The Department of Geography at Ohio State offers three tracks of courses from which to choose in obtaining a college degree. In the urban and regional systems track, students learn about urban, economic, regional, and political aspects of geography. In the atmospheric science and climatology track, students learn about climate, weather, and weather forecasting. The ability of urban and regional systems track graduates to analyze and to integrate various aspects of the Earth's human and physical environments makes them viable candidates for planning positions with planning and development agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. Private retail establishments, financial institutions, and industrial firms employ geographers to collect and analyze data that relate to the firm's production and distribution of goods and services, or they may employ geographers to identify appropriate locations for new or expanded facilities.
Many firms are in the process of decentralizing from inner-city to suburban locations.
As these businesses develop, in terms of opening their initial establishments, opening branch locations, or by establishing links with other related businesses, those who have geographic training and analytical abilities are sought out. Students in the atmospheric science and climatology track have job opportunities in the recently modernized National Weather Service, with private forecasting firms, or in television. Rapid salary advancement opportunities occur in weather forecasting jobs. All potential geographers should take advantage of high school offerings in computer training, and those interested in weather, cartography, and geographic information systems should also take as much mathematics as possible in high school. How to Major in Geography at Ohio State Students may become geography majors after enrolling in the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and they should have a cumulative point-hour ratio above 2.00.