I am a teacher and have a student very interested in being a geologist for a major Oil & Gas Company. I am very unfamiliar with this field, but try to give my students a realistic picture of what they are up against so they don't underestimate the work and effort required to get where they want to be. I ask them to research it...but also like to do my own as well.

I realize the market is tough right now, but assuming it rebounds in the next 3-4 years, here are my questions:

-Would you say it is basically necessary at this point to have your MS in geology to be competitive for entry level positions?

-What is a realistic, competitive GPA requirement for entry level stuff?

-What other industries other than O&G would y'all might suggest my student look into?

-Any other suggestions/information to pass on to my student?

Not personal experience, but it's a tough route. Know several geologists who had their masters and couldn't find work in o&g in the height of the boom.

A bachelors in engineering is worth more than a PhD in geology.

quote:

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A bachelors in engineering is worth more than a PhD in geology.

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sooooo, you're saying you are an engineer?

I have a BS in Geophysics from A&M
I have been employed for 38 years and going.
The industry has treated me very well
I would/have begged my children not to follow me.
The industry is awful and will never return to the glory days. Geo-science is a shadow of its former self.
If they insist a MS is minimum and a GPA of 3.5 + is mandatory.
I know kids from A&M and UT with 3.7's, good kids with nothing,zero chance of working.

Ugh! My daughter wants to go into geology. She is applying to A&M in the fall and will apply for geoscience. This thread is making me terrified of her decision.

Geologist here... I got lucky, A&M lined me up with an internship with a family owned independent E&P company that resulted in an offer. It's still a great field in the right niche. There are still great jobs for geologists out there, but they're getting harder and harder to find. This is even truer as our schools are pumping more and more students into the workforce.

Like geology? Master classes like mineralogy, structural geology, igneous & metamorphic petrology. Don't zero in on O&G early on. There is work for us outside of O&G, but O&G tends to overly focus and pigeon hole us. Look at everything around the world that geologists do and go from there. There is some exciting and valuable work being done trying to better model earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Precious metals mining is in very high demand. A&M is very O&G centric but don't let that stop you. You'll truly focus yourself in grad school (yes you'll have to go to grad school).

Thank you for your response. She actually wants to go into geomorphology. She just spent a week with the geoscience department and came back super excited. She has a plan and is excited about going to college and what it has to offer. Hopefully she will find her niche in the geo world and enjoy "working" when she graduates. She has a long way to go.

Geomorphology can be absolutely fascinating. It provides the explanation of the appearance of the physical world around us. Understanding the underlying geology and the role it plays on the surface is extremely important in our everyday lives.

Dr. Giardino is one of the geomorph whizzes in the dept and from what I've seen holds tighter to the geology side than the geography side of the coin.

Thank you. That is awesome. I am learning so much about geology that I didn't even know existed! Now I just need her to get to school! She applies in the fall and will be an auto admit so the stress is off.