****o all,

I received my undergraduate degree in 2004. While my major was music, I completed all but two courses needed for a degree in geology (environmental option) at Rutgers U. The environmental option was canceled while I was a student, and I decided to pursue a career in music anyway, so headed off to graduate school for music.

I am happy with my career but would like to get back to doing something with science, specifically, wetlands delineation. I have some questions about what sort of an educational background is necessary for this, and what career options are available. I would prefer to have a part-time, temporary, or intermittent job in order to continue my career in music. I do not have a BS degree, which seems to be a problem for the few jobs I have applied for. I am not sure if I should go back to school, and get a BS or even MS degree, or if obtaining a wetlands delineation certificate (likely through Rutgers University) would be enough. Also, what courses would you recommend if I did go back to school? Any feedback on these questions would be most appreciated.

Dawn,
Was it the song of traffic on the NJ Turnpike that swayed you to music at Rutgers?
On a more serious note, you might want to stay at home if you are trying to get your feet wet as an intern of some sort doing wetland studies. New Jersey is full of consulting firms that may need temporary work. In fact, Rutgers Continuing Education program at the Cook Campus may offer some help to you. They have been conducting short courses in wetland delineation for almost 25 years so you might be able to do some networking through that program. They also offer a 4 - 5 day mini course on wetland delineation that would be a good introductory course for you, if you really want to get your feet "wet". This might be the certificate you referenced. Beyond that you need to decide exactly what you like about wetlands. If you like doing field work, I would recommend that you focus any remaining credits you need on courses taylored around field work and hands-on studies. If you just like the environmental studies aspect, you might consider classes in statistics or information technology and let someone else get their feet wet. But unless you are a gifted student with a lot of money, I would recommend that you get a little bit of hands-on experience before you start looking at more degrees and courses. It might sound romantic and interesting at first. However, it can be very cold, wet, and miserable in January and very hot, wet, and miserable in August. Some of my most memorable moments in the field over the past 30 years have occurred during these miserable kinds of conditions.

"And that has made all the difference."