Why take Geography as a Major?

Geography opens more career doors, has greater opportunities for advancement and higher salaries (starting salaries for a major in Geography with a minor in GIS or Computer Science begin at $30,000 - $35,000 without experience) today than any other career because of five reasons:

1) geography offers a broader knowledge base than any other academic field

Why is this important? The average American will change careers between 4-6 times, but because geography is a non-object specific academic field (we investigate all physical and human phenomena or processes that vary across the surface of the earth - in other words, that exhibit a spatial pattern) we develop in our majors a much broader understanding of processes varying across the earth. This allows our majors to move much, much more smoothly between new careers.

2) geography offers a global perspective or world view

3) geography deals with issues related to the environment or rather our surroundings - geographers focus their work on human-environmental interactions and variations in environmental quality

4) geography is involved in space management.

Why is this important? Currently, the population of the earth is 6.2 billion, in 2040 it may well reach 12 billion, yet earth's space and natural resources are finite (limited)! Those individuals that can manage space - geographers, cartographers, planners - are already in great demand.

5) geography has the tools to effectively bring 1) through 4) together to manage space effectively and successfully

What are these tools? Cartography, Remote Sensing, GPS, GIS

Cartography - most if not all maps are designed by professional cartographers - maps are important because so much data can be displayed in a manageable form - if a picture is worth a 1000 words, a map might be worth 10,000 words. Cartographers don't need a Masters degree, a bachelors degree in geography is sufficient. Today, a cartographer with a degree in geography and a minor in photography or art or technical drawing starts at $25,000 to $30,000/year without experience, and in 5 years might be making $60,000/year.

Remote Sensing - this is an extremely powerful tool. Many physical and human features can be detected, documented, observed over time, and analyzed using satellite imagery (the most common form of remotely sensed data). For instance, the following are just a few of the things remotely sensed data can address: both water and air pollution can be detected, both water and air temperatures measured, forest fires watched, areas invested with crop diseases or crop parasites identified, trace minerals found, and urban sprawl and transportation bottlenecks identified. With a B.S. degree in geography and a Master's Degree in Geoscience, graduates can expect to start at $30,000 - $40,000/year without experience and within 5 years be making greater than $80,000.

GPS & GIS - GPS enables geographers to construct databases of geo-referenced data, that is data (any data, be they physical or human environmental) that identify specific events, location or processes in 3-dimensional space anywhere on earth. The data bases that utilize GPS data and its attributes (values) are GIS software packages such as ArcGIS, ArcView, and ArcInfo. GIS is the single, most powerful analytical tool on earth. It builds layers of data/information so that every single human or physical processes or feature can be identified, modeled or spatially analyzed. GIS is used by many businesses in finance and location decision-making, it is used by many local, regional, state and national governments in urban, rural and regional planning, it is used by doctors, medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies to identify tends and patterns in emerging diseases and environmental contaminants that are dangerous to human health, it is used by farmers, loggers and fisheries to manage land, forest and fishery resources. It is predicted that within 5 years every business, planning agency and government with have GIS trained people running GIS departments - yet today we cannot meet the demand for GIS trained graduates. With a major in geography and a minor in GIS graduates can expect to start at $35,000 to $50,000/year with no experience and within 5 years be making greater than $80,000, and some graduates will be making in excess of $100,000/year.

For more information about a major or minor in Geography, contact the Department of Geography and Geology at 270-745-4555.