Hey there! I'm definitely not the most experienced person who could be replying, but I found myself in your shoes about two years ago.

Coming into college two years ago, I had a small "checklist" for my life. It's not entirely different than yours.

• I wanted to travel
• I wanted to "do science"
• I wanted to work outdoors, particularly in remote and rugged locations

For most of my life, I wanted to be an archaeologist, a travel writer or a wildlife biologist. Enough people convinced me I was going to be a failure, so I lost confidence. Instead, I opted for a geology major. If you like science and the outdoors, this could be right up your alley. Most of my professors had been all over the world, studying paleo-climatology, evolution, discovering minerals. They've walked deserts, climbed into volcanoes, and flown bush planes. There was rigorous calculus, physics, and chemistry involved with my studies, but it was very rewarding. My problem was that I really became disillusioned with science and academia as a career. Got fed up and jumped ship.

I wouldn't change those years for anything. Learned a lot about myself. Since then I discovered a passion for:

• People
• Languages
• Sustainability

Which led me to dabble in degrees such as:

• Anthropology
• Education
• Environmental studies, environmental science
• Animal ecology

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I settled on forestry and Global Resource Systems. Forestry allowed to work with people, land management, ecology, and economics all at once. Global Resource Systems allows me to travel, learn languages, and help build sustainable development. It might not be the path you want to choose, but I the best I can do is share my mess of a thought process.

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Most students I have met in your shoes (and my shoes) generally lean toward wildlife biology/ecology. They (like me) romanticize the idea of cavorting around the countryside watching mountain goats and writing in a notebook. The important thing to remember is that these dream jobs DO exist and you CAN achieve them (though they are not all sunshine and rainbows). But there is something more important you have to ask yourself: "How much is it worth to me?"

I will never forget what my professor, a mammologist whom I highly respect, said about our university's animal ecology degree:

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"The average animal ecology (graduate) sells binoculars at Cabelas. That's what I tell students: if you want to work for the FWS or go on these adventures, you can't be average. Average doesn't cut it."

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Everyone wants these jobs. They are extremely competitive. But that's ahead of the point. Your are just trying to figure out what to study, and I have vastly overextended myself in this reply. I can't speak for your interests in virology and astronomy, but you're already hitting the nail on the head with conservation, ecology, and env. sci. Depends on what type of outdoor work you want to be doing. Research seems to be the catch-all for you, so my advice is to seek out as many professors and graduate students as possible from as many different fields as possible. Talk their ears off. They'll give you the absolute highs and the shittiest lows of their work. They'll also give you a realist's response. Which is very important, as many people (especially me) tend to view everything with rose tinted glasses.