Geography B.S. Requirements

The BS in Geography and Environmental Systems requires a total of 61 credits, including 40-41 credits in geography and environmental systems courses and 21-26 credits from other disciplines. Internship and independent study do not count toward the minimum number of credits required for the BS degree. Statistics courses taken outside of the department cannot be counted toward the minimum number of credits for the BS degree.

All students are required to complete the following 16 credits of core courses:
GEOG 102 - Geography of Human Activities [3]
GEOG 110 - Geography of Environmental Systems [3]
GEOG 280 - Map Use and Cartographic Principles [4]
GEOG 386 - Introduction to Geographic Information Systems [4]
GEOG 301 - Quantitative Techniques in Geography [3] or an outside statistics course, to be selected from among the following:
STAT 121 [4], STAT 350 [4], STAT 351 [3], or STAT 355 [4].

In addition to the core courses identified above, a minimum of 24 additional credits in other departmental electives is required for students who complete GEOG 301, or 27 additional credits for students who substitute an outside course for GEOG 301. Distribution requirements for these are as follows:

Four physical geography/environmental science courses, chosen from among the following:
GEOG 111 - Principles of Geology [3]
GEOG 120 - Environmental Science and Conservation [3]

Any course in the sequences GEOG 31x, 41x [3 or 4] and sections of selected topics courses (GEOG 302 or 400) designated by department faculty as meeting the distribution requirement.

At least one of these four courses must be a 400-level course; no more than one of the four may be a 100-level course.

Two upper-division electives chosen from the following sequences:
GEOG 32x-36x, 42x-46x [6] OR Sections of special topics courses (Geog 302 or 400) designated by department faculty as meeting the distribution requirement.

Two additional electives, at least one of which must be a 400-level course [6]

Other courses:
Six courses representing a minimum of 21 credits, including five courses in mathematics and natural sciences, to be selected in consultation with the student's faculty advisor, as follows:

MATH 151 [4]

Eight credits of two of the following:
BIOL 100 [4], CHEM 101 [4], PHYS 111 or 121 [4]

One additional course to complete a year of study in either biology, chemistry, physics or math and statistics, to be selected from the following list:
BIOL 301 [3]
CHEM 102 [3]
PHYS 112 [4], 122 [4]
MATH 152 [4] , 221 [3] , 225 [3]
STAT 121 [4] , 350 [4] , 351 [3] , STAT 355 [4]

One additional elective to be chosen from the same list, with CMSC 103 [4] , 104 [4] , 106 [4] and other major programming language courses including Java and Visual Basic also on the list. Only one course from the statistics sequence may be used to satisfy the requirements for the major.

One 300-level writing course [3] or one 300- or 400-level course in a field supporting the student's major course of study [3 or 4], to be decided in consultation with the student's faculty advisor. Substitution of another course for the writing course requires demonstration of strong writing skills.

Note: No course in which a student has earned a grade of less than "C" shall count towards the major requirements. No course taken on a P/F basis shall count toward the major.