Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am graduting college next semester would like to go into biology but herpetology would be even better. anyone know of any colleges that teach herpetology ?

thanks,
john

Biology as a field has very bad placement of graduates. While you will have a chance at a job with a graduate degree, study the job market and you will find that you have little chance of making a decent living in this field.Trust me I know.The only employer you could find would either be teaching(in this case get a broader teaching degree)or government work where you will have to start from the bottom competing with 100 others for a $18K/yr job.You can make more by working at McDonalds,seriously.If making a living isnt important to you, by all means give it a shot(and throw some extra my way when you get a chance!).If not, get a paying job biology-related(bio-chem,bio-tech) and keep up with herps as a hobby.It will likely keep you more passionate about them in the long run anyway.See your advisor once in a while and they will open your eyes to the real world,lol,Jeff

Networking is my major now and my specialty. so i should be able to find a good job with that. i just wanted to take biology so i could have two majors. plus some computers are incorporating dna identification for security measures. so computers and biology go hand and hand.

Wow, with two unrelated majors like that you're going to be in school FOREVER. Like 6 years. At least at most schools.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

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Thanks

I'm going to second Jeff on this one.

I have a degree in Evolutionary Biology and Journalism. The key to a degree in Biology (or any degree, for that matter) is how you leverage it. The research skills are really valuable to publishers, legal entities, financial institutions. You have to know how to work it.

There are a handful of schools with such a specialized field of study, but consider the practicality. There are very few jobs available at museums and zoos. Acadaemia and state-sponsored jobs are your most likely employer, and as Jeff said, you're in fierce competition for low pay. My first job offer out of school was editing a physics journal(?) with a salary 25% below the cost of one year of tuition. Welcome to the sciences....

Carl, I get it all the time..."I always wanted to be a marine biologist".Most people just dont know what it entails....Government jobs are 90% of your work and even these are mostly grant based subcontracts as the govt has figured out how to get a job done without employees(bennys!).Only 1 in 10 with a degree ever gets a job in the field, only 1 in 100 has a job in the field in 10 years!Depending upon the political winds, funding is always in question.Tenure is unrealistic,and dont even get me started on finding a job with them being a white male....affirmative action is alive and well and the glass ceiliing darkens everyday.I was one in 100 and still have a job in biology but mostly from being smart,flexible and creative.Also, it is EXPECTED that you kinda give up any semblance of a normal life and live aboard boats that most people wouldnt walk on,travel places noone wants to go,and do the things noone wants to do.The only other non-govt job around for me is an aquarium,when applying(after putting my name on the list to volunteer)for my dream job I found that they only hired ex-volunteers(feel like working for FREE??)and the list is 350 people long!!So, wait 2 years to volunteer,do that for 6-12 months and MAYBE we will hire you at 18K/yr...even though they ADMITTED I was the best qualified for the job!!Or better yet, go back to school, get further degrees(debt)and go back and TEACH others how they cant get a job in the field either!! Any professor of herpetology likely also teaches other courses such as mammology,anatomy,or something else that will attract more students(funding)than the unpopular herps do.I apologize for the frustrating RANT,lol,but others have to learn from this.Mine case is not an anomoly.I have found that most of the BIG names in marine biology/science are nothing but glorified BEGGERS....if you do become wildly successful and teach or do research in the field...you only work DOING biology maybe a week or 2 a year. The rest of the time you are calling companies and fat cats to ask for donations!!Not some underling,YOU! You schedule fundraisers,do lunches and interact with people that wouldnt raise a hair on the back of your neck with a vacuum cleaner!All that for a PBS special,lol. Look at that "famous"herp film producer that got caught trying to smuggle herps out of Austrailia.....to have to resort to other things for $$ to make ends meet anyway,well,why not start there in the first place?Lots of biology-related jobs in the pharmecutical field....legal and otherwise! Jeff

I hear you Jeff, and empathize with your struggle. It's clear thought that you love what you do.

My senior year in college in worked at a NY zoo, in the reptile house, and it was pretty evident I wasn't going to land a job there. And looking back, I'm glad I didn't. A great place with great people, and a thoroughly brilliant institution I'll not name online, just there was nothing there to offer.

I use my degree every day, I can still apply things I've learned / discovered. And you're absolutely right, I've landed in pharmaceuticals. Nice money, though they've moved to a contract basis, which makes htings difficult for long term planning. Still, a good job if you can get it, and it keeps the snakes well fed.

I have looked into applying for a job with the dnr. they require some kind of college degree. i think it would help to have a biology degree if someone wanted to work for the dnr.

Carl, the DNR is a good place to have a biology degree.The questions you want to ask is where do you want to be in 10-20 years?Most DNR jobs are entry level without much room for advancement(of course its better with an advanced degree).Only you can weigh the cost/benefit of further schooling as you carry debt into your 30s....DNR people dont make much $$ even WITH a advanced degree(an extra 7K/yr would take you maybe 10 years to even break even considering the price of school and loans and interest!)Do your homework and find out if there will be MORE or LESS of these jobs in the future.I wish I had asked more questions 10-15 years ago....Jeff

I am on my final year of my doctorate and would like to point out some facts. Minorities that qualify for affirmative action make up less than 2% of those employed in biology and other “hard” sciences. To lose a job to this size population would mean truly being at the bottom of the applicant pool. Asians and far east Indians make up the fast growing minority groups within the hard sciences and they are not included in affirmative action programs. They just flat out score everyone in standardized test and GPA. Blaming everything on affirmative action only leads to worse race relations and further reenforces the notion that herpers are just red necked uneducated people. In the long run such an image only hurts when it comes to being taken seriously when legislators attempt to ban our pets.

I have worked in biology for 15 years and have had the opportunity to view many different projects from both the govt and subcontractor sides. The fact remains that most or all of the higher management is predominantly white males who have been there forever....they balance this off by hiring mostly women and minorities regardless of test scores. In fact, I have worked for a company the purposefully hired the LEAST qualified applicants simply so they would not question protocal.SO, my point is that if you want to start a company and go after these contracts it doesnt matter what race you are.If you want to graduate and start at the bottom of the "food chain"entry level)there is affirmative action to deal with and anyone who doesnt realize this is misinformed.Sorry for any semblance of racism, that isnt how I meant either this or the first post.Just go into a decision like this with your eyes open...its alot of time and $$ to get you a piece of paper that may not be able to pay for itself,Jeff

well...
I would think you would have to advance a number of research questions pertaining to field work ( conservation biology, environmental physiology, etal.)or lab/systematics work, the majority of which is not just herps. Look at www.esf.edu and under conservation biology, look for Dr James Gibbs' page and some of the other professors, maybe this will give you a good lead of what is being done or where else to look.
Good Luck,
dave b

Thanks