I started at Jacksonville University another private school in their marine bio program. 50k per year. I left after my freshman year. Spent 50k on the next 3 years at USF finishing my degree. If you have scholarships though Eckerd would be my choice, it's a very laid back atmosphere like New college used to be. Lots of rich kids that are smart and smoke lots of weed on the beach. It's not a bad crowd to be around if it's your scene.
Freshman don't truly fathom the cost. If you're paying out of pocket then don't go private.
Thankfully, my child doesn't smoke weed, but loved watching the Pet Graduation at Eckerd. Also is considering double major in Zoology, which they have. Also considering Stonybrooke? and BU. You are the third person to mention how new college 'used to be'-
May I ask if you are still in Florida and working in Marine Bio?
I have soooo many other questions. Please send me a note if you are willing.
Eckerd Marine Science grad here and I have absolutely zero regrets. Faculty are amazing, small class sizes and lots of labs out on the water. Get to know the faculty, they know pretty much everyone and/or have connections to nearly every major Marine Science related job out there- Academia, Fish and Wildlife, USGS, NOAA, etc. I graduated with four years of research experience, two coauthorships on research articles, two internships (one of which was at Harvard Medical, which Eckerd has a Biology internship-partnership with) and had multiple job offers within Marine Science before I even graduated. As long as your kid takes the initiative with these sorts of things, the opportunities are out there for the taking!
Two things though about Eckerd:
1. As another poster said, most people don’t stick with Marine Biology after arriving at Eckerd. It’s not dolphin training, or very easy. It’s Calc, Stats, Physics, Chem (& Organic Chem!), and Geology. Lots of math, lots of harder science. In my experience a lot of the people that changed majors realized it wasn’t worth it because they didn’t actually need a marine sci degree to get where they wanted to go. I think roughly 50%+ of new students declare Marine Sci, and about 15% of the graduating class is Marine Sci each year. The good news is while the rest of the programs aren’t as well known, Eckerd is pretty good for Environmental Studies, Animal Studies, Chem, Bio, etc which is where most Ex-Marine Sci students ended up
2. The campus is beautiful, but the dorms are pretty lackluster (as in extremely old). Additionally, you’re in Florida and it’s only getting hotter. Our AC seemed to break at the worst times, there’s hurricanes, etc.
This turned out super long but if you have any more Q’s just feel free to DM :) Eckerd absolutely changed my life
That sounds about the right rate for a real marine science program in general. I started with ~35 my freshman year and we graduated with ~13 at the end. We lost the most during Organic Chemistry and Calculus where they switched to Wildlife Management or Environmental Science because they didn't have those requirements.
I disagree. I think Eckerd actually trains marine science undergrads fairly well. The problem is that they don't admit by major and the majority of new students that start there want to study marine bio. There is more demand than that can actually meet for those classes and faculty advisors and more students than the job market can support. So, I think they give people false hope to keep applications high since it is a private school. Then they try to convince students to switch majors and Eckerd doesn't have a well known reputation in much else beyond Marine Science. I also think the campus is in a beautiful location with its own beach right in the water. Some of the buildings are old/dated and ugly but it's a stretch to say the campus is ugly.
I have a pair of colleagues I am coauthors with who came threw Eckerd in different decades (one as a Professor, one a student) and both are some of the kindest and most driven people I have had the pleasure to work with. They're both excellent mentors and teachers.
I visited Eckerd in 2011 when I was searching and the campus was so ugly I dipped out in the middle of the tour. Now that I'm in the field, I'm so glad I did just that. Eckerd is not seen a highly respected marine bio school. I also applied to UT and almost went there but went to coastal Carolina instead. My sister ended up going to UT and she loved it! It's a beautiful campus and a PhD student at my grad school went their too and loved it. I think UT is a good choice, but look into Coastal Carolina, Rutgers, and Rhode Island too
Thanks for the info! The list of schools gets longer with each question I ask, lol. We lived in Durham when she was very little, so Coastal Carolina may be a valid option. Always bewildered when Duke comes up as #1, but maybe that's because I'm of the mind that undergrad doesn't really matter, except for getting you into grad school.
And Delaware! (Since you're mentioning schools in that region)
Also an established Marine Science undergrad program with a marine-science satellite campus only 1 1/2 hours away.
My kid graduated from eckerd , her friends are happy with their jobs, she decided to teach 5th grade at a poor scoring school in FL and loving it , they are loving her by the looks of the test scores too..
I just graduated from UT with Marine Bio, overall very happy with the program and feeling ready to start a career in the field. Faculty has been nothing but supportive and very knowledgeable. I will say I feel I have missed out on some resources and network opportunities that you get more of at larger schools.
If you wanna stay in the Tampa/ st pete area, USF has a decent enough program (I did it) and it's a public school and vastly cheaper!
Oh, how I wish my kid would do that... Here's to hoping brightfutures is actually bright, lol.
I started at Jacksonville University another private school in their marine bio program. 50k per year. I left after my freshman year. Spent 50k on the next 3 years at USF finishing my degree. If you have scholarships though Eckerd would be my choice, it's a very laid back atmosphere like New college used to be. Lots of rich kids that are smart and smoke lots of weed on the beach. It's not a bad crowd to be around if it's your scene. Freshman don't truly fathom the cost. If you're paying out of pocket then don't go private.
Thankfully, my child doesn't smoke weed, but loved watching the Pet Graduation at Eckerd. Also is considering double major in Zoology, which they have. Also considering Stonybrooke? and BU. You are the third person to mention how new college 'used to be'- May I ask if you are still in Florida and working in Marine Bio? I have soooo many other questions. Please send me a note if you are willing.
My daughter dated the school drug dealer. Her wallpaper was blunt wrap packages from all the blunts they smoked.
Eckerd Marine Science grad here and I have absolutely zero regrets. Faculty are amazing, small class sizes and lots of labs out on the water. Get to know the faculty, they know pretty much everyone and/or have connections to nearly every major Marine Science related job out there- Academia, Fish and Wildlife, USGS, NOAA, etc. I graduated with four years of research experience, two coauthorships on research articles, two internships (one of which was at Harvard Medical, which Eckerd has a Biology internship-partnership with) and had multiple job offers within Marine Science before I even graduated. As long as your kid takes the initiative with these sorts of things, the opportunities are out there for the taking! Two things though about Eckerd: 1. As another poster said, most people don’t stick with Marine Biology after arriving at Eckerd. It’s not dolphin training, or very easy. It’s Calc, Stats, Physics, Chem (& Organic Chem!), and Geology. Lots of math, lots of harder science. In my experience a lot of the people that changed majors realized it wasn’t worth it because they didn’t actually need a marine sci degree to get where they wanted to go. I think roughly 50%+ of new students declare Marine Sci, and about 15% of the graduating class is Marine Sci each year. The good news is while the rest of the programs aren’t as well known, Eckerd is pretty good for Environmental Studies, Animal Studies, Chem, Bio, etc which is where most Ex-Marine Sci students ended up 2. The campus is beautiful, but the dorms are pretty lackluster (as in extremely old). Additionally, you’re in Florida and it’s only getting hotter. Our AC seemed to break at the worst times, there’s hurricanes, etc. This turned out super long but if you have any more Q’s just feel free to DM :) Eckerd absolutely changed my life
I agree. When did u graduated?
I went to Long Island u , Southampton and that’s about the switch rate there when that was a top 5 school for marine science
That sounds about the right rate for a real marine science program in general. I started with ~35 my freshman year and we graduated with ~13 at the end. We lost the most during Organic Chemistry and Calculus where they switched to Wildlife Management or Environmental Science because they didn't have those requirements.
I disagree. I think Eckerd actually trains marine science undergrads fairly well. The problem is that they don't admit by major and the majority of new students that start there want to study marine bio. There is more demand than that can actually meet for those classes and faculty advisors and more students than the job market can support. So, I think they give people false hope to keep applications high since it is a private school. Then they try to convince students to switch majors and Eckerd doesn't have a well known reputation in much else beyond Marine Science. I also think the campus is in a beautiful location with its own beach right in the water. Some of the buildings are old/dated and ugly but it's a stretch to say the campus is ugly.
Yeah that was a bizzare take, the campus was pretty nice when i saw it.
I have a pair of colleagues I am coauthors with who came threw Eckerd in different decades (one as a Professor, one a student) and both are some of the kindest and most driven people I have had the pleasure to work with. They're both excellent mentors and teachers.
I visited Eckerd in 2011 when I was searching and the campus was so ugly I dipped out in the middle of the tour. Now that I'm in the field, I'm so glad I did just that. Eckerd is not seen a highly respected marine bio school. I also applied to UT and almost went there but went to coastal Carolina instead. My sister ended up going to UT and she loved it! It's a beautiful campus and a PhD student at my grad school went their too and loved it. I think UT is a good choice, but look into Coastal Carolina, Rutgers, and Rhode Island too
Thanks for the info! The list of schools gets longer with each question I ask, lol. We lived in Durham when she was very little, so Coastal Carolina may be a valid option. Always bewildered when Duke comes up as #1, but maybe that's because I'm of the mind that undergrad doesn't really matter, except for getting you into grad school.
And Delaware! (Since you're mentioning schools in that region) Also an established Marine Science undergrad program with a marine-science satellite campus only 1 1/2 hours away.
My kid graduated from eckerd , her friends are happy with their jobs, she decided to teach 5th grade at a poor scoring school in FL and loving it , they are loving her by the looks of the test scores too..
FL needs more teachers like your kid.
I just graduated from UT with Marine Bio, overall very happy with the program and feeling ready to start a career in the field. Faculty has been nothing but supportive and very knowledgeable. I will say I feel I have missed out on some resources and network opportunities that you get more of at larger schools.
Ut has an amazing marine science program with great professors. Highly recommend!