Future efforts to recruit the next generation of geoscientists would benefit from understanding what motivates students to succeed and what students hope to achieve in earning their degrees. In this work, we observe how introductory geoscience students' career motivations relate to their interest in geoscience. The research population of the study is 414 students, all of which were enrolled in an introductory geoscience course. There were a total of four courses surveyed from across two universities. Data analysis was conducted through various t-tests. To run a t-test based on student interest, we divided the students into two groups: students with higher interest and students with lower interest. Students who scored above the sample average, µ = 2.9 (with 1 being the lowest possible interest score and 7 being the highest possible interest score), were considered higher interest and all students under the sample average being lower interest. Out of the 15 career motivation questions asked, eight questions resulted in significantly higher results for higher interest students in comparison to lower interest students. In addition, we ran t-tests between different identity groups based on traditionally represented and traditionally underrepresented students within the geosciences (information collected included race/ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+ identity, and students with a disability). All identities were self-selected by the participants. Analysis based on identity resulted in several significant differences in different groups including race/ethnicity (3 significant differences), gender (3 significant differences), and LGBTQ+ identity (4 significant differences). Our work highlights how students with various interest levels and identities prioritize different career motivations. Understanding these differences amongst students can aid departments to better understand what students hope to accomplish through their participation in their course or program and can provide insight as to how to structure and change material to best serve the students within their programs.