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Would a marine biology degree or a marine ecology degree be more beneficial to an aspiring marine biologist?
I want to become a marine biologist. I will be attending Western Washington University. From what I understand, marine ecology tends to be an easier degree to attain, so I planned to get a marine biology degree with the biology department. My dilemma is that Huxley College of the Environment (where I would get a marine ecology degree) is quite renowned. #marine-biology #ecology #marine-mammals #conservation-biology
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Ashley’s Answer
I would suggest speaking with someone in the Marine Ecology department at Huxley and asking whether students have success entering marine biology careers--I would guess that they do, especially if there's room to take additional biology classes in addition to the ecology major--there's a lot of overlap in those fields. It also seems like they have an option to major in Biology with a focus on Marine science: https://www.wwu.edu/majors/biology%E2%80%94marine-emphasis-bs--have you explored this option at all?
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Danielle’s Answer
I would recommend taking a look at the courses offered in each department and consider which grouping of courses most closely matches your career interests. There are not likely to be many jobs which specifically require a marine biology degree (over a marine ecology degree) because there is quite a bit of overlap between the two. The more information that you can put on your resume about the areas that interest you most, the better, and as such, the best course of action should be to pursue the degree with the classes that more closely match your interests.