studying herpetology - experts Forum at VenomousReptiles.org

RE: studying herpetology	Reply
by Rob_Carmichael on April 1, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
It will depend on what school you are going to. Some universities offer some nice undergraduate herp courses but many do not. For most, the path you will take is that you will get a B.A. or B.S. degree in Biology taking courses that most of us majoring in Bio would just like to forget (organic chem, microbiology, etc.). From there, you will then pursue a M.S. degree in Bio/Zoology and that is where you will start focusing more of your course work on vertebrate biology/herpetology in addition to field biology methodology. You start fine tuning your area of interest in the field and your thesis will be something herp related. This is where you will have your best opportunity to take herpetology focuses courses. If you choose to pursue a PhD you will be diving into a narrowly focused herp endeavor but you will still need all of your broad based knowledge when you defend your dissertation....and its not a pleasant experience. If you want some good herp schools in the U.S. I would be happy to make some recommendations. If your college or university does not offer herp classes, I would recommend trying to make a connection with your nearest natural history museum or zoological institution to see if there are internship opportunities or field research opportunities.

RE: studying herpetology	Reply
by Crotalusssp on April 1, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
LOL, You are very correct Rob. Organic 1 and 2 was the pits. To top it off Biology majors (and non Chem. majors) had to take different professors from the Chem. majors. The professors we got were either green, about to retire, or non-tenured and difficult to follow. A bookstore on campus used to sell bumper stickers that said, "Honk if you passed Organic" or "Honk if you passed P-Chem". Despite that, I still miss those days!!! Charles

RE: studying herpetology	Reply
by earthguy on April 2, 2009	Mail this to a friend!
Our 'weed courses' for Biology were Organic Chem and Cell and Molecular. Organic was a breeze compared to cell and Molecular. She used to pride herself on her high failure rate.

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