Geography Careers

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A B.A. DEGREE IN GEOGRAPHY?

Plenty! You might become a TV weatherman or a cartographer for a travel guide publisher; get involved in transportation and urban and community planning or teach overseas; serve as a park ranger or an outdoor guide; or become an environmental specialist or a GIS analyst. The Association of American Geographers claims that most geographers work in business, government, or teaching. If you plan to continue with graduate school, Geography is an appropriate background for many professional programs and academic majors, such as Environmental Science, Earth Sciences, Geology, City and Regional Planning, Landscape Architecture, Law, Public Policy, International Studies, and Forestry.

CAREER GUIDES

The Association of American Geographers is the professional organization for geographers in the U.S. They have an excellent career guide website.

If you want to know what you might do with a degree in Geography, spend some time exploring these pages. Also, take a look at what some of our recent graduates are doing. You really can get a job in your field with a B.A. in Geography!

CAREER EXAMPLES FROM REAL STUDENTS

Global Exchange, West Coast Independence
from Oil Campus Organizer
Aide at a school for autistic children
Program Assistant at Town of Danville, CA
Worked as geographer for Tesco, a grocery firm.
She is currently developing her music career.
Better Business Bureau
Rule Writer in Air Regulations Office of the
US EPA Region 9 in SF, CA
GIS Technician at Apple
Environmental Educator, I Recycle @ School
Education Center, Stopwaste.org
Research Analyst, Strategic Economics,
Berkeley, CA
Environmental Consultant with AEI Consultants
Creating and editing virtual reality
panoramas for Immersive Media
Assistant Vice President of classic car
auction company (goodingco.com)
Cartographer using GIS at
The Wilderness Society
Creating GIS maps at GreenInfo Network,
SF, CA (http://greeninfo.org)
Consultant in human capital, Mercer Consultant
GIS consultant, CH2M Hill
Medical school student in Germany
Pharmacy school student at the
University of the Pacific
Plant biologist and wetlands delineation
at WRA, San Rafael, CA
Lights Out San Francisco, A nonprofit working on
awareness of energy conservation and global warming
Editiorial Assistant, OnEarth Magazine,
National Resources Defense Council, NYC, NY
Environmental Planner, Christopher Joseph &
Associates, Petaluma, CA
PhD student, Department of Geography, UC Davis
Research Analyst, Strategic Economics, an urban
planning research and consulting firm
DTE Program student, UC Berkeley School of Education
Project management for International Transport Association,
Geneva, Switzerland
Graduate student in Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley
Sports4Kids Program (provides support for school site coordinators)
Geotechnical Laboratory Technician, Fugro West, Oakland, CA,
a geoscience consulting and marine survey firm
Investment Banking Analyst, Mosaic Capital, Los Angeles, CA
Director of Admissions, International House, UC Berkeley
Environmental work for a mining and construction materials
supplier, Santa Cruz, CA