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Bristol v Durham

Ahhh, yes the first assignment right at the start of the first year, where we had to go off and find 10 journal articles about something which we (at the time) knew nothing about. Only got about 6 articles and we had to do aperfect bibliography. I failed that assignment :frown:

(just)

Reply 41

Timothy

Rob24601

Obviously i've only been to Bristol so I can only comment on what it's like here, but as I understand it other unis slowly ease you into using and criticising academic papers, Bristol kinda just throws you in at the deep end. Which can be good or bad depending on which way you look at it.

At Durham we were reading (being told to) journals from basically the first lectures on each topic, and then citing them in our first pieces of work.... I think most are the same I imagine, trying to get you away from the "notes out a textbook" approach.

Reply 42

undiscovered

13

No, here at Nottingham we use core textbooks because they think we are too thick to read journals.

Not really.

Reply 43

arkbar

12

Neg. Rep?! Have angry Bristol students invaded the Geography forum?

Reply 44

Hullabaloo

1

I have the same dilemma Durham v. Bristol. Been to both open days and fell in love with Durham, my only reservation being the massive size of the department and the level of support you receive. The Bristol open day was not as great with there being no opportunities to see accommodation, however i felt the geo department there had a better feel to it and friendlier staff.
Decisions, decisions, decisions

Reply 45

AlexD

I have the same dilemma Durham v. Bristol. Been to both open days and fell in love with Durham, my only reservation being the massive size of the department and the level of support you receive. The Bristol open day was not as great with there being no opportunities to see accommodation, however i felt the geo department there had a better feel to it and friendlier staff.

When I was choosing I had the same problem, as I applied to places like UCL and Nottingham that had an intake of around 90 and then Durham with 200 was slightly scary, but, in all honesty being at Durham now I tend not to notice it.

On the support side you have your departmental personal tutor as well as academic tutors, who you see about four times through the year to discuss the course and 2nd/3rd year options and if you have any problems you can e-mail them and they'll ask you to come and see them. Also, you have your college personal tutor who you meet with when ever and have wine, cheese and quiz nights and go to formals with them etc, so there is plenty of support on offer.

Good luck with your choice, and where ever you go you will enjoy it, so good luck and have a good easter.

Reply 46

arkbar

12

Durhamite geographer bonus!

Reply 47

Timothy

We are taking over the world, slowly but surely we are taking it over...

Reply 48

suga_fly_77

6

bedouin

For me, ever since i visted Durham it has had a spell on me and i realised i was being silly considering Bristol, as i was purely doing it as i had this ridiculous idea that i wanted to go the "most prestigious" place i could manage. I call it Oxbridge syndrome

To be honest, I think the prestige of a university is an important factor that should definitely be taken into consideration when choosing which one to go to. When it comes to applying for various jobs, the higher the prestige of the uni u went to = the better chance you have.
Obviously you shouldn't go somewhere you think you'll be unhappy, but personally I would want to go to the best university I can get into.

Reply 49

Hullabaloo

1

Taking aside all other considerations about Durham and Bristol e.g. course details etc. Which university do people think has more prestige Durham or Bristol???

Reply 50

nicko88

I really don't think that there's much between them at all, and of course it depends what sort of field you want to get into. Often, if you're looking at something geographically specific, then further study will be needed and then that would be the more important factor than prestige at undergrad level....I would have thought anyway..

Reply 51

suga_fly_77

6

Durham and Bristol are on par, I think.

I think when it comes to employers, they're probably more likely to look at the overall prestige of the uni rather than its prestige for particular courses.

I would say Durham

I'd say they're roughly on a par, any percieved difference would be extremely subjective as opposed to being a kind of obvious fact like Cambridge being better than Wolverhampton.

Reply 54

Rach:)

1

Timothy

I would say Durham

Me too

Reply 55

Hullabaloo

1

Yay I've made my decision at last. DURHAM all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply 56

Fields

13

I'm at Durham, but I've just been looking on the Bristol website and their course looks far, far better than ours. As well as their lectures, they have 6 hours of practicals per week apparently, plus a week's residential course somewhere in their second term. They also apparently have tutorials and seminars and other exciting things.

Here, the practical and field element is poor to say the least. You get 4 half-arsed 'practical' sessions (some of which are merely lectures) over the course of your first year, then spend a few hours on a local beach/in Newcastle city centre (you even have to make your own way there on the train!) doing a thoroughly boring project you've had little or no guidance on. Meanwhile, your friends at other universities will be in Spain/New York/Barbados etc. We also have an 'IT and Skills for Geographers' course, which loosely translates as 'Computers and Maths for r e t a r d s', and you learn very little about GIS or any of the other exciting things they tell you about in the prospectus. But at least they tell you how to use the internet :rolleyes:

So I'm going to say Bristol.

Reply 57

arkbar

12

(you even have to make your own way there on the train!)

Were you expecting mum to hold your hand....

Reply 58

Rob24601

Bristol all the way. 6 hours of computer practical sessions a week as opposed to Durhams 4 sessions for the whole year! and a 3 day field trip to carry out physical geography fieldwork. Plus they get something like 5/6 tutorials a year, here we ALL get one a week for the entire year (an hour long).

Reply 59

Timothy

fieldsofanfield

Here, the practical and field element is poor to say the least. You get 4 half-arsed 'practical' sessions (some of which are merely lectures) over the course of your first year, then spend a few hours on a local beach/in Newcastle city centre (you even have to make your own way there on the train!)

Are they really going to organise a bus/coach for however many students to go to bloody Newcastle, a 15 minute train journey with trains every 20 minutes or whatever, you would also probably have to pay moe than the train ticket.

fieldsofanfield

doing a thoroughly boring project you've had little or no guidance on.

It is university, you expect them to tell you exactly what to write?? And the human part is what you want to do, from a huge range of things you can do as long as it links to that original question. How are they going to tell you what to write if we are all doing different things?

fieldsofanfield

Meanwhile, your friends at other universities will be in Spain/New York/Barbados etc.

I don't have the fiscal resources to pay for huge trips to Barbados or New York in the first year, where it does not count towards anything. What a pointless waste of time and money it would be.

fieldsofanfield

We also have an 'IT and Skills for Geographers' course, which loosely translates as 'Computers and Maths for r e t a r d s', and you learn very little about GIS or any of the other exciting things they tell you about in the prospectus. But at least they tell you how to use the internet :rolleyes:

IT and Skills sucks yeh.

Bristol v Durham

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