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Lancaster University

Lancaster

Few questions about Lancaster Uni

Hi, just wondering if anyone could help me. I'm from Sheffield and considering Lancaster to do Geography in 2014, just got a few questions: What's this major/minor thing? Do you have to do it (not sure which other subject I would choose)? Does it matter which college you go into, social wise? Also, what's Lancaster as a town like - is there enough to do, clubs and bars etc. Cheers :smile:

Reply 1

CartmelCollege

Original post by kate3

Hi there!

The major/minor system can seem very confusing at first; I had no idea what it was when I first started at Lancaster haha!

Basically in a nutshell what it is, is your major is the subject that you apply for. So in your case, your major is Geography.

Depending on how many modules Geography takes up, you may have to do either 1 minor, or 2 minors.

These can be any undergraduate subject that the university offers; as long as they have room to accept you on the course, and as long as your Geography degree allows it (some subjects require you to take subjects as minors that are within a certain subject area- which may limit your choice).

It also depends whether they will fit with Geography; obviously if you have a Geography lecture or seminar at the same time as one of your minor subjects, then you wouldn't be able to take that particular minor.

You don't have to do anything about minor subjects until you arrive at Lancaster. From what I remember you are given more information within Freshers' Week and the week after. You then have to sign on to your chosen minors in that time period.

The best advice I can give is to just look through the other subjects that Lancaster offers, and choose a few subjects you feel you would be interested in taking.

For myself, I major Advertising & Marketing, and I minor in Media & Cultural Studies, and Design. Luckily for me, I find my minors quite easy, which works well for me as I can concentrate all my effort on my major.

The idea of the major/minor system is that if it turns out you don't actually like your major, when you start second year you can actually change your course to one of your minors instead. Plus the fact that Lancaster probably want us to have less free time than other universities, to make us all more academic haha :P

Hope this was of some use, if you want any more information I'm more than happy to oblige!

Here's the email for the undergraduate office for the environment centre that handles Geography: [email protected]

You can always email them and ask what minors they feel would be best to take, or if you have any other questions where you want more specific answers about the major/minor system :smile:

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Reply 2

kate3

wow thanks so much for the useful information, better than what the website told me haha. that system may actually mean I end up applying to Lancaster because I don't want to narrow my options down quite yet, and I've always fancied the idea of doing History too :smile:

Reply 3

lampshade1

Original post by kate3

Hello!

Major/minor thing is very well explained above. I have loads of friends who do Geography and they have minored in things like Environmental science/biology. Having said that you can pretty much choose what you like as long as it fits with your timetable. If you do Geography, depends if you do both human and physical I think? on whether you do one or two minors. But yes, you have to do it in your first year, can always drop your minor after first year :smile:

As for colleges, not really social wise. Each college has loads of events etc and run good socials. Although I will be biased and give Furness a big shout out!! :biggrin:

Maybe look at type of accommodation and location as your main things. Like Cartmel/Lonsdale are quite far away from lecture buildings but I'm in Furness at the moment and takes two minutes on a morning to get to lectures!! (more sleeping time!)

As for Lancaster town, really depends what you want. It's perfect for me personally, not like a massive city at all which I like! It has lovely pubs, few nightclubs (Sugarhouse, Elements, Lost, good old Hustle!) really nice places to eat out, got your basic shops etc

Hope this helps a little! I'd definitely recommend Lancaster! I'm in my first year (nearing the end now!) and I am loving every minute!

Reply 4

kate3

Thank you lots :-) the major minor thing sounds quite appealing to me now, and theonly reason I asked about the clubs was because I've been to Lancaster before when I was a bit younger and I seem to remember there wasn't much there, but im going to go to an open day anyway so ill find out if i do like it then i guess :smile:

Reply 5

bunnyonthehill

Original post by kate3

The major/minor thing was explained well by Cartmel College :smile:

Colleges don't matter too much- but I'm in Cartmel and LOVE it :smile:

The town is nice, not too busy, and plenty of shops! There are some really nice pubs but there aren't too many clubs :s-smilie:

Reply 6

kate3

Seems like everyone likes their college which is good :biggrin:

yeah im just worried there might not be much compared to Sheffield and i do like big towns, but the university course looks good so i think open day will decide it for me! :-)

Reply 7

lampshade1

Original post by kate3

Seems like everyone likes their college which is good :biggrin:

yeah im just worried there might not be much compared to Sheffield and i do like big towns, but the university course looks good so i think open day will decide it for me! :-)

They do, college system is one of the best things about Lancaster :biggrin:

(Furness is the best though :wink:

)and if you want a good night out, there is always something going on in town/on campus, so I wouldn't worry about that! Hope you have fun on the Open Day!! :biggrin:

Any other questions do not hesitate to ask!

Reply 8

Julia Barreto

I am applying for environmental biology (with a brazilian study abroad program). If everything goes right (hopefully will!!!) i will be in Lancaster Uni next semester.
As any exchange student, I concern about the Town, transportation systems, facilities, places to hangout, if people are "friendly", etc... Well, in short words, I'm preparing myself to what "expects me".
From the moment I started researching about Lancaster, All these informations seemed hard to archieve then I came here and noticed that you are willing to help. So, if that's not asp too much, i'd love to get tips and whatever you can provide me.
thank in advance!!!
from a brazilian student and soon lancaster exchange student
Julia

Reply 9

lampshade1

Original post by Julia Barreto

Hey! I'm at Lanaster at the moment so will try to help!

First of all, people are SO friendly, everyone is really lovely and you will make friends easily :biggrin:

so don't worry about that, everyone is so welcoming and there is something for everyone to do, whatever your interests! The town and its facilities are good as far as I am concerned, if you live on campus there are buses to town every 5 minutes at least and in town you have all your basics, lovely places to eat out, cinema, shops, museum etc it isn't really busy which is what I like about Lancaster :smile:

As for places to hangout there are loads! on campus there are 9 bars which are great for a relax on an evening, places to eat and relax, Learning Zone where you can relax and do your work with friends :smile:

so many places to hangout!

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any more questions :smile:

Reply 10

bownessie

Original post by kate3

Hi! So... The major/minor system has been explained pretty well above in terms of how you choose your minors, but I thought I'd just spell it out for the exact way it works in geography. If you do either BA or BSc Geography then you do 1 minor because you have to do physical and human geography in first year. If you do BA Human geography or BSc Physical Geography you can do two minors because you only have to do your type of geography in first year (you can, of course, still minor in the other type of geography if you want).

It is pretty helpful if you can pick minors that will either help you in your degree (beyond just being an extra subject) or pick minors that you potentially would be interested in majoring in. I did human geography, sociology and history first year and think that doing this combination was very helpful because sociology gave me a very good basis in social theory that I've used in second year geography. Alternatively, if there is something you are really interested in trying out that you haven't studied before (e.g. criminology) this is a very good opportunity to do it.

Reply 11

kate3

Original post by bownessie

Thanks for the help specific to geography. I am thinking something like history, sociology (would be new to me) or maybe geology.

Reply 12

bownessie

Original post by kate3

Thanks for the help specific to geography. I am thinking something like history, sociology (would be new to me) or maybe geology.

If you are looking to specialise more in human geography, I think sociology is pretty advisable. It just gives you a really good base in social theory which can be really useful for some of your modules later on in your degree.