Geography/Earth Sciences Degree

[starfleet]

I'm trying to fish for info for DS. He has decided that he wants to do either a Geography/Earth Sciences/Geosciences degree at uni.

He is in Yr 12 and he has started looking at unis and registering interest for open days.

If you have DC's who are doing/have applied for this type of course what kind of typical offer did they receive and where do they study.

Uni's he is looking at:-
Manchester/Sheffield/Leeds/Newcastle/Durham/Liverpool/York

Any info would be most helpful. Ta.

[MOIST]

DD is doing Geography and geology but did IB so I have no idea what the A level offers were. She didn't do chemistry at IB and has struggled with the geology because of this. So if he's interested in geology tell him to keep the chemistry A level.

[stonecircle]

Millepede - I give up with league tables. I've been telling DS that every league table I've looked at shows Southampton significantly higher than Nottingham for physics. On Saturday we were shown 2 league tables - one which put Nottingham really higher for physics and one which put it second in terms of employer preference 🤔

[MiladyThesaurus]

You should ignore the league tables. They're absolute nonsense.

[EnormousTiger]

My son (geog) currently has A*AA offers from Durham and Bristol - his preferences, and I think AAA Exeter and Nottingham can't remember but probably AAB. My 5 children pick the best instituation they can get in based on where the highest paid jobs recruit from (although have not tried oxbridge) although have certainly looked at what might be good for a particular subject in passing. My daughter did Geog BSc (chemistry, economics and geog and physics AS s) and my son did geog, history, economics and music AS and I think is mostly apply for BAs.

[EnormousTiger]

I agree consider ignoring some of the league tables as some of them are fairly dubious.

[Millipedewithherfeetup]

Agree that the league tables should not be all that's looked at when deciding on a course or a university, but must admit, it did help my dd final decisions on her 1st and insurance choices.

[homebythesea]

Absolutely agree re Nottingham accommodation- DS had his finger over keyboard the moment the website was open for applications!

[EnormousTiger]

My second daughter read Geography (BSc) Nottingham and then did 2 years post grad law in London after and is a London lawyer. In fact two lawyers on a law course I gave recentyly both had read law at Nottingham and not met since then until the course and they were both at good law firms in London, although Oxbridge and probably a few others are a bit ahead of Nottingham in terms of which universities are best. Even so it's a good one. My daughter liked the campus (and Bristol/Durham had rejected her anyway) and says it was the best 3 years of her life. (I don't like the town particularly or the place but it's fairly easy to get to from most places and it is one of my twins' 5 choices this year on their UCAS form).

[homebythesea]

Employability stats from Notts Geog are v High which is one of the reasons DS chose it. They also have compulsory employability skills modules in each year which I think is fairly unique

[CottonSock]

I combined geography with environmental science for lower offer. I actually much prefered it in the end to geography

[quietlycrazy]

CottonSock what did you end up doing after? DD2 has just been offered a place to do environmental science with geology for next year. The course looks amazing, but I'm curious about what people do after.

[EnormousTiger]

I am never quite sure about employability stats though as that might mean very low paid not very good jobs so the stats can be a bit confusing.

[InformalRoman]

quietlycrazy That degree could set you up for working as an environmental consultant - could work in land quality assessment, environmental impact assessment, environmental management, waste management, hazard assessment, renewables, due diligence etc.

[quietlycrazy]

Interesting -- though to be honest I don't see her doing any of those, but who knows!!!

[InformalRoman]

But a degree doesn't need to lead to a directly related field - some of my contemporaries on a geoscience degree became lawyers, management consultants, expedition leaders, and one became a vicar (although I remember him being not at all vicar like at uni).

[homebythesea]

We were told geographers are desirable in apparently unrelated fields because the course involves research, essay writing, practical skills, presentations, analysis etc and covers a wide variety of areas including economics, politics, sociology, environment, planning etc.

[Ohtobeskiing]

My ds did oceanography at Southampton which he loved - has your ds considered that? It can be combined with geography or geology I think.

[Pinkpillow]

My son is doing geoscience at Durham - offer of AAB, but knows some got in with a dropped grade.
For what it's worth, he loves the course (only decided on it in last year of school having changed from biology courses), has very good employment prospects and loves Durham. Happy as a pig in a poke!

[EnormousTiger]

AAB Durham geoscience v A*AA (my son) offer for Durham (and Bristol) geography. That is a massive difference in grades.

[AmazingDisgrace]

Daughter is doing BA Geography at QMUL. They usually offer at AAB but her offer was BBB. RHUL offered ABB, Newcastle AAB and Brighton BBB.

She's loving her course

[Goldnick]

Lincoln is launching a Geography degree this year, fab place to be a student. Worth a look?

[homebythesea]

goldnick with the best will in the world Lincoln is not in the same league as the establishments in the OP and to go into a non tried and tested course would be a high risk strategy in my view- and I know courses have to start somewhere, but I would be steering my own DC to a course with a track record to compare with others.

[Goldnick]

I appreciate what you're saying, but the OP was suggesting institutions within a certain geographical location, and it's worth considering insurance options also.

[stonecircle]

Gold nick - I think if someone is choosing solid RG type universities as in the op, they'd be very unlikely to put somewhere like Lincoln as an insurance.

[starfleet]

Thanks for your input all.

Although the universities DS has looked are mainly northern it's the actual course/content that is of interest to him. I would encourage him to look a bit further afield but he is quite sure at the moment these are the one he wants to look at.

Once he's been to the various open days he may change his mind and be open to looking at others.