What it’s about:

Geography is the science of space and place on the earth’s surface. You examine how people, regions, and environment interact to create and sustain the world in which we live. Using a multidisciplinary approach, you study local, regional, and global geography.

What the study of this major is like:

Geography includes much more than the memorization of place names, capitals, and longest rivers. It investigates the way people from a variety of localities relate to their environment and the way their surroundings shape their lives. As a major, you gain a board understanding of the way humans have adapted to, changed, and organized their physical environments. Geography draws from related fields, such as anthropology, economics, political science, and biology.

Two main specializations in the major are physical geography and human geography – and discussions often focus on their overlap. Physical geographers study climates, landforms, vegetation, soils, and water. In human geography, the emphasis is on people’s perception, use, and modification of space, as individuals and communities create and sustain the places they call home. Topics the two groups examine includes the effects, on both human activity and the natural world, of global warming, desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater pollution, fire, and flooding.

The major begins with first-year courses that introduce you to facts, ideas, and tools. Besides human geography and physical geography (such as courses on Africa or North America), and skills (such as cartography or remote sensing). Then you can concentrate in an area such as environmental geography, geographic education, or geographic information systems (GIS) you may be required to complete an independent research project – a capstone experience that pulls together numerous topics and skills. Sometimes you can meet the requirement by participating in a fiend courses. You should also take courses in other departments that relate to your concentration.

Because geography is not usually emphasized in high school, few students begin college as geography majors. Many pick this major in their second or third year of college, so your classmates are often a mixture of upper-and lower-division students. Your course work includes a rich mixture of lecture, lab, and library and fiend research. As you progress, you spend more time in specialized computer labs for physical geography (soils geomorphology, and fluvial and glacial processes).

Frequently, the best place to learn is in the fiend for example, you can spend a semester collecting, analyzing, and presenting local data, or you can study overseas. Often, the hardest part of begin a geography major in integrating varied subject matter and approaches. In particular, you need to appreciate the perspectives of both the natural and the social sciences.

Because of geography’s roots in both the natural sciences and the humanities, programs are offered in a wide variety of divisions and schools. Undergrad programs are often influenced by the emphasis and philosophy of connected graduate programs. Some programs rely heavily on graduate teaching assistants and part-time faculty members. Many specialized courses-such as medical geography; social and physical planning; population and demographics; and race, ethnicity, and class-are based on the research interests of faculty members. But the most noticeable differences are among programs that stress either physical or human geography. Some colleges have successfully bridged the two by focusing on human-environment relations.

Career options and trends:

Cartographer; GIS manager; economic development analyst; energy analyst; environmental engineer; engineer in photogrammetry (aerial surveying); land use planner; land surveyor; remote sensing specialist; water resources planner.

The hottest job market in the field is for graduates with experience in geographic information systems and remote sensing.

Engineering jobs such as surveying require certification. Increasingly, certification is a requirement for GIS-related jobs. Planning jobs are available to geographers without specific qualifications, but a master’s degree in planning is strongly recommended.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors