Career goals, pathways and competencies of geography graduate students in the USA

Abstract

This study examines the motivations and career goals of geography graduate students and the extent they are prepared in transferable skills. Women and students specializing in geographic information science and technology are primarily motivated by career opportunities in the private sector, whereas doctoral students express a preference for academic career paths and their goals are more influenced by faculty and departmental prestige. Students in Master's programs and those specializing in physical geography are more likely to seek positions with government employers. Master's and doctoral programs are providing opportunities for students to develop competency in a wide-range of transferable skills. However, there are many organizational and business-oriented skills that employers value but which are not commonly taught in graduate curricula in geography programs.

Keywords:

• graduate education
• career preparation
• transferable skills

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation under grant DRL-0910041. We appreciate the advice provided by Ken Foote and Jan Monk on earlier drafts of this manuscript.