<p>Hey all I have a question for you regarding my major choice. Currently i am a sophomore majoring in chemistry and doing quite well at it, am currently working in a lab and enjoy it but have realized that i do not want to spend my whole life in a lab, plus i don't want to deal with 6 more years of school. I love the outdoors and am an officer in the on campus outdoor club and am outside almost every single weekend so I would love a career that involves the outdoors/moving around. Looking around at what is available it looks like the "green revolution" is going to take off here soon with obama and his stimulus package. And an area i am interested in is geothermal energy which falls right in line with green energy. I would like to work in that field and have a job that involves finding usable vents for geothermal energy and working on keeping the environmental impact to a minimum.
In that light i am thinking about switching my major to a double major in geology and environmental science. I am only three classes, P chem and Biochem, away from a general chemistry major and only P chem would not count for either major but it would still be helpful in terms of heatflow and all that jazz so i could also tag on a third major in chemistry. Doing this would set me back half a year as geology requires a senior capstone of field work. However my school also offers an intensive major in geology with a Concentration in Environmental Geoscience. I would not be able to major in both environmental science and science if i did this and it would be hard to major in environmental science with this course load.<br>
So my questions for all of you are: Is a BA in chemistry worth jack *$%# and worth the pain of p-chem? Is a triple major in chemistry, enviromental science and geology a good combination for what i want to do? And if not would it still make me marketable for other jobs? And should i do an intensive major in geology or just a general one? Thanks in advance and sorry about the long read.</p>
<p>A chem major is worthless and not worth any of the lab intensive, difficult classes unless you are using it as a stepping stone to professional (not grad) school such as med, pharm, dental…</p>
<p>I rather see you work on a business major such as accounting or something like Human Resources that will give you bonafide job skills other than being a lab peon. Having multiple science degrees is redundant. </p>
<p>If I were you I would maybe finish the chem degree just so you have a bachelors in something then go straight for a MS in accounting, HR, Finance or other or go to one of the aforementioned professional schools.</p>
<p>An MS or PH. D. in science will just F your life up further.</p>
<p>The geology major is probably the most important for working in the geothermal field. The other majors give you more options, but probably don’t add much to your prospects for working in geothermal field.</p>
<p>Internships will help and a masters might be worthwhile. </p>
<p>Also check into this English-language master’s at the School of Renewable Energy Sciences in Iceland, the country that pioneered geothermal energy:
<a href=“http://www.res.is/[/url]”>http://www.res.is/</a></p>
<p>^^^Zapfino, don’t know how to quote on this forum…anyway that school looks amazing, i’ve always wanted to study in europe. Unfortunately they want a full on B.S so i can’t just slink out of college in three years haha :(. I think i’m going to just straight up drop the chemistry major, i love o chem and the the thought of working on designing new drugs but i don’t want to deal with 6 more years of intensive graduate work/being inside non stop. Plus the job market sucks.
If it doesn’t add much to my marketability there’s no point in killing myself in P-chem. Although i do still want to finish it out if only as a matter of pride. If i change to a geo major now i can still graduate in 3 years. now the question is to pursue the intensive major with a concentration in geo science or go for just the general one and tag on an environmental major? Or get out a year early and pursue and MBA or something along those lines? But then that would just give me a B.A in chemistry…how $#%#$ is that degree perceived?</p>
<p>Not sure what is the difference between the intensive and general geo major at your school, but I’m assuming the intensive major will give you a stronger background. You can still take relevant environmental science courses without a major in it.</p>
<p>The chemistry major is good, but there probably are better and higher paying jobs with a geosciences degree.</p>
<p>If you thinking about the MBA route, consider a school that offers a track in energy management. Do your own search for these. They seem to focus on the oil and gas industry, rather than alternative energy, as I think a number of them are located in states like Texas and Oklahoma.</p>
<p>I guess that the real question is whether or not geothermal energy is even a viable career choice in terms of whether or not it is ever going to actually take off. If it doesn’t then i’m screwed and will need a new career. Maybe i should think about chemical engineering instead. It would put me back a year or so but it is an actually viable career and would still allow me to work on geothermal energy and would not back me into a corner.</p>
<p>Well, geology is pretty versatile and doesn’t limit you to the geothermal field, but I’d agree that ChE is going to be even more versatile.</p>
<p>BTW, I think we tend to think of geothermal energy as being limited to some of the Western states, but someone posted a news release on the use of geothermal for some new buildings at Ohio State: [Geothermal</a> Well Systems : What’s Growing On?](<a href=“Page Not Found : Housing and Residence Education”>Page Not Found : Housing and Residence Education)</p>
<p>yeah i know its versatile…its just that i really don’t know a whole lot about it and am mainly attracted to it for its field work. Besides would a geoligist really be heavily involved in that kind of project? Isn’t that more of the realm of a chemical engineer? And i could actually do a chem e major in 5 years, with the last two years being part time at only 9 hours a semester. That would be crazy cheap compared to a full time student…and would allow me to work basically full time. In case your wondering if i did that major i’d be stretching it out because it would be nothing but straight upper level chem e courses and i know that 9 hours of those is the max i could handle…I keep seeming to come back to chem e as a possible major but i’m just not sure if i have the brain for it. Ugh i have no idea what to do with myself!</p>
<p>Xfootballer, not ChemE, but GeoE(yes there is such thing) would be involved in the field of designing Geothermal power sources. ChemE is a slowly dying field though due to the environmental issues they pose and the fact that we are slowly turning away from fossil based fuels.</p>
<p>I think you need a reality check. Geothermal is going nowhere fast. I’m a geophysicist, and while people like to talk big about geothermal, we just don’t see the jobs in the field, even with the stimulus package. IMO, the job prospects in the geothermal industry are even worse than those in Chemistry (which says a lot). Long-term growth potential is close to nil because many areas with substantial geothermal potential (i.e. the west) have other issues that prevent geothermal from being developed.</p>
<p>Geology is a great major, but truth be told a huge majority (probably > 80%) of geologists only see the field maybe once or twice a year. Even geologists spend most of their time working indoors these days… </p>
<p>Don’t both triple majoring. It’s a waste of time, and it could hurt you later on. A triple major just means that your school’s requirements are ridiculously lax or that you’re a professional student. </p>
<p>Geologists have plenty of career opportunities outside of geothermal. You won’t regret it.</p>
<p>I think that the role of the geologist in geothermal energy would be mainly to identify and delineate areas where there are rock formations reasonably close to the surface that contain very large amounts of heat. However, before anyone is going to pay you to find these potential resources there have to be breakthroughs in the technology needed to make it possible to economically convert the heat in the rocks to usable energy. In addition, geothermal energy production is not really that clean. Current technology results in large quantities of highly corrosive waste water that can harm the environment.</p>