Uni of Nottingham, Lancaster, Liverpool experiences for Geography.

[cptartapp]

DS has offers for all three to study Geography this September. The offers are AAB, AAB and ABB respectively. Realistically AAB would be the top of his game, ABB is more likely, or possibly even a C (maths!) very difficult to predict this year with such disrupted learning.
He is leaning on putting Liverpool as his insurance and either Notts or Lancaster as firm.
Has anyone any experiences of Geography at these uni's, or any thoughts of the likelihood of them accepting a dropped grade.

A friend of mine studied geog at Liverpool and has a fantastic experience, especially the field trip to California in final year!

I would think that something like geography probably has a big local element to it, eg Lancaster/Lake District.

So, what niche courses might interest your DS?

Lancaster has a good reputation for environmental research and they seem to put quite an emphasis on employability skills so I suspect their Geography degrees will be good. I undertake graduate recruitment and my observation is Liverpool are not at good at preparing their graduates for employment as Lancaster. I've not seen many Nottingham graduates to comment.

@cptartapp will PM you

I know several Nottingham geographers under 30. All have done very well in their chosen areas. Students don’t spend all their time doing field study. The Lake District nearby is not of any great interest to those looking at urban geography. So look at the courses and decide if he wants a bigger city which would be Nottingham. If he prefers a smaller place then Lancaster. From the grads I’ve seen, Nottingham does the job very well.

FWIW Nottingham generally considered more “prestigious” generally than Lancaster. That has to be balanced against specific course content- it really is worth drilling down in the websites to see what modules are on offer, and specific expertise etc

And balancing what you want out of the degree. The young people I know are doing hugely different careers.

@PresentingPercy

And balancing what you want out of the degree. The young people I know are doing hugely different careers.

Which is generally considered one of the main benefits of doing Geography as it covers aspects of politics, sociology, business, history etc and teaches skills employers want to see (research methods, dissertation etc)

Not sure that Nottingham is more prestigious overall than Lancaster at all. Lancaster has been consistently top 10 in recent years. Nottingham towards the lower end of the top 20.

Prestige not always about league tables though - it’s an X factor thing

My son graduated from Lancaster with environmental/ conservation degree..it is a fantastic Uni,great campus and highly recommended for all the environmental sciences . Son enjoyed every day at Lancaster but the only down side was that Lancaster is not a party city! He is now an ecologist.

Thanks all. Very interesting. I just wonder how flexible uni's will be this year with the A level grades after so much fragmented learning? How likely the more prestigious uni's will accept dropped grades.
Lots to think about.

My ds went to Nottingham although not to do geography. His offer was AAA but he got AAB and they still took him. He loves it there.

One thing I would say about Lancaster is that my friend's dd went there and could not believe how much it rained. She really hated that aspect. But we are from.East Anglia so used to it being dry.

I think a certain amount. These are not Oxbridge. It’s a case of choosing a firm that is a bit aspirational. So it’s a case of choosing between Nottingham and Lancaster as you have said. In the end it’s probably going to be smaller Lancaster or bigger Nottingham and more going on. Your DS will be fine on either course I’m sure. I know quite a few dc who have been to Nottingham for a variety of subjects - from London and SE, but not a single one at Lancaster. So is Lancaster less favoured by those in the South? Not sure.