What are some colleges that offers the best geology programs in California?

<p>Hi, i wanted to know what are some colleges that offers the best colleges in California?
I was supposed to attend UCI last fall but due to some last minute problems I couldn't go there, so i decided to go to nearby CC. I decided to change my major from biology to geology cause earth science has always been interesting to me. So i wanted to become a petroleum geologist but i don't know what is the best college that offers that program. I'm conflicted on wether to transfer to a UC, Calstate or even private. Any insight would be great. thanks</p>

<p>Geology is a common major offered at may UCs, CSUs, and other schools, but you may want to check the faculty rosters and course offerings to see each school’s subarea specialties.</p>

<p>Out-of-state, if you can afford them, consider South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Their out-of-state price is not too high compared to many other schools (and the WUE discount may lower the cost at NMIMT).</p>

<p>I was thinking that CSUF’s geology program was good since they’re always on the news because of fracking. Ive read that berkeley has a good geo program but once i looked them up on assist, it doesn’t show their school</p>

<p>All of the UCs, with the exception of Merced offer good geology programs. UCR and UCI are the weakest, but they are still very strong. </p>

<p>Here are some CSUs which I know have a solid program (there are likely others I’m not aware of):
San Diego State
CSU Long Beach
CSU Bakersfield
Humboldt State
Cal Poly (both of them)
Sacramento State U
San Francisco State U
CSU Northridge</p>

<p>Privates in California with exceptional geology:
USC
Stanford
Pomona/ Harvey Mudd</p>

<p>Berkeley’s department is called “Earth and Planetary Science”.
<a href=“http://eps.berkeley.edu/undergraduate”>http://eps.berkeley.edu/undergraduate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>CSU Fullerton has a very average geology department, but CSU Fresno’s is quite strong. In fact, a Fresno undergrad recently won a top award at GSA. </p>

<p>is there an assist.org equivalent for private colleges? </p>

<p>Private schools may have their own transfer credit articulation on their own web sites. However, do not be surprised to find that there is no such thing at many private schools, since many private schools take few transfer students. USC is a private school that does list transfer credit articulation on its web site: <a href=“USC-Articulation Agreement”>Error; . But many private schools require students to matriculate before individually assessing transfer credit (which is a risk, since you may get less credit or fulfill fewer requirements than you expected).</p>

<p>Note that many out-of-state public schools will be similar to private schools with respect to community colleges not in their own states.</p>

<p>whats the differences between taking geology in a UC rather than a calstate? my professor told me that cal states is more about hands on while UCs are about research. should i take this into consideration when picking a school to transfer?</p>

<p>

Not quite true. It’s true that the UCs have more research going on, but they offer at least as much hands on experience as the CSUs. </p>

<p>Here at UCLA, students in the intro sequence (mineralogy and then a quarter each of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic petrology) are exposed to basic tools, equipment, and identification and analysis methods from the very beginning through labs. Upper-level courses often incorporate field trips to geologically interesting places (there’s many in the area), and some classes are specifically designed to teach specialized skills (e.g. geologic mapping). The department offers several field geology courses that are centered on developing fieldwork techniques. </p>

<p>PM me if you want to know more about the program at UCLA. Note that UCLA also has an extraordinarily strong geography program, and geology students benefit a great deal from being able to take classes in physical geography, GIS, remote sensing, environmental impact analysis, etc. </p>

<p>CalTech, of course - tops in geology sciences. Really hard to get accepted to the school, though.</p>

<p>

This will require a graduate degree. The grad school you go to will matter more than your undergraduate school for a job in this industry.</p>