<p>I'm a sophomore in physics and having come to the realization that I do not want to sit in front of a computer all day, I'm considering geology or geophysics for grad school. I enjoy research but I'm looking for something that will get me outdoors doing field work every once in a while. Earth science is very interesting to me, especially the more quantitative fields that make use of physics and mathematics. Geophysics has the most interesting research (seismology, structural geology, geodynamics, geomagnetism) but I'm not sure how much field work is involved in the different research areas. I know that geology has a lot of field work, but I don't think it is quantitative enough for me and some of the research like mineralogy, paleontology, sedimentology are not very appealing.</p>
<p>The main questions I have are:</p>
<p>1) How competitive will I be for a pure geology program coming from a physics BS with minors in geology and math? </p>
<p>2) Does geology have more field work than geophysics? (How does the nature of the research differ?)</p>
<p>3) What are the areas of geophysics that involve the most fieldwork?</p>
<p>Very competitive. People lament the lack of quantitative preparation that most Geologists have, not that they have too much.</p>
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<p>In general, yes. However, more and more jobs in both fields are office based (i.e. sit in front of a computer all day). Field jobs are few and far between, and you’ll be traveling to places that most people don’t want to go to (e.g. the middle of nowhere North Dakota). </p>
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<p>There are opportunities for field work in almost all fields of geophysics. That being said, most people don’t do that kind of work for long, for one reason or another: the pay is low, the hours suck, and like I said, the destinations are less than ideal. Very few people get to do field work on Hawaii…</p>
<p>That being said, if you do manage to land a sweet field job, it’s easily one of the best gigs out there. But be realistic: for every geoscientist with a sweet field job there are 10-100 who work in Houston whose fieldwork consists of the drive into the office everyday.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess I have this impression that geophysicists are all very happy in their jobs, getting to travel to cool places and work outdoors… though this probably is not true for the majority of geophysicists. </p>
<p>I am interested mostly in academic research and not in the oil and gas industry. I imagine that geophysicists in academia have much more freedom in where they conduct their work, but I also realize that permanent academic positions are competitive. I guess I’ll have to try for an REU so that I can see what the research is all about, and then decide if it’s worth it. </p>
<p>I always hear about geophysicists getting swept up by these large oil companies but what are some other options for geophysicists outside of academia?</p>
<p>The USGS is a pretty decent employer, though jobs can be a bit hard to find. My father, a geophysicist in name only (a seismologist, for practical purposes) who works there, spends 1-2 months in the field and the rest of the time at the office analyzing data/writing papers/getting funding. Not all geologically interesting places suck. The Bay Area is pretty nice He did spend his early career in deserts near the CA/Mexico border, though. Not as nice. Geology isn’t like physics/chem/molecular bio, where the field and the office are the same place, and you spend time at the lab bench and the computer every day. Whatever field you go in to, you’ll spend quite a bit of time behind a computer screen.</p>
He did spend his early career in deserts near the CA/Mexico border, though. Not as nice. Geology isn’t like physics/chem/molecular bio, where the field and the office are the same place, and you spend time at the lab bench and the computer every day. Whatever field you go in to, you’ll spend quite a bit of time behind a computer screen.</p>