Would a geography/GIS major fit in a STEM learning community? (computer science, degrees)
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I'm transferring to Texas State University this fall and my major is a geography/geo-info systems degree. Despite having the best geography program in Texas and one of the best in the nation, Texas State doesn't have a geography living-learning community. The closest community to geography seems to be STEM, but that's a stretch. Geography is a liberal arts, all the geography degrees use GIS to some extent, and the dedicated GIS degree has a computer science component. The STEM community is much more focused on hard sciences that rely on advanced mathematics. (I already took my required college math course)
On the other hand, I am pretty much a nerd and I do want to learn programming for my degree. If I was a freshman/HS senior or Kerbal Space Program was around several years ago, I'd probably be majoring in aerospace engineering or some sort of astronomy thing.
The STEM community supposedly has a high ratio of women to men (even more so than Texas State's overall gender ratios), so the idea of dorming with nerdy-science girls is very appealing to me. (hello BFFs!)Here's the list of learning communities.
GIS would be able to go under STEM... however learning communities tend to have strict requirements. At least the ones at my school do. Is the Geography/GIS program a dual degree, or a combined degree? If GIS is a separate degree, it could work for sure.
What are the other learning communities at your school?
GIS is almost always a concentration in geography at research schools. As a research discipline, it does not really make sense as part of STEM, though. It fits into a fuzzy area between social science and technology.
I got my BS in geology with a minor in GIS. I did the GIS so I'd know what to do with field data, and to use the GIS as a backup career option. I'm merely a cartographer though. I don't know anything about the programming end of GIS.
I now work as a GIS Specialist at an archaeological consulting company. I make maps for the field work and the reports, etc. So it worked out ok for me.
Sorry, but it looks like the generic Residential Hall is your only option unless you plan on being pre-med/pre-dent or a teacher. If you're a sophomore, you can join the Leadership Exploration and Development learning community.
What on earth is GIS? It seems like colleges are adding "Information Systems" to every questionable major in an effort to make them appear more useful than they are. What next? Women's Studies Info Systems or Art History Info Systems??
If you wanna study programming, then major in Comp Sci
What on earth is GIS? It seems like colleges are adding "Information Systems" to every questionable major in an effort to make them appear more useful than they are. What next? Women's Studies Info Systems or Art History Info Systems??
GIS is a big field that's been around for a very long time. It's heavily desired in the military and among academa.
Quote:
Originally Posted by josh u
If you wanna study programming, then major in Comp Sci
Horrible advice. Comp Sci teaches you Comp Sci. Not programming.
What on earth is GIS? It seems like colleges are adding "Information Systems" to every questionable major in an effort to make them appear more useful than they are. What next? Women's Studies Info Systems or Art History Info Systems??
If you wanna study programming, then major in Comp Sci
Quote:
A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.
GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.
It's useful in a lot of fields. Biologists use this to track the movement of animals. Criminologists use this to create geographic criminal profiles and to map crime patterns.
GIS is Geographic Information Systems. It is the blending of maps and databases.
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