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Key Infor­ma­tion:

  • Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Glob­al and Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois offer top online bach­e­lor’s in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams.
  • These pro­grams cov­er key top­ics such as ecol­o­gy, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy, and con­ser­va­tion, equip­ping stu­dents with a broad under­stand­ing of envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence.
  • Grad­u­ates are pre­pared for var­i­ous careers in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, includ­ing roles in gov­ern­ment agen­cies, non-prof­its, and pri­vate indus­try.

Envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees online work in much the same ways as pur­su­ing a more tra­di­tion­al offline degree. How­ev­er, a degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence online can come with numer­ous poten­tial ben­e­fits that prospec­tive stu­dents should look out for and take advan­tage of.

In some cas­es, online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees can sim­ply make a lot more sense than oth­er types of degree pro­grams. This comes from the inher­ent nature of online degrees in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and online degrees in gen­er­al. For exam­ple, envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees online can require the min­i­mum amount of time need­ed in an actu­al facil­i­ty. Stu­dents may still need to take occa­sion­al trips for labs, research, and oth­er parts of the cur­ricu­lum. How­ev­er, stu­dents will gen­er­al­ly have more lee­way to do things on their own time with a degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence online.

It’s impor­tant to note that online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees hold no dif­fer­ence from degrees received through oth­er means. All the same, rules apply, and the things that make a degree worth it from a brick-and-mor­tar col­lege will still make the degree worth it when received through an online pro­gram. In fact, many accred­it­ed col­leges offer online degrees in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence. If a prospec­tive stu­dent uses the same dili­gence to choose an online option as they would an offline option, the degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence online will open just as many doors for them. Even bet­ter when the online degree offers flex­i­bil­i­ty and options that the tra­di­tion­al route sim­ply can’t.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Online Environmental Science Degrees

Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter edi­tors fea­ture only accred­it­ed, rep­utable online insti­tu­tions for the rank­ing of the best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. We have ranked pro­grams accord­ing to cost, grad­u­ate salary, and stu­dent reviews, using info from IPEDS and Niche.

1. Purdue University Global

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Glob­al offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Pol­i­cy and Man­age­ment that is con­sid­ered one of the best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees avail­able in the mar­ket­place. Stu­dents enrolled in Purdue’s online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­gram must com­plete 180 quar­ter cred­its, equal to 120-semes­ter cred­its, deliv­ered in ten-week terms. Stu­dents may enroll in a dual master’s degree pro­gram, which saves time and tuition fees when earn­ing both envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees togeth­er. Sam­ple class­es include the glob­al envi­ron­ment, the pol­i­tics of man­ag­ing the envi­ron­ment, and social­ly respon­si­ble leadership.

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Glob­al is the online branch of the world-famous Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty. It was found­ed in 2008 when Pur­due bought the then for-prof­it Kaplan University.

What We Like: Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Glob­al oper­ates as an open admis­sions school with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 38,050 stu­dents each year.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Pol­i­cy and Man­age­ment BS

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Global

2. University of Illinois

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Illinois’s School of Earth, Soci­ety & Envi­ron­ment offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree (BS) pro­gram in Earth, Soci­ety and Envi­ron­men­tal Sus­tain­abil­i­ty that ranks among the most inno­v­a­tive & best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. Appli­cants to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois must have a min­i­mum of 30-semes­ter units (or about one year of earned cred­its) to be eli­gi­ble for admis­sion. Most of the university’s class­es are eight-week terms, with some course­work requir­ing 16 weeks. Degree can­di­dates can opt for one of two con­cen­tra­tions – sci­ence in the earth sys­tem and soci­ety & the environment.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois was devel­oped as an indus­tri­al school in the 1860s. Addi­tion­al­ly, U of I is a sea, space, and land-grant school and the flag­ship cam­pus of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty system.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Illinois’s stu­dent enroll­ment online and on-cam­pus exceeds 56,550 post­grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year.

Degree: Earth, Soci­ety and Envi­ron­men­tal Sus­tain­abil­i­ty B.S.

Uni­ver­si­ty of Illinois

3. University of Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment in Agri­cul­ture and Nat­ur­al Resources that is being pro­vid­ed through an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees pre­pares grad­u­ates for reward­ing careers as a nat­ur­al resource man­ag­er, con­ser­va­tion offi­cer, con­ser­va­tion sci­en­tist, or sus­tain­abil­i­ty con­sul­tant, to name a few. Stu­dents must fin­ish a min­i­mum of 120-semes­ter units to meet UF’s grad­u­a­tion require­ments. Sam­ple class­es include agri­cul­tur­al & envi­ron­men­tal qual­i­ty and nat­ur­al resource ecol­o­gy, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da is the Sun­shine State’s land-grant and flag­ship school that was char­tered in the 1850s. The university’s six­teen colleges/schools serve more than 55,500 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da holds the dis­tinc­tion as being ranked among the five best pub­lic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions in the nation, accord­ing to US News.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida

4. University of Wisconsin

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin offers a BS in Sus­tain­able Man­age­ment that is among Wisconsin’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees designed as a com­ple­tion degree pro­gram. This bac­calau­re­ate degree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin in envi­ron­ment sci­ence includes 20 cours­es and a cap­stone project that includes eco­nom­ics in soci­ety and sus­tain­abil­i­ty, cli­mate change & sus­tain­abil­i­ty, nat­ur­al resource man­age­ment, inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment & sus­tain­abil­i­ty, mar­ket­ing for a sus­tain­able world, busi­ness com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and sys­tems think­ing, to name a few.

Estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act as a land-grant school in the 1840s, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin is now the state’s flag­ship research school. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin’s online and on-cam­pus enroll­ment exceeds 45,150 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Madi­son cam­pus of UW was estab­lished the same year Wis­con­sin achieved statehood.

Degree: Sus­tain­able Man­age­ment BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin

5. Indiana University

Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Stud­ies that US News & World Report ranks among the country’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. Degree can­di­dates enrolled in Indi­ana University’s bac­calau­re­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence is taught in a cohort mod­el and required at least 120-semes­ter units, 42 of which is from the sus­tain­abil­i­ty cur­ricu­lum. Fea­tured course­work for this pro­gram includes sci­en­tif­ic foun­da­tions of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, busi­ness and eco­nom­ics of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and social & behav­ioral foun­da­tions of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, among others.

Chart­ed in the 1820s, Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty now oper­ates as a mul­ti-cam­pus school, with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 100,000 across cam­pus­es and online. The Bloom­ing­ton Cam­pus is the flag­ship school of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty system.

What We Like: The com­bined IU and Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty cam­pus is home to near­ly 30,000 students.

Degree: Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Stud­ies BA

6. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty offers both a BA and a BS in Sus­tain­abil­i­ty that offers stu­dents three aca­d­e­m­ic tracks from which to choose – sus­tain­able ecosys­tems, the eco­nom­ics of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and sus­tain­able ener­gy, mate­ri­als, and tech­nol­o­gy. Ari­zona State University’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees pre­pare stu­dents for careers as envi­ron­men­tal econ­o­mists, com­pli­ance man­agers, cli­mate change ana­lysts, envi­ron­men­tal restora­tion plan­ners, or recy­cling coor­di­na­tors, among oth­ers. Stu­dents com­plete 40 class­es, deliv­ered in 7.5‑week terms, with mul­ti­ple start dates offered each cal­en­dar year.

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty (ASU) was estab­lished as a pub­lic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion with mul­ti­ple cam­pus­es in the greater Phoenix and Tempe area. The total stu­dent enroll­ment for online and on-cam­pus stu­dents is near 104,000 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty offers more than 425 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate degree programs.

Degree: BS in Sustainability

Ari­zona State University

7. Florida International University

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in Sus­tain­abil­i­ty and the Envi­ron­ment that requires degree can­di­dates to fin­ish at least 120-degree pro­gram hours to meet FIU’s grad­u­a­tion cri­te­ria. Fea­tured course­work for FIU’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees the glob­al envi­ron­ment and soci­ety, ener­gy flow in nat­ur­al & man-made sys­tems, earth resources, applied field ecol­o­gy, nat­ur­al resource val­u­a­tion, earth ethics, and envi­ron­men­tal resources and pol­lu­tion, plus a cap­stone of sus­tain­abil­i­ty in action, among others.

Found­ed in the mid-1960s, Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty now oper­ates as a space-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion with mul­ti­ple cam­pus­es. The online plat­form and cam­pus­es of Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty are home to almost 59,000 students.

What We Like: Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty ath­letes play as Pan­thers as a Divi­sion I NCAA team, with many nation­al cham­pi­onships earned over the years.

Degree: Sus­tain­abil­i­ty and the Envi­ron­ment BA

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al University

8. Washington State University

Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege of Agri­cul­ture, Human and Nat­ur­al Resource Sci­ences offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree (BS) pro­gram in Earth and Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences that ranks among the most inno­v­a­tive & best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees in the nation, accord­ing to US News and World Report. The bachelor’s degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence offers stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to earn an Organ­ic Agri­cul­ture cer­tifi­cate simul­ta­ne­ous­ly. Sam­ple course­work includes the sci­ence and pol­i­cy of cli­mate change, earth’s his­to­ry and evo­lu­tion, and the intro­duc­tion to geo­graph­ic infor­ma­tion sys­tems, among others.

Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty (WSU) is among the old­est of high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions on the west coast. Found­ed in 1890 as a land-grant school, Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty now oper­ates with mul­ti­ple cam­pus­es across the state and online.

What We Like: Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty ath­letes play as Cougars in the Pac-12 in fif­teen men and women’s sports.

Degree: Earth and Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences BS

Wash­ing­ton State University

9. University of Arizona

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence that can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online. UA’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees are also rec­og­nized to be a ‘best-val­ue’ school, accord­ing to onlineU.com. Stu­dents enrolled in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Arizona’s bac­calau­re­ate envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree offers two aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tions – soil, air, and water empha­sis or the lead­er­ship, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion empha­sis. Core class­es for UA’s degree pro­gram include biol­o­gy, intro­duc­to­ry micro­bi­ol­o­gy, physics, and chem­istry, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona is a space and land-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing that was estab­lished in the 1880s under the Mor­rill Col­lege Land Act. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona is orga­nized into nine­teen schools/colleges that serve near­ly 46,000 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The main Tuc­son cam­pus cov­ers near­ly 400 acres and is with­in walk­ing dis­tance of downtown.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of Arizona

10. Texas A&M University-Commerce

Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty-Com­merce offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence that can be com­plet­ed online in four years, with­out a the­sis require­ment. Texas A&M University’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees include class­es in envi­ron­men­tal hydrol­o­gy, research meth­ods in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, risk assess­ment, soil sci­ence, intro­duc­tion to envi­ron­men­tal tox­i­col­o­gy, and envi­ron­men­tal ethics law, to name a few. Total semes­ter cred­its required to com­plete Texas A&M University’s bac­calau­re­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence are 120.

Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty (TAMU Com­merce) was found­ed as a nor­mal school in the late 1880s and is one of the old­est high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions locat­ed in the Lone Star State. The stu­dent enroll­ment of TAMU Com­merce exceeds 12,100 stu­dents, with about six­ty per­cent of the stu­dents study­ing for under­grad­u­ate degrees.

What We Like: Texas A&M University’s main cam­pus is locat­ed about 60 miles from Dallas’s downtown.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Texas A&M University-Commerce

11. Oregon State University

Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence, with four start dates each year. Degree can­di­dates enrolled in Ore­gon State University’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees are required to fin­ish a min­i­mum of 180 quar­ter cred­its, which is equiv­a­lent to 120-semes­ter units. There are sev­en spe­cial­iza­tions for this OSU degree pro­gram which include envi­ron­men­tal water resources, pol­i­cy and eco­nom­ics, applied ecol­o­gy, envi­ron­men­tal agri­cul­ture, earth sys­tems, aquat­ic biol­o­gy and con­ser­va­tion, resources & sustainability.

Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty is a four-des­ig­na­tion school (sea, sun, space, and land-grant) insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was estab­lished in the 1860s. More than 31,550 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year. The uni­ver­si­ty main­tains cam­pus­es in Cor­val­lis and Bend, with many stu­dents also study­ing online.

What We Like: OSU was orig­i­nal­ly a prep/primary school but began offer­ing col­lege-lev­el pro­grams about a decade later.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Ore­gon State University

12. Northern Arizona University

North­ern Ari­zona University’s Col­lege of the Envi­ron­ment, Forestry & Nat­ur­al Sci­ences offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree (BS) pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence that is rec­og­nized among the most inno­v­a­tive and University’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees avail­able. Avail­able con­cen­tra­tions for NAU’s bac­calau­re­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence include man­age­ment, com­mu­ni­ca­tions, cli­mate, chem­istry, biol­o­gy, envi­ron­men­tal geol­o­gy, applied sta­tis­tics, and envi­ron­men­tal admin­is­tra­tion and pol­i­cy, although not every empha­sis is avail­able entire­ly online. North­ern Ari­zona University’s bachelor’s degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence requires stu­dents to com­plete 120-semes­ter units with an over­all major GPA of at least 2.0.

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was found­ed in 1899, more than a decade before Ari­zona reached state­hood. In addi­tion, North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty main­tains sev­er­al cam­pus­es and a dis­tance-learn­ing plat­form that serve approx­i­mate­ly 30,000 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The cam­pus of NAU is near­ly 7,000 feet above sea lev­el, which makes it ide­al for ath­letes to train in high altitudes.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

North­ern Ari­zona University

13. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

SUNY’s Col­lege of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Forestry offers a BS in Sus­tain­abil­i­ty through the university’s Open Acad­e­my. SUNY’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees are offered as com­ple­tion pro­grams, with appli­cants required to have com­plet­ed earned cred­its for the first two years of col­lege. SUNY’s com­ple­tion degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence can be com­plet­ed in two years, entire­ly online. Sam­ple class­es for this pro­gram include eco­log­i­cal dimen­sions of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, prin­ci­ples of sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, analy­sis of sus­tain­able sys­tems, and man­age­r­i­al eco­nom­ics for sustainability.

The State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York’s (SUNY ESF) Col­lege of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence & Forestry (ESF) is in upstate NY, in the city of Syra­cuse. Found­ed in 1911, ESF is sit­u­at­ed next to Syra­cuse Uni­ver­si­ty and part­ners with the school in many aca­d­e­m­ic ways.

What We Like: The Col­lege of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence & Forestry main­tains facil­i­ties across the state, in Cos­ta Rica and the Thou­sand Islands.

Degree: Sus­tain­abil­i­ty BS

SUNY’s Col­lege of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Forestry

14. Columbia College (MO)

Colum­bia Col­lege offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence that is one of Missouri’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. Degree can­di­dates enrolled in Colum­bia College’s envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­gram have oppor­tu­ni­ties to study tax­on­o­my, nat­ur­al resource man­age­ment, pop­u­la­tion genet­ics, envi­ron­men­tal chem­istry, zool­o­gy, ecol­o­gy, plant anato­my, and bio­di­ver­si­ty. Grad­u­ates of this pro­gram from Colum­bia find reward­ing work as botanists, soil tech­ni­cians, nat­ur­al resource man­agers, or water qual­i­ty tech­ni­cians, among others.

Colum­bia Col­lege is a mul­ti-cam­pus high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that was char­tered in the 1850s by a leg­isla­tive act of the Mis­souri Gov­ern­ment. The col­lege oper­ates as a non­sec­tar­i­an insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion with near­ly three-dozen facil­i­ties and extend­ed cam­pus­es across thir­teen states and Cuba.

What We Like: The school’s stu­dent enroll­ment is approx­i­mate­ly 10,000, with about a third of enrolled stu­dents asso­ci­at­ed with one of the mil­i­tary branches.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Colum­bia College

15. North Carolina Central University

North Car­oli­na Cen­tral Uni­ver­si­ty offers a 120-cred­it BS in Envi­ron­men­tal and Geo­graph­ic Sci­ences with a geo­science aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tion that is USGIF accred­it­ed. North Car­oli­na Cen­tral University’s best online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees include class­es in field map­ping, prin­ci­ples of remote sens­ing, Applied GIS, geospa­tial sta­tis­tics, urban geog­ra­phy geo­haz­ards analy­sis, cli­ma­tol­ogy, advanced phys­i­cal geog­ra­phy, oceanog­ra­phy, and con­ser­va­tion of nat­ur­al resources, plus an inde­pen­dent geo­science study, to name a few.

North Car­oli­na Cen­tral Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished more than 100 years ago in 1910 for teacher’s train­ing. NCCU is rec­og­nized as an HBCU school and a mem­ber of Thur­good Marshall’s Col­lege Fund. NCCU’s cam­pus is just a mile from Durham’s down­town and a few miles to the east of Duke University.

What We Like: Many of NCCU’s build­ings on cam­pus are includ­ed in a his­toric dis­trict, with the entire cam­pus list­ed in 1986 with the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal and Geo­graph­ic Sci­ences BS

North Car­oli­na Cen­tral University

Can I Trust an Online Environmental Science Degree?

An accred­it­ed online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree is the same degree as an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree received through oth­er pro­grams. The thing that makes an online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree trust­wor­thy is also the same thing a prospec­tive stu­dent would want from a tra­di­tion­al school’s pro­gram. Those things include rep­u­ta­tion, accred­i­ta­tion, and recognition.

A prospec­tive stu­dent can eas­i­ly do some research online when they’re con­sid­er­ing any degree pro­gram. Peo­ple who have attend­ed, grad­u­at­ed, or also con­sid­ered the same pro­gram will undoubt­ed­ly have writ­ten some­thing about their per­son­al expe­ri­ence. It’s also pos­si­ble to look up alum­ni from col­leges as well as find oth­er sources that con­tain reviews and oth­er rec­om­men­da­tions con­cern­ing envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams specifically.

Accred­i­ta­tion is some­thing like the stamp of approval that a col­lege, uni­ver­si­ty, or pro­gram receives from a body of pro­fes­sion­als in the field. Often, an accred­it­ed online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree will have the same accred­i­ta­tions that tra­di­tion­al schools have. As some schools also offer online pro­grams, the pro­gram will car­ry that school’s accred­it­ed status.

Pro­fes­sion­al accred­i­ta­tion for the envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams specif­i­cal­ly, rather than for the entire school, will also ensure the stu­dent receives a degree with recog­ni­tion by the indus­try, ver­ti­cal, or spe­cial­ized career the stu­dent choos­es to go into. The field of envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence includes:

  • Waste man­age­ment
  • envi­ron­men­tal health
  • envi­ron­men­tal law
  • data analy­sis
  • social sci­ences
  • human health

Besides gen­er­al edu­ca­tion and the fun­da­men­tals of envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies, online edu­ca­tion will require you to get into the nat­ur­al world and do field­work your­self. Full-time stu­dents will be ready for entry-lev­el jobs in the field.

Prospec­tive stu­dents can trust an online envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree, but they must pay atten­tion to what the pro­gram offers. This same log­ic applies to any degree pro­gram, whether online or off.

Learn the admis­sion require­ments, required cred­it hours, elec­tives, and finan­cial aid needs before you com­mit to a bach­e­lor of sci­ence in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­gram. Many online degree pro­grams allow stu­dents to trans­fer cred­its and get cred­it for work expe­ri­ence. An aca­d­e­m­ic advi­sor can help online stu­dents and learn­ers to nav­i­gate their online bachelor’s degree program.

What Can I Do with an Environmental Science Degree?

Because an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree includes a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary cur­ricu­lum, jobs with an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree can vary wide­ly. When look­ing for jobs with envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees as a require­ment, prospects will like­ly notice that the degree can help them through numer­ous doors. Envi­ron­men­tal sci­en­tists inves­ti­gate envi­ron­men­tal issues and envi­ron­men­tal prob­lems. Career paths include envi­ron­men­tal engi­neer­ing and envi­ron­men­tal studies.

Spe­cial­iza­tion can come into play when try­ing to fig­ure out what jobs can you get with an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree. For this rea­son, the jobs you can get with envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree com­ple­tion will have a lot to do with per­son­al goals.

For those who ask what can I do with an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree, the answer will depend pri­mar­i­ly on the per­son ask­ing. Jobs with an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree exist in both the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors. These careers can range from zool­o­gist to jour­nal­ist to biol­o­gist and prac­ti­cal­ly any­thing between. It’s even pos­si­ble to find polit­i­cal jobs for envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees.

Just as impor­tant are real-world prob­lem-solv­ing and crit­i­cal think­ing skills. The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics sees an increas­ing need for experts in the field.

Envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence itself often breaks down into four very broad super­cat­e­gories: Atmos­pher­ic sci­ences, Ecol­o­gy, Envi­ron­men­tal chem­istry, and Geo­sciences. Each of these super­cat­e­gories con­tains a pletho­ra of sub­cat­e­gories that also have sub-sub­cat­e­gories. Ask­ing what can I do with an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree can lead to answers that include:

  • Wildlife man­agers
  • Hor­ti­cul­tur­ists and arborists
  • Oceanog­ra­phers
  • Envi­ron­men­tal lawyers
  • Agri­cul­tur­al engineer
  • Ecol­o­gist
  • Micro­bi­ol­o­gist

The list of jobs with an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree real­ly does go on and on. The degree also lends itself well to cer­tain types of entre­pre­neur­ship. For some careers, appli­cants may need to con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion or pur­sue addi­tion­al certifications.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science