What Should I Study?

» paleoartisans - Advice for Students Interested in Paleontology

>Can you suggest the most effective means of >exposing a male high school student to >paleontology? Books which he can comprehend, >related activities, contacts he can make, the best >colleges, and so forth? Thank you.

This is an example of some of the questions that I get from parents, teachers, and students who are curious about studying paleontology.

First, I recommend reading as much as possible about paleontology in order to familiarize himself with the subject. I have a page of recommended paleontology books for different ages on my web site at: http://paleoartisans.tripod.com/books.ht...

Many of the authors of these books are professors of paleontology at various colleges and universities. Once the student has an idea of what particular area of paleontology he is interested in (dinosaurs, mammals, pterosaurs, marine reptiles, paleobotany, micropaleontology, etc), the next step would be to contact people who are currently doing research in that area and publishing books about it.

Most colleges and universities do not offer a bachelor's degree in Paleontology (Berkeley is one of the few that does), so the student would have to decide whether he wanted to pursue a degree in geology/earth sciences or biology/zoology/botany. If he was interested in dinosaurs, he could either choose to pursue a bachelor's degree in biology at a school where a prominent dinosaur paleontologist was doing research, then continue with a master's and/or PhD at the same school or a different school (most professors will recommend that students expose themselves to different professors and different schools). Or, he could choose to major in biology at a school which does not necessarily have a well-known paleontologist doing research, but has a high caliber biology program, then go on to a different school for a master's and/or PhD.

Even at the master's and PhD level, many universities do not actually offer a degree in paleontology, so a student will have to choose between the geology and biology options. Fortunately, paleontology professors usually understand this, and if a student majored in geology as an undergraduate, they can usually be accepted to a biology master's program, or vice versa. The student may be required to take undergraduate level courses in the new subject to make up any coursework deficiencies.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of strictly paleontology jobs available, even in the best economies. Even paleontology college professors must look for jobs teaching anatomy to medical or veterinary students, or teaching other, non-paleontology courses. So, a student who wants to pursue a career in paleontology must decide what area of paleontology most interests him: teaching paleontology/geology/biology to other people, doing research, digging for fossils, preparing fossils for other people to study, creating museum exhibits, etc. Probably the only paleontologists who are able to easily find high paying jobs are micropaleontologist who go to work for petroleum companies, and these jobs are very different from the idea that one might have about what paleontologists do.

I don't want to discourage anyone from studying paleontology; instead, I want to let students know that there are a lot of difficulties in this area of study that one must be prepared to face in order to succeed in the field of paleontology.

I hope this information is helpful to everyone who is thinking about studying paleontology.

-- posted by paleoartisans

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