Which university for geography

[samosamimosa]

Dd loves geography, physical and human. She's thinking about human geography for university,mainly because she thinks it's more challenging than physical which she finds easier.

Any idea what the predicted grades are likely to look like samosa?

Placemarking.
DS1 looking at A,B,B hopefully. Lancaster?

Cardiff.

The modules for geography vary considerably from uni to uni. Only some offer a purely human degree. Best bet is to look at the courses on the websites to see which she likes best and then start narrowing down from there.

Most courses are a mixture of both with a slant towards one or the other (usually in a years 2 and 3) which determine whether you end up with a BA (mainly for human slanted degrees) or a BSc (more for physically slanted degrees). Often you apply for one but the first year is similar or even identical and you don't have to make a firm decision which way to lean until later in your degree. This sounds as if it would be ideal for your DD.

A few places offer them as stand-alones (i.e. BA Human Geography / BSc Physical Geography). Lancaster is one, Royal Holloway, QMUL, Coventry, Reading, Leicester and quite a few of the Welsh universities are some of the ones which do this.

Liverpool have a course focusing on human Geog.

There are loads of great courses.

DS is a current geog applicant.

cp - with ABB, he could have a go at Exeter maybe, if he doesn’t mind being at the Penryn campus (in Cornwall)? They offer a 4-year BA with the option for an international placement in year 3 or study abroad.

University of Kent offer similar, (I think) - ie they include a year abroad - and that could be a good insurance as it think they might be asking for mainly Bs.

KCL do a great Geog BA (I think it’s AAB there potentially, although that might be the contextual offer).

Sussex and Southampton do great courses as I remember.

Another one is Bath. Great uni and in the top 10 these days. They don’t do Geography, but they offer International Development with Economics (which is basically similar modules to those you find on a human geog degree). There is a placement in Year 3, either at home or in far flung places such as New Zealand. Or I think you can attend a uni overseas in that year. The requirement is AAB, but if you have a relevant EPQ at A or above, the offer is ABB. You don’t need to have done Economics A-level.

Also, Bristol are normally AAA, I think, but they do make contextual offers. It’s more of a Physical Geog course there though - lots of stats and looked quite science-orientated.

I guess weigh up if they want a campus uni or not. All of the above are, except Bristol and obviously KCL.

LSE is a fully human geog course, but it’s AAA minimum and they are not flexible about this, by all accounts.

@quest1on

Any idea what the predicted grades are likely to look like samosa?

Sorry I should have said. Somewhere wanting As would probably be achieveable/a realistic target

LSE then!

Bristol is a BSc. There are compulsory quantitative modules in year 1 and 2. However after the intro of both physical and human in year 1, which is similar to many other highly ranked places, you can choose to go the human route (or physical route, or a combination) from year 2. There is a video explaining the structure on the virtual open day on the website. Maths A level not required for the quant modules, which were explained by current students as stats and data analysis, which seem like good skills for a CV these days.

My son did BSc Bristol although quite a few of his modules were in my uneducated view quite human rather than science although he did a fair bit of the science type ones too. His A levels were geography, economics and history AAA and that was his offer from Bristol which he met (and Music AS). He finished this summer.
So don't be put off by some BScs, you can do a fair bit of human in those.

Bristol is lovely and they do do contextual offers although none given here as I have busted a gut to work full time without a break even for babies since 1983 to pay school fees.... we reap what we sow I suppose in life.

It is a shame that applications are so remote and difficult these days. A few years ago DS was looking at doing Human Geography and went to an Open Day at Bristol. The chap they had doing the talk was one of those up-himself types who went on about not liking the Physical side of the Department and getting on better with the Biology Department.
It sounded like a mess of inter / intra Departmental politics and ego wars. DS decided that if the bloke was the best spokesperson the BA degree could come up with then he were better off out of it.
You can't get those personal insights by looking at a marketing brochure.

A Human Geography degree should be fascinating at the moment with Covid, the Northern Powerhouse, the transformation of life by the internet, the shift in housing requirements (wfh, gardens), the future of international trade, climate change, etc, etc.

I would highly reccommend that she spends some time checking out syllabuses - human geography at degree level is a very different subject to what you study in A Levels. More like place-based sociology really.

As others have said, most uni geography courses will offer the same course for BA/BSc in Year 1, so she can get a taste for both, then can choose which she wants to specialise in for Yrs 2 & 3.

Some universities will do a Human Geography or Physical Geography course, some will just do Geography but you decide during your studies if you do a BA or BSc (human or physical).

I did Geography and in our first year you had 50% human and 50% physical modules. You indicated if you thought you wanted to pursue human or physical when you applied but everyone did the same first year, apart from one trip. You then confirm if you want the BA or BSc at the end of the first year and focus on human or physical modules for the second and third years. This gives you a chance to understand how human and physical geography are different at university level.

I didn’t mind human geography at A-Level but really didn’t enjoy the content at degree level. At degree level, as PP mentioned physical geography overlaps more with other sciences and maths.

Throwing in Edinburgh. Has options to take both physical and human geography courses in the first years and then to specialise later. Can leave with an MA geography which is human focused or a BSc for the physical side. Lots of opportunities for field work/years abroad etc.

Thanks, we've had a look and she's got a shortlist of three preferred ones now.

Dd has just started a human geography degree at Leeds. She much prefers the human side but did enjoy physical.

She applied to Leeds, Newcastle, LSE, UCL and Kings. She liked the units and options at all of them but LSE and Leeds were the only purely human options.

She got offers of AAA from LSE and Leeds and AAB or below from the others. She firmed Leeds in the end because she was anxious that LSE wouldn't take a dropped grade which was a wise choice as she got A A B in the end so may well have missed her place.

It's early days so I can't comment much on the course but she is already loving her topics. She is also doing a discovery module and she's chosen to do a politics course which should go well with the human geography.

There are too many variables with a geography degree, so first of all you need to look at the syllabus, and what modules there are. Then campus vs city.

Other considerations - cost of living. For example studying at the LSE will probably cost a good deal more than studying in Newcastle. Then the feel of a place. If you can at least try to visit the city or campus, even if open days aren't happening it will give a you a good idea whether you want to spend the next three or four years there. Both Bristol and Warwick sounded great on paper, but when we visited both DD didn't like either.

And finally, distance from home. DD is two hours away, which I am happy about in the current situation. Far enough to feel properly away from home, but near enough to go there and back in a day trip to take emergency food shopping when she cant get a supermarket delivery

Has she considered Durham?

There are too many variables with a geography degree, so first of all you need to look at the syllabus, and what modules there are.
YeahButNoBut. The first year modules are probably written in stone but after that it is more about the lecturers' pet subjects. All you need is a change of staff, or for someone to go on sabbatical / maternity, and the module disappears. It is best to go with the overall flavour of the department and not pin your dreams on something that may no longer be there when your time comes.

Mother of Geog graduate here!

Agree with PP who say that most Geog degrees start off 50/50 human and physical then split in 2nd and 3rd years. Other thing to look out for is opportunities for study abroad (post Covid??!). And yes Geog covers a whole host of disciplines from politics to sociology to business related issues. That’s it’s attraction. Geog graduates sought after by employers as the knowledge is wide and skills attractive. Look at graduate employment stats - always quite high for geography. It’s a great degree if the student doesn’t really have a particular career path in mind.

I’d add Nottingham to the list of places to look at, usually requires AAB

Look at the University of Exeter, Professor Ian Cook, professor of cultural/human geography. A friend's daughter went to Exeter and described him as inspirational. The course is based in Exeter which is a great university city - small enough to get to know, big enough to have fun.

Exeter does sound good but it's a bit too far away from home unfortunately, ditto Durham and Edinburgh. She says she wants to be near enough to home in case of Covid related complications continuing.

She's thinking of Bristol as her first choice, LSE looks good but she doesn't like big cities. She's going to look at Warwick but has some concerns about the views about women there which is putting her off.

That's good about the employment as she doesn't know what she wants to do with it except that she doesn't want to be a town planner. She love geography which is her main motivation.