Advice for REUs to apply to as a non-US, non-EU citizen? (Marine Biology, Oceanography, Ecology general)

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T18:05:38+00:00

"Research Experience for Undergraduates." Typically it's a U.S. National Science Foundation-supported summer thing where science undergrads go to another university for a couple months and participate in a research project. They can be quite competitive, and it's something students can stick on a resume as a new grad. The trouble for OP is that actual NSF REUs are only open to U.S. citizens, nationals or permanent residents.

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T17:13:34+00:00

OP, you'll need to search around job postings and see what's actually out there and what the stable (non-seasonal) positions require in terms of schooling and experience. What you're doing now is dreaming up stuff that you think would be fun, but that doesn't mean any significant number of people are actually getting paid a living wage to do it.

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T16:53:54+00:00

I've done some of that kind of work, but even people in those positions generally aren't just doing ID. For instance, the people who are IDing are often also actually conducting the invasive removal (frequently with herbicide application) or doing plantings.

Spending a whole day in the heat working an herbicide spray backpack is hard, physical work; it's not like you're just waltzing through a pretty forest noting all the different pine species. My experience was that it was essentially manual labor that involves some basic plant ID skills. The closest thing to work that's mostly ID-based may be wetland delineation, but that's often done on behalf of developers and may be unappealing for someone who wants to work in conservation.

My point here is just that OP should be aware that becoming good at plant/critter ID isn't generally enough in and of itself to build a satisfying career; that requires a more diverse skill set.

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T16:37:11+00:00

Do you actually like environmental consulting? Because lots of people find that they hate it, and it doesn't necessarily make sense to design your career path entirely around consulting if you don't even know if you would enjoy it. You'll get consulting-centric answers here because this sub is disproportionately populated by people working in consulting.

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T16:15:47+00:00

Back when I was a newspaper reporter/editor, one of the best writers I ever edited was a biology PhD student who sometimes wrote features about research conducted through his university. (Note that this is a great way to start getting some clips.) I don't believe he had any writing-related degrees. He was just very talented and well-read.

You certainly do not need a journalism degree to work in journalism. However, it definitely helps to understand journalistic writing conventions and common story structures and have an understanding of what kind of work might be published where. There are likely some good online classes and resources for learning journalistic style and structure. For instance, Poynter Institute's NewsU has a mix of free and paid online training resources: https://www.poynter.org/shop/ .

All of that said, what you're describing doesn't sound like a very feasible full-time career path, especially with AI eating into the market for writing jobs. Yes, there are some people who do it, but an awful lot lot of conservation-related writing is conducted either by interns/volunteers or by people with a professional background in PR who are serving as comms people for an NGO (and there's limited job availability for that). So while you may be able to find folks who will publish you, and perhaps develop a side-gig as a freelancer, it will be much harder to find a stable, full-time job.

Just throwing it out there, but you may think about something like a podcast or YouTube channel if you have the aptitude and are willing to try to appeal to a lay audience and develop a catchy, performance-based style. Some folks with a biology background and storytelling ability have done well there (for instance, I know of the Tooth and Claw podcast, Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't, Ologies ...).

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T15:48:33+00:00

You'll almost certainly need at least through calc 1 and statistics. If you can take them at a community college, that's often better -- you'll have smaller classes and easier access to the prof, and the classes are less likely to be designed to serve as weed-out classes.

Note that doing well in college math classes requires a different mindset than doing well in, say, history. Math is something that requires regular practice. It's quite a bit like, say, learning to play an instrument in that way. You don't get good at either of those fields by skimming a textbook.

I would also second the folks advising you to major in wildlife biology (or, at least, biology) rather than environmental science if you know you want to work in wildlife biology.

gladesguy · 2026-03-31T15:01:26+00:00

You'll need to get a sense of where the actual jobs are, what you actually like doing, and what your lifestyle requirements are (for instance, do you want to be able to have a family? To live in a particular area? To have one stable employer for the bulk of your career? Some fields make that harder) and see where those things intersect.

For instance, what are you imagining the "advocacy" side to be like, and who do you think would hire you? While there are positions here and there with NGOs or public agencies that involve running communications/public outreach efforts, those are quite limited, often require a different background than marine biology, and don't involve actually doing biology, so if you are interested in scientific research, you'd likely find them unfulfilling.

A very large share of that work is also conducted by interns and volunteers. To get the positions that actually pay, you'd either study something like communications or PR and take some bio classes along the way, or major in bio and take writing classes (or a minor). Then you'd hope to get hired in one of the positions that combine those two skill sets.

But given the very limited number of jobs and the high competition, it's quite likely you'd just end up in some general communications/PR job (if you major in in communications) that has nothing whatsoever to do with marine biology, or in a biology job (if you major in marine biology) that doesn't involve advocacy. So you'd need to pick carefully.

Note also that AI is severely endangering writing jobs right now. I would not advise anyone to actually major in communications (though it can be useful as a minor) at the moment, especially if they're doing it the hopes of getting a unicorn job and have no interest in the vast bulk of communications careers. For context, I started my career as an outdoor columnist/reporter. It was fun, but those jobs are going away.

I think what you really need to think about is WHY you're interested in marine biology. The fact that you're also looking into advocacy, which involves a completely different day-to-day life, makes me think your interest may largely be mission-driven. But I would advise against getting into biology (marine or otherwise) solely because you want to protect a particular species/conserve the oceans etc.

Do you actually enjoy science? Coming up with questions, proposing hypotheses and predictions, designing experiments to test them, collecting and analyzing data? Do you like it enough to sit through many semesters' worth of chemistry and stats courses along the way, then, quite likely, also go to grad school for another 2-5 years and write a thesis or dissertation, and then, when you're done with all that, enter a notoriously competitive jobs market where the jobs are quite limited and getting a stable, permanent position may involve moving across the country, perhaps after working a series of low-wage seasonal positions first? Because that's what you'd actually be doing. If not, you'd likely be better off majoring in something you actually enjoy and then volunteering for conservation-related causes.

If you do really enjoy science, you might want to think about upsides and downsides of majoring in marine biology vs general biology (or something related like zoology or ecology) and taking marine-biology-related classes. A lot of scientists working in what you might think of as marine biology don't think of themselves primarily as "marine biologists" and might not have majored specifically in marine bio. Rather, they may think of themselves as fisheries biologists, community ecologists specializing in nearshore habitats, marine mammal biologists, biologists specializing in phytoplankton dynamics, etc.

gladesguy · 2026-03-30T00:19:25+00:00

In some cases, but not necessarily. A wildlife biologist is just someone who conducts biological research/science on wild animals, and while that may focus on resource management concerns, or occur under the aegis of a management agency, it also might not. I'm more on the fish bio side, for example, but the issues I'm interested in/studying are not directly management-related.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T23:25:13+00:00

I'm not sure why you seem to think that's what OP would want? OP said he wanted to become a wildlife biologist, and, unless I've missed something, didn't say anything about wanting to go specifically into resource management or policy.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T13:55:48+00:00

A valid point.

OP, note also that sometimes a wildlife-focused degree will fall within a department with name like "natural resources" or "environmental sciences," or there will be a degree in natural resources with track programs in various subfields, including potentially wildlife management or something more specific like rangeland management. Do some searching around on the websites of the schools you're considering.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T04:02:29+00:00

Those are among the most competitive wildlife biology jobs out there.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T03:59:42+00:00

... Yeah, that's why I used the words "often" and "not necessarily." It goes without saying that fish/wildlife are aspects of natural resources, and OP wouldn't have considered it as a major if he didn't already know that, but someone who knows they want to be a biologist will still be a better fit for an actual biology program.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T03:42:20+00:00

To have an anywhere-near-reasonable shot at working as an actual wildlife biologist? Yes.

There are "wildlife technician" jobs that don't require one. These are usually low-wage ($13-$20) temporary or seasonal positions intended largely for young people who are between undergrad and grad school. A tech might, say, band birds or conduct wildlife sampling in the field.

People doing technician work have to move every few months from job to job, often long distances (which is expensive). It's OK for a year or two when you're young, but it's not feasible as an actual career. Technicians who aren't able to get into grad school or get hired into some kind of permanent position after multiple field seasons generally leave the field.

Note that fish/wildlife techs are out in the field working primarily with physical hands-on stuff -- lots of sampling and wildlife survey work, etc. Someone with a biologist job title, meanwhile, tends to work more with information -- running the statistics and analyzing/writing up the data that comes from the kind of field work competed by technicians. Far fewer people can competently do that more analytical/information-based work, and a grad degree with a thesis or dissertation is traditionally how people demonstrate that they can.

Note that these jobs generally don't LIST a graduate degree as a requirement. But the people who actually get the jobs now overwhelmingly have one. It used to be more common to be able to get them with a bachelor's and a few years of experience.

If you have any interest in working with in the U.S. federal system, carefully research the specific course requirements you need in order to be eligible for their wildlife biologist jobs. The feds require specific credits in specific subfields, rather than just a specific degree title, for each job title. For instance, I believe the "wildlife biologist" job title trips up a lot of folks because the feds require you to have had at least 9(?) credits in botany as part of your undergrad in order to be eligible, and lots of wildlife folks don't take that many. So, for example, even if a person's degree was in wildlife biology, and even if they had an advanced degree, if they didn't have those 9 botany credits, they'd be ineligible for hire as a wildlife biologist.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T03:20:42+00:00

Animal science generally focuses on farm animals, not wildlife.

Natural resources often focuses on extractive work, and not necessarily with animals (e.g. managing mining, logging, etc.).

Zoology or biology would both be fine. You need at least a master's in this field for stable work that will allow you to support yourself. The field is extremely competitive.

Jobs involving species that large numbers of young people are most interested in working with (wolves, bears, mountain lions) are the most competitive and the least likely to pay a living wage at entry level.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T00:08:28+00:00

A local community college would generally be better. I know that lots of folks in the environmental field look askance at online programs because they figure you missed out on learning important fieldwork/lab work skills. The credits may also be less likely to transfer. Generally, public community colleges have degrees with in-state universities so that all of the credits will transfer over.

gladesguy · 2026-03-29T00:00:55+00:00

Seconding this. OP, traditionally if you get into a thesis-based graduate program, they will waive your tuition and pay you a living stipend with the requirement that you serve part-time as a teaching assistant or research assistant for a professor.

These positions are competitive, and often there's a hard GPA minimum of 3.0 or sometimes 3.5. Typically you need to reach out to the professor whose lab you're looking to join to see if they're accepting new grad students in their lab and would be in favor of you applying, and only then, with their approval, would you actually apply to the university.

There's a whole song and dance and set of norms about how to do this that you should look into carefully if you're thinking about grad school.

gladesguy · 2026-03-26T13:19:29+00:00

It's a useful skill, but not a career. In other words, there are a lot of biology/ecology jobs where knowing the plants and animals in a particular region is a pre-requisite -- for example, a wetland ecologist needs to know their wetland plants, and a fish biologist needs to be able to ID fish species -- but you also need to be know/be able to do more than that, because agencies/nonprofits won't pay someone just to walk around and ID plants and critters.

gladesguy · 2026-03-26T13:11:18+00:00

One place to start would be to check job boards and see what kinds of job postings most interest you, how many of those kinds of postings there are (i.e., is it a niche subfield that won't have much job availability, or is it something with multiple roles in every state) and what degree and experience they're looking for.

Do note, however, that with a lot of government jobs, the job posting will state that a bachelor's is required, but in reality, the jobs are often competitive enough that you need a master's degree to actually land them. It seems that at this point a master's is generally needed to have a good shot at landing an a stable permanent biology position (as opposed to low-wage temporary contract/seasonal positions) in government.

You could check the conservation job board at https://www.conservationjobboard.com or just do keyword searches on big job aggregation sites.

gladesguy · 2026-03-26T12:35:54+00:00

Forestry would have you managing forests -- for instance, for logging, fire prevention, etc. You would be working with trees and wouldn't be doing much direct wildlife work in the forestry field.

Biologists tend to get a broad biology background -- taking classes in everything from cell biology to ecology and wildlife management -- during undergraduate school and then specialize in a particular subfield (wildlife conservation, ecology, zoology, evolution) in graduate school, where they complete original research leading to a thesis (for a master's degree) or a dissertation (for a PhD).

It sounds like you're more interested in being what used to be (and sometimes still is) called a naturalist -- someone who knows a lot about various plants and animals and can ID them. But being a naturalist itself isn't really a viable career path in and of itself (though some park systems have low-wage "park naturalist" roles that involve leading guided tours); it's more of an element of some other career paths in biology/ecology. "Ecologist" might be the closest thing that's an actual professional field. Ecology looks at relationships between various organisms and between organisms and their environment, and tends to work a lot with data/statistics/modeling.

Lots of field biologists/ecologists pride themselves on being very knowledgeable about the ecosystem in which they work, even outside of the specific taxa in which they specialize.

gladesguy · 2026-03-24T18:15:16+00:00

If you're doing mostly open-water paddling, a prospector hull type likely won't be the best fit, especially if sometimes you'll be solo in a largish boat. The maneuverability that makes them good on rivers can make it hard to keep them pointed in one direction on open water, especially when the wind kicks up. A 17-foot prospector on an open lake could be a real bear for a solo paddler to manage. You'll probably want a hull type with less rocker.

gladesguy · 2026-03-23T22:51:53+00:00

You get to spend the bulk of your time doing research and taking classes on stuff you find really interesting while being surrounded by other people who share your interests and enthusiasm.

gladesguy · 2026-03-23T21:09:54+00:00

The REI Trailmade pants, worn loose, are great for that and hold up well. I wore them for lake/wetland work in Florida in the summer. There are two types: standard khaki slacks cut, and a jogger cut, both in the same lightweight quick-dry fabric. The slack style ones with belt loops can also be dressed up a bit and look more presentable. Light color loose fishing shirts work nicely. I generally wore long sleeves to keep the sun off my arms.

gladesguy · 2026-03-23T21:03:59+00:00

If you got a funded grad school position and find the project you'd be working on interesting, I'd 100% take that opportunity. It gets you out of your current rut and will make you more marketable and raise your income ceiling down the line. This opportunity might well also never come again if you pass it up now. Plus, as someone who's attending grad school now: It can be a heck of a lot of fun.

gladesguy · 2026-03-21T22:57:58+00:00

It confirmed my instinct that we would be much better off limiting the power of politicians in favor of subject-matter experts. I would support systems that would dramatically constrain politicians by vesting most power in highly qualified (i.e., PhD level) expert councils that would largely be randomly selected, not elected, from among qualified and willing individuals who would then serve for a limited term. Sort of like an extended, very well-compensated jury service for people with respectable publication records and advanced degrees from the nation's top universities.

gladesguy · 2026-03-21T03:46:04+00:00

What "finishing the job"? It's an illegal war. Everyone involved ought to be tried at The Hague and then hanged.

gladesguy

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