Career Development

 The knowledge and skills gained by majoring in Geography position graduates for a wide range of careers.

Many of our alumni become geospatial analysts, planners, researchers, and consultants. Look at Alumni Profiles to see what some alumni end up doing; they work for a range of federal agencies, local and state governments, non-profit and service organizations. In addition, many alumni have excelled in top graduate programs.

How might you decide what path to follow? Some ideas to start with:

  • Talk to your adviser about what you enjoy, and the range of options available
  • Attend any speaker events hosted by the department (announced by email in class, posted on bulletin board outside Monroe 319)
  • Go to a regional conference to see what other geographers do
  • Join the Mary Washington Geography Group on Linked In!

Some good career resources include:

Also

  • Attend career information sessions
  • Attend internship fairs
  • Apply for jobs and internships
  • Apply for scholarships
  • Ask about independent research that you can do alone, or team projects that you might become involved in.
  • Consider giving a presentation at the spring Geography Symposium or an academic conference
  • Read about what other UMW students are doing

To move ahead, you will need a letter of recommendation, and it needs to be good! How does a professor know enough about you to be able to write such a letter? Your grades or transcripts only tell part of the story…  we also need to know you based on participation in department and university activities like those listed! Most professors also want at least two weeks notice.

Specific information on Internships and Graduate School is available.