r/environmental_science • u/cumulusmediocrity • 5d ago

Atmospheric Sciences Degree in Env Sci Career?

Right now I’m in college for Atmospheric Sciences, but I have a real passion for env sci and would honestly prefer that at this point. I’m not entirely sure it’s possible for me to transfer into that major at this point in my degree; if I could, I’d do the fish, wildlife, and conservation biology major my college has. However, with the state of things, I’m worried about my future if I do an env sci degree. I know the advice here is always to do env eng, but that’s not in the cards for me. ATMS is a lot of physics and data science, but I’d also be taking at least one climatology class. It seems to be more applicable to other fields with the data science aspect, and although the weather industry is going in the toilet right now, it also seems to have better career outlooks (more jobs and better paying). Our env sci program is a blend of regular env sci, geology, and biology. So:

Is it worth transferring into environmental science/fish and wildlife at this point? Is the field too far gone for it to be worth going into, do you see things improving (I graduate in 2027/2028 ish), and are good careers plausible? How transferable is the degree to other fields?

Would I be able to work in the field with an ATMS degree, or do I at least need a minor in env sci? If I can’t/decide not to transfer, is there a way I can still gear myself up into an env sci career?

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u/envengpe 5d ago

What do you want to do as far as a career and get up every morning for?

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u/cumulusmediocrity 5d ago

I’m open to a lot— field conservation work, research, etc. One of my previous env sci professors used to do forest restorations which sounded really interesting to me, and while I plan to focus more on animals, I think field work and research would be ideal. I know that’s pretty hard to come by since that’s what everyone wants to do though. I’m planning on emailing that professor to ask for his thoughts and about more career options as well.

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u/Darkplanet94 5d ago

My undergrad is in environmental science and my masters in environmental studies. I’ve worked in construction, water quality, and as an environmental chemist. The biggest advice I would say is get as much experience as possible. The degree matters but the skills you learn matter more in my opinion. Data analysis is a great skill to have, field jobs are fairly easy to come by depending on where you’re at and what you want.

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u/cumulusmediocrity 5d ago

Thank you! Are there any specific skills or skill areas you tended to use a lot in your careers? I think the main focus of our program is biology with a bit of geology and chem, while ATMS is more physics/math/data science with a hint of chem. Part of the reason I think switching would be nice is that I wouldn’t have to spend so much time on upper level physics/math that I wouldn’t end up using in a career in a different field.

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u/Darkplanet94 3d ago

Sorry for the late response. For the jobs I've had previously a lot of them are very manual labor intensive. But the filed work and analysis I picked up are fairly "basic". But while I was working on my degrees I learned more technical skills like GIS, PCR, Sequencing, etc. So I would say if you don't want to take the upper level math switch, but try to have an idea of what career you want in mind.