B.A. in Geography

College: College of Arts and Sciences
Program: Geography
See Also: Department of Geosciences

Geography is the study of the relationships among people, places, society, and the environment. The geography major has been designed to enable the student to develop a broad understanding of social and environmental issues, attain depth in a specialized area within geography, and acquire skills needed to gain employment and carry out lifelong learning. In order to assist students in attaining depth, the following concentrations are offered: human geography, physical geography, and geographic information science. General geography and pre-education are two additional concentration options.

An undergraduate degree in geography affords someone many opportunities for employment in both the public sector and the private sector. Geographers generally find employment as cartographers, city/regional planners, conservationists, environmental managers, environmental regulators, Geographic Information System (GIS) specialists, historic preservationists, location analysts, and as physical scientists working for the government. In addition, with the diversity of their liberal arts training, geographers also qualify for professional management positions as well as more traditional work as teachers.

An undergraduate degree in geography also provides a solid intellectual foundation for people getting advanced degrees in either the social or natural sciences. In addition, to being given substantial flexibility with respect to their selection of undergraduate courses, geography majors are required to take multiple upper-division courses in human geography, physical geography, and geographic information science. Finally, the concentration within geography enables geography majors to begin to find their intellectual niche.

Students interested in any geography course, or in majoring or minoring in the geography program, are invited to contact the geography undergraduate adviser to discuss how the geography program may best help make their college experience positive and productive.

Suggested Schedule of Courses

This is a suggested 4-year schedule of courses based on degree requirements in the current catalog. 

This guide is not a substitute for academic advisement – contact your advisement office if you have any questions about scheduling or about your degree requirements.  Also see the Undergraduate Catalog for a complete list of requirements and electives to choose from.

Students may choose to attend a summer term to reduce their course load during fall or spring semesters but still stay on track to graduate in four years.

Senior Year

Senior Milestones:

• Students must have 39 hours at GSU taken at the 3000/4000 level for residency, and complete 120 hours required for graduation.

*This course will fulfill the CTW requirement.