Geography degrees help!

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We know nothing about geography but ds2 (lower 6th) more or less taught himself geography off the internet on a series of “research benders” (as he calls them). This was something he much preferred to his schoolwork. He didn’t like the way geography was taught years 7-9 so dropped it at gcse.

on 6th form open day I saw the geography room and thought “this is where he belongs” and they let him take geography as a 4th A level. Turns out the A level approach is much more suited to his independent mindset and he’s had fabulous feedback at parents evening (much more than with other subjects) and predicted A*s.

Now he has finally found a bit of school he really likes he wants to study geography at Uni but I can’t get my head round the topic - it seems to be so many things at once compared to other subjects. We don’t know where to start.

any pointers appreciated.

Watching with interest as we need to stay looking at this too - my DS is also very interested in geography (and computer science!).

I think in a Geography degree you can focus on human or physical geography so it might be worth looking at the module options available at the uni he's interested in. Earth Sciences looks like another interesting degree - that seems to have a geology focus.

Now he has finally found a bit of school he really likes he wants to study geography at Uni but I can’t get my head round the topic - it seems to be so many things at once compared to other subjects. We don’t know where to start.
I don't understand. He knew where to start during KS4, why can't he carry on with his investigations.
Speak to the teacher who thinks he is A*, I'm sure that he would love to encourage DS into a Geography degree.

im not being rude but I don’t understand your question? Are you asking what can he do with the degree or what does he do IN the degree as such? I had a quick Google and there’s a few different types of geography degrees (some are physical and some are human, there’s some with economics too) but generally they pick a specialism in the final year of those degrees so they do a bit of everything and then choose where they wanna go as such.HTH

My degree many years ago was in geography. You can take the human or physical path. Physical being close to the sciences. Human being more like social sciences. I did a bit if both in my degree.

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I signed up for geog degree only knowing that it had potential to give me a career doing something about improving environment, climate change issues or habitat preservation, that kind of thing. It's actually a degree that can go off in a huge number of directions (I found out). I write technical reports nowadays for a living, data science as much as anything else.

Find a degree course with a broad subject base in the first year and the capacity to combine or specialise in human or physical geography once you have a clearer idea of your interests. I started out with a geog/geology/ environmental biology bias and ended up focusing on 16th century portolan charts, Native American Indian strip maps and Malthusian population distributions!

Mind you, I then joined the civil service!

Broadly speaking, geography is the study of why things vary across the earth's surface (eg 'physical' features: why are there mountains here and rivers there? eg 'human' features: why are there economically prosperous areas here and economically deprived areas there?). The A-level syllabus covers both physical and human; most degrees cover both, though it is possible to specialise more in one than the other or, even, take a degree in just one or the other.

A geography degree can cover a huge array of often very topical issues (eg impact of climate change, regional inequalities) and encourages students to evaluate the inter-connections and implications of these. In my view (which will not necessarily be shared by others) courses that nurture statistical and coding skills, at least in some way, are likely to keep doors open to the widest possible range of future career paths.

Note that some courses with a high quantitative and/or physical geography element require at least one from a list of more quantitative A-levels (there is no common 'list'; it varies by uni). Degrees in International Relations overlap with some aspects of human geography and degrees in Geology and Civil Engineering overlap with some aspects of physical geography - so a 'natural' at A level geography may find their interests evolve and they may decide to apply for other types of degree course (obviously subject to the A level requirements of those degree courses).

Of course if he’s mostly interested in the environment, there is environmental science as a degree.

Options can change. Be careful about choosing a niche one. Lecturer might go on a sabbatical or maternity leave. It happens, Look at core subjects. Then look at options. Some careers are served well by what you choose other employers won’t care.

I have a 'Geography' degree. There are so many different fields that I think your DS needs to read about all the different options on university websites and decide what excites him most. It is not as simple as physical vs human. My degree encompassed both but in a very specific field.

Thank you!

I loved it, and it's gloriously diverse as a subject. I went on to study law afterwards but still regularly draw on knowledge from my degree in my job (relates to planning in particular)

Other friends went on to do teaching, research, campaign work, journalism, policy work

I'm a geographer. I loved it for it's diversity. I went to uni to study geography with economics and social science with a view to working in international development. I ended up focusing on urban geography and becoming a town planner.
I still love being out and bring able to look at the landscape and understand how it came to be like it is.

Most of my geography cohort ended up having to do a postgraduate course of some kind to get a job. Most of us seemed to work in geographical information systems, planning, social work, teaching or academia. That was a while ago though. Might be worth looking at the destinations of their graduates.

Regarding degrees, most universities will offer geography! He needs to receive his predicted grades for all subjects first. Then he can put them into the website Unifrog - this will show him 'stretch uni' options, solid options and insurance options. Where he applies mainly depends on his grades, but also, he needs to think about whether he wants a campus uni; city, small town or remote location - where does he see himself living?

But as a general pointer -

• Most unis offer geography courses that start 'broad' (ie human and physical topics) and then they specialise later, depending on what modules they take and the dissertation topic.

• Required grade profiles would be A star A, A minimum for Oxbridge and Durham and maybe a few others.

• LSE offer a purely human geography course (AAA). I think also Lancaster offer a purely human course.

• University of Bath do not offer geography, but have a course called 'International Development with Economics' (AAB) which is basically human geography when you look at the modules.

• Some unis offer the option of a placement year / overseas study year. Off the top of my head, Bristol, UCL, Bath and Exeter (?) all offer this.

• Bristol uni course has strong emphasis on quantitative methods

• There are also Scottish unis but degrees there are 4 years long which may not appeal to everyone.

• If you look on Complete Uni Guide and search under 'Geography BA' you will see the courses ranked. This will give you an idea of which are more competitive. I think Cambridge is No. 1 for geography, followed by Oxford and then maybe LSE, UCL, Durham?

• I don't think Warwick offer geography.

• Loads if other options if his predictions aren't all A star As. Southampton, York, Leeds etc. Depends where he wants to be?

As others have said, it's a very diverse and dynamic course with a good mix of literacy and statistical skills that are attractive to employers.

Thank you thank you. Incredibly helpful stuff.

Special thanks to 2thebluechemist