November 2005 ISSUE

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Michael Moroskat

STUDENT COLUMNS

Which Kind of Rock Do You Like?

Being a student in geology eventually comes to an end for all of us. With that end of a personal era comes the big decision: “What am I going to do now?”

In the geosciences, especially geology, this decision must begin not after graduation but in the third year, when decisions on courses must be made for the final year of our education. I am of course talking about that age-old “hard rock versus soft rock” debate that all geoscience students must endure.

At the University of Alberta, this debate is a constantly ongoing one. The reason stems from our having a fairly equal split between those who choose the soft rock path, generally to Calgary, and the hard rock path, to most probably the mining industry.

The big split arises from the university’s proximity to both ends of the spectrum. It is only a three-hour drive to Calgary, with the head offices of the major oil companies. At the same time, Edmonton is the closest major centre with access to the territories, where much of the mining and current exploration is happening in Canada.

WEIGHING THE ROCK OPTIONS The University of Alberta is close to both ends of the industry —the hard rock and the soft rock.

What that means is that students leaving this university have a great opportunity to enter whichever field grabs their interest.

As the third year is coming to a close, we all must decide what classes that we are going to take in our final year, which contains most of the fourth-year classes. These classes are very focused on a single topic and some sort of specialization must take place here: again, hard rock or soft, as it is quite difficult to take courses in both disciplines.

Another source of frustration for the budding geologist trying to find his or her place in the grand scheme of things is the hunt for summer employment. By the third year, if not in the second, we begin to look for a summer job in a geoscience field. Some people may not know exactly what they are interested in, so they decide that they will apply for work in both the oil patch and in mining, to see what offers they may get.

But wait. All of the oil companies are looking for applicants in September and most of the positions are filled by November, which is fine — if this is what is what you are interested in. The hard rock companies do not even begin looking for applicants until January and offers are not handed out until into February or later.

There’s little opportunity for sitting on the fence. It’s a dilemma that all geoscience students have to face as we make our way through university and out in to the workforce.

But I guess it is just a taste of the real world, and every-one seems to find their way in the end.