College Undergrad at Purdue Looking to get into Paleontology

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

Hi, Matt.  Much of what you're asking is discussed in gratifyingly
deep detail over on the DML FAQ:
        http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~mrowe/dinosaur/FAQs.php

 _/|_    ___________________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor    <mike@indexdata.com>    http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "Wagner's music is nowhere near as bad as it sounds" -- Mark
         Twain.


mmabry@purdue.edu writes:
 > 
 > Hello All!
 > 
 > First of all, I would like to say that I am very excited to be part of this 
 > mailing list! I never guessed I would get so, much excitement from just 
 > reading 
 > all of the things you guys have to say. I love it already!
 > 
 > Anyway, right now I am enrolled at Purdue University. I am a Freshman 
 > Undergraduate Student in the college of Engineering. Recently, I've been 
 > thinking about my future and really decided that engineering is not 
 > something I 
 > want to devote my life to. So, upon deeper contemplation, I arrived at 
 > paleontology. For a LONG (when you read long, think all of my life) I've 
 > have 
 > been completely in love with dinosaurs. Not only dinosaurs, but really 
 > everything that has to do with the lifeforms that walked, crawled, swam, 
 > slinked (well you get the idea) across the land millions upon millions of 
 > years 
 > ago. So, I've decided that I would only be happy with paleontology of some 
 > sort 
 > as my profession. and the first step to do that is to switch into the 
 > geology 
 > school here at Purdue.
 > 
 > However, although the Internet is generally a hot-bed of information, I've 
 > yet 
 > to find the aforementioned plethora of info that specifically relates to 
 > paleontology. Especially for someone who is already in college and has close 
 > to 
 > a semester under his belt. 
 > 
 > So, I thought I would turn to you guys, the ones who would know a good deal 
 > about paleontology, to see if you could help me out a little bit. I'm 
 > looking 
 > for things like the job outlook, salary (not that it's really that important 
 > when it comes to fulfilling a lifelong dream, but still has to be 
 > considered), 
 > where most paleontologists work and lastly, whether or not it really matters 
 > where you study undergrad (or if Purdue happens to be a good place to study 
 > geology/paleontology). 
 > 
 > Thank you so much for all of your help and time I'm eagerly awaiting 
 > responses 
 > to this topic and others,
 > 
 > Matt Mabry