Professional Geoscientists of BC

Many of the graduates from the B.Sc. program in Physical Geography go on to work in the private sector or for the Provincial and Federal government as environmental geoscientists. The practice of most aspects of environmental science in BC is regulated by APEGBC. If you are interested in pursuing a career in environmental consulting you will most likely require some sort of professional certification, and you should consult the registration requirements and plan your degree accordingly. The B.Sc. major program is easily adapted to meet the registration requirements by selecting appropriate electives, but typically, students will have to take one additional semester of courses following graduation to meet all of APEGBC’s requirements. The combined Geography and Geology Honours program is the most efficient path toward registration as a professional geoscientist, and is designed to ensure that all professional requirements are met after four years of study.

Certification by APEGBC involves two separate steps. The first is to take the required undergraduate Science courses that permit you to register as a Geoscientist in Training, or G.I.T. The academic requirements are described on the APEGBC website. There are four academic streams: Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry, and Environmental Geoscience. Most students graduating from the Physical Geography program elect to register under the ‘Environmental Geoscience’ option, so be sure to visit the correct course stream on the website. Irrespective of which stream is chosen, all geoscientists must complete the course requirements in the GeoCom A and Geocom B sections, the term GeoCom indicating ‘common to all geoscientists’.

The second step involves accumulating at least 48 months of professional experience after graduation under the supervision of a registered professional geoscientist (P.Geo.) or engineer (P.Eng.), following which you must submit a dossier of experience to APEGBC. If your file is approved, you are eligible to write the Professional Practice Exam (details on the APEGBC website), and if passed then you become a Professional Geoscientist, or P.Geo.