College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Stanford University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• California Institute of Technology
• Johns Hopkins University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of California—Berkeley
• University of Illinois—Urbana-Champlain
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
• University of Texas—Austin

Classes in the Major

Geology. Turns out, the Earth is made out of rocks. Who knew? Turns out, a lot of people. If you're going to use the Earth as your canvas to make incredible things, it's probably best to know about what it's made out of. Sort of like if you want to be a painter, you won't get very far if you think paint is made of ground-up clowns. Reasonable assumption, sure, but that's why you take a class.

Statistics. So many majors require statistics. What's that about? Statistics is the study of taking a bunch of data, and sorting it so it can be useful. Unsorted data is not the most useful thing in the world. If it were, statistics wouldn't exist…but it does. Womp womp.

Since a lot of environmental engineering involves understanding the impact humanity has already had on the planet, they need to collect a lot of data and understand what it means. Looking at a set of numbers, shrugging, and going, "I don't know, goblins?" is not an effective way to approach data. They teach that in statistics.

Waste management. Environmental engineers are a bit like the garbage collectors of engineers. That should not sound bad, since garbage collectors are one of the major reasons you're not presently dying of rabies. True story. Waste management comes in two stomach-churning varieties: solid and hazardous. It may be gross, but this is one of the most important parts of civilization.

Chemistry. It's sort of hard to understand poison without chemistry. That's how you make poison. It's also how you make life, so, you know, pretty important. Without knowing what human bodies can put inside them without turning into all the cancer, you won't get too far as an environmental engineer. Remember, it's a lack of understanding of chemistry (and a strong enough stomach to drink brown water) that gave us cholera.

Engineering. Your tools and canvas are the Earth itself. You're basically an Earthbender, minus the kung fu. (Or take a kung fu class to scare everyone. We're not the boss of you.) Environmental engineering is still engineering. You have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you breakdance, and breakdance before you can save the rec center from the evil industrialist.

Sorry, lost the thread there. Environmental engineering uses the principles of engineering, but applied to the planet itself. Taking the class will give you a foundation in the theories used.