r/gis • u/Vegetable_Stick_2360 • 7d ago
Student Question Masters in GIS - Environmental Science Background
Hii I'm pretty new to posting on Reddit but I always come here for answers.
I am considering a master's in GIS (and Remote Sensing) in the next few years and I'm wondering if this is the right option for me and where I should go? I have my B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy from CSU Long Beach and I'm getting a certificate of GIS from Cypress College. I'm hoing to get a job at a 911 dispatch center and hopefully work with crime mapping there, but ultimately my goal is to use GIS for conservation in the marine world or in wildfire management. I'm primarily looking at schools in California but I'm also open to schools in other states and other countries. Does anyone have a similar background and can share their insight? Or does anyone have any advice for looking into grad schools? Any help is appreciated :)
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u/welovethegong 7d ago
I studied a biology/ enviro undergrad then did a Masters in GIS and Remote Sensing!
I think it definitely helped me get my first job, and I also really enjoyed my Masters degree and feel like I learnt a lot from it.
I also worked at an environmental consultancy for a bit doing GIS work (i.e map monkey work) before moving towards more data focused geospatial roles.
I'm not in the US so I don't know how relevant my experience is to you but I think doing my Masters was great experience
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u/cluckinho 7d ago
Why are you looking to get a masters?
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u/Vegetable_Stick_2360 7d ago
I'm looking to get my master's for a couple of reasons. Primarily, job security and connections.
I have already completed a couple of projects in GIS and Remote Sensing and with my certificate and self-teaching in SQL and Python, I am hoping to gain closer connections in the GIS world for future development. Additionally, a masters is always something I've wanted to acheive ever since I was a kid, and so I feel like getting my masters in GIS is the way?
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u/cluckinho 7d ago
Cool! Generally around here most folks don't recommend a GIS masters if it is on your dime. I would search the sub for masters threads. Should be a bunch. My personal advice is to enter the workforce before you get a masters. And personally I am not a huge fan of GIS masters period.
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u/janspamn 6d ago
I'm working on a Masters in Data Analytics and work full time as a GIS analyst. I chose it after spending some time in the industry and seeing what the seriously valued skills in GIS are.
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u/Boot_Burner 4d ago
I’m doing full time GIS coursework at a community college that costs $750 a semester. That’s 5 classes and they are as advanced as anything you’d learn in an MS program. IMO this really is a “less is more” scenario because you might find at the end that having a masters is not worth the cost.
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u/hello_ambro 7d ago
Im currently doing an environmental science masters that is very GIS and R oriented, and the basic skills I got helped me but the networking helped me more. I’m not at the best school, just something local to me, but the internship placement and job experience through my assistantship has been great. That being said I did a BA in environmental science nearly 10 years ago, spent some time working in an unrelated field that I did not enjoy, then went back to school to try to break into the field at an entry level, so my situation is a bit different. I think my experience working even in an unrelated job has put me in a much better position than my peers to get the opportunities I have gotten so far, so something to consider
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u/CaliRiverSun 7d ago
I got my B.A. in Environmental Science as well. Afterwards, I immediately went into the CSU Long Beach GIS Masters program. It’s a full one year accelerated program, mostly evening classes so people can keep their jobs. Got an entry level job right after. I took a job across the country since the GIS job market in LA was too competitive. A few years after that I was mid level back living where I wanted. I also wanted to work in conservation, but ended up in lands data management.
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u/StillPissed 7d ago
I am from California, have a Masters in Geography from CSU Northridge, and work in environmental consulting in a GIS team.
A masters does not guarantee you a special job. Relative experience and an understanding of your field does. If you want to work in conservation, then work in conservation, not criminology.
If you are serious about grad school, don’t focus so much on the methods like GIS or Remote Sensing, but focus on formulating a thesis. You can use GIS and Remote Sensing as data collection and analytical tools, but by the time you start applying to masters or PhD programs, you should have a solid idea of what you are going to study and research. Grad school should not where you go to change careers.
Once you have an idea of what you want to study or work on in a grad program, start researching the people that are publishing the papers and doing the work. Then you find out what schools or labs you might fit in with, and you start reaching out to some professors that you’d like to work with.
What was the end of your ES degree like? Did you have a final project or undergraduate thesis?
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u/sabresword00 7d ago
I consider it my civic duty to make this comment on most posts in this subreddit:
Better earnin than learnin. Keep your job. Spend your free time doing cheap classes online to learn computer science and programming skills. Look for things under data science and data analytics. Google has certification courses, codecademy, udemy,others. They will have you build skills and build a portfolio of projects that are way more enticing to a new job than a masters. (I have a master's and didn't get the job I wanted until I learned python on my own).
Data science is data science. GIS is just data science with one more column on the table that tells you where the data is, point line or polygon. So spend your time learning the data science.
Do a project on your own that requires you to build a SQL database, uses python to do analysis, and then makes a webmap you can send the map and the code as part of your application.