Help Needed Choosing the Right Masters Degree!!

[jseau]

Hi all
I am looking for some help and advice on choosing a good master’s degree course to pursue a potential career in ecological/environmental consultancy.

I am currently in a volunteer post with the forestry commission and my recent search (and failure) to find paid work has pushed me to look at getting further qualifications (before fee rises).

I have a Bsc (hons) Degree in Landscape Architecture with Ecology, and loved the conservation and ecology side of the course and I have been volunteering for 5 months now to basically find out what I wanted to do, and ecological consultancy has really made an impression on me.

But.. As i look at a possible Master’s degree, I am finding it hard to choose one, with possible subjects ranging from ecology, environmental consultancy, wildlife conservation and management and so on… I really want something that is specific to consultancy work, and for my own personal skills to possibly contain a good amount of species identification and survey work/modules.

Any help or advice would be grateful, as would any suggested courses.

Many thanks
Paul

[Johnny Redgate]

Hi Paul
It sounds like you need a course that will give you a good grounding in survey techniques (Phase 1 and 2 habitat/veg and a range of protected species), species ID (bearing in mind that you will probably need to specialise to a degree), wildlife legislation and ecological impact assessment together with the opportunity to carry out a detailed fieldwork based project.

Just a thought - creative ecologists with skills in landscape design, specification and contract management should be very useful anyway to environmental consultancies. Many years ago I did the MSc in Landscape Ecology, Design and Maintenance at Wye College. This no longer exists but must have had some similarities with your BSc. Several of my fellow students found work with Land Use Consultants who seemed keen to take graduates from this course. Have you tried there?

[tom00_uk]

if you can afford to pay to do a masters think first about using the money instead to allow you to increase the amount of volunteering you do.

its all well and good have a bit of paper, but in most circumstances you would get far more from hands on experiences than text books. you also would be working towards getting those all important licences that will encourage consultancy to hire you.


Have a look at some job adverts to see what the employers are after before rushing out and signing up to added debt with the possibility of being no more employable.

This is what i wished i had done before reading my MSc at Exeter

[Words]

A couple of things... the fee increases recently announced don't affect postgraduate degrees so while fees may go up that's no different from how it has always been. My guess is that most fees will stay around what they are now if only because universities need to increase the number of postgrads (there are no caps on numbers for PG either) and there's no 'loan system' to 'support' the student.

Check out likely courses and speak to the faculty (academics) about job prospects, field work/placements, options and any external links they have with relevant employers/organizations.

Good luck!

[wanlock dod]

Paul,

Contrary to what other folks have said I woudl recommend that you aim for something that is rather more scientific and quantitative if you are interested in a career in the area, although to be fair "Environmental Consultancy" really can cover a multitude of areas.

The reason that I say this is that there are lots of courses available on environmental issues that are (in my opinion) a bit vague and "wishy-washy", and an even bigger number of people who have the associated qualifications. If you are interested in making a good career of it then you need to set you standards higher than everybody elses, especially in a time like this when any job is hard to come by.

As I understand it ecological survey type posts can be quiet competitive because the idea at least appeals to lots of people, which means that you woudl need to be rather better than the competition to get the job.

In my opinion the best training for an environmental consultant would be to spend some time working as an environmental regulator, but as they are more likley laying folks off than taking them on at the moment I appreciate it's maybe not the most helpful of suggestions. The situation might be better in a years time after you've completed your masters though.

As an alternative, how about considering a PhD studentship with a good research group in a relevant area? Educational inflation means that a Masters these days doesn't afford the status that it would have done a couple of decades ago.

Starting out in any career can be a long and hard road, but the efforts put in at the begining should pay rewards in the longer term.

[Words]

I would certainly endorse a PhD with a good research group if you can get it!