Career outcomes
Overview
After completing the Geography major in the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts, you’ll be well placed to move into the workforce, further study, or graduate research.
Career outcomes
With a major in Geography, you can find careers with private environmental and planning firms, as well as consultancies. You can also work in government departments concerned with conservation, planning, housing, transport, international aid or hydrology.
Employers include Universities, DELWP, KPMG and Melbourne Water. Skills are transferable across many sectors, including commerce, industry, government and education.
Further study
You can complete an honours year in Geography as part of your Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts, or you can immediately move into graduate studies.
GRADUATE DEGREES
If you wish to continue your studies at graduate level, this major is a great foundation for the Master of Geography.
Other graduate degrees you could consider are:
Depending on the subjects you take in your Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts, a range of other graduate degrees may be possible – in fields as diverse as science and technology, health sciences, teaching, law, business, humanities and more.
GRADUATE RESEARCH
If you complete an honours year or a masters course with a significant research component, you can go on to study a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), or another graduate research program.
This will set you up for a rewarding career in research with a University, research institute, consulting company or not-for-profit.
Naomi Parris-Piper
Naomi Parris-Piper is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Geography and Politics and International Studies.
I took a gap year after finishing my high school and decided to go to Malawi, Africa to volunteer for 7 months in a rural village as a teacher. Living in Malawi and seeing the reality of global inequalities motivated me to want to study something related to international development.
The BA gave me the opportunity to explore subjects in this realm and take an interdisciplinary approach to learning about inequality, development, politics, culture, history and power. I was introduced to geography unintentionally through taking an interesting first year subject called Famine: The Geography of Scarcity. I had never been introduced to the cultural and human side of geography and I loved it.
I immediately decided to major in Geography alongside Politics and International Studies. After this, I started to explore other geography subjects and have since taken many interesting ones including Global Youth, Post-conflict Development and Difference, Health Geography and Global Inequalities in the Anthropocene.
Geography is not just about mapping and studying the physical features of landscapes. It’s also about discovering how inseparable our social and natural worlds really are. Over the winter break I went to India with nine other students to do a volunteer combined internship and research subject. I was working for one month at a local NGO in New Delhi called Restless Development. They are a youth-led organisation focused on empowering young people through education, particularly in sexual and reproductive health rights.
During the month I worked with a team of volunteers and Restless Development staff on research into the development of an educational sexual and reproductive health app they intended to release to give young people accessible and reliable sexual and reproductive health information. It was an incredible experience which taught me a huge amount about social science research, sexual and reproductive health issues in India and the development sector in general.