Geography

[cosmicpassages]

If you did a geography degree what did you do with it afterwards please?
Dd wants to do geography but doesn't want to do town planning or teaching but does want to use the geography in whatever job she ends up with but is concerned about how practical that will be.

Most degrees aren't vocational. I think it just a matter of getting a good degree from as good a university as you can get into and choosing something that will hold your interest for three years, within reason

I can speak from experience. Both my children studied geography at uni. It’s a wonderful subject and teaches transferable skills. My son has had a chequered career. His degree got him into the civil service working on the environment and transport but he is now a PrimarySchool teacher. My daughter followed Uni with an MA in Social geography. Her thesis was on the history of cinema and She then worked for ten years in PR for the largest film distribution company in this country. She is now Head of Communications for a charity.
If you love geography go ahead and take a degree in it. It is now a very wide subject and you can decide what you want to do with it when you get your degree.

Dd did a Geography degree, finished 3 years ago. Started on a grad scheme in Operations with the water board on good salary and is now on a permanent contract with them. Has worked in many different departments, gained so much knowledge and is happy. Feels she has a good career ahead of her and could move to other companies or work as a consultant in future. Good luck to your dd.

Placemarking for DS1.
Good uni's for Geography? Anyone have any experience of Lancaster, Liverpool, Nottingham?

Thanks for that useful info. We have Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Warwick and keele on our list.

Are we talking Physical Geography or Human Geography?

I have two friends whose dc went to Nottingham for Geography. One went on to do sustainable food security masters and is now a Tea Buyer. Has lived in China and India! The other is working for a global mining company on the geology team. My DH employs geographers who work on ground water management design for the urban environment.

Many of our geographer friends are planners! However this can lead to other careers within the private sector and some now work for large property portfolio holding companies and estate agents. Several are RICS qualified so being a Chartered Surveyor is also another route.

Several friends have gone into the civil service and Geography truly leads to many and varied careers. BA or BSc and course content need to be considered and interests develop whilst on the course. I would look at any links with industry and world leading organisations to enhance career prospects. Also a good careers service at university and visiting employers.

@senua

Are we talking Physical Geography or Human Geography?

Probably physical but she's also interested in politics and science (not that's she thought about combinations yet, just to give an idea of her interests) but she loves all geography, it's her passion so she could go either way depending on course content. Politics and human geography or science and physical geography would be the combination if she were to combine and not geography alone.

My husband did one and is now a senior environmental consultant for water resources for a large multinational consultancy firm.

Oh and she wants to do a BSc, MSc or MSci.

Regarding science and geography, there are certainly careers in sustainable development and environmental engineering.

Warwick don't teach traditional Geography, only "Global Sustainable Development".
At Cardiff, the two sides of Geography (Human / Physical) are split across two faculties (Geography & Planning / Earth Sciences) so you have to know where your interests lie when you apply

Those who have DC hoping to do geography, are they choosing physical or human geography leaning degrees or just 'geography' and then will look to specialise later in the course?

DD has friends who are at UCL, Durham, LSE and Exeter doing geography and are all very happy with their chosen courses. Do most universities offer field trips abroad? Where have those with children studying geography gone to on these field trips and have they been expensive/subsidised?

DD is hoping to study geography but we only know about the 4 universities above first hand as there have been no open days.

They all have info on line! Lots of it! They tell you about trips abroad. They will have info about costs and bursaries. There are even study abroad options. It’s best to start looking at the courses in, say, the top 15 universities. Look at what her results are likely to be, then look at entry standards. Look at core subjects, options that might be available and look at what grads actually get employment or go on to further education. Does the university have specialisms? What links do they have with prestigious organisations that interest your DD.

She might find she changes her mind about what interests her too. University is to open the mind and career choices can change radically.

Ds is doing BSc Geography and Environmental Science degree at Dundee Uni and course has been very flexible-he started studying MA but switched to Science faculty in 2nd year but he's even studied a module of Philosophy and Film in his first 2 years which he found very interesting and usually wouldn't have had chance to study these subjects
Within first 2 years his cohort studied a variety of physical and human geography options and then in Jnr Honours(3rd hear) break off into physical or human geography, completing their dissertation in Senior Honours/4th year
He's then planning on doing Msc/MRes in Ocean science/hydrology and hopefully go on to do consultancy work with environmental agency
I also studied MA Geography many moons ago ( mid 80's) just in middle of recession and very few job opportunities in my chosen field....so I then retrained as a Nurse! Most of my contemporaries did accountancy, teaching, and working with local councils

It’s quite difficult to be an individual consultant to anyone without a work portfolio first. He might not need long but usually experience is required for consultancy.

My son just finished his BSc at Bristol in Geography. He is going to be a lawyer and starts a law conversion course (GDL) next month. His older sister read Geography (BSc) at Nottingham and is a solicitor in London. However 50% of lawyers do read law for a first degree and if you that as I did then you avoid that extra year (and extra year of fees in most cases)

Thank you all. We're going to be doing a lot of online research, we have time as DD is not in 6th form until next year. She wanted to have a look before choosing A levels which seemed like a good idea as her alternative is nothing to do with Geoography. However we've now identified that she wants to do physical Geography, we just need to work out what set of A levels she picks for two possibly very different degrees!

What’s the alternative?

I’m always confused as to where Environmental Science fits into the jigsaw puzzle. DN wants to do this but I think it’s less flexible than Geography and isn’t offered as widely at top universities.

As far as Ds course goes he particularly likes the environmental science element of his degree over the pure geography aspects - has done a lot of digital surveying and GIS ...his dissertation is along the lines of using Oceanic satellite imagery/data in relation to global warming
Dundee is in top 15 in U.K. For Environmental Science ad he's has a great experience there and suits his learning style very well
www.dundee.ac.uk/undergraduate/environmental-science

but I think it’s less flexible than Geography and isn’t offered as widely at top universities.

By the very nature of things, it will be offered at top universities for Environmental Science, though. Which distinction potential employers will recognise, as it would be part of the holistic assessment of all applicants.

I did a geography degree which was more or less split evenly human/physical. I did it because I loved the subject and thrived at it, rather than thinking too much about a career. It is true that the common careers people think of is planning or teaching! The reality though is very different and any good course will also cover a section on careers to show the vastness.

I work in government on protected habitats and species in water management. I found doing an MSc afterwards allowed me to focus on what I worked out I liked the most (environmental water management) and was then a better position looking for a job! Some of my friends from my course now work in HR, PR, airline pilot, charities in third worlds, geologists, consultancies, planning and teaching.

I did Geography at Birmingham graduated 2007. I had wanted to work for the environment agency but with the 'credit crunch' jobs just weren't there. I worked in retail for a while at a management level but it wasnt for me. Moved into finance after having my eldest. One of the great things about geography lots of transferable skills

ON the questions on field trips my son had one abroad which I think was really really cheap (or perhaps it was even free) - this is Bristol. Also the weekend they started university there was a field trip in the UK away which was good for bonding with people on the course.

On BSc or BA etc my two went for BSc and the best university they could get into in terms of how hard it was to enter and which A level grades were highest and judged on that basis because that tends to help in career terms and tends to mean you are with people who are fairly similar academically.

On choices once on the course I have not looked at that as I left it to my children but I know my son who just finished his BSc seemed to do a mixture of modules and lots of interesting reading around the subjects including philosophy as well as the more scientific bits. It was a very interesting BSc at Bristol.

As Minnie says it was the same for my two - they loved the subject so did not pick it for a specific career. My son for A levels did geography, history and economics (and music AS). My daughter did geography, chemistry, economics (and physics AS).