Eng 112 - Reflection Essay

Mike Pointon

English

Mrs. Cristman

10/25/10

I will be entering college soon and I have made my mind up about my career of choice. When I go to college I would like to study in the geology field like geology itself, earth sciences or geosciences. I'm hoping that this career choice will lead to a life of working outside. I have family members that have graduated college with a degree in geology or related areas of study. They get to work outside about 75% of the time, dealing with rocks, water supplies and much more. I have always done well in any science classes that I have taken. I understood the material as if I had already known it, and just the past few years is when I realized that science was the way to go. When I do my searches for colleges that I would like to apply for my list is limited because I can only find schools with my interests in mind. I have also limited my college choice to the northeast are and also what schools have a baseball program.

I decided to do geology about a year ago because I had realized that my original plan of going to school for biology or chemistry didn't interest me as much as sciences that dealt with the earth and its materials. I did well in school with chemistry and biology but I felt that I would be stuck inside working in a lab. For geology, I get to work outside the majority of the time studying rocks, minerals and possibly even fossils. This would be called a career of exploration. Many times geologist end up finding more natural resources such as oils, natural gases, and water supplies (geo.careers,1). I would also consider a geologist somewhat of a hero because many times they help poor communities with problems of hazardous wastes or inadequate supplies of a natural resource. Another part of this career is working at volcanic sites, earthquake aftermaths, floods, and hurricanes. The part that I will dislike most will be working in the lab and predicting the earth's future like weather or when a resource will run out. I am using this career as a fall back; I plan to play baseball in college and extending this career as far as possible such as making it to the major leagues. Geologist also can predict the impact that human activities play on the earth and its sustainability. "Geoscientists are stewards or caretakers of earth's resources and environment"(geo.career,1). This career also studies what most people are afraid of, global warming, which to me isn't much of a problem and I don't see many affects of this phenomenon. So for this I could help to prove that global warming is nothing to be afraid of until real signs begin to appear. There are many different paths when choosing a career in geology by this I mean there are many different types of geology such as mineralogy, geochemistry, geophysics and seismology