Geoscience Course Requirements Guide

Interested in the Professional Geoscientist Designation?

Specific courses are required if you plan to pursue certification as a Professional Geoscientist after graduation. The following information applies to students in the SFU Physical Geography Geoscience stream who wish to pursue this designation. Please note that the information differs depending on your requirement term (the date you entered the major).

Students in the Physical Geography - Geoscience Stream (Pre- Fall 2020)

Physical Geography - Geoscience stream (pre-Fall 2020)

Although the Physical Geography Major - Geoscience stream is designed to include most of the courses needed to apply for certification as a Professional Geoscientist, the following courses must be completed in addition to those required for your major (please refer to the EGBC SFU Environmental Geoscience Course Equivalent Listing for details):

3 Additional Foundation Science courses in Group 1B (which requires specific courses in MATH, CHEM, PHYS, BISC, CMPT & STAT)
EASC 202

Note - If you are using GEOG 315 to fulfill one the requirements in the upper division '5 of' list for the Physical Geography major - Geoscience stream, you will also need 1 additional course from Group 2C on the EGBC SFU Course equivalent list as GEOG 315 is not included in Group 2C

Students in the Physical Geography - Geoscience Stream (Fall 2020 & later)

Physical Geography - Geoscience stream (Fall 2020 & later)

Although the Physical Geography Major - Geoscience stream is designed to include most of the courses needed to apply for certification as a Professional Geoscientist, the following courses must be completed in addition to those required for the major (please refer to the EGBC SFU Environmental Geoscience Course Equivalent Listing for details):

3 Additional Foundation Science courses in Group 1B (which requires specific courses in MATH, CHEM, PHYS, BISC, CMPT & STAT)

Students in this stream should also be aware that GEOG 418-Ecohydrology has not yet been certified, so it is currently the only course on the upper division '3 of' list for the Geoscience stream that cannot also be used for P.Geo certification (please check with an advisor for a status update prior to registering if you are hoping to use GEOG 418).

Physics Courses for EGBC

Any of the following SFU Physics course combinations are accepted as Additional Foundation Science for EGBC Group 1B (COM-B3).

PHYS 102 + 130
PHYS 102 + 132 + 133
PHYS 121 + 132 + 133

Tracking Your Courses

Engineers and Geoscientists BC (EGBC), the professional association which oversees the accreditation of Professional Geoscientists in British Columbia, publishes a university-specific course equivalent listing that outlines the SFU courses needed to apply for P.Geo certification.

The guide below will help you to use the the EGBC course equivalent listing for SFU. You can use this worksheet throughout your degree to keep track of the courses you have left to complete.

Getting Started

You will need:

a copy of your most recent SFU advising transcript
a copy of the EGBC SFU Course Equivalent listing

Step One

Assess your courses

cross-reference your advising transcript with the EGBC SFU Course Equivalent listing
on your transcript, identify* the courses you will use in each of the different subgroups within the course listing

*Tip - you may want to write the subgroup number beside the corresponding course (e.g. MATH 151 = FS-A1)

Step Two

Fill in the Environmental Geoscience SFU Course Equivalent listing

using the advising transcript that you prepared in step one, add the courses you have taken to the corresponding space on the course equivalent listing

Keep in mind that:

you cannot use the same course more than once, even if it is listed in more than one area (for example, GEOG 317 is listed in subgroups FEG-A5 and EG-C21 but cannot be used in both)
some groups have additional requirements (e.g. in Group 2B you must have at least one course in each subgroup, and a maximum of two courses in each subgroup)
you must complete a specific number of courses in each main group. This is noted in the text at the top of each group.

Department of Geography

Geoscience Course Requirements