Recruiting geoscience majors: Student perceptions and a path forward

Undergraduate geology enrollments in the U.S. have been volatile for the last few decades and are currently not sufficient to meet job demand. Attracting more students to pursue geoscience in college is vital to fill the workforce gap and sustain college programs in the face of challenging higher education budgets. To better understand students’ geoscience perceptions, and why they are not choosing the field as a career path given high market demand, we surveyed over 400 high school and early college students in the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. Our results show that student interest is high in interdisciplinary environmental applications of geoscience but lower in energy-focused career pathways. Many students associate geology with “looking at rocks” and show low interest in pursuing petroleum-related careers despite lucrative salaries, although there are significant differences between some groups. Informed by these insights into future generation’s perceptions, we propose focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of the field and its societal benefits to recruit more geoscience students. Though our results are regional, these student perceptions are important to consider for college and university programs recruiting majors across the U.S. and beyond.