I am a PADI MSDT looking to go back to college to try and get my marine biology degree. Would a degree really put me ahead in the job market as an instructor?
Marine Biology Degree needed?
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As a recently certified instructor who has spent the last 6 years working towards a PhD in Marine Biology, I sure hope it puts my ahead of the next instructor. However YMMV.
I know some shops that look to such a degree as a very positive qualification, but others may not. Of course the added cost of getting that degree will most likely never be recovered at the wages a dive professional earns!
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It would probably be FAR MORE VALUABLE for your future, for you to major in Mass Com ( Advertising...to learn how to develop and maintain your network of scuba contacts), and then maybe have a minor in Marine Biology. And nothing stops you from buying the text books for both majors, without actually going to school--the education may well have FAR MORE VALUE than the degree. If you read well and process well, I don't see much need for a professor in most college courses. My degrees were in Biology, Sociology, and geology.....The only classes I really thought an instructor was essential in were Philosophy courses ( fir the discussions that were really essential), foreign language for pronunciations, etc, and a little bit of the chemistry lab work where you really need some proceedures demonstrated the first time....you need chemistry for advanced biology...things like Cell Bio. For useful knowledge in the dive industry, I doubt there would be any need for more than the books.
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