<p>I am currently a sophomore at a community college in New Jersey and am now choosing between various universities around the country to continue my undergraduate education. Although I have my A.S. in Biology, my plan is to continue on to get a B.S, and eventually an M.S, in Geology.</p>
<p>Anyway, what I've found is that most of the (reasonable (not impossible to get into)) universities adept in Geology (by the rankings) are located in the Western US.</p>
<p>While it's not a complete lynchpin to stay close to home, I've been thinking lately that maybe it'd be best for me and my family... which brings me to the focus of this thread.</p>
<p>How much does where I get my B.S. matter as far as going on to graduate school, and eventually, getting a job?</p>
<p>There are several colleges around where I live offering geology, such as (closest-farthest):</p>
<p>Rutgers-Newark
CUNY-City College
Rutgers-New Brunswick
Hofstra
Delaware</p>
<p>I'm not saying that any of these schools are bad, but the by the rankings, none of them are anything close to Arizona... but does it matter?</p>
<p>(Any additional info about any of the colleges or any others is welcomed as well! :) )</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad:</p>
<p>I can read and no one has posted anything regarding Geology and the correlation between college fame/rank and general success… had you read my post instead of boosting your post count, you’d know that you didn’t answer my question in the slightest. lol.</p>
<p>I’m not going to med school, law school or art school, all of which are very different from what I want to do.</p>
<p>my son is graduating next month from USC[ southern calif] with a BS on Geology and and a minor in Physics and will be going to Cal Tech for his PHD in Geophysics.
The advantages of going to a big U are that is probably has a larger Geology Dept, and more opportunities to do research with profs, and thus get LOR’s from them for Grad school applications.Your GPA, GRE scores and LOR’s are more important than the UG college name, HOWEVER, Geology is a relatively small field[ especially if you exclude Petroleum studies] so going to a more well known University with a more larger Geology program can’t hurt you and will probably help you get into grad schools.
What about Colorado School of mines? Or University of Washington? Or even USC- they take about 1000 transfer students each year.
And yes, many more well known Geology programs are in the west.</p>
<p>Well I have another thread right now where I mention that my top two right now are Arizona and Hawai’i… being from New Jersey, if I’m going west of Chicago, distance becomes irrelevant, because I’ll be flying no matter what.</p>
<p>Anyway, Arizona and Hawai’i I’ve found to be my only options out there for a multitude of reasons (I got into them, they have good programs, cost, weather, etc). I was originally going to go to U of Miami, but they went back and decided not to take any of my transfer credits because I came from a CC… Schools like the UC’s, USC, UW, etc were eliminated due to deadlines. I COULD still try Mines, but I don’t know if I could get in and I think I’d hate Colorado anyway.</p>
<p>The whole issue is, though, I think I’d rather stay in or around New Jersey… it is SO much cheaper to stay in state and I’d really love to keep my friends and family close… I just don’t know if going to a school like Rutgers-Newark would be detrimental to my future.</p>
<p>Of the schools on your short-list here, it isn’t likely that any would be significantly “worse” when it comes time to apply to grad school. If you aren’t decided yet, you could spend some time reading the various professors’ websites (if they have them) or looking up their research projects with [Google</a> Scholar](<a href=“http://scholar.google.com/]Google”>http://scholar.google.com/) That way you would know whether one department or another has professors who are interested in the same research subjects as you are.</p>
<p>“it is SO much cheaper to stay in state and I’d really love to keep my friends and family close… I just don’t know if going to a school like Rutgers-Newark would be detrimental to my future.”</p>
<p>Money should be a MAJOR consideration in this equation, especially in this economy. If you can save money by staying in state then my advise is to do so- and take advantage of every opportunity to do research at which ever U you go to. Good luck!</p>
<p>OP, you might be able to read but you apparently didn’t bother. The very first thread in the search list I gave you was about going on to grad school after an UG degree - not law, not med, not art.</p>
<p>You don’t seem to get it.</p>
<p>Unless you’re telling me that admissions to graduate schools are the same for all majors, then you still have yet to supply me with anything constructive.</p>
<p>Not to bash Communications or English majors, but those sorts of non-science fields don’t involve the academics Geology does (research, field camps, etc).</p>
<p>My question is a specific one. You’re answering the title of the thread; if that’s the only information I had, I wouldn’t have written anything else, but I did.</p>
<p>I’ve already had two other people give me very insightful information and you’ve been nothing but useless. Are you going to help or not? If not, stop posting, please.</p>