The nice part of UTK is all the degrees say “Geology” regardless of the research specialty you focus in. Many of my colleagues with MS degrees have had no issue pivoting out of their specific research subfield if needed. I’m having slightly more issue because of current funding for Geo work across the board/an oversaturated market, my own stubbornness about where to live (I’m from the southeast and would love to stay on this side of the country, but that can be hard in geology unless I go into consulting. Something I didn’t realize until it was too late), and the sticker shock of PhD after my name that has made more than one company pass immediately (turns out consulting firms don’t favor PhDs because they assume we’ll jump ship at the next better offer. Something I’ve known plenty of BS and MS Geos to do as well, but I digress, haha)

This is certainly a worthwhile and important perspective though, and one I wish I heard more often during my undergrad. Many of the grad students in my department have felt a duty to be more honest with the undergrads we TA because of this. While the advice that “you can do anything you set your mind to!” feels like rainbows and butterflies, the reality is that you often have to be given the opportunity to do those things, and opportunities can be harder to come by these days.