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Geography applicants for 2013 entry

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Original post by student1234567891
Gosh guys, I'm reading all of your posts and thinking I can't believe that was me one whole year ago! Time has passed so rapidly - last year I was panicking about university offers (those UCAS track emails really are the worst) and now I'm awaiting A2 results. One thing I would say is to pour your passion onto the page when you're writing that personal statement, because it is the key to opening the offers door :wink: I'm excited for you guys cos that thrill of receiving coveted offers is only around the corner. Good luck everyone!


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Thankyou :smile: x
Original post by Bulbasaur
Agreed with what you guys are saying with Edexcel. At A2 it looks pretty good though. But definitely at AS with the horrible time limits I've had to use a lot of exam technique to get good grades. I remember in my Unit 2 exam in january (Geographical investigations) I probably only wrote one page for most answers (they gave you two), because they expect you to write 6 essays in 1hr 15 minutes (used to be 1hr, which is ridiculous). I tend to think a lot before writing what I want so that what I write is as good as it could be and I don't just ramble on waffling, and I think a lot of other people are like this as well. It sucks but it's all over with now so we can forget about it.

Throw in an example/pointless statistic for every point you make- even if it's tedious - and you'll do well. That's the message they tend to be sending out...


I think a lot before writing too - the structure would be all over the place if i didn't. 1hr 15 mins for 6 essays is awful!
I agree with the statistics though, i get really annoyed with it as i find it difficult to remember numbers, but hey ho if that's what gets the marks then that's what we have to do :smile:
Reply 102
Hey guys, i thought i'd join this thread, as I am hoping to apply to LSE for BSc geography with economics (geography Major), depending on my results (fingers crossed), I may also apply to another university for a BSc/BA geography (I'm mainly thinking Sussex, UCL, or Birmingham (havent decided yet)

I also did edexcel, and i had to resit my january module because i just scraped a B, and i quite simply cannot write fast at all. I didnt even finish the last two questions in my unit 2 exam in Jan!! The June exams were much easier though i thought. :smile:
Reply 103
Original post by student1234567891
Gosh guys, I'm reading all of your posts and thinking I can't believe that was me one whole year ago! Time has passed so rapidly - last year I was panicking about university offers (those UCAS track emails really are the worst) and now I'm awaiting A2 results. One thing I would say is to pour your passion onto the page when you're writing that personal statement, because it is the key to opening the offers door :wink: I'm excited for you guys cos that thrill of receiving coveted offers is only around the corner. Good luck everyone!


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Thanks for your advice, hope you meet your Durham offer :smile: If I'm lucky enough there's a chance I might even be there a year later haha.
It was Durham, right? XD

Original post by Ellie_May :)
I think a lot before writing too - the structure would be all over the place if i didn't. 1hr 15 mins for 6 essays is awful!
I agree with the statistics though, i get really annoyed with it as i find it difficult to remember numbers, but hey ho if that's what gets the marks then that's what we have to do :smile:


Don't worry about it, most of my statistics were made up. Examiners don't get paid enough to be bothered to look up if statistics are accurate, so they give you the benefit of the doubt :tongue: And even if they don't allow it, nothing's lost.

Original post by AH95
Hey guys, i thought i'd join this thread, as I am hoping to apply to LSE for BSc geography with economics (geography Major), depending on my results (fingers crossed), I may also apply to another university for a BSc/BA geography (I'm mainly thinking Sussex, UCL, or Birmingham (havent decided yet)

I also did edexcel, and i had to resit my january module because i just scraped a B, and i quite simply cannot write fast at all. I didnt even finish the last two questions in my unit 2 exam in Jan!! The June exams were much easier though i thought. :smile:


Sounds good :smile: I always thought the geography with economics course looked really good at LSE but I haven't got any prior experience of economics so I'm not sure if I'd be that good/interested in it. Plus I live in London so I'd prefer not to stay here xD Those 3 are all very good unis for geography, you can't go wrong with any of them. I think if you're applying for economics mostly (that's what it seemed like from your post) then BA geography would fit in a lot more, and would make writing your personal statement easier.

Yeah, I remember the coasts questions in Jan were quite bad, not sure if you did that or not. I did unit 1 in June and I thought as a paper it was quite horrible actually. The essay questions were good but some of the short answer ones were dodgy as hell, harder than any past papers we'd done. At least you're confident with it though. Just hoping for lower grade boundaries xD
Reply 104
^^ Yeah Im applying mostly economics :smile:

Yeah I do agree that a couple of the short questions werent ideal, but i think i scored atleast 3 marks on every question (apart from the 1 mark ones, which were very confusing)... I had no exams for 4 days before my geography exams, so i revised like hell for it!! And Im sure everybody all ways hopes for low grade goundries :wink:
Reply 105
Original post by AH95
^^ Yeah Im applying mostly economics :smile:

Yeah I do agree that a couple of the short questions werent ideal, but i think i scored atleast 3 marks on every question (apart from the 1 mark ones, which were very confusing)... I had no exams for 4 days before my geography exams, so i revised like hell for it!! And Im sure everybody all ways hopes for low grade goundries :wink:


Cool, what unis are you looking at, just out of curiousity? XD

Ah brilliant. And yeah, some of the 1 markers were weird. Just another way for them to trip us up I guess. And true, but this time we (or at least me and my class it seems) need them :P
Reply 106
Original post by Bulbasaur
Cool, what unis are you looking at, just out of curiousity? XD

Ah brilliant. And yeah, some of the 1 markers were weird. Just another way for them to trip us up I guess. And true, but this time we (or at least me and my class it seems) need them :P


So far, it seems that Nottingham, Bristol and Liverpool seem like the ideal choices for me, but it does all depend on the grades as my maths exams (both stats and PC2) went terrible, more so PC2. I litterally gave up on the paper half way through it... :frown: I am just hoping for extremely low grade boundries on the AQA maths :biggrin:

I've been told that applying to just 1 or 2 (top) unis like LSE or UCL for geog and economics migh harm my chances, as they would be put of by the fact that my course choices make it seem that it isnt my first choice???

(If i do get an offer for LSE or UCL then i would take it in a split second as i just love London, and ofcourse its LSE!)
Original post by Bulbasaur
Thanks for your advice, hope you meet your Durham offer :smile: If I'm lucky enough there's a chance I might even be there a year later haha.
It was Durham, right? XD


haha thanks, i'm praying! THREE WEEKS TODAY :eek: good luck, choose Durham, its 13th in the world for geog!
Reply 108
Original post by AH95
So far, it seems that Nottingham, Bristol and Liverpool seem like the ideal choices for me, but it does all depend on the grades as my maths exams (both stats and PC2) went terrible, more so PC2. I litterally gave up on the paper half way through it... :frown: I am just hoping for extremely low grade boundries on the AQA maths :biggrin:

I've been told that applying to just 1 or 2 (top) unis like LSE or UCL for geog and economics migh harm my chances, as they would be put of by the fact that my course choices make it seem that it isnt my first choice???

(If i do get an offer for LSE or UCL then i would take it in a split second as i just love London, and ofcourse its LSE!)


Oh bad luck. I've heard AQA Maths is pretty hard, I do edexcel which is by far the easiest apparently, my C2 exam was a breeze.

I havent seen Liverpool but I have seen the other two. Bristol I really liked a lot, I think I'd take that above notts but both are brilliant. I'm applying to both, guessing you are too?

If your personal statement is mostly economics based it'll be fine I'd think.

Ucl and Lse are supposed to be amazing for economics anyways so that's a wise choice.


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Reply 109
Original post by student1234567891
haha thanks, i'm praying! THREE WEEKS TODAY :eek: good luck, choose Durham, its 13th in the world for geog!


It's all coming around so soon :s-smilie: I'm sure you'll meet it though.

Guessing you're referring to this? http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012/subject-rankings/arts-humanities/geography/
For some reason Manchester is higher than Durham, even though domestically it's 18th for geography... international tables are weird. I think it sounds better to say Durham is 4th for geography in the country (3rd for physical because LSE don't offer it) xD
And thanks, yeah, it's definitely the one I want to go to when I get my inevitable rejection from Cambridge :P I just hope I don't get rejected from both.
Original post by Bulbasaur
It's all coming around so soon :s-smilie: I'm sure you'll meet it though.

Guessing you're referring to this? http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012/subject-rankings/arts-humanities/geography/
For some reason Manchester is higher than Durham, even though domestically it's 18th for geography... international tables are weird. I think it sounds better to say Durham is 4th for geography in the country (3rd for physical because LSE don't offer it) xD
And thanks, yeah, it's definitely the one I want to go to when I get my inevitable rejection from Cambridge :P I just hope I don't get rejected from both.


Oxford slipped down to third on complete university :rolleyes:

[edit: but apparently it is also the best in the world on the other one. eh dont trust these :tongue:]
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 111
Original post by DavidCrow
Oxford slipped down to third on complete university :rolleyes:

[edit: but apparently it is also the best in the world on the other one. eh dont trust these :tongue:]


Yeah eactly, I mean as if LSE is better than Oxford... to be fair, maybe it is for certain courses. But for the vast majority I would hugely doubt it.
Reply 112
Sorry, i know this is a bit random, but, is Exeter in the middle of nowhere? I've been to devon multiple times on holiday but I wondered just how green the area around the university is and whether the city centre is far away. Thanks.
havent a clue, im going down there for the next open day. looking at google maps, exeter isent too bad (looks close to city centre) but the cornwall campus, which is where some of the geography is, looks in the middle of nowhere. might be worth going on to the exeter university forum and asling
Reply 114
Original post by BethCr
Sorry, i know this is a bit random, but, is Exeter in the middle of nowhere? I've been to devon multiple times on holiday but I wondered just how green the area around the university is and whether the city centre is far away. Thanks.


Original post by bluester
havent a clue, im going down there for the next open day. looking at google maps, exeter isent too bad (looks close to city centre) but the cornwall campus, which is where some of the geography is, looks in the middle of nowhere. might be worth going on to the exeter university forum and asling


I went to the Exeter open day so I think I can answer this.

I wouldn't say it's in the middle of nowhere, but I don't think you'd find much to do outside of the city (that was my perception). The university campus itself is beautiful - one of the greenest in the country and has the highest tree:student ratio :tongue: Apparently Nottingham is the greenest, but has less trees... anyways it's an awesome campus.
I'm not really sure where exactly the city centre was but it was definitely in the city, rather than on the outskirts. At least that's how it felt.

And yeah, Cornwall would be in the middle of nowhere (well, a town of 20,000 people) but it would probably be more fulfilling. They did a presentation for the cornwall campus and I think although it wouldn't be your typical student experience for 3 years, it seemed like you'd probably spend a lot more of your time outside and connecting with your surroundings (as corny as that sounds :P) Its remoteness made it look really beautiful I think. But that's it- it is remote. It's a long way too, actually for me it would take longer to get to than Durham (I'm from London). So bear that in mind I suppose.
I've booked an open day for Exeters cornwall campus, but now thinking of booking one for the streatham campus as well. It's confusing as both campuses do BSc Geography.
I like cornwall. I'm a quiet person and feel more comfortable within smaller surroundings where I can get to know people easier. However streatham is also a beautiful campus and is closer to a city to do shopping etc. Not sure whether it's best for me to go to both campuses or not. I'm a twin so my parents are out on open days pretty much every week from sept-november!
hello! I'm new to this site and it's pretty exciting how everyone is so passionate about geography :smile:
I'm an international student thinking of studying geography in the UK as well, and sadly I haven't many opportunities to attend open days. you guys are really lucky!
Original post by geografreak
hello! I'm new to this site and it's pretty exciting how everyone is so passionate about geography :smile:
I'm an international student thinking of studying geography in the UK as well, and sadly I haven't many opportunities to attend open days. you guys are really lucky!


if you do get a chance to get to the UK and attend open days, make sure you look at the prospectuses and choose any unis you really want to go to, dont bother looking at a place if your not sure!!! try to group the open days together, hopefully you will find a good uni in the fantastic UK!!!!!!
Reply 118
Original post by geografreak
hello! I'm new to this site and it's pretty exciting how everyone is so passionate about geography :smile:
I'm an international student thinking of studying geography in the UK as well, and sadly I haven't many opportunities to attend open days. you guys are really lucky!


Yeah I'd say only look at unis that you're really interested in, and bunch the open days together as much as possible to avoid multiple trips to the UK and additional expenses, but you probably know about that :smile:

If you dont mind me asking, which part of the world are you from?
Original post by AH95
Yeah I'd say only look at unis that you're really interested in, and bunch the open days together as much as possible to avoid multiple trips to the UK and additional expenses, but you probably know about that :smile:

If you dont mind me asking, which part of the world are you from?


I'm from Singapore :smile: well I don't think I'll have enough time to go for open days in the uk! the system here is really different because we start school in jan. a levels are this december, I get my results in march and then hopefully I'll be off to a uni next sept in the uk! which means I have to start applying now. but it's alright because there are plenty of representatives from the various universities here. I suppose nothing beats seeing and touring the actual university though.

good luck with all your applications/ release of results!! :smile:

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