Schooling related to diving

[Diver0001]

Depending on your aptitudes, it depends.

As an OWSI having the ability to maintain (or captain) a boat, vehicle, compressor or to service scuba equipment are also skills that will improve your market value. Also, if the place(s) you want to work are remote then things like advanced first aid, being able to run a ham radio for communications, or language skills are also marketable.

Personally I would think with all of the divers out there willing to work for just about nothing to do the in water stuff that the ability to something ELSE related to the operation apart from diving might help more.

For example, at the shop where I'm working right now, one of the guys is a skilled computer guy who makes web sites. He built their LAN, maintains the computer equipment, set up the website and closed contracts (and manages those) to get the mission critical stuff all professionally managed. He's a MSDT but if he never set foot in a pool again, he would still have a job.

Think out of the box. Talk to dive centres about it. Good luck.

R..

 

[soccerrefjason]

Like many other posters, I too am confused about exactly what you want. However I translate what you are asking as what types of classes will make you a better OWSI. I am not an instructor so my response should be held in that light for any scrutiny you or anyone else has. It would seem to me that if you want to become a great teacher some classes on education are in order. The ability to know how and why people learn and retain academic knowledge and practical knowledge are valuable and different skills that you might learn in a career path in education.

 

[ScubaForScience]

NC State has one of the best diving programs in the country as far as quality of divers coming out, slightly biased but results speak for themselves *the divers can pass GUE fundies almost immediately after coming out of open water*. Eastern Carolina has a massive diving program that does quite a bit of archaeology but they look like recreational divers, so you'll get a lot more diving exposure and experience with that program but you won't be as good of a diver if that makes sense. University of Florida has a good one, and I'm sure there are others on the coast on this side that are pretty good

I know I'm about 10 months late to the conversation but the University of Miami has been doing scientific diving since the 1920s, is where the president of AAUS works, has capabilities to train students in nearly any scientific diving environment with about every diving mode you can probably think of, and is where a lot of students choose to go specifically for diving as part of their degree programs. The facebook page shows a lot of what the program does: https://www.facebook.com/UM-Dive-Office-108486449234258/ There were also at least couple students in 2-3 years of my time at the university that came to do a masters degree on the GI bill. I was an OWSI when I went through the scientific diving course a while back and actually got a ton out of the program and not only improved my diving skills but also developed things that I started instituting into PADI courses for my dive students that I still use to this day.