FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[PetroHound]

Well hello all!

I am a student in my second year at a University in Mississippi and I started out studying Geological Eng., however, my interests have changed and I am pursuing strictly a geology degree now. I am interested in transferring because the program is not so prestigious, and for personal reasons. Are there any universities with particularly exceptional programs in Geology or some form of Mineralogy? My passion is to actually work with the rocks, collect specimens, and be outdoors, and I'm not exactly sure for my plans after college.

Any suggestions of school programs or majors or even careers is highly appreciated, thanks all!

[Pete Modreski]

Hi PetroHound,

Consider the University of New Orleans, for one; Dr. William B. (Skip) Simmons there and his students are well known in mineralogy.

I'm sure there are lots more schools that could be suggested. Here in Colorado, Colorado College (a private school) has excellent geology programs for undergrads; also Colorado School of Mines, CU, CSU, and UNC.

Best of luck! Geology is a wonderful field.
Pete Modreski

[Jesse Fisher]

I would second Pete's recommendation of Skip Simmons at UNO. In your area, you might also want to talk to Babara Dutro and Darrel Henry in the geology department at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

[Peter Megaw]

GO WEST YOUNG MAN/WOMAN.!!!..UT Austin, New Mexico Tech, University of Arizona, Univeristy of Nevada Las Vegas or Reno and of course the Colorado Schools Pete mentioned. All have excellent geology programs, several with good mineralogists and all have a bit more in the way of solid outcrop than the Louisiana area schools (not in any way to diminish my good friends who teach there, but you can see more in the desert).

Note however that academic mineralogy and geology is not about specimen collecting... academic institutions focus on giving you a broad scientific geological education and may not warmly embrace rockhounding as a basis for an undergrad education. Fine to be a collector, and fine to note that collecting rocks led to your interest in geology, but stress that you want to take your learning to the next level, which is why you're applying to their program. Once you're in and get the education you can do with it as you want. You may also find that there is a subculture of collectors in these departments who are active field collectors...some even have a history of folks who pay for part of their education with field collecting. That was easier to do before tuitions went ionospheric, but you can still collect beer money!

[Jean Sendero]

I would not overlook the U of A in Tucson and, if you are inclined to cross the border north, try Queens in Kingston.
Best of luck.
jean

[Peter Megaw]

Or UBC in Vancouver

[Pete Modreski]

Alll these that have been mentioned are great; and yes, for sure, what Jesse said about the faculty at LSU.

Another suggestion for you; universities whose geology departments have booths at the annual Geological Society of America meeting (which was last month in Denver) tend to be those that are "more than the average" focused on geology, both for undergrads and grad students. You can view a list of these on the web page about GSA's annual meeting, under the list of Exhibitors; here's the direct link to that:

https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010AM/finalprogram/exhibitorsbycategory.htm

Also on the GSA annual meeting website, is a list of universities that were participating in their Graduate School Information Forum at the meeting. Though this is for graduate school programs in geology, the same schools usually have good undergrad programs too, so you can also view that list, which also gives contact names and email addresses at each department:
https://rock.geosociety.org/gsif/gsif.aspx

Good luck, again!
Pete

[PetroHound]

Thanks again for all the suggestions, I suspect I will have to move west and now it just comes to narrowing it down.
Pete especially, thank you for the list it was extremely helpful. I'll be sure go over that list extensively!