What are the differences between the two interdisciplinary degrees?

B.S. Environmental Geosciences is an interdisciplinary geosciences degree with course content drawn for meterology, geology, geophysics, oceanography and physical geography. In the junior and senior year Environmental Geoscience major take 15 hours in one of the following themes: climate change, coastal and marine environments, human impact on the environment, or water. They also take 15 hours of technical electives and 9 hours of environmental policy electives.

B.S. Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary degree than balances an education in the geosciences (meterology, geology, geophysics, oceanography and physical geography) with environmental policy and the social sciences (economics, human geography, politics, planning and sociology). Environmental Studies majors take 18 hours of policy electives, 7 hours of technical electives, and 6 hours of geosciences electives (compared to 9, 15 and 15 hours respectively in the B.S. Environmental Geosciences).

B.S. Environmental Geosciences prepares you for more hands-on experiences - fieldwork and lab work - and more science-type careers. B.S. Environmental Studies would prepare you more for careers in policy making.

Both majors prepare you for careers in education; local, state and federal government; not-for profits; private-sector environmental consulting; and business. Both degrees also prepare you well for continuing education - law school and Master's degrees in areas like urban planning, water resources management, natural resource management, conservation, oceanography, geology, geography and atmospheric science.

Both programs will expand your knowledge of the environment in order to make you marketable for many types of environmental career or graduate school.