Geoscience Majors

<p>I was wondering what kinds of people are usually Geoscience Majors.. I've heard a lot of myths about geology majors and I'm really not sure what types of people actually major in Geoscience since it is so small. I guess it really depends on the person.. but do people usually take Geoscience because it is their passion or it is because they get to have fun doing field trips outside of school? I'm a pretty hard-working person and I just want to know if I'll get along with other people in Geoscience.. I know it sounds shallow, but I just want to know what kinds of people I will be surrounded with once I get into college.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I’m currently a geoscientist in grad school, so maybe I can help answer this question. In my experience, relatively few people go into geology from the beginning of their undergraduate degrees, which largely reflects how infrequently the topic makes its way into the standard high school curriculum. (The major exception here being kids of geologists, plus a few who saw geology in high school.) My undergraduate geology department was heavily populated with former biologists, chemists, and physicists (I was a biologist myself). These folks typically enjoy the outdoors, hands-on, big-picture, and interdisciplinary nature of geosciences, and often integrate their prior discipline into their geologic work - I’ve met plenty of chemists who were mineralogists and petrographers, physicists who got into sediment fluid dynamics or seismology, and biologists who get into stratigraphy or climatology. They also wear a disproportionate amount of flannel, which is likely related to the trend towards outdoorsyness.</p>

<p>That being said, these are ridiculous overgeneralizations, and by no means should you decide what to do with your life based on what other people might be like in your major. In the end, you study science for you, so you have to love it or it’s not worth it.</p>

<p>I am am practicing geologist with over 25 years of experience. I guess you are suggesting that geology majors are just out to party on the outcrop and not serious about grinding out work… </p>

<p>While I would say geologists are a somewhat fun loving group, they are as serious (and have the slackers also) as any group. Almost universlaly geologists are viewed as enjoying their profession… This gets confused with not being serious… </p>

<p>OR in other words, your profession can be fun as well as rigourous …</p>

<p>Just some random thoughts!</p>

<p>hope this helps</p>