#and now im doing an ecology degree.

[temeraire]

i feel like getting a degree in psych either ends up with you becoming deeply disenfranchised with and critical of mental healthcare and the systematic understanding and the study of psychology as a whole and critical of the entire structure of the academic and medical fields OR. you become a cop

[oysterie]

switch to history major yes/no

[mr-selfdestruct]

Decided I'm getting a degree in forest or wildlife ecology

[astriiformes]

hiii! im a 17 y/o applying to college, but i have no idea what i want to major in/do with my life. im interested in math and science but also history and stuff. any advice?

Oh I am. An interesting person to ask this question considering I have changed my major multiple times (partly due to switching schools) and am now doing something a bit weird.

I suppose the first thing to mention is if you really aren't sure what you want to do in the future, there are options other than college and there's no shame in taking a gap year or two in order to figure out if it's actually the path you want to take. However! It sounds a bit like you are at least interested in the idea of college, and also that's where my own experience lies, so I'll offer what I can. Just definitely keep in mind there are other routes, if it doesn't end up fitting.

Honestly my biggest piece of advice to anyone looking at colleges is to dig into what actual courses are offered at the schools you're looking at. The same degree at one school can vary significantly from ones at another school, and getting some idea of if the specific classes that are a part of a given program are interesting to you can prevent a lot of heartache in the long run. I did not do this with the first college I attended, and found out the hard way that their program was really heavy on classes that I was less interested in and struggled with more. Which was frustrating.

As for narrowing down what you specifically want to major in, keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to. Like, you do have to pick a program, but interdisciplinary degrees and even build-your-own degrees like the one I'm currently doing are becoming increasingly popular, and there are ways to spin having disparate interests into something unique where you can really succeed.

When I started college, at my first university, I was doing a general Biology degree. Then I transferred to a school where you could pick slightly different concentrations in Biology, and did part of a degree in Biology, but with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Then I took a break for about four years, because college was not working for me. When I picked it up again, at yet another school, I started with an interdisciplinary degree in Biology, Society, and Environment--still fairly Biology-heavy, but with an added focus in the humanities surrounding science . Eventually I abandoned the framework of structured degrees entirely, and am now finishing college doing a Bachelor's of Individualized Studies, which is a degree program my school offers where you essentially pick three minors and build your own degree out of them. (Mine are Biology, History of Science, and Cultural Studies & Comparative Literatures)

I hope that illustrates a couple things. One--you are not locked in to your first choice, and in fact may figure out what you want to do partly by dabbling in some other things first. And two--there are lots of different flavors of studying even some of the same subjects that vary from degree to degree and school to school. Look into some of the weirder options that are out there that might let you combine multiple passions for sure!

If you're specifically interested in a degree that blends the sciences and the humanities, some keywords that might be useful to you are looking up schools with programs in Science and Technology Studies (or STS), History of Science, or Philosophy of Science programs. Even if they don't offer Bachelor's in them (sometimes those are restricted to grad degrees), they may offer minors or concentration options, or be something you could work into an individualized degree if your school has a program for those, and at the very least may have classes you could take in those subjects even if you have to do a slightly different degree to dabble in them.

Best of luck with your searching and applications! I hope all this rambling can at least be of some use to you.

[vampkomori]

Ratio might be a Candelagraphos scholar

*The Candelagraphos is a school of the Intelligentsia Guild. theyre the so-called "printing department" of the guild.

despite having known Ratio for (arguably) a while, we still dont know what he actually does! funny. hes overall mysterious and we dont actually know anything about him, but we might be able to find out what he does at the guild/ or what hes planning to do.

^ emotional support ratio

lets start chronologically, im going to build this up again slowly for context, but also because i want to compile what Ratio actually does, so into the post it goes.

We know that he works with the Technology Department of the IPC as an outsourced science consultant. This is to be expected, because Yabuli, the head of the Technology Department, is also the controller of the Intelligentsia Guild.

- File Repository: Ally — Interastral Peace Corporation Headquarters, at the Seat of Divine Foresight

In the IPC trailer, you can see Ratio's bust in the bottom left corner-ish. The voiceover also says "Join us and team up with the Intelligentsia Guild!" So, its likely that the guild exclusively (or primarily) works with the Technology Department when the IPC requires aid.

Moving on to Ratio's qualifications/his 8 doctorates to establish what kind of fields he works in:

He has 8 doctorates, namely: Medicine, Philosophy, Natural theology, Mathematics, Physics, Computer science, Engineering, and Biology. (7 of his 8 degrees are mentioned in his character story, but his 8th (computer science) is only mentioned in his trailer)

From this we can gather he regularly publishes books and papers, invents machines/medicine, and does regular ol' research.

great job pookie. based on this, lets try figure out which of the guild's schools he would fit into:

Synesthesia School: Mostly known for its Synesthesia Beacon, the tool that lets you understand and speak languages. They mostly seem to focus on communiation-related things, as Herta says their next research focuses on "remote communication technology".

Ratio could probably thrive anywhere but he is not shown to have language-related interests or research, so this ones unlikely.

Astral Ecology School: Focus on Astrology/Cosmology, they study the void song whale, radiant jellyfish, and other organisms of the galaxy.

Highly unlikely. This one has nothing to do with his kind of science.

Armed Archaeologists: Very exploration-heavy. They do galactic exploration and archaeology. On the Interastral Peace Broadcast, its said that they discovered a miniature galaxy and recently unconvered the tomb of Rubert I.

Also highly unlikely. Ratio does science and is also a teacher, he doesnt go out into the universe to explore.

Quantum History School: This school is allegedly a bit of a scam. they used to try and "find the influences of disturbance and patterns of change hidden throughout history", but now they just scam you with calculation-based fortune telling.

No comment.

Candelagraphos:

Ill just add Hertas summary of it and marked the relevant passages.

Author✅ Ratio is a published author of multiple books and papers.

Programmer ✅ He has a doctorate in computer science and works with the Technology Department, so he likely knows how to programm.

Their altruistic philosophy ✅ literally matches Ratio's to a T.

"The science of the guild is gathered here" ✅ Ratio does science.

Naturally its possible that the guild has more schools than just these ones, but. well anyway lets keep going.

In 2.1, Ratios goal in Penacony is specifically to get Stellaron Research Papers from the Family.

"achieved what he desired" (to which he replies, "Thats true.") So, Ratio is doing research on Stellarons. interesting! this is a surprise tool that will help us later.

Anyway, Ratio was invited as a science consultant to Hertas space station, and its possible that it was during the events of Crown of the Mundane and Divine that the IPC allied with Herta

- Interastral Peace Broadcast Radio

Herta is known for a lot of things, but shes also one of the only people whos been able to seal a Stellaron and keep it "dormant", to the point that the Stellaron Hunters specifically used her sealed Stellaron for the Trailblazer.

Although Himeko later says that no one, not even Herta, has found a way to destroy a Stellaron.

Its interesting that Herta is emphasized, likely meaning that shes basically the universe's Foremost Expert On Stellarons. Naturally, the IPC allying with her couldve been for other reasons too, though.

In the same broadcast its said that the IPC has been doing research on Stellarons with the Intellgentsia Guild's support, and currently, their results are promising.

So, the IPC does research on Stellarons, recently allied with Herta who happens to be a bit of a specialist on Stellarons, has the guild's support, and recently Ratio acquired Stellaron Research papers, implying that hes the one doing research on it.

Fun bit: Stellarons are called "Cancer of all worlds" and technically what theyre doing could be considered "trying to cure cancer" which is funny because Ratio's a medical doctor and that absolutely sounds like something hed do.

But what school in the Intellgentsia Guild would do research on Stellarons? None of them seem to really have anything to do with them? how would you even classify Stellarons? biology????

Worry no more, I have the answer:

The Candelagraphos

Theyre requesting data on Stellarons for their experiments. I rest my case (bows)

that was kind of the conclusion. Ratio's department is absolutely the Candelagraphos, hes doing research on Stellarons with the IPC, and it is undoubtedly going to be very very relevant in the plot (soon? ish? eventually).

id love if we got more lore on him once that happens. He absolutely has ties to the Laurel Wreath Galaxy and the Philosophers Union. Maybe that wont be relevant in the Stellaron Chapter but. well, theres ample foreshadowing that Emperor Rubert is going to make a comeback and he was the reason said galaxy and philosophers even perished and Screwllum recently uncovered his tomb alongside a member of the guild? so??? pretty please. thank you 🙏

Ratio stonks will rise

[eddieintheocean]

in my final year of my marine bio undergrad and now i have to think abt my masters...do you plan on getting a masters? what would you get a degree in?

im not entirely sure at the moment, i don't really like being in an extra like 15k in debt, so im probably going to wait until ive got some extra money to help fund that if i do.

i'd probably do a masters in deep sea ecology or something, or some kind of ecology in general.

good luck with your final year!!

[pineforest-tapeloop]

Introduction

Hi! My name is Hedwig. I am currently in the progress of getting my masters in ecological research. Right now im finishing up a paper about the conservation of common spadefoot toads in the Netherlands. At night I work as a bat-researcher. I am specialised in ectomycorrhizal associations. I hope to share a lot of stuff I find here on Tumblr. I am also very much into Art of all kinds. I have a degree in interior architecture which really sparked this love. Now I am more of an amateur generalist. I like visiting galleries, seeing movies, listening to music and reading books. I do like to draw too, although poorly. I also play the piano. The only writing im doing is research papers though. I hope to change that with my new blog. I have a loving girlfriend and a cute dog. A tarantula and a few houseplants.

[venturebroes]

ok contining off of my other mlp eqg post , making a higher education list for the humanified ponies yknow!

ok starters , fluttershy! animal caretaker, which i feel is obvious. i mean look at her fucking house. ive seen that you need a highschool diploma which id feel as she would definitely have, and possibly needing a bachelors in something of animal care something of the sorts so, she probably majored in animal husbandry? we know damn well she probably already knew everything pertaining to it tho and minored in.. something. ill go for ecology

ok! rainbowdash! i still think they'd just have a highschool diploma, probably no further education because they'd have the same aspirations as the one in the eqg world. maybe her parents wanted to push them into a community college or something tho and then they went to it for a while then perhaps quit. like that one old mlp series LOL. she'd of course do her best to do whatever the human equivalent of the wonder bolts would be, which is gonna be an athletics team now even tho being a jet flying team would make more sense but whatevs!

aj. of course she would just work on the farm still. nothing past a highschool diploma. she does definitely have a diploma tho and not a GED or anything because she was so young when her parents had passed so she was already used to everything being so fucking hectic so she was able to balance everything (however. i do believe big Mac definitely dropped out of highschool and later in life acquired a GED ) (these mfs HATE cps)

twilight fucking sparkle. the next fucking RULER of GOD DAMN EQUESTRIA. what would she fucking do? the girl who was attending cram school the same time as all of her grade schools by choice, spending her summers at camps for miscellaneous academic upgrades or spent them right under celestias wing. of course she did a 2 year school first, got to butter up the guys that'll give her her undergrad! so im not incredibly sure what a future benevolent totalitarian leader would have as schooling. but since she shows the most interest in science ill say she got an associates in fucking physics or something, then a bachelors in let's say science of business, so she knows how to take care of shit! then of course it's fucking twilight so she'll go on to get her masters and then doctorate in something so. yaknow

pinkie pie, same as eqg she's getting an associates in culinary! with her highschool diploma of course. due to where she grew up id imagine she didn't have a very good highschool schooling experience, with the bare minimum classes and all. perhaps later in life, she'd go and get a degree in business because of how she takes over the bakery later on , so <3

AND RARITY! of course she also went to a 2 year school at first too. but got a degree in dun dun dun... BUSINESS MATH! and then a bachelors in something of the fashion design sorts. she'd probably have a pretty goof amount of school honestly but id imagine she would get her masters much later on in life. probably a business networking thing or something

and the man who inspired it all.... DISCORD!!!!! PRE SCHOOL TEACHER!!!!! the way i know that this man is a fucking genius. and just did NOT apply himself for SHIT in highschool LMAO. only reason he got into college is from a baller ass letter of recommendation. started off with community college probably, and honestly i think he was doing some sort of math. maybe business math like rarity! or mathematical finance even tho they sound like the same thing... and then gets a bachelors in psychology probs! definitely minored in something random as fuck for funzies.. and then at some point i imagine he realized hey, kids? cool as fuck! let me get my masters in education! and he's set since he got that psychology degree

[bcstired]

I REALLY need to know what’s your job now lmao (if you don’t mind ofc)

Lmao dw i don't mind, I go to a public university in brasil, there we have something called iniciação científica or scientific iniciation (also called research groups) in which teachers start research projects and they get a few spots for students that get paid, mine is in ecology art and tecnology, its not an intership cause its all academia based and you need to produce your own line of research (assinged to you lol you don't get to pick)

The salary is below minimum wage in brasil cause were tecnically not in the workforce (and we also don't have vacation 🙃) but the hours are more flexible so good enough for me

In the end its a great start in academia but it truly is you doing research w zero interest sometimes lol this next one im aplying for is more in my area (sand animation) so i hope it works out

Hope I answered you question, sorry for the huge block of text im bad at resuming stuff (yay masters degree)

[mysticetus]

thank you so so so much for the detailed ask!!! i've recently considered going into that field and that information / suggestion is super helpful for my decision :) i didn't know you were a biology major! that's so cool! how has it been so far? what kind of courses you took in high school do you use now / what do you feel are specific essential areas? i hope that doesn't sound like a strange question to ask, i've got some memory issues and knowing what specifically to focus on before i get into college could help a lot :)

no problem its not often i get to talk about the work that i do so im glad to write stuff.

when it comes to academic advice i have to preface it by saying things depend greatly on what is available to you, since “biology major” can fall under a ton of different things and im not sure theres a universal system for it … some examples ive seen are biology BS (bachelor of science) which is more useful for microbiology and if you want to go into research, biochemistry, or the medical field … biology BA (bachelor of art) which is better for macrobiology like zoology, and people looking to go into education. Theres also ecology and evolutionary biology, and more specific majors like botany, marine bio, etc ….

or your college might just have a single biology major. it really depends. my college happens to have a robust bio department and thats the main reason i wanted to go here. they usually have information on offered majors on their website but i assume youre looking at that anyway lol.

A nice piece of advice i received from someone in the field was when i attended the necropsy of an adult female sea lion, the woman performing it recommended we get a general biology degree rather than marine biology, since general bio offers you more opportunity. For example if you want to work in like… idaho studying golden eagles or kansas looking at salamander species you cant much use a marine bio degree for that. But a general bio degree is helpful in most marine bio environments. (Also marine bio is extremely competitive and the work is usually expensive but thats another conversation…)

in high school the class most useful to me was definitely physiology which was a science elective for me. It went over like…bone names and organ systems and how muscles work and all that … its still useful to me. You could also look into APES (ap environmental science) if thats something available to you. but generally i think you should take classes that are interesting to you! bio is a huge field and you may discover something really amazing if you just follow your nose.

and high school isnt all there is, you could see if theres a local museum or wildlife rescue center that takes youth workers/volunteers. More often than not facilities like this are non profit and depend on volunteer work so they might have something available. For paying jobs you could look into pet stores, sounds weird but there was an aquarium store in my town that had tons of species and the employees there are mostly really nerdy teenagers. similar situation with a reptile store near me, they literally breed chicks to feed the snakes. animal husbandry is a great way to observe like. Feeding behaviors and ecological roles. Doing work in actual places where a bio degree is applied helped inform my decision and i also learned a lot on the job. i never really freaked out about extracurriculars i just did this stuff because it seemed cool but it definitely helps with getting into college in the first place.

hope this helps

[wren-chirps]

hi!! i’m wren, or rennie, i like both names :)

my pronouns are he/they/sky, i’m a transmasc demiboy who enjoys looking like he came out of the forest and isn’t entirely human!! i like many things including birds (obviously), cold weather and snow, forestry, and ecology. right now i’m studying for a degree so i can become a forest ranger in my home state!!

i live in washington (not getting any more specific than that for obvious reasons) but im in canada a lot just cause i have a passport and i like it there too! i take day trips pretty often when i have time away from work and school, most of the time with my family.

i do have a nsfw blog but its adults only. mutuals can dm me for it, i might add it here at some point though!

[belamuse]

Yet another way to look at why symbology, dreams, archetypes, fairytales and myths are potent facilitators of change.

You are an ecology of story. Inside and out. And, within this, you have oh so many parts. You have an inner council and perhaps an inner zoo. An inner kingdom or queendom and many characters vying for attention or, vying to steer the ship.

The mind and the logical talking self; the younger self or I like to think of it as the wonder self or the inner elf of the self. And the deep wise self/crone self goddess/numinous self, aka, the Wild remembering at the center self of all selves.

The mind can be a double edged sword. On the one hand, it’s brilliance can create new worlds and words. But it can be also limited by the rational, logical, analytical.

The younger self/wondering wandering self can be foolish and yet also can connect one to magic. This is the limitless wonderful wonderfilled self who sparks imagination and creativity. Who sees the world of the mundane magically and vice versa. Who translates from the realm of the deeper Wild remembering self in picture images or symbols, archetypes or fairy stories.

This vintage image makes me think of The Fool card in Tarot. There is something about wonder that connects us to the whole, to the magic of everyday life and the magic beyond. It’s a little bit of risk taking and stepping on top of one’s fear. It’s synchronicity and mythic timing. It’s laughter and mirth.

We’ve been through a lot the last couple years, no? Forever changed. The stories and their timelines are changing. The myths are letting go of former identities and weaving new cloths. There is much rewilding and rearchitecting yet to be done. The knowing self/talking self can lead the way to a degree, but knowledge can also be finite; the younger self sources source. She dances with wisdom without always realizing it. She is experience and story, adventure and movement, wander and wonder. Despite all the ways the stories of the last couple years has attempted to harden or contain, crystallize and make fixed, the wandering self is still playing with life. She is the art of life renewed. The inner joy maker despite and because of the fixed towers and castle walls. She is hiding somewhere within or she is standing on crocodiles in your dreams. You need her and she needs you. Because the world and all of it’s coming undone and unraveling and fixating and breaking needs her imagination. Needs her wonderful innocence, seasoned by the depths of self and the Wild remembering.

Does this make sense? It’s a bit of a ramble, but the girl riding a crocodile inside my soul made me do it.

All this to say,

She is another reason why the tarot makes more meaning out of the strange twists and turns of our lives and transitions. She is never fixed. The mind is. She is never static. The mind can be. She is the young heart holding hands with the wise heart and she holds the key to our Wild remembering.

She speaks the language of dreams and fairytales, myths and mirths, symbols and metaphors. It is her natural landscape.

Tarot, for me is the art of foreign language. Translating the younger, imaginal landscape to the thinking analytical mind. Catching mysteries together inside of the Wild remembering but spinning them into a story or a rhyme. Leading the heart towards deeper truths that she already knows. Playing with possibility. Loving fixed energy subversively. Because ultimately, that’s what the mythos does, what the fairytales do, and what there archetypal realm does. It’s a creative firebird inspirational cauldron realm. Sparking the imagination. Raising the dead (of spinning dead thinking) and giving birth to new neural pathways.

Come on now, says the rational. Fairytales, symbols, phooey….

The magi at the heart of imagination thinks differently.

Some say fairytales are foolish, stupid. Some say the same of tarot.

However, what if thinking were limited. What if, in the case of myth and metaphor, fairy stories and imagination…what if ’stupidity’ or mirth was infinite?

Isn’t that where wonder wanders? and where miracles are born?

Image: vintage. girl on a stuffed crocodile

[desterea]

i DONT want to become a marine biologist so i can play with dolphins or turtles or whatever. i wanna be a marine biologist so i can. :).

[ghostpyre]

Damn sorry I accidentally girlbossed myself in the military industrial complex

[farsailing]

have another interview for a position im absolutely not qualified for, wish me luck <3

this one is also studying corn, apparently i shouldve been applying to agriculture positions this whole time

[thebashfulbotanist]

hey i wanted to ask if you are a certified botanist because I would love to ask a few things about how your job is and the road to becoming a botanist. im a teen with dreams of going to collage and getting my degrees for botany. I want to ask how many years of collage did you do? what inspired you to become a botanist? whats you favorite plant? was the years of collage all worth it in the end?

This is a tough ask to answer because there are many different ways to be a botanist! Typically, the starting point is to get a bachelor's degree in biology. If you can, try to find a university with a botany or environmental science program and see if there are any professors with labs that study things you find interesting. For example, you might be interested in the evolutionary history of oak trees, or how people domesticated maize, or how certain plants respond to climate change. Once you've taken a few classes (maybe in your second year) reach out to those professors (and the grad students in their labs!) and see if they're willing to take you on as an undergraduate researcher.

For me, my path is a little unusual because I actually started out studying animal behavior. Although I took a botany class and mycology class in my undergrad, I wasn't sure I wanted to study botany until I was almost ready to graduate. I went on to do a Master of Science in evolutionary biology, focusing on botany. Currently I'm working on my PhD studying both evolution and ecology of bamboos. I have over 9 years of college under my belt now. It'll probably be about 12 years by the time I'm done. I can't say whether it'll all be worth it in the end because I'm not there yet! But so far I really love what I do.

For many jobs, a M.S. degree is what you need. For example, there are positions with government agencies, such as state departments of conservation and natural resources, that utilize botanists to identify and help write management plans for populations of rare plant species, which often don't require a PhD. Botanical gardens are also a great option with an M.S. or even just a bachelor's degree, especially if you go to an institution that has a program in horticulture. Museum and herbarium curatorial positions may also require an M.S., although requirements for a PhD are becoming more common at these institutions. A PhD is of course required for academia and sometimes desirable for other positions, such as those with museums or government agencies.

However, even if you're not a "professional" botanist, you can still do botany. For example, many cities have local native plant societies that you can join to learn more about native plant species and help promote their conservation. Some universities and societies also have "citizen science" or "community science" programs where you can volunteer to help with research projects, too.

As for what inspired me to be a botanist, I've always loved plants, having grown up helping my mom in the garden, and I took an awesome botany class where we went on a number of exciting field trips. I really enjoyed the field work we did (field botany is usually a LOT of hiking, so get yourself some good shoes/boots if you want to do it!) and was excited to learn more. Plus, I really enjoy learning about WHY plants are the way they are - how their environments shaped their evolution.

I don't really have a favorite plant - there are so many! But if I HAD to pick one, I'd probably say the Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii. Don't tell my bamboos!