Brendan Howe combined commerce with his science degree at the Australian National University in case he was unable to find a job in science on graduating.

Now he is an exploration geophysicist at one of the biggest gold mining companies in the world. "I wanted a backup - a safe bet for a degree, so I chose to combine science with commerce," he says. "But there are no regrets there. Commerce was good as it taught me a lot of practical life skills regarding money, markets, and business."

Howe graduated with a BSc (Hons)/BComm in 2006. He chose to study at ANU because he "wanted a degree from an internationally respected university".

During his studies, he won a South Africa-Australia Scholarship sponsored by Barrick Gold to conduct research into platinum exploration. He did fieldwork at one of the company's South African sites. "An additional component of my scholarship was to visit different South African geological sites, universities, and science centres with the goal of encouraging cross-country mineral research collaboration," he says.

He now works for Barrick Gold, collecting and interprets geophysical data in the hunt for new deposits of the precious mineral in Australia and the Pacific.

"Studying at ANU gave me fantastic fundamental skills and knowledge combined with fantastic opportunities," he says.

He ranks among the best aspects of the course "the hands on prac work, flexibility within degrees, and getting involved with social groups". "I was the president of the Geology Society for three years and it provided me some of my best university memories," he says.

"The lecturers all loved what they did, were passionate and articulate and instilled that same passion and yearning to understand in their students. Additionally, you are given many options to make contacts with industry, which help immensely when looking for work."