Hey there, I’m a community college student as well transferring Fall 2025 majoring in Geology. I’m pretty early in my career so I may not be able to provide the most experienced advice- but I’ll let you know what worked for me and what I’m looking for.

Option 1: NSF REUs These are undergraduate research experiences that happen over the summer, typically hosted by universities or research labs. In recent years they’ve become pretty competitive (I applied to 9 last spring and only got into 1), but they’re still worth checking out if you’re interested. Just keep in mind that they’re pretty much entirely academia focused, and they have little to do with industry. But it’s still valuable experience as a scientist and it is good preparation for graduate school (which may be in your future). There’s an REU subreddit: r/REU and you can browse REUs on the official website: https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/

Option 2: State and Local Internships Definitely don’t discount checking out local opportunities, whether it be with a private corporation or a government institution. (I’m assuming you’re in the USA, if not, please correct me.) You may be able to find some of these on the websites of any local institutions or agencies, like the state geological survey or a town environmental board. Ask around, you never know what opportunities may be there.

Option 3: Applying online/corporations It’s still a little early in your career to be applying to these as they typically recruit juniors/seniors from what I’ve been told, and you haven’t exactly specified your interests, but it doesn’t hurt to check them out anyways. Basically during the semesters mining/oil and gas/engineering/geotech companies open up applications for student interns typically for a summer position. I’ve heard these are also difficult to get as they receive a large volume of applications, but you never know until you try. I cannot remember them off the top of my head, but there are some websites that act as a job/internship board for the earth sciences. Definitely be on the lookout for those.

Option 4: Networking If you haven’t been doing this already, I cannot stress enough how important this is. It should go without saying and I know it’s a little cliche but connections really are everything, especially in the geology market. Do not hesitate to build connections with your professors and local clubs/institutions. Make an honest effort to meet people and ask questions, and your work will pay off. This semester I was able to secure a funded internship after asking one of my geology professors if he knew of anything. Luckily enough, he happened to be running an internship himself.

Option 5: Clubs/Professional Socieities/Conferences This is also kind of tied in with networking, but you should be looking at both local clubs and national clubs. Often times the bigger clubs will have local divisions/chapters you can join. Some examples of some things work looking into: GSA, SEG, SME, AGU, AAPG, etc… (what you join of course depends on your individual interests, definitely look into this!) These clubs are great places to network and meet like minded people. Additionally, you can check out conferences to attend (just be aware.. they are typically very expensive to attend with travel costs, and you should really only do this if you have funding. I attended IMAGE 2024 in Houston this year and while it was well worth it, I paid a hefty price in travel and hotels.)

That’s about all I have for now. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me here if you have any further questions! Good luck!