Major/Minor Requirements

All majors must pass courses listed in categories A through E below, with a grade of C- or above

A student majoring in Geology must pass the following Geology courses:

A. Entry-level course options

GY130 Introductory Geology or GY140 Physical Geology

B. 200-level courses

GY205 Historical Geology

Either GY210 -- Fundamental geological methods and Rocky Mountains evolution

or GY211 The Rocky Mountains as a Chemical System and GY212 The Rocky Mountains as a Physical System

C. ‘Menu’ at 300-level: one course from each group

1. GY305 Strat/Sed or GY320 Surface Processes and Geomorphology

2. GY335 Geochemistry or GY310 Igneous Petrology or GY313 Metamorphic Petrology

3. GY308 Geophysics or GY315 Structural Geology

D. 3 additional units of Geology at the 200 or 300 level (GY207 and GY307, excluded). Additional courses taken from the “menu” categories may count as an elective to fulfill this requirement. GY400 may count toward this requirement if GY405 or GY445 is used to fulfill “E”. Both 400 and 445 can be used towards the electives requirement if another class is used to satisfy the capstone requirement, but no single course can be counted for both requirements. 405 may not be used to satisfy an elective requirement.

E. Capstone experience: One of: GY400, GY445 Regional Studies, or GY405 (senior project or senior thesis) [GY400 may not fulfill both D and E.]

11 units total

Supporting courses

All majors must also pass the following:

PC 141– Introductory Physics I or PC 241 – Introductory Classical Physics I

CH 107 – General Chemistry I

MA 117 or BY 220 or EV228 – Probability and Statistics

MA 126 – Calculus I

Geology Graduate School 

Geology majors, and especially those intending to go on to graduate school in geology, are strongly urged to take additional mathematics and science courses, to take GY 400 Senior Seminar in Geology, and to attend a summer geology field camp offered by a university.

Environmental Geology Graduate School or Career

Geology majors wishing to pursue graduate work or a career in environmental geology should include GY 250 Studies in Geology: Hydrogeology in their course work and should consider taking additional course work in Environmental Science, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology.

AP Credit

AP credit may not be counted towards the supporting science requirement. Students with AP credit or who have tested out of any of the above courses in PC, CH, or MA must take the next higher course in the department's sequence.

Independent Studies and Research Topics Credit

Independent Studies (207 and 307) and Research Topics (405) may NOT be counted toward the requirements of the major.  405 MAY be used to fulfill the capstone requirement.