How to get your license: Geologists
In order to apply for your geologist license you must meet the following requirements:
Education requirements
- Graduation from an accredited college or university with a degree in geology, engineering geology, hydrogeology.
- OR
- One of the related geological sciences, or educational equivalents, and successful completion of a minimum of 30 semester/45 quarter hours or their equivalent of course work in geological science. This includes classes in physical geology, historical geology, structural geology, mineralogy/petrology and sedimentary geology/stratigraphy.
If you do not meet these requirements, you must demonstrate to the board that you have completed educational equivalents.
You must document your college or university educational experience by submitting official sealed transcripts to the board.
Experience requirements
To be licensed as a geologist, you must have 5 years of documented and verifiable professional geological practice or, if applying for a specialty, 5 years of specialty practice satisfactory to the board, after receipt of a bachelor's degree. The experience must include:
- at least 3 years of geological experience under the supervision of state-licensed geologists or specialty geologists or others who, in the opinion of the board, are qualified to have responsible charge.
- if applying for 2 specialties, at least 5 years or 8,000 hours of experience in each specialty, for a total of 10 years or 16,000 hours experience.
Professional geological practice
Professional geological practice is work performed at a professional level that requires the application of professional knowledge, principles, and methods to geological problems through the exercise of individual initiative and judgment in investigating, measuring, interpreting, and reporting on the physical phenomena of the earth. Implicit in this definition is the recognition of professional responsibility and integrity and the acknowledgment of minimal supervision.
Professional geological work specifically does not include routine activities such as drafting, sampling, sample preparation, routine laboratory work, or core logging, where the elements of initiative, scientific judgment, and decision making are lacking; nor does it include activities which do not use scientific methods to process and interpret geologic data.
Alternative experience credit
- Each year of graduate study counts as 1 year of training, up to a maximum of 2 years.
- Geological research or teaching at the university or college level is credited year for year if, in the judgment of the board, it is comparable to experience obtained in the practice of geology or a specialty.
Personal reference
An applicant must be of good moral and ethical character, as attested to by 2 references.
Examination requirements
Applicants must have passed the National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG) examination, or a geologist examination acceptable to the board. If applying for specialty licensing, you must have passed the specialty examination.
Reciprocity applicants
Applicants requesting licensure through reciprocity must obtain certified proof from the state where they are licensed.
The Geologist Licensing Board will recognize your out-of-state geologist and specialty license if your qualifications meet the Washington state requirements outlined in WAC 308-15-060.
If you are applying for a specialty geologist license, you must also have passed a specialty geologist examination adopted by, or acceptable to, the board.
NOTE: The California Board for Geologists and Geophysicists and the Washington State Geologist Licensing Board have agreed to cooperative licensure. That means that hydrogeologist and engineering geologist exams, whether taken in California or Washington, will be accepted by both states.
For candidates with transcripts from schools outside of the United States or Canada
Your transcripts must undergo a course-by-course evaluation by a board-approved evaluation service. A translation of your transcript or a general evaluation is not adequate. An official copy of the evaluation must be sent directly to the board office by the evaluation service. You may choose from the following approved evaluation services: