Does anyone here have a degree in geology? and if so, what have you done with it?

I actually considered it back in the day.

Option #1 Work for oil companies
Option #2 Work for the USGS
Option #3 Teach

I wasn’t really interested in grad school at the time. And all of those required a advanced degree. So I went for accounting. Contemplated suicide, and went with economics.

@johnpowell
“and went with economics”
The less suicide encouraging of the two? ;)

@deni My advice is decide what you want to do in life, and pick your major from there, not vice versa. Your career will last far longer than your college life. You could always minor in geology if you are interested in it. I wanted to major in Psychology until I realized the difficulty getting a job without furthering my education, so I majored in Marketing b/c I like sales, and minored in Psychology out of interest.

@Nially_Bob as depressing as economics is it’s actually pretty fascinating if you look into anything deeper than just the fundamentals.

If you’re truly interested, I guess I could dig it up and shake the dirt off it.

My old boss when I was at the grocery store had a Geology degree.

Economics is actually really fascinating. It taught me to look at things in a lot of different ways. Now I try to think about things from every position. It is a good skill to have. But my bedroom is a mess with graphs and flow-charts all over the place.

Why don’t you schedule a meeting with the geology adviser at your school. Ask him/her this question. I wasn’t a geology major, but I was in the same buiding as the geologists and took a few courses in the geology department. It is my suspicion that there is a lot of work in the geology field. The first thing that comes to mind is working in the oil and gas industry,. Sweet Jesus, you’d make a killing. Here’s a good site whic lists some more possibilities
I think it is a great field wot get into, but be prepared to have to go beyond a Bachelor’s degree. :-/

My dad has a degree in geology (just a bachelors) and currently works for the Humboldt County Environmental Health heading a program cleaning up underground storage tanks. He previously worked as a consultant for a few different companies. He seems to enjoy his job, even if it involves sitting at a desk for hours on end. I wouldn’t do it, but it pays really well. Benefits and all.

So there are other things out there besides working for oil companies, but you’d have to look a little harder and maybe go outside your comfort zone a little.

I apologize for all my typos. No iPhone, I guess I’m just keyboard incompetent today.

@ABoyNamedBoobs03 I apologise for the confusion but I was being facetious my friend. I too have an interest in economics :)

My daughter’s SO for 20 years got a PhD in planetary geology at Brown, is now a tenured prof. there and has a $!7 million project on the “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter”: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Sort=Advanced&MCode=MRO.

Dr. John Mustard
http://www.planetary.brown.edu/html_pages/mustard_research.htm

He teaches, supervises grad. students’ theses and does exotic and fascinating research.

He is so dedicated to his career that he is now my daughter’s ex-SO, but they had a good run. (He picked Milo out at the animal shelter.)

My yard man had a degree in geology. He began doing lawns so he could pay for getting his teaching credentials. He now teaches middle school science.

A friend that I met in the local Gem and Mineral Club has degrees in geology. He works for an independent oil company and has done quite well for himself by finding several very productive wells.

Another friend of my has degrees in geology and has just retired as Professor Emeritus from a local college.

Yet another friend of mine has degrees in geology. He put himself through school as a DJ, but now is a tenured professor using satellite information for geological research.

And other friends of mine have degrees in geology and now work for the state of Texas. One is the radiation inspector for South Texas, another directs the Bureau of Economic Geology, another was the State Archeologist until he retired, and several are professors.

My uncle had degrees in geology. He worked as a geologist for Brown and Root. He at one time also worked for a demolition company, making buildings implode. He also worked for a nuclear power company overseas, and eventually ran his own company turning garbage into material for paving roads.

A long-time family friend worked for the US government as a vulcanologist. He worked in Hawaii for a long time as well as monitored Mount Saint Helens (he predicted the big eruption, was pooh-poohed by his bosses, and was on vacation at the other end of the country when it did blow).

I have additional friends with degrees in geology who do everything from well-logging to selling insurance.

My dad knows a lot of people with degrees in geology because he was a senior vice president of a major oil company. Some are still doing geology per se (analyzing potential oil fields and so on), but many have moved on into management.

Here are some of the career fields open to geologists.

My mom works in the Geology Dept. at UCD. Some campus departments have a list of the professions you can do with a degree from that department. I’ll ask her if she can find one.

Ok, here’s what she linked me to. Hope this helps.

(I’d suggest browsing the geology department sites of different campuses if you’re interested. A lot of information can be found there. Give it a go, browse the UCD Geology website.)

thank you all! very helpful :)