Student Experience: Catherine Rowley

“My father initially piqued my interest in this program. He worked for several years in the oil and gas industry, and he thought this would be something I would like. After learning more about what takes place in the different fields in which you can apply GIS, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try it out. 

“I would definitely recommend this program to other students who are interested in a technical field but don’t feel that standard computer courses are their cup of tea. I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time that I’m hooked. 

“The most important thing I’ve learned during my college education is that you really need to learn to budget time appropriately. Learn to set priorities, or you’ll become overwhelmed and fall too far behind. Take time at the beginning of the semester to plan out a schedule that will work best for you so you’ll have plenty of time to complete homework and study, and set aside time to relax. 

“So far, the best part of my Dallas College experience is the instructors. They really take time when you need it to explain the material and help you with new ideas and concepts. Since this is a totally new field for me, I’m especially grateful for the help I’ve received along the way. 

“In a perfect world, I would like to hold a position using GIS in a market research environment. Collecting information about a company’s products (who buys them, how often they buy them, which products sell more than others) seems like an interesting line of work.” 

Catherine Rowley graduated with an associate degree and a certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Brookhaven. She completed a bachelor’s degree in geographic information systems from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2013. She works as a GIS analyst at Halff Associates.

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