Open-Source Geography

Perhaps I am biased, but I believe Geography is a great major with excellent career opportunities.  If you do not know what to study in college, consider taking a Human Geography or Physical Geography course to get a taste for how interesting the science of Geography actually is.  Also, don’t think of Geography in terms of what you may have learned in grade school about where places are.  Geographers do ask “Where” but then they follow up with “WHY?”  This is why I say “science” in that, unlike psychology, it is a discipline recognized as a science by the National Science Foundation complete with rigorous and accepted methodologies.

So here are some reasons to consider Geography as a major:

1. It is intellectually challenging, but relatively intuitive which is another way of saying that it is an “easy” discipline

2. There are more jobs than qualified people. Check out the Geography Jobs Clearinghouse if you need specific examples (http://www.gjc.org)

3. Like statistics, Geography can be applied to every discipline. I can make the case that the social and hard sciences rely on some sort of spatial reasoning.

4. The job market continues to expand and like #2 above the number of jobs outpaces the number of qualified applicants

5. Considering #2 and #4, its a field that continues to grow despite recessionary economic conditions

6. Again, because it is underlooked but a growing field, graduate funding in the form of assistantships (i.e., tuition waivers and paid living expenses) is typically available upon acceptance. Though I don’t have the statistics to support this statement, I imagine that the rate of graduate funding in Geography is the highest amongst all disciplines. I was not a stellar undergraduate, but gained acceptance and funding in all 5 master’s level Geography programs I applied to. With my overall undergraduate 2.9 GPA (admittedly with a 3.8 in Geography) I don’t think the same can be said for psychology or the hard sciences.

7. Finally, and back to my point, since Geography is at least tangentially ubiquitous in every field of the academy, you can choose topics that uniquely interesting to you and still increase your odds for a successful career.

8.  Extremely Cool Technology!

The folks over at Holy Taco have provided a list of the Top 10 Most Worthless College Majors. The list includes:

• Art History: See All Art Schools for a comprehensive list of US and International Academic Art Programs
• Philosophy: See The Philosophical Gourmet’s ranked list of Philosophy Programs
• American Studies: See The American Studies Association has a list of US and a list of International American Studies Programs
• Music Therapy: See The American Music Therapy Association’s Career Handbook and List of Programs
• Communications
• Dance
• English Literature: See this list of 120 English Literature programs in the United States
• Latin
• Film Studies
• Religion

Their point is well taken that these majors come with a low likelihood of finding post-collegiate employment in your area of interest. Bear in mind that most people do not up working in their major and that having a degree is ultimately more important than picking a major. So, I would recommend that you pick a major that interests you rather than a major that will guarantee you to make money later on. Not to mention, that if the material bores you in college, it will probably bore you as well in your professional life.

Summary: PICK A MAJOR THAT INTERESTS YOU