<p>Anyone with geochemisty major here? i'm not sure what i want to major in yet, but geochemisty looks interesting. Anybody has an idea on what is it like? And what kind of jobs would somebody get with a degree in goechemistry? Also, is it true that UCSD is the only one who offers this major from the UCs? thanks
Any help will be appreciated.</p>
<p>Geochemistry is most often regarded as a specialized subfield of geology. Most schools don't offer a separate "geochemistry" major, but the Geology or Earth Sciences Department at any large university should have geochemistry professors, and should offer geochemistry courses. Probably most geochemists were "geology" majors as undergraduates.</p>
<p>Professional geochemists typically hold research positions in industry (e.g. oil or mining), government (e.g. US Geological Survey), or academia. Such positions tend to be competitive, and normally require an MS or PhD degree.</p>
<p>It is unlikely that you would find many job opportunities that specifically called for a BS in Geochemistry. You would be more likely to find work as an entry-level geologist; since geochemistry is commonly regarded as a subfield of geology, you would be eligible for "geologist" jobs. But in this case, you might be better off with a more general "geology" BS degree, which will give you broader exposure to different disciplines of geology, rather than the more specialized "geochemistry" BS degree.</p>
<p>hmm.. that's discouraging. I'm really more interested in chemistry than geology, but i don't want to get stuck in laboratories all day. Any suggestions? Anyways thanks for the info.</p>
<p>uh....colleges do have degrees for Geochemistry</p>
<p>Thought about geotechnical engineering? It's a specific discipline of civil engineering... It's a little more art than science, and it's a reasonably new field. Karl Terzaghi, father of modern soil mechanics and my cat's namesake (Terzaghi is just a cool name for a cat, and I'm a huge nerd), was around in the mid-fifties, so it's a really newly developing field.</p>
<p>It's a bit more marketable than a pure science degree, since it's an engineering degree, and you <em>definitely</em> won't get stuck in labs all day... LOTS of fieldwork. Not necessarily a <em>ton</em> of chemistry involved, but there is definitely some.</p>
<p>Anyhow. Not sure what you're looking for, but geotech is something to consider. I really, really enjoyed my geotech classes.</p>
<p>Terzaghi says hi.</p>
<p>
[quote]
colleges do have degrees for Geochemistry
[/quote]
Some do, but it is usually as a "track" or "concentration" for geology or earth sciences majors. This is the case at UCSD (referenced by the original poster), where it is technically an "Earth Sciences/Geochemistry" major. </p>
<p>Many other large schools (e.g. Berkeley) do not have a formal geochemistry track (although you can certainly still study geochemistry there). I believe UCLA has a geochemistry minor.</p>
<p>At many other schools, especially smaller ones, everyone that majors in geology or earth sciences gets the same "Geology" or "Earth Science" degree, regardless of whether they focus on a particular subdiscipline, such as geochemistry.</p>
<p>Some schools may also have a geochemistry-related track or concentration for chemistry majors. For example, UCSD has has a "Chemistry/Earth Sciences" track for chemistry majors, which probably has significant overlap with the "Earth Sciences/Geochemistry" track for earth science majors.</p>
<p>This is too complicated! why they offer all these different majors with very close similarities? How the hake a student is supposed to know the difference between chemistry/eath science major and earth science/geochemistry major? And about the geotechnical engineering, I never heard of that before. is it a graduate program for civil engineers?</p>
<p>Is it possible to tranfer as a chemistry major,then discover all these different majors that involve chemistry at the univirsity, and make up my mind then? maybe then i'll have a better understanding to choose from all these majors. Or is that too difficult to do?
Thanks for all your help.</p>