I recently participated in a panel put together by Cal undergraduates associated with the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC).  They had asked me to talk about my career path, and were interested in any advice I might have regarding their own futures in the environmental field.  I was joined on the panel by two other graduate students from the Energy Resources Group and Boalt Law School, and we had a good discussion with the students who were there — mostly juniors and juniors from a wide range of majors but all of who shared a strong interest in the environment.

Questions ranged from what courses to take to the best ways to find relevant jobs and get into strong graduate programs, and we each provided answers based on our own personal experiences.  I tried to encourage students to take as broad a range of courses they can, from intro anthropology to intro economics, while still focusing on an area that they are really interested in.  While specialization is important and valuable, for undergrads there really is no substitute for a broad-based liberal arts education.