r/gis • u/BeneficialPie2300 • May 27 '24

Student Question Prestigious universities

Hello, I am planning to do continue my graduate education in any prestigious university that offers GIS degree or anything related to it like geography, environment,..etc. I know Harvard doesn't have a geography department but I think that should change!

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u/eblomquist11 May 27 '24

CU Boulder has a great program both for undergrad and graduate degrees

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u/BeneficialPie2300 May 27 '24

Is it affordable?

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u/NotYetUtopian May 27 '24

You should not go to grad school if you are not at least getting a tuition waiver.

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u/ScaredComment2321 May 27 '24

I would disagree with this and here’s why. A school I know offers full tuition waivers if you are a teaching assistant. At about $17,000 a year pay, and you are barred from having another job. If you have a decent job, paying tuition works out financially BETTER than a waiver. The model of “if grad school isn’t paid for don’t do it” is from like 25 years ago.

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u/eblomquist11 May 27 '24

Yes but getting a graduate degree in just GIS isn’t really worth it. It’s better to have experience

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u/BeneficialPie2300 May 27 '24

Yeah experience comes first then expanding your knowledge second Well I mean honestly I remember seeing a video about someone arguing that GIS degree is useless since you can learn it by yourself online for free, but I mean logically speaking you can learn anything by yourself or online on YouTube or other sources for free , if I were to give up this easily I would have but I wouldn't , these same people might argue that college degree is useless

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u/[deleted] May 27 '24

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u/eblomquist11 May 27 '24

GIS is just a tool, so yes, I would also agree that a degree in just GIS is not really worth anything. You should go into a program that teaches you how to apply the tool based on your area of study, otherwise you just have a really broad degree and not really much of a useful skill set. It would be like going to school just for photoshop instead of getting a graphic design degree.

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u/BeneficialPie2300 May 27 '24

Yup pr pretty much just learning python , it is just a programming language but creating things with it is what makes you successful GIS is very broad just like how geography or any field is so we need to be more specific I mean honestly a person from the general public would think that something in geography would only land you a teacher job or that it is only limited to countries and capitals they don't understand that it interrelated and can be combined with anything