Anonymous
Post 04/05/2025 20:36     Subject: Grad School in Marine Biology
Anonymous wrote:DD is interested in getting a Masters in Marine Biology. Anyone BTDT with advice on schools, types of research needed, etc? She's been hearing that you have to have research experience prior to being accepted, which seems odd to me. (I did my PhD in a different science 30+ yrs ago, and you went to grad school to do research, not the other way around).

TIA


UCs or CalPoly?
Anonymous
Post 04/05/2025 19:00     Subject: Grad School in Marine Biology
UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego have great programs
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 22:29     Subject: Grad School in Marine Biology
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For any thesis-based masters degree program that is respected in the field one is going to need research experience to be competitive. The top ones, ie the ones that lead to preferred careers, have funding to cover part of tuition/costs, usually in the form of research or teaching fellowships. Top programs want students with experience, whether that be bench research or historical research. Even masters in humanities programs require undergrad research, for the desirable programs. Every college or university worth its cost has access to undergraduate research across all fields and opportunity for undergraduate thesis completion.


So if I'm understanding this correctly (OP again) she needs to focus on that during her undergrad time. Is there a way to do it between undergrad and prior to applying to grad school?


NP.
Possibly but why not do it during undergraduate years? That is standard. Options are summer or an away semester if the undergrad program does not have access to scientific research. The research does not have to be marine biology specifically, it can be environmental or general biology.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2025 22:25     Subject: Grad School in Marine Biology
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For any thesis-based masters degree program that is respected in the field one is going to need research experience to be competitive. The top ones, ie the ones that lead to preferred careers, have funding to cover part of tuition/costs, usually in the form of research or teaching fellowships. Top programs want students with experience, whether that be bench research or historical research. Even masters in humanities programs require undergrad research, for the desirable programs. Every college or university worth its cost has access to undergraduate research across all fields and opportunity for undergraduate thesis completion.


So if I'm understanding this correctly (OP again) she needs to focus on that during her undergrad time. Is there a way to do it between undergrad and prior to applying to grad school?


She does not need a Marine Biology undergrad degree, but she should try to get a relevant summer internship or to work in a professor’s lab and ideally to co-author a peer reviewed paper.