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Principal environmental scientist education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a principal environmental scientist. Principal environmental scientists usually study environmental science, biology, or chemistry. 65% of principal environmental scientists hold a bachelor's degree, and 27% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 60 real principal environmental scientist resumes to see exactly what principal environmental scientist education sections show.
The most common colleges for principal environmental scientists are the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
There are also many online principal environmental scientist courses to help get the education required to be a principal environmental scientist.
What education do you need to become a principal environmental scientist?
What degree do you need to be a principal environmental scientist?
- Bachelor's, 65%
- Master's, 27%
- Associate, 6%
- Doctorate, 2%
What should I major in to become a principal environmental scientist?
Most common colleges for principal environmental scientists
| Principal environmental scientist common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of California, Santa Barbara | 8.33% |
| Bridgewater College | 8.33% |
| Chapman University | 8.33% |
| University of Rhode Island | 8.33% |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | 4.17% |
Best majors for principal environmental scientists
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Environmental Science | 21.6% |
| 2 | Biology | 13.7% |
| 3 | Chemistry | 7.8% |
| 4 | Business | 7.8% |
| 5 | Geology | 7.8% |
Best colleges for principal environmental scientists
The best colleges for principal environmental scientists are Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.
A principal environmental scientist with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for principal environmental scientists. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become principal environmental scientists.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
3. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
5. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
6. University of California - Davis
Davis, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$14,402
Enrollment
30,698
7. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
8. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$14,184
Enrollment
30,845
9. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-state tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
10. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
20 best online courses for principal environmental scientists
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1. Environmental Science
The Introduction to Environmental Science course explores the field of environmental science and encourages participants to understand how environmental scientists think. It addresses some important questions such as: 1. What is the difference between environmental science and environmental studies? 2. How do both differ from environmentalism? 3. Why is energy so important in environmental science? 4. What do you mean by biodiversity? You will also explore what global cycles are and how they...
2. Geospatial and Environmental Analysis
Apply your GIS knowledge in this course on geospatial analysis, focusing on analysis tools, 3D data, working with rasters, projections, and environment variables. Through all four weeks of this course, we'll work through a project together - something unique to this course - from project conception, through data retrieval, initial data management and processing, and finally to our analysis products. In this class you will learn the fundamentals of geospatial and environmental analysis during...
3. ISO 14001:2015 Environmental management system
Understand the requirements for an environmental management system according to ISO 14001:2015...
4. Air Dispersion Modeling for Environmental Management
Environmental management with AERMOD Air Pollution Model by EPA...
5. Introduction to Environmental Science
To understand current environmental problems, we need to consider physical, biological & chemical processes that are often the basis of those problems. This course will give you the skills necessary to address the environmental issues we are facing today by examining scientific principles and the application of those principles to natural systems. This course surveys some of the many environmental science topics at an introductory level, ultimately considering the sustainability of human...
6. Human Health Risks, Health Equity, and Environmental Justice
The fourth and final course of the Impacts of the Environment on Global Public Health specialization will cover two topics. The first is environmental justice – that is, avoiding an inequitable distribution of environmental health threats in our population, and ensuring a healthy and safe environment and health equity for all. The second is risk assessment and management, a framework that can be utilized to assess and quantify human health risks, and to identify appropriate approaches to...
7. The A to Z of ESG - Environmental & Social Governance
A Perspective for Businesses on How to Manage ESG - Why it matters to Financial Performance and to the Economy...
8. Environmental sustainability in Maritime transport Industry
A course dedicated to Marine life and Marine Ecosystem...
9. Women in environmental biology
Have you ever wondered how humans relate to other living beings and what do you need to know to be able to understand current environmental problems? Do you know that many of these researches and knowledge have been described by women? This course gives answers to these questions and it is addressed to anyone interested in the relationship between humans and other living beings, as well as all those concerned about the global change situation that the planet is suffering. We will learn key...
10. Analyzing Macro-Environmental Factors Using Creately
By the end of this 2 hour-long guided project, you will be fluent in identifying and analyzing business markets and how to discover their attractiveness to new products and services. This project is designed to engage and harness your visionary and exploratory abilities. You will be using proven models in competitive strategy and the program Creately to explore and analyze these models. This is an important step for individuals or companies wanting to explore new markets for products or...
11. Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development
Environmental Issues...
12. Sustainability Management in Business
Everything you need to know about creating sustainable value, ESG and building business resilience...
13. Life Cycle Assessment
This course will introduce you to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA ) methodology, a tool to assess the environmental impact of products and systems over the whole product life cycle, from cradle to grave. After a discussion of the potentials and limitations of quantitative LCA compared to other assessment tools, we will detail and practice each of the LCA phases. 1) The goals and system definition phase defines the goal and scope of the study, including the product function, functional unit, and the...
14. Principal Component Analysis with NumPy
Welcome to this 2 hour long project-based course on Principal Component Analysis with NumPy and Python. In this project, you will do all the machine learning without using any of the popular machine learning libraries such as scikit-learn and statsmodels. The aim of this project and is to implement all the machinery of the various learning algorithms yourself, so you have a deeper understanding of the fundamentals. By the time you complete this project, you will be able to implement and apply...
15. Certified Global ESG Professional (Associate Level)
Learn Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Fundamentals, ESG Factors , Reporting and Valuation of ESG & Initiatives...
16. NEBOSH FIRE SAFETY
Managing Fire Safety in Workplace...
17. The Data Scientist’s Toolbox
In this course you will get an introduction to the main tools and ideas in the data scientist's toolbox. The course gives an overview of the data, questions, and tools that data analysts and data scientists work with. There are two components to this course. The first is a conceptual introduction to the ideas behind turning data into actionable knowledge. The second is a practical introduction to the tools that will be used in the program like version control, markdown, git, GitHub, R, and...
18. Der Werkzeugkasten des Data Scientist
In this course you will get an introduction to the main tools and ideas in the data scientist's toolbox. The course gives an overview of the data, questions, and tools that data analysts and data scientists work with. There are two components to this course. The first is a conceptual introduction to the ideas behind turning data into actionable knowledge. The second is a practical introduction to the tools that will be used in the program like version control, markdown, git, GitHub, R, and...
19. Essential Non Technical Skills of Effective Data Scientists
Boost your Data Science Career by developing these crucial Non Technical Skills & become a Successful Data Scientist...
20. Master Course in Human Resources 2.0
Strategic human resource management, strategic planning, recruiting, training, HR management,Labour welfare...
Top 10 most affordable universities for principal environmental scientists
The most affordable schools for principal environmental scientists are University of Florida, california state university - long beach, and brooklyn college of the city university of new york.
If the best universities for principal environmental scientists are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for principal environmental scientists.
1. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,381
Cost of attendance
21,034
2. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,798
Cost of attendance
18,306
3. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Brooklyn, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,240
Cost of attendance
13,991
4. California State University - Fullerton
Fullerton, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,886
Cost of attendance
17,645
5. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,410
Cost of attendance
20,456
6. California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,749
Cost of attendance
14,823
7. Florida International University
Miami, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,556
Cost of attendance
19,434
8. City College of New York of the City University of New York, The
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,140
Cost of attendance
14,430
9. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Cost of attendance
16,714
10. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-state tuition
$5,620
Cost of attendance
18,136
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for principal environmental scientists
The hardest universities for principal environmental scientists to get into are Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.
Some great schools for principal environmental scientists are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for principal environmental scientists based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
Admissions rate
9%
SAT average
1,516
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
3. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
Admissions rate
4%
SAT average
1,497
4. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
6%
SAT average
1,512
5. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,508
6. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
Admissions rate
6%
SAT average
1,517
7. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions rate
11%
SAT average
1,513
8. Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH • Private
Admissions rate
9%
SAT average
1,488
9. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
Admissions rate
5%
SAT average
1,520
10. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
13%
SAT average
1,445
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for principal environmental scientists
The easiest schools for principal environmental scientists to get into are Wayland Baptist University, d'youville college, and mount saint mary's university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a principal environmental scientist without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for principal environmental scientists.
1. Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, TX • Private
Admissions rate
98%
SAT average
1,003
2. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
100%
SAT average
1,072
3. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,031
4. Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Standish, ME • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,069
5. Curry College
Milton, MA • Private
Admissions rate
93%
SAT average
1,026
6. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,006
7. University of Houston - Downtown
Houston, TX • Private
Admissions rate
83%
SAT average
1,012
8. University of the Incarnate Word
San Antonio, TX • Private
Admissions rate
88%
SAT average
1,044
9. San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA • Private
Admissions rate
72%
SAT average
1,054
10. Kean University
Union, NJ • Private
Admissions rate
86%
SAT average
991
Average principal environmental scientist salary by education level
| Principal environmental scientist education level | Principal environmental scientist salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $113,202 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $100,329 |
Principal environmental scientist education FAQs
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025