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Question about University Programs
TheNomadicCircle
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Hello and sorry for the multiple topics. This time its not about graduate studies or myself so I thought it better to start a new topic.
A cousin of mine wants to do the same as I've done and since he's good in his studies and is a bright student I said I'll talk about it to his parents and about my support for letting him go (Its a tribal thing in Turkmenistan).
Anyway, he wants to become a Paleontologist. Which I know is more than just studying Dinosaurs but he's interest in it solely because he wants to work with Dinosaurs.
I, unfortunately, have no knowledge of sciences and the like, I'm more of a History person, so I've got no clue what to look for. I've found out, through gooling at least, that you need to do Paleontology at a Masters/PhD level and (i'm guessing) there is no specific program for Paleontology at the undergrad level. Is that a correct assumption?
So if I want to bring it up do I point how he needs to study Biology/Zoology? Should I present university (both in Canada and the US) that are good in Biology/Zoology this topic? What specific departments should he try to get if it isn't these choices?
Any help is appreciated.
A cousin of mine wants to do the same as I've done and since he's good in his studies and is a bright student I said I'll talk about it to his parents and about my support for letting him go (Its a tribal thing in Turkmenistan).
Anyway, he wants to become a Paleontologist. Which I know is more than just studying Dinosaurs but he's interest in it solely because he wants to work with Dinosaurs.
I, unfortunately, have no knowledge of sciences and the like, I'm more of a History person, so I've got no clue what to look for. I've found out, through gooling at least, that you need to do Paleontology at a Masters/PhD level and (i'm guessing) there is no specific program for Paleontology at the undergrad level. Is that a correct assumption?
So if I want to bring it up do I point how he needs to study Biology/Zoology? Should I present university (both in Canada and the US) that are good in Biology/Zoology this topic? What specific departments should he try to get if it isn't these choices?
Any help is appreciated.
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Posts
I would suggest that you first fully investigate that point of tension. Explain to your cousin what paleontology actually entails, and ask if that sounds enjoyable.
My guess is that when he says "work with Dinosaurs" he doesn't mean "research and publish in academic journals".
Yeah...about that...
Perhaps maintaining a realistic appraisal of the situation is best when making significant life decisions about future employment.
Field work is a blast. It's my favorite part of the work. It's also the smallest part of the work. The vast majority of the time is spent writing papers, comparing specimens, cataloging collections, and a whole host of other stuff that's not outside (depending on where exactly the job is and what you do). There is a huge, huge amount of specimen prep work that goes into putting things into collections or getting them ready for exhibits, and it takes a very particular kind of person to do that for any amount of time. I spent a couple of summers in high school working in the prep labs at the university where my parents teach and at the Dallas Museum of Natural History, and I can tell you that I got bored with prep work super fast. Then you take into account the fact that the vast majority of field work is actually going out to tell some rancher that he actually found the skull of a cow that died 10 years ago instead of a new dinosaur, and it's pretty easy to see that the Jurassic Park model of paleontology is pretty far from reality.
As far as what to study in undergrad if he does indeed want to pursue this, geology is a pretty safe bet. I would recommend taking at least a couple of courses in comparative anatomy as well, since that's the way to determine what species you're looking at. Whatever school he ends up at, it's a fair assumption that they'll have a few paleontologists in their geology department; I would recommend that your cousin hook up with them when he gets to school and tries to volunteer in the lab or something. That way he can get some exposure and see what actual life as a paleontologist is like. If he does end up pursuing it, make sure to emphasize that it's really hard to find stuff, and he can't have his heart set on finding and working on a particular thing. My dad is actually an expert in prehistoric mammals (it's what he wrote his doctoral thesis on), but when he was looking for mammal specimens doing post-doc work in Africa, he found dinosaurs and just kinda went from there.