General Geography Major

"General Geography Major Requirements"
"General Geography" overlaid on photo of pine trees in a forest

Geography Major

Are you interested in an exciting education that integrates the study of human activity and the natural environment? If so, Geography may be for you! There are many opportunities for field trips and other forms of hands-on learning including internships and participating in faculty research. Our curriculum spans perspectives from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities while providing rigorous training in important skills.

The Department of Geography offers courses in:

  • human geography including political, cultural, development, feminist, population, and urban geography;
  • environment and society geography including political ecology, natural hazards, and conservation practice;
  • physical geography including climatology, geomorphology, hydrology, and biogeography;
  • geographic information science including spatial analysis using GIS, remote sensing, and cartography.

The Department also offers regionally focused courses on mountain geography and geographies of China, Latin America, Africa, and South Asia.  To complement its curriculum, the Department also offers internship opportunities and encourages study abroad for geography majors.

Students must complete at least 37 and no more than 45 credit hours in Geography with grades of C- or better (23 hours must be upper division). No pass/fail grades are allowed in the major. Transfer students majoring in Geography must complete at least 12 hours of upper-division Geography courses at CU-Boulder. No course may be used to fulfill more than one requirement for the major.

Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours (all concentrations)

  • GEOG 1001 Our Changing Planet: Climate and Vegetation - 4
  • GEOG 1011 Our Changing Planet: Landscapes and Water - 4 
  • One of the following human geography courses:
    • GEOG 1962 Geographies of Global Change  - 3
    • GEOG 1972 Sustainable Futures, Environment and Society  - 3
    • GEOG 1982 Global Geographies: Societies, Places, Connections - 3
    • GEOG 1992 Human Geographies - 3
    • GEOG 2092 Advanced Introduction to Human Geography - 3
  • GEOG 3023 Statistics and Geographic Data - 4
  • One of the following mapping courses:
    • GEOG 2053 Mapping Our World - 3
    • GEOG 3053 Geographic Information Science: Mapping - 4
  • One of the following methods courses:
    • GEOG 4023 Advanced Quantitative Methods for Spatial Data (prereq GEOG 3023) - 4
    • GEOG 4043 Advanced Geovisualization and Web Mapping (prereq GEOG 3053) - 4
    • GEOG 4093 Remote Sensing of the Environment - 4
    • GEOG 4103 Geographic Information Science: Spatial Analytics (prereqs: GEOG 3053; GEOG 3023 or equivalent introductory statistics course) - 4
    • GEOG 4173 Research Seminar - 3
    • GEOG 4722 Field Methods in Human Geography - 3 
  • Take one upper-division Human Geography class (numbered 3000 or higher with a course number ending in 2). 
  • Take upper and lower division electives within Geography to reach 37 total credits and 23 upper division credits in the major.

 

 

 

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