Geoscience enrollments up 7% - fluke or trend?

The American Geological Institute continues its series on the geoscience profession with a new analysis of college enrollment levels. Geoscience Currents #31 finds that geoscience enrollments hit their highest levels in a decade with 23,983 majors in 2009-10, which is a 7% increase over the previous year. Graduate enrollments went up 15.7%, showing the first increase in 5 years.

Before we get excited about a boom in career interest and demands in geoscience, look at the charts over the last 20 years. This years increase is significant, but not out of line with some previous one-year changes. It will take a few more years before we know if this is sustainable.