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Geography BS/Geography MS

Today’s competitive job market demands from students the knowledge, skills, and relevant job experiences that will set them apart. Our B.S./M.S. Double Dawgs program combines through our B.S. degree integrative real-world training focused on understanding the earth’s environment (in relation to global and regional systems as they interface with economic, social, and political contexts) with advanced specialized training gained through our M.S. degree. Our unique combination of breadth and depth helps graduates stand out and launch them into a broad range of rewarding careers in education, business, government, and nonprofit organizations. Our graduates take up positions providing instruction, training, and other educational services at all levels of the education sector (K-12 institutions, colleges and universities that award at least a two-year degree, continuing education, and informal education organizations, and higher education institutions) and beyond. Our B.S./M.S. program also provides an excellent research foundation for the Ph.D. degree. Our graduates enter the private sector providing a wide range of skills and analytical capabilities, including broad environmental science, locational principles, visualization and GIS skills, among many others. Graduates seeking to enter the public sector, projected to remain ~18 percent of the U.S. workforce over the next decade, find the combination of our Geography's broad integrative emphasis on addressing real-world problems and issues with advanced individualized training to be an asset, particularly at the local and state levels where policy innovation, implementation, and bottom-line responsibility reside. Roughly nine percent of the U.S. workforce (12 million individuals) is employed by an estimated 1.4 million nonprofit organizations, whose causes and values span the entire political spectrum. Because nonprofits typically strive to create a better world (as defined by their mission statements), they offer great opportunities for job seekers hoping to make a difference. Many B.S./M.S. Double Dawgs graduates successfully take up careers in this sector, leveraging the breadth/depth nature of our training.

View 5-year Sample Program of Study

Admission to Program

Students will apply to the pathway after completing 60-75 hours of undergraduate coursework.

- 2 upper-division GEOG courses with an average GPA of 3.7 or higher
- Overall GPA of 3.5 or higher
- Letter of support from a faculty member who is willing to advise the student in the pathway and graduate program
- 2 additional letters of recommendation from faculty members (not necessarily Geography faculty)
- Recommendation for admission to the pathway by the Graduate Studies Committee

Curriculum

Graduate-level courses that may be used to satisfy undergraduate and graduate program requirements.

Students will be required to complete the 6000-level version of no more than four (4) GEOG 4000/6000 courses. These courses should fall in to their perspective major field of human/regional geography, physical geography, or geographic techniques.

Additional requirements that are unique to this Double Dawgs program:

GEOG 8900 (1) – Proseminar in Geography
GEOG 8901 (1) – Proseminar in Geography II
GEOG 6300 (3) – Introductory Spatial Analysis
GEOG 7000 (3) – Master’s Research
GEOG 7300 (3) – Master’s Thesis

Admission to Graduate Program

After the student has completed 90 hours of coursework and at least 2 GEOG 6000-level courses, the student is eligible to apply for admission to the Graduate Program.
- Student must have received a grade in each 6000-level course of a B or above

Specific Admittance requirements:
- Application, Statement of Purpose, Resume, 3 letters of recommendation, combined V+Q GRE score of 315 or higher, and transcript are required
- Adequate progress toward the development of a viable thesis research project should be demonstrated at the time of application to the Graduate Program
- Recommendation for admission to the Graduate Program must be provided by the Graduate Studies Committee

Final admission to the Graduate Program is contingent upon completion of the following requirements by the end of the spring or fall term prior to anticipated matriculation:
- Created an M.A. Advisory Committee
- Successfully defended a thesis proposal at an open meeting organized by the student’s Advisory Committee

Any student who does not demonstrate proficiency in GEOG 6000-level courses (grade of B or above) taken while in the pathway and who does not meet standard departmental and Graduate School admissions criteria will not be admitted to the Graduate Program.

Program Advisor

  • Name: Andrew Grundstein
  • Email: andrewg@uga.edu
  • Phone: 706-583-0430
  • Address: 207A Geography-Geology Building
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Undergraduate Major Information

  • Major: Geography B.S.
  • Department/College: Geography

Advising Contact

  • Name: Jerry Shannon
  • Email: jshannon@uga.edu
  • Phone: 706-542-1656
  • Address: 112 Geography-Geology Building

Graduate Major Information

  • Major: Geography M.S.
  • Department/College: Geography

Advising Contact

  • Name: Andrew Grundstein
  • Email: andrewg@uga.edu
  • Phone: 706-583-0430
  • Address: 207A Geography-Geology Building