Environmental science or marine science?

Hi,I am a yr12 struggling to choose between an environmental science and marine science degree.

I was originally looking at environmental science courses only but I have always been especially interested in the marine environment so started looking at marine science and ocean science(not marine biology or oceanography) courses. But I now can’t choose between them - would doing marine science give me a better chance of pursuing a career in the marine field - or would it be best to keep my options more open with an environmental science degree (and specialise in marine modules within that) in case I change my mind career-wise ?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Oceanography is "ocean science", it's just a different name for it. It's not "geography for the oceans", it's ocean science. So that's something to bear in mind.

Otherwise I'd note generally marine/ocean science/oceanography degrees tend to be more "sciencey" whereas environmental science courses often end up being sort of half science half policy courses. That is appealing to some, but if you prefer a bit more lab/field work and less legislating/policymaking side of things then you may want to skew towards the former.

Employment prospects are going to be similar between the two regardless.

Reply 2

z43

OP

2

Original post by artful_lounger

Oceanography is "ocean science", it's just a different name for it. It's not "geography for the oceans", it's ocean science. So that's something to bear in mind.

Otherwise I'd note generally marine/ocean science/oceanography degrees tend to be more "sciencey" whereas environmental science courses often end up being sort of half science half policy courses. That is appealing to some, but if you prefer a bit more lab/field work and less legislating/policymaking side of things then you may want to skew towards the former.

Employment prospects are going to be similar between the two regardless.

Oh I just assumed ocean science was different because the university has seperate oceanogrpahy degrees - but thank you I never really considered that with environmental science.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by z43

Oh I just assumed ocean science was different because the university has seperate oceanogrpahy degrees - but thank you I never really considered that with environmental science.

Might have some slight differences at unis offering both, but plenty of other unis just offer a degree in oceanography (e.g. Southampton) which is absolutely a science degree!

Look at the specific modules available on each and compare them, and remember a similarly named degree elsewhere could have a very different structure :smile:

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 4

Izzy_cat30

6

Original post by z43

Hi,I am a yr12 struggling to choose between an environmental science and marine science degree.

I was originally looking at environmental science courses only but I have always been especially interested in the marine environment so started looking at marine science and ocean science(not marine biology or oceanography) courses. But I now can’t choose between them - would doing marine science give me a better chance of pursuing a career in the marine field - or would it be best to keep my options more open with an environmental science degree (and specialise in marine modules within that) in case I change my mind career-wise ?

Hey! I'm actually going into my second year doing Oceanography at Southampton, and honestly, I have to say that there's a lot of overlap with these courses, as many of my modules last year also had people from Environmental Sciences and Geology on them (for instance, they too had to learn Physics of the Ocean and Ocean biogeochemistry, and we had to learn Dynamic Earth, a Geology module).
If you're definitely certain you want to do something with the marine environment, definitely go with Oceanography or Marine Biology, but if you're undecided, you could like you say always do environmental science and specialise later on, and maybe then do a Masters in Marine science.
I hope this helps, and good luck!

Environmental science or marine science?

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