What do geoscience graduates value most from their academic experiences?

Yesterday I received an e-mail that the new issue of GSA Today was available for download. For those who might not know, GSA Today is a publication of the Geological Society of America. This publication normally has articles about upcoming meetings, job postings, and scientific articles. One of the articles was entitled "Looking back: What do geoscience graduates value most from their academic experiences?" It is a very interesting read, although the results are only from alumni that attended Dartmouth College.

To quickly summarize, the authors found that independent research, field training, and writing were the components geoscientists valued most in their education. To me, this is not very surprising. I feel as though most students who go into any science field have an extreme interest in independent research to begin with. I am also not very surprised by the second value being field training since most geology training involves the outdoors. Most geologists I have met are outdoors people to begin with, so it is no surprise to me that they valued being outdoors doing what they loved. I was surprised by the third value of writing, although I am glad it made the list.  I guess I was surprised by this value because I feel like I did more writing in other classes such as chemistry, biology, and physics in the way of lab reports.

This article, of course, started to make me think what I valued in my geoscience education. If I had to list three items they would be field experiences, independent research, and strong relationships with my professors. I listed field experiences because I love the outdoors, I was afforded the opportunity to visit amazing places around the world, and I consider myself a visual and hands on learner. I listed independent research because I was taught time management, critical thinking, patience, and perseverance through grant writing and my research. My final point was listed because I truly believe without my professor's friendships, advising, and teaching I would not be where I am today.