Boomhauer, how about contacting a few professors at UGA/etc. directly? I think they might generally be more willing to spend some time talking with you and pointing you in the right direction. Perhaps you could even get your hands dirty with a research project.
Also, I would agree that doing a major in a basic science (bio, chem, phys) would be much more beneficial if you see yourself as wanting to go to grad school in the Earth sciences (remember that this field is not all about rocks! I don't know gneiss from schist, but I'm still definitely part of the geoscience community), especially for cross-disciplinary work, e.g. oceanography or atmospheric sci.