Just looking for a decent comprehensive list of schools to study geography/GIS for either a BA or a BS in Geography. I’m a current junior and I currently have these schools on my list.
I’m an in-state North Carolina resident btw.
UNC Charlotte
NC State
UNC Chapel Hill
Virginia Tech
UW Washington
UMD Maryland
UW Madison
UI Urbana-Champaign
UT Austin
UC Los Angeles
UC Santa Barbara
UC Berkeley
Northwestern
Uchicago
Dartmouth
If anyone has any other schools that they would like to second and rep, please let me know!
S19 graduated from Macalester last year and is working in GIS right now. Mac has a geography major, and he took a lot of geography classes, but his degree is in math with a data science minor (with an emphasis in GIS in the data science minor)
You may find GIS applications across departments as someone else has pointed out.
Geography departments have seen budget cuts over the years while colleges were still investing in GIS with diverse applications.
College of Charleston has a cross curricular minor in geoinfomatics that offers many different courses including remote sensing and ocean floor mapping. It is with geology, but also marine science, urban planning, etc…
S23 is minoring in GIS at CSU. He found it to be very easy to add on to his other majors (Wildlife Bio and Human Dimensions of Natural Resources). His feeling was that minoring was enough and it was a value added minor for anyone in his major.
Coincidentally, I believe his highschool was the first high school to offer a course in GIS.
Clark has to be on the list. They have been doing GEOG for a long time and originally developed some of the software and analyses. They remain top rated and are forming a new college of climate if that is of interest.
Also, they have the great 4+1 program with the fifth year free. So you could graduate with not only a BS but also a Masters. And they offer substantial undergrad merit also.
Some of these might be a bit difficult to afford. My background is perfectly middle class (income bracket of 250k+) and I probably will receive minimal aid.
I have around a 3.65 unweighted and a 4.45 weighted GPA, around the 25th percentile of class rank. Mostly on the low side due to maxed out rigor and balancing out activities. I have a 35 ACT and 1550 SAT.
I have top tier extracurriculars and awards for geography and GIS. I am certified in Geospatial Training and have a professional license. I also have participated in numerous olympiads and contests and have multiple national 1st place awards as well as representing Team USA at iGeo, the world’s most competitive geography competition. A lot of other STEM and arts related stuff in extracurriculars as well, but I’m mostly focused on geography.
My S24 had a 1380 and 3.7/4.3 and got $30k from Clark this cycle You could apply for the even larger Presidential scholarship with your scores grades and GIS background
You will be able to apply to some private colleges that provide merit and the costs could be less than instate options. You can run some net price calculators with your parents.
Spend time this next month focusing on academics and your final grades for the semester/year. You would be surprised how tight the class ranks are and it is possible to inch up a little since some of your instate options seem to care about that based on comments in strands this year.
Also look at ECU and UNC-Wilmington in state. I know they do not get a lot of love on CC or instate sometimes, but they are great options for you to apply to and have that admit while you wait for others.
ECU has a GIS major
And ECU has a very cool research site out by the outer banks looking at impacts on coastal geography and climate change.
For some background, Clark is unusual in that it was founded in the late 19th century as a stand-alone graduate school, with the undergraduate program beginning around 1900. Even today, the graduate programs are robust, but the school retains the character of a small liberal arts college.
Clark offers a fair amount of merit aid, which is granted based on your admission profile rather than financial need. So the “sticker price” may not apply, regardless of your financial situation.
PROS:
-Excellent program in geography
-LAC environment
-Opportunity for merit aid
-Free 5th year master’s program
-Solid reputation
-Located in a city/fairly close to Boston
-Part of a consortium of schools, including Worcester polytechnic and College of the Holy Cross
-Recent acquisition of Becker College has expanded CS, AI, and interactive media offerings
CONS:
-Worcester is getting better, but Clark is in a less desirable part of Worcester (campus is safe)
-Aging infrastructure: some buildings and dorms are not well kept
-Clark was in the top 100 national universities in US News raking until this past year, when it dropped to 142 due to revised methodology. I don’t put much stock in these rankings, but you can learn more here: Clark Drops 45 Spots in U.S. News Rankings - The Scarlet.
With that strong a background going in, you may want to prioritize schools with a lot of grad-level coursework you could take.
For an affordable OOS-public option, you could look at U of Utah, which has substantial grad offerings in GIS in addition to the undergrad geography major Geography Undergraduate Program - Department of Geography - The University of Utah Not only would you qualify for their Honors College and potentially merit $, but you’d also have the option to take their path to residency after the first year.
But if you’re not comfortably able to full-pay $70K+/year, it’s probably not worth applying to UC schools.
Do you want a big - ECU or a small Clark? You listed a lot of big schools up top but now see Clark…what do you want in a school?
Urban, suburban, rural. Part of the country - for example, there will be inexpensive and solid publics in the South (like $20K-ish and some in the under $40K in the midwest.
there will be schools for kids with your stats from $20K to $90K+ - and we know some of those - like Dartmouth with your income and UCB based on normal tuition - out of budget, etc.
I’m not really into the whole “college” experience with Greek life and sports. Sure, it can be a thing but it’s definitely not a priority. I love cities (interested in urban planning as well lol), and warm weather but obviously it’s not a must either. But I’ve been sold with so many different options provided here on this thread.
Also, I just want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who engaged with this post. This was my first ever post on College Confidential and everyone here is so welcoming, kind, and so helpful with my really unique and different request. I appreciate each and every one of you taking time out of your days to help a random high schooler : ) You guys really helped me narrow down and look at other programs, stuff I wouldn’t be able to do even with my extensive research.