<p>Agree with a lot of the good advice others have been giving you here. William and Mary is an excellent school for undergraduate geology work, and it is well-respected on the graduate school circuit. It is correct that you should plan on getting at least a master’s degree, and possibly a Ph.D., depending on what you’re into. These are typically paid for (the school covers your tuition and gives you a stipend, which isn’t a ton but you can live on it). US News isn’t a perfect resource, but their list of graduate programs is a good starting place for top-ranked departments, and gives a pretty accurate representation the relative reputations of different programs. Here’s geology (they have other subdivisions as well): [Best</a> Geology Programs | Top Earth Science Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/geology-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/geology-rankings)</p>
<p>Others have given you good information on oil careers. As for non-oil, academic hiring is still going at a respectable clip (relatively speaking - it’s incredibly competitive, but not as bleak as say, biology). The USGS is a good source of jobs as well, although the sequester is hitting them hard at the moment (a good friend just got his job offer rescinded because of it - this is highly unusual). Environmental consulting is particularly popular with hydrology degrees - the pay isn’t as high as oil, but your geographic options are much more diverse. I’m a climate scientist doing natural catastrophe modeling, which pays similar to oil, but in higher cost-of-living areas, mainly on the coasts (San Francisco, New York, Boston, etc.).</p>