Choosing an advisor
Your major advisor serves as an academic mentor and will help guide you to completion of your degree. Having a major advisor is a requirement of acceptance to the MNR program, whether you apply directly or are transferring from a certificate program. Here are our recommendations for choosing a major advisor:
Identify potential faculty advisors
We recommend that you identify two to three faculty members who could potentially serve as your advisor.
Review our list of graduate faculty by college to help you find faculty members whose area of research aligns with your academic interests.
Depending on your career and academic goals, you may want to find a faculty member outside this list. The program welcomes additional Oregon State faculty to advise our students. You can find additional faculty through these OSU links:
- College of Forestry faculty directory
- Fisheries and wildlife faculty directory
- CEOAS faculty directory
- Water conflict management faculty directory
Request faculty members to serve as your advisor
Once you have compiled a list of potential faculty, contact each faculty member separately and ask them to serve as your MNR major advisor. Faculty will want to know background information about your academic experience before they agree to be your major advisor.
Use this email letter template to draft a message to each faculty member to introduce yourself and provide pertinent information – CV, transcripts, and writing sample (term paper, short essay, research proposal) to help them decide whether or not to serve as your advisor. You should also download and attach this guide for MNR faculty advisors to ensure they understand the program's requirements, expectations and compensation for working with you.
The number of students each faculty is willing to take on at one time is dependent on their availability. Please don’t be discouraged if faculty members respond with “no” or “not at this time.”
Still need help?
Download our MNR handbook for information about admissions, program requirements, academic policies and useful resources. It also contains suggested timelines, procedures and strategies to help you get the most out of your graduate experience.
If you have completed all of the above steps and are still in need of help identifying an advisor, please contact:
Juliet Sutton
Program coordinator
Forest Ecosystems and Society
juliet.sutton@oregonstate.edu
541-737-6088
Please provide a list of the faculty members you contacted along with a short summary of your interaction with them.
Important dates
See our academic calendar for our full quarter term schedule.
Degree details
* Oregon State University is on a quarter-term system. There are four quarters each year and classes are 11 weeks long. This program's 45 quarter credits are equal to 30 semester credits.
† Cost per credit is calculated using tuition per credit for the current academic year. It does not include associated fees, course materials, textbook expenses, and other expenses related to courses.
‡ You can complete all courses in this program 100% online. View the curriculum.
Find application deadline
Ready to apply?
Once you've gathered the information you need to know before you apply to Oregon State University, take the next steps.
