College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Harvard University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Princeton University
• California Institute of Technology
• Yale University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Texas A&M, University of Wisconsin—Madison
• Pennsylvania State University
• University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
• University of Washington—Seattle

Classes in the Major

Chemistry. You might think of oceanography as some soft-science field where everyone gets together and hugs baby seals. It's not. Although, if you find a place where people hug baby seals, let us know. We'd love to do that. Chemistry is one of those basic sciences, as you're learning about the elements that make up everything. In this case, you are primarily learning it for how it applies to seawater, though it's useful everywhere else, too.

Global Environmental Science. The ocean truly is a global environment. The divisions between the oceans are entirely artificial. There are no dotted lines on any maps. Whatever one nation does to the ocean has the potential to impact every other nation on the planet—even the ones that are landlocked. Because the ocean has been used as a dumping ground for the world's pollutants since we invented the concept of garbage, there's a lot to be done. Any modern study of oceanography is going to be closely tied with the immense and negative impact we've had on the ocean. Hopefully, it's aimed at a way to make it better, too.

Geomathematics. Isn't that the one with all the shapes? No. That would be geometry, and if you're considering oceanography, we hope you've already taken it. Geomathematics is the math of geology and geophysical science. That's rocks, lava, and how tectonic plates move. The Atlantic is continually spreading as its two plates are moving apart and the Pacific is contracting for the opposite reason. Math is the universal language that describes this and many other phenomena.

Oceanography. This encompasses two basic divisions and you'll be taking both: physical and biological oceanography. Physical oceanography is the study of the ocean from a purely non-living standpoint: how the system works if it were totally empty of life and all the basics that the discipline demands. Biological oceanography takes into account all of the living things. Not only those organisms that create their own geographic features, like coral reefs, but how humanity impacts the ocean. 

Ocean Minerals. There are minerals on land, and the ocean has three times the space. This is the study of exactly what's down there and where you're likely to find it. Ocean mining is a thing, believe it or not. The most famous variant would be offshore oil drilling, but there are many other resources we can pull out of the deep. You're going to be able to compare them to the distribution on land and know what effects the spread of the tectonic plates is having.