How can a non-traditional major expand your career opportunities?

If you are interested in fulfilling your pre-med, pre-health, or pre-law requirements and get a degree that can also offer you employment choices down the road, then consider Earth Sciences. Earth sciences incorporate significant elements of all the other sciences and provide a unique perspective on applying these disciplines to critical aspects of our world today. You will learn about the Earth’s resources, energy, climate, oceans, natural disasters, and the environment. Meanwhile, you can get credit for your pre-professional education while being homed by a warm, welcoming department where your name will be known.

Degree requirements

If you want to continue in the medical field or become a lawyer, a degree in Earth Sciences will help you broaden your skills and stand out from the crowd. Our degrees in Geological Sciences and Geophysics will help you gain knowledge in and get credit for sciences like Chemistry, Physics, and Math. In addition, you will take Humanities and Social Sciences courses. The core courses in Geology and Geophysics typically involve small classes (~25 students) and are a lot of fun, with weekend field trips across the state or elsewhere. If you are a pre-med student, please check out a customized curriculum to meet your admission requirements to medical schools.

Employment opportunities

Medical or law school admissions committees have no preference for one major (or degree) over another. If you change your mind about applying to medical or law school, or simply, if you are concerned that your application to these schools would not be successful, the available options will be largely determined by the academic major.

More career opportunities will await you with a degree in Geology or Geophysics. With growing national and international attention upon energy, climate, and the environment, employment opportunities for undergraduate students with geology or geophysics degrees are excellent. Our graduates find jobs in companies of all sizes, where they commonly work on problems related to groundwater, natural resources, natural hazards, environmental, and engineering issues. If you want to continue to law school, environmental law is a growing option for the modern age lawyer.

Our students who continue their education also do very well. Presently, we have students in graduate programs in the Earth sciences at Stanford, Cornell, Yale, the University of Arizona, and other major research universities. Students who complete masters and doctoral degrees find additional employment opportunities in research, teaching, the private sector, in state and federal government.