Mexico University-Main Campus with a cost of $5,994, and West Texas A & M University with a cost of $6,960. In better news, the most affordable school for natural resources and conservation is SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Authority's comprehensive list of the most affordable colleges can be found here.
In-state attendees can anticipate paying around $9,900 for a degree in natural resources and conservation. That price swells by a lot to a median of $23,000 for an out-of-state public-school student. Our selection for the college with the best value for natural resources and conservation: Duke University. Here you will find our comprehensive list of the colleges we see as being the best value overall. Do know, this idea is based on being an out-of-state student. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.
Earnings for natural resources and conservation majors can vary, but two years after graduation graduates will often make in the neighborhood of $52,800. While there is much variation in earnings potential; top earners can bring in up to $97,900. Straight out of college, the lowest end positions within the natural resources and conservation field earn $28,100, which could be worse. The top earning grads for natural resources and conservation studied at Duke University and if you are looking for universities with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The all-around diversity of natural resources and conservation stands below average, coming in the 44th percentile of all majors. The university with the highest composite diversity for natural resources and conservation is Brown University and here you can find our general list of the colleges which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of the Natural Resources and Conservation major is only within the 18th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, ranking in the 33rd percentile. White undergraduates make up the largest share, 68%, of students majoring in natural resources and conservation. Additionally, 57% of scholars seeking a natural resources and conservation major are women.
The median score for natural resources and conservation's professors is 4 stars, a rating which is actually the median across all majors; this is a fine. If you are interested in the most popular natural resources and conservation instructor nationally, take a look at Jeffrey Wilson from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. This may be a shock, but the top rated instructors of natural resources and conservation according to students come from University of California-Davis. If we incorporate data beyond simply rankings it becomes clear that the college with the best professors for natural resources and conservation is Johns Hopkins University. You will find an explanation of our evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, as well as some of the finest instructors in the U.S.
Finally, the most difficult university to get into for natural resources and conservation is Harvard University. While we think of this list more as a novelty, we have a detailed list for the hardest colleges to get into. Although, here at Authority we do hope you believe that approaching college through a lens mainly built on superlatives could cause problems. We at Authority encourage you to look at some of our more focused pages on different topics and explore a couple of our background pages on useful details to think about as you continue your university search.