Geography - Glasgow?

[Delphigirl]

Hi DS thinking about Geography at uni. Doing Geog Chem Biology. No idea how he will do in his A levels next year since his last proper exams were 11+. So he could get AAB or could get CCC on the day, I really don’t know. He needs a range but probably not Durham, St Andrew’s or Bristol for geography, realistically.
It seems to me that Glasgow might offer a good quality degree for a relatively low offer (BBB) if he went in on the BSc course, with added flexibility of the modular first year and option of 3rd year abroad. In fact it sounds too good to be true. Does anyone know if that is a good dept?
Also there is a course - marine Geography - at Cardiff which is highly regarded I understand, offers BBC and might fit well with his current thoughts of a career in the navy post uni. Any views on that?
Otherwise - Birmingham? Loughborough? Environmental geoscience offers ABB at Bristol but might be too much geology for him - any other high quality options he should look at do you think? Not Exeter penryn as he will want to do army/navy stuff at uni and you can’t do it there.
Many thanks!

DS2 in his final year of a geography BSc at Glasgow. He has really enjoyed it. Great variety of options and assessment a mixture of essays, labs, project work, group work rather than just reading and essay writing. He initially applied for another subject but took Geography and Earth Sciences as outside courses in first year and continued these into second year. Has enjoyed the field trips (although third and fourth year ones were cancelled because of pandemic). Says quality of online learning very good. Only downside has been the strikes but these have affected other unis too. You need to do human, physical and environmental in the first two years and there are some core courses in 3rd year but otherwise you can specialise. I think in normal years DS2 would have selected mainly physical/environmental courses but he switched to take human options this year which to his surprise he has liked.

DS2 says his English course mates also considered Southampton and Cardiff.

High quality course at Nottingham but I’ve not looked at grades. Is Glasgow 4 years though?

Everyone I know has done a 3 year degree and then a masters or further training. If Glasgow is 4 years, it’s adding time that could be more productively spent elsewhere. Geography degrees are very wide ranging and often further training is vital to follow an interest. A 4 year undergrad degree confers no obvious benefits regarding a career.

In addition to Nottingham, look at Manchester, Southampton, Liverpool, Cardiff and Sheffield. Check grades obviously!!

He could also look atEnvironmental Science if he’s interested in that. Cuts out the wide scope of Geography though.

Bristol might not be out of the question as they have about 40% schools on their contextual offers list so it might be worth checking if his school is on there.

www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/study/documents/aspiring-schools-2021.pdf

Another RG (if that is something that you want) that offers Geography at BBB for RUK students is Queen's Belfast. (DSS got in on BBD for a BBB offer).

I think students with A levels/Advanced Highers can get 2nd year entry to BSc at Glasgow. DS2 went after Highers at 17 so did 4 years.

Don’t most standard entrants from England do 4 years though in Scotland? All DDs friends did.

Agree second year entry is not so common but becoming more popular even for Scottish students who don't pay fees. Two of DDs flatmates started in second year.

I would suggest y2 entry of stay in Uk for Geography then. Leave a year for another course or training.

@PresentingPercy

Don’t most standard entrants from England do 4 years though in Scotland? All DDs friends did.

The English students I know at Glasgow are all doing the four year course. They partied a lot did enjoy the first year a lot and found it less intensive than they thought it would be. They study a range of subjects. I think that a lot of first year work covers some A level work so they ease into higher education. I think they are finding the third year much tougher though.

Thank you very much for your replies, really helpful! @ClerkMaxwell that is brilliant feedback from your DS. If he did A levels do you mind telling me what his offer was (although I appreciate he went in on another subject)? I think the first year sounds good because they can study 2 other modular subjects and may try something different which really sparks their interest, as seems to have happened with your DS. Glasgow only charges the English 3 years fees so going into 2nd year saves time but not money. I also wonder whether after these two very disrupted education years an extra year easing him into uni level study might not be a good thing. However there is def. an argument for saying a 4th year could be spent getting a masters as you say @presentingpercy. Lots to think about.

Re Bristol - not eligible for contextual offers I’m afraid. Environmental science I think might be too dry for him, but I will get him to look at a few courses carefully. Will also look at Nottingham which might be a good ‘stretch’ choice.

Anyone know anyone who might know about about marine science at Cardiff?

DS2 didn't do A levels. However I presume Glasgow have the same system for RUK students as Scottish one. They have a standard offer rate that if you meet you are guaranteed an offer and a minimum rate below which you won't get an offer (in between you need to wait and see how many applicants they have). They should publish this. DS2 says that his year has people who got in on clearing so they might go even lower. Worth checking out the other subjects he is interested in as outside subjects as some have specific grade requirements.

Thanks so much

I think a masters depends on interests sparked! Several of DDs friends did them. All went into very good areas of work they enjoy. Others are planners, surveyors, and teachers! Just so many things.

I think marine science is very niche. Like a sub set of biology or environmental science. I think it leaves no wriggle room. The great thing about Geography is the huge array of jobs available afterwards from towsn planning and surveying, to food sustainability and geology. Even oceanscience one suspects. At Oxford all of this is Geography!

What about Oceanography at Southampton

Another shout out for Oceanography (or Geography) at Southampton. They also tend to be flexible with grades on results day.

Oceanography also interests him - thanks jayritchie and myrtleberry.

At Glasgow they study 3 subjects in first and second year. This allows them to study more unfamiliar subjects but also helps them to develop different and interdisciplinary perspectives. Eg if you study economics, doing another course in stats or maths will help you with economics; if you do politics with economics, this will give you different perspectives again. I did this and ended up graduating with a subject that I'd never have chosen from school but which I got to do because of the broad degree structure in first year.

Science students can also study for a 5 year MSc (I think) with a placement year, so for employability this looks pretty good.

Is funding there for 5 years? For English students?

Glugg did you enjoy Glasgow as a city and a university?

Is funding there for 5 years? For English students?

www.gov.uk/student-finance/who-qualifies

Can't immediately see anything other than if the institution and type of course qualifies (University of Glasgow, yes and Batchelors / integrated Masters, yes), for the applicant's first degree at that level, the formula isn't the normal length of current course, plus one year, minus previous years of study?

I am not a geographer OP but have always understood Lancaster to be really highly regarded for Geography, more so than Loughborough. Completely objectively I would have thought Lancaster was in a more interesting part of the country, geography-wise, than Loughborough too!

Thanks piggywaspushed, I know nothing about Lancaster so I will have a look at it 👍

I can’t see him committing to an integrated masters at this stage, although he does want a year abroad so happy to look at 4 year courses. If he wants to do a masters we will look at that at the time and I think it is a good opportunity to go somewhere new, again maybe abroad. He won’t be accessing student finance so that isn’t a driver.

Lancaster does integrated masters so may be a good shout!

In terms of at least thinking about anyway.