Professional Certifications
Interested in using CWS courses in your application to become a Professional Ecologist with the Ecological Society of America (ESA) or a Wildlife Biologist® with The Wildlife Society (TWS)?
What to know when including CWS courses in your application to certifying as a Professional Ecologist:
Be sure the course you are interested in taking with CWS has been pre-approved by ESA to meet the minimum education requirements (42 semester credits) in either the Biological Sciences (30 credits required with 9 in Ecology) or Chemistry, Physical Science, and Mathematics (12 credits required).
B- (80% or better) is required in applications to certify with ESA. Please provide ESA your certificate of Course Completion, which will include your grade. Grades below a B- can still be included in an ESA application, but a written explanation is required in your cover letter.
What to know when including CWS courses in your application to certify as an Associate or Certified Wildlife Biologist®:
CWS courses taken through your academic institution are considered academic coursework and can be used in your application like any other course from a college or university.
CWS courses NOT taken through a college or university are considered “professional development” and can be substituted for academic coursework from a college or university. You MUST have at least one college or university course (at least 3 semester hours) in the same educational category for the CWS course to count in your application.
Professional development can be used to substitute for no more than 9 total credit hours on the application with no more than 3 allowed in any single category.
To include a CWS course in your TWS application, it MUST be taken for academic credit with CWS and passed with a C- (70% or better).
See TWS’s Policies and Procedures Manual for additional details about certification requirements.
