LANS - Birmingham university

[mumtimestwo]

Hi
We have just been to the Birmingham open day and sat in on the LANS talk - liberal arts and natural sciences course. I didn’t know what to make of it but my YP seems really keen. I just wondered if anyone had any views on it.
do employers want a breakdown of all topics studied for example as I think it would look ‘odd’ if your transcript said you had an msc in physics but it broke down to
physics A
Physics B
Physics C
etc
Drama
Politics

Birmingham is not an ideal location for us- we’re mainly looking at more Northern unis - but if it were a good course to do- or if there were similar courses elsewhere that would also be good to know.

thanks!

Employers never ask to see a transcript

Your degree certificate wouldn't say Physics if you'd done a load of non-Physics modules (And it wouldn't say MSc either if you did a bachelors!)

It'll say Lib Arts and Nat Sci. Possibly with something in brackets like (with competency in Physics).

Problem is it qualifies you for nothing specific. Which might be ok as a 17 year old not having a particular focus, but as a 20-something who discovers their life passion and future career is Organic Chemistry may well struggle to get into an MSc.

It depends also on what modules you choose/3 or 4 year course etc whether you get BA, BA, MA, Msci.
I quite like it, you could do just various science, chemistry modules

It depends also on what modules you choose/3 or 4 year course etc whether you get BA, BA, MA, Msci.
I quite like it, you could do just various science, chemistry modules

Well they said if you majored (75%+) in a specific subject and did the 4 years it would say MSC NatSci (physics)
but yes it was a bit of a worry to me that you could pick and mix and end up with nothing substantial!

I’ve copied this from their website.

To qualify for MSci Natural Sciences, you need to complete 440 credits of the total 480 credits (120 credits per year) in scientific subjects – at least 100 of these credits should be achieved at Masters level in your final year.

So where does the LA come in then if you can only take 40 credits in non-sci modules? Or are they two different courses? I hadn't realised that - thought it was all one degree.

I have a DC interested in the Birmingham LANS course. Obviously the draw is that, potentially, you can have a mix of subjects in a ratio that appeals to you.

However, as OP flags, in this case you have to guard against shifting it unintentionally from NatSci to LANS on the degree certificate and diluting the Phys element so that it is less meaningful to prospective employers and the student themselves.

Another aspect to consider is that there are compulsory LANS units in Y1 & Y2, potentially 'squeezing' space between 'core Phys' (in the case of OP's DC) and the LANS units. That said, the LANS units look very interesting their own right and are design to bind the LANS cohort together, which is a particular attraction of Birmingham's approach.

With reference to prospective employers' reactions, it is for applicants to make the case that their degree makes them different in a good way. At the very least, successfully completing a 'composite' degree requires a strong independent spirit and fantastic time management skills!

There are several northern unis offering NatSci in various forms (Durham, York, Leeds, Lancaster off the top of my head). These tend to be more structured to ensure prerequisites are covered off and have limited/no scope for non-scientific modules.

UCL has a highly regarded BASc course. Note sire about content though

@titchy i think you can totally specialise or you can mix and match. You don’t have to do any arty stuff if you don’t want to. You could do natural sciences alone or arts alone.

@PerpetualOptimist
thanks yes we are booked in to do Lancaster , Leeds and Durham. I just wondered if Birmingham were the only one to do this wide mix and matching

Dd has just finished A levels and the LANS course at Birmingham is her firm choice on UCAS. She wants to study natural sciences mainly, and graduate with a BSc, but the possibility of trying out some completely different subjects in her first and second year really appealed to her. She loved the look of the natural sciences course at Nottingham too, which offers a breadth of subjects, but not the option to take any in the humanities, languages or social sciences field. A friend of her older sister has just finished her second year on LANS and has confirmed that there is also quite an extensive cultural and sports programme organised for the LANS students which also appeals.

Hi OP, Birmingham LANS is the only one I have come across that genuinely encompasses LA and NS - but other variants may exist as suggested above re: UCL.

However, a couple of points to note is that Birmingham and Lancaster cast the definition of science quite broadly and so units such as, say, Human Geog, would not dilute NatSci status.

In addition, another way to look at all this is to take a single honours degree (in this case Physics MSci) but throw yourself into the Drama Soc, learning a language, and/or other subject societies to get a really varied uni experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the Architecture Soc at my uni even though it was not related to my degree.

I suspect NatSci for a physic bod would really appeal if they are already aware that they want to explore the interface between, say, Phys and Chem or Phys and Bio.