Washington State University-Botany

Areas of Emphasis: Ecology & Evolution, Physiology, Molecular Biology, and Systematics

Washington State University doesn't offer much about their program on their website. They claim to have excellent research facilities, but I couldn't find anything that really made them stand out. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this school for botany. Their ranking is relatively low in US News & World Report, and they don't offer that many unique plant classes, except, maybe in physiology. However, they could be a good choice for students concerned about costs because they claim to provide all their grad students with complete funding, including waiving out-of-state fees for the first year.

The school offers both masters and doctoral programs.

Interesting-sounding courses: Experimental Plant Ecology, Plant Ecophysiology, Molecular Ecology and Phylogeography, Angiosperm Families of the World, Plant Metabolism, Special Projects in Electron Microscopy
They offer lots of physiology courses.

Tuition & Fees In-State: $22,708
Tuition & Fees Out-of-State: $34, 316

Although these expenses are rather high, especially for out-of-state students, the school offers waivers of out-of-state costs. However, these are only available for the first year, and are limited, so they encourage and expect students to establish residency within their first year, implying that the process is relatively easy. Also, they claim that, "All of our graduate students are fully funded." (PhDs.org claims that the average tuition remission is 83%.) However, most students get TAships, but some receive Research Assistantships and fellowships. There are a good number of fellowships and awards available to botany students. Although TAing isn't required, they do require all graduate students to take the following course: Preparation for College Teaching, which doesn't sound so bad or scary.

Pre-requisites:

• Organic Chemistry
• Calculus

They don't really go into very much detail about pre-reqs, only listing these two as examples. However, they do say that deficiencies can be made up.

General GRE: Minimum score not provided.
Subject GRE recommended
Minimum GPA: 3.0
US News and World Report Ranking: 77/152
Percent Undergrads admitted: 76%


Potenial Advisors:  very limited, not very many plant ecologists
Al Black:  Plant Phyisological Ecology (http://sbs.wsu.edu/faculty/?faculty/6)
R. David Evans:  Ecosystem Ecology, response of soil compounds to climate change, including research with microbes (http://www.isotopes.wsu.edu/)
Cheryl Schultz:  Conservation Biology, Restoration Ecology (http://directory.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/cheryl-schultz)

Indiana University-Bloomington: Environmental Science

Areas of Emphasis: Policy and Law (in the works), Biology, Physical Sciences

Indiana University seems like a good choice for those interested in environmental science. The course selection is excellent, the program is highly interdisciplinary, and there are many areas on which one can focus. However, for those with backgrounds in anything other than science and even those who have a science background in an area different from what they want to pursue in environmental science, may have a hard time getting accepted.

The school offers a variety of MS degrees as well as a PhD. Specific concentrations include Applied Ecology, Water Resources, Environmental Chemistry & Toxicology, and a student-chosen combined emphases program for the MS degree. The PhD program is more interdisciplinary and sounds difficult to get into, but it may be easier to get into after one has been working towards a master's for awhile.

Overall, the school offers a wide variety and good selection of courses. Interesting-sounding courses include Wetlands Biology and Regulation, Forest Ecology and Management, Environmental Toxicology, and Lake and Watershed Management. For chemistry there are many cool-sounding courses, such as Chromatography, Hydrology, Biological Chemistry, Subsurface Microbiology and Bioremediation, Fate of Organic Contaminates in the Environment, and Soil Mechanics and Science.

Tuition and fees for out-of-state students total around $32,514. For in-state students, the amount is about $23,582.

Financial Aid includes stipends, tuition remission, assistantships, and internships. These awards are competitve; only 56% of the previous year's incoming students received such aid. However, the university claims that students who didn't receive aid often receive it their second semester or year. Those who receive assistantships working at least 15 hrs/week also receive free health insurance. Scholarships, need-based aid, and fellowships are also available. No estimates of the costs covered by such awards are given. It appears that TA'ing is not a requirement.

Pre-requisites:

This is perhaps the most disheartening of the things about this school. For admission to the PhD program, one MUST have all of the pre-reqs (the school doesn't tell us what they are) made up. For the MS, they require an undegrad. degree with courses relevant to the area of emphasis chosen by the student. Students interested in research need to have, "an adequate background in quantitative natural science subjects (e.g., math, chemistry, or biology)." Although they don't say there are exceptions to these requirements, they imply that there are not. I recommend contacting them for further information.

General GRE: There is not minimum required score. However, admitted students average around 600 on each section (verbal and quantitative). The subject GRE is not required.
GPA: Information not available.
PhDs.org states that 73% of PhD graduates in Agriculutral and Natural Sciences find jobs immediately after graduating.