Careers
Students are encouraged to seek summer employment with geological field parties to supplement field experience gained in course work.
Most provinces, including Ontario, have registration requirements that geologists must fulfill in order to practice as an independent professional. These include several years of work experience under the direction of a registered geologist.
Most professional geologists have further educational qualifications and our programs provide an excellent foundation for entry into advanced degree work. The professional geologist usually has an advanced degree – MSc or PhD. A high B average is usually a minimum requirement for admission to a graduate program.
An MSc or PhD geologist might find employment in research organizations in industry, government or the academic sector, mineral and petroleum exploration and exploitation, water resources and conservation, or industrial and urban waste disposal. Practical field experience is an asset when applying for industrial jobs.
A geoscience major degree can readily be combined with other fields of study. We encourage our students to think about joint major programs; logical complements are other sciences (chemistry, biology, computer science), and commerce, archaeology, or architecture given the importance of Earth materials and processes in these fields.
Graduates have built a business career by combining their undergraduate geological knowledge of natural resources with graduate degrees in commerce, management or finance (MBA) or in law, and have been sought after by banks and financial companies.
Our alumni most frequently apply their problem solving and communication skills in these industries:
- Research
- Education
- Media and Communication
- Consulting
- Operations
- Program and Project Management
- Engineering and Environmental Consulting
- Healthcare Services
- Information Technology
- Mining
- Petroleum exploration
- Finance