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West Chester University has an environmental health program that interests me, I'm not exactly sure what that entails though. Does anyone know the difference between environmental science and environmental health? I've never even heard of such a degree.
West Chester University has an environmental health program that interests me, I'm not exactly sure what that entails though. Does anyone know the difference between environmental science and environmental health? I've never even heard of such a degree.
Compare the curriculum. Environmental health sounds like public health.
Actually that is his job. People pay him for advice and his videos generate ad revenue. He also has written books including one called worthless on college majors. He was previously in banking.
Seems unlikely to me that he's very successful - his videos are lousy vanity blog style, his attitude is poor, and he is more concerned with ranting than providing information. Maybe he didn't leave banking voluntarily.
West Chester University has an environmental health program that interests me, I'm not exactly sure what that entails though. Does anyone know the difference between environmental science and environmental health? I've never even heard of such a degree.
It involves more health than environmental science - more environment as it relates to human health. Not so much about wildlife, plant life, etc.
Try this for research. It's quick and dirty, but it will give you a quick idea of what the present job market is like for that degree. Go to indeed.com (or any big job site) and put in "environmental health scientist." See what comes up, and where. Look at the geographical distribution of the jobs, the salaries. (hint - there isn't much, and none of it is in PA). If you see a lot of jobs, look more closely and see what industries they are in and how much education/experience you need. How many could you apply for today if you had your degree?
Then try the names of jobs that other programs would prepare you for and see how that looks. If more than half the advertised jobs are in, say, Florida, why would you study in PA (unless you have no choice)?
Seems unlikely to me that he's very successful - his videos are lousy vanity blog style, his attitude is poor, and he is more concerned with ranting than providing information. Maybe he didn't leave banking voluntarily.
His information though put rather crudely for entertainment purposes is accurate. It is a totally useless degree except as a prereq for a healthcare program. It doesn't even belong in the same thread as a discussion about Computer Science's usefulness. That is like comparing a Puppetry degree to a BSN.
A bachelor's in environmental will land you low paying jobs, usually temp jobs, either in the lab or out in the field. If you enjoy field work, you have to be ok working in all sorts of weather and it helps to be physically fit. It also helps if you know something about boating, ATV, trucks, etc. Not saying that it has to be that way, but having those types of skills makes you more competitive for field studies. A master's will help you get something more permanent either with a private environmental company (and they pay fairly well) or the feds or state government (but hard to land something permanent there). It will also require a lot of relocation, which is something that may interest you. Like with everything, you'll need to know about certain computer applications and it helps to know some programming for stats, but you don't really need CS to learn that. Why don't you see if you can make appointments for informational interviews with either private companies or local agencies?
I need some opinions here. I'm trying to decide what to major in when I go back to school in fall. Environmental science is what I really want to do, but because of the state of things, I've been told by multiple people that there aren't a lot of job opportunities in it. I'm not about to waste my time and money earning a degree that won't get me a job so environmental science is out of the question. So my happy medium was going to be biology with a concentration in ecology and conservation. But yet again, I've been told there are no jobs in biology anymore either. Unfortunately we just don't seem to value science very much right now in our society.... With computer science, I know I wouldn't have any difficulty finding a job. I already have a small amount of background in programming and with basic computer functions but I'm terrible at math so that concerns me. I'm certainly not going to settle for being bad at math though, it's something I've already started working on. I'm taking some free online classes to improve my math skills as much as possible before I go back to school, but still... I have a long way to go before I catch up. I've always had at least some level of interest in computers, not so much hardware, but coding and how they operate. But I'm not as passionate about it as I probably need to be in order to get through the difficult curriculum. But again, biology isn't really where my passion lies either, it's just a happy medium for me since I can't do environmental science.
So I guess my question really comes down to this: what would you do? Would you do something you really enjoy (and risk being broke/in debt not being able to find a job) Or would you play it safe, take on the challenge, even if it's not something you're particularly invested in, and get a degree thats practical and going to be a good return on investment?
I'm leaning more towards practicality than passion at this point. I've watched too many of my friends go through school and work their butts off, only to get out and realize that their degree didn't leave them any better off than before... It's horrible but kind of a sad reality of our world right now. If I go back to school and invest all of my time and money (loans) into if, I want to know that it's going to be worth it. Job security, pay, and plenty of opportunities are more important to me than doing something I love. But still, it doesn't feel 100% right.
I was also thinking about possibly doing bio major with a concentration in ecology and conservation with a minor in comp sci, as a kind of happy medium. But again, I've been told theres no point in minoring in computer science if I'm going to do biology.
This whole thing of deciding what I want to do for the rest of my life is a little overwhelming lol.
Thoughts?
I suggest the following compromises.
* health informatics (combines programming and biology)
* biomedical engineering (combines sotware, hardware, and human physiology)
* electronic health records (EHR: Cerner, Epic, etc)
A good option is to major in one of the fields above and do a minor in computer science. Get to at least finishing discrete math, Java, web programming , Android, databases, and algorithms. You should be set for being a programmer or software analyst in the healthcare field.
Do a job search on dice for these terms related to information technology and healthcare. See jobs you like and train for it with a choice from the above.
* HL7
* EPIC
* EHR
* x12
* GMP
* FDA
* DICOM
* medical billing
* Medicare
* Medicaid
* Medical Coding
* ICD9
* ICD10
* SNOMED
I am a biomedical engineer who has worked for many years with medical devices. I currently do data warehousing and have multiple master's degrees. I about to embark on a PhD in Biomedical Informatics and apply my data warehousing skills - probably to genomics or clinical data.
If you want to stay in clinical healthcare, you can try allied health. There is demand for physician assistants, DNP, lab techs, and dentists. It really depends on the area though. There is a huge shortage of primary care. I studied public health. So allied health does have some strong options.
I think I'm most likely going to stick with computer science at this point. I've started studying some basic comp sci content to give myself a head start. I'm taking some free online classes for programming in Python and also a discrete mathematics class. Like I mentioned, I've tried comp sci before, took about a semesters worth of classes, wasn't focused or motivated back then and didn't perform well. This time around I want to see if I'll enjoy it more now that I'm actually motivated.
So far so good, I'm definitely going to keep taking these classes until I go back to school in fall to see if this is what I want to major in. Computer Science definitely makes the most sense in terms of return on investment, so hopefully I can master the basics on my own time before I go back to school and catch up to everyone else. I love biology and environmental science but I don't want to struggle the rest of my life to make my degree work. So although it's going to be challenging, I think I'm ready to take on the challenge now. This time it's going to be different because I know what I'm in for and I'm going to give myself a head start.
Thanks to everyone who gave me some great ideas and options to think about. I have a lot to consider within the next few months and a lot of work to do.
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