Colleges for Marine Biology

How to Select a Marine Biology School
Marine biology is usually offered as a bachelor's degree program. Some general course topics include oceanography, ichthyology, marine mammals, marine ecology, fisheries biology, marine botany and phycology.

Students interested in a career in marine biology may wish to decide which area of marine biology they wish to work in prior to selecting a school. Possibilities include the open ocean, intertidal zones and the coast. Observing marine life in its natural environment is important for marine biology majors. Students could consider attending a school close to the ocean where they can complete their fieldwork. Students may also want to consider programs that offer a semester at sea course. This enables students to spend an entire semester studying while at sea.

Marine biology majors may also want to think about attending a school located near an aquarium where they may be able to complete an internship. The National Aquarium in Baltimore, for example, provides hands-on internship training that gives students valuable work experience and helps them establish future contacts.

Largest Marine Biology Schools by Student Enrollment(USA)
College/University Student Population
Florida International University 38,759
Florida State University 38,682
University of California-Los Angeles 38,220
California State University-Long Beach 37,891
Rutgers University-New Brunswick 36,041
University of Georgia 34,180
University of Southern California 33,747
San Jose State University 32,746
Boston University 31,766
San Francisco State University 30,014
Nova Southeastern University 28,378
Troy University 28,303
University of California-San Diego 27,520
University of South Carolina-Columbia 27,488
The University of Alabama 27,014
Northeastern University 25,837
Auburn University Main Campus 24,530
University of Connecticut 24,273
Stony Brook University 23,991
University of California-Santa Barbara 21,868

Quick Note : Biologists specialize in a particular area, such as, marine biology, zoology, wildlife biology or medicine. Many Biologists work in research and development in university or government laboratories. A current popular Biologist specialization is biotechnology, which involves the study of genes and their specific functions.

Best Colleges for Biology in the U.S.

Biology is the field of study that deals with living organisms as they relate to their environment. Many specialties in biology exist including marine biology, microbiology, plant biology and evolutionary biology. Read on to learn more about the top-rated colleges for biology.

Top Biology Colleges in the United States
1. Stanford University in Stanford, CA
According to the Washington Monthly, Stanford awarded 503 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in the science and engineering fields, as of 2010. In 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranked Stanford number one for the best biological sciences programs.

The Department of Biology at Stanford has four areas of research and study. They include molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology and genetics; population and evolutionary biology and ecology; plant biology and marine biology. There are also three different degrees available for biology students including a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), a coterminal Master of Science/Bachelor of Science and a Ph.D. program.

2. Harvard University in Cambridge, MA
Harvard is one of the Ivy League schools known for both its strong graduate and undergraduate degree programs. Degrees in biology are separated into six distinct disciplines, which include chemical and physical biology, developmental and regenerative biology, molecular and cellular biology, organismic and evolutionary biology, human evolutionary biology and neurobiology. Harvard University was ranked second by U.S. News and World Report in its list of biological science schools in 2011.

3. University of California - Berkeley
The University of California - Berkeley (UC - Berkeley) boasts Nobel laureate's faculty members and the National Research Council (NRC) announced that it had the highest number of top-ranked graduate programs in the nation. Included in this ranking are UC - Berkeley's biology departments, which U.S. News and World Report ranked at second, tying with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011.

The undergraduate biology degrees are spread out across different colleges within UC - Berkeley, with molecular and cell biology and integrative biology being in the College of Letters and Science, while environmental biology, genetics and plant biology, as well as microbial biology reside in the College of Natural Resources. In addition, the College of Chemistry offers a degree in chemical biology, thus making the breadth of study in the biological sciences quite diverse. There are many more areas of study in the graduate program, which also includes fields such as genomic biology, nanoscale science and engineering.