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Geoscience & Geology 2016

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Original post by _Carmel_
Thanks, I'm definitely applying for UCL and Liverpool but i'm not completely decided on the last 2


Cool, I also applied for Geophysics at UCL and Imperial! Both look like really lovely departments, I think they're great choices.
Original post by Plagioclase
Cool, I also applied for Geophysics at UCL and Imperial! Both look like really lovely departments, I think they're great choices.


Awesome! I went to an open day at Imperial and I agree, the department looks great. Although for ucl I was thinking about applying for natural sciences as you can mix geophysics with something like astrophysics :smile:
Original post by _Carmel_
Awesome! I went to an open day at Imperial and I agree, the department looks great. Although for ucl I was thinking about applying for natural sciences as you can mix geophysics with something like astrophysics :smile:


Imperial is definitely very impressive. I loved the look of the course and the department. I actually liked UCL's Earth Sciences department even more, it doesn't have the "Wow" factor of Imperial but it just feels so cosy and friendly. I didn't even know UCL had a Natural Sciences degree but that looks very interesting. Good luck with your application! I've just gone through the whole application process myself so if you've got any questions at any point, feel free to ask.

If you're wondering about other universities to apply to, Southampton seems to be quite popular for Earth Sciences students because they've got a massive department there. It didn't click with me but it's something to consider. Leeds and Edinburgh both seem to have very interesting Geophysicsy courses.
Original post by Plagioclase
Imperial is definitely very impressive. I loved the look of the course and the department. I actually liked UCL's Earth Sciences department even more, it doesn't have the "Wow" factor of Imperial but it just feels so cosy and friendly. I didn't even know UCL had a Natural Sciences degree but that looks very interesting. Good luck with your application!

If you're wondering about other universities to apply to, Southampton seems to be quite popular for Earth Sciences students because they've got a massive department there. It didn't click with me but it's something to consider. Leeds and Edinburgh both seem to have very interesting Geophysicsy courses.


Thanks for the advice. I had a look at Southampton but I'm not sure I would really want to live there. Leeds and Edinburgh are both ones that I have been thinking of applying to I think Leeds does a year abroad too. Unfortunately I haven't been able to go to a ucl open day so it's nice to hear it's a good department (I've heard the same from a couple of other people).
Original post by _Carmel_
Thanks for the advice. I had a look at Southampton but I'm not sure I would really want to live there. Leeds and Edinburgh are both ones that I have been thinking of applying to I think Leeds does a year abroad too. Unfortunately I haven't been able to go to a ucl open day so it's nice to hear it's a good department (I've heard the same from a couple of other people).


Yes, that was also my concern with Southampton and I felt that the building was a little overwhelming. Both Leeds and Edinburgh look great; I didn't apply because I didn't want to go so far away from home but I've heard really great things about Leeds and Edinburgh's Meteorology course looks amazing!

UCL has open days for offer holders which you'll be able to attend.
Original post by Plagioclase
Yes, that was also my concern with Southampton and I felt that the building was a little overwhelming. Both Leeds and Edinburgh look great; I didn't apply because I didn't want to go so far away from home but I've heard really great things about Leeds and Edinburgh's Meteorology course looks amazing!

UCL has open days for offer holders which you'll be able to attend.


I hadn't really though about meteorology to be honest and I'm from the north so I'm close to both. You're going to Oxford, right? Do UCL do interviews for earth sciences (I imagine you can look round the department then too)?
Original post by _Carmel_
I hadn't really though about meteorology to be honest and I'm from the north so I'm close to both. You're going to Oxford, right? Do UCL do interviews for earth sciences (I imagine you can look round the department then too)?


Yes, I'm going to Oxford. UCL does not interview. At the offer-holder's open day, you're given a couple of talks, a walk around their department and a chance to talk to some academics (which was actually great, I got to chat to a paleoclimatologist who sent me a bunch of interesting research material when I asked for more information which was unexpected but good!). Someone in the 2015 application thread didn't seem particularly keen on the open day but I thought it was very nice. You will definitely notice quite a massive contrast between UCL and Imperial, I guess it's up to personal preference which one you prefer.
Original post by Plagioclase
Yes, I'm going to Oxford. UCL does not interview. At the offer-holder's open day, you're given a couple of talks, a walk around their department and a chance to talk to some academics (which was actually great, I got to chat to a paleoclimatologist who sent me a bunch of interesting research material when I asked for more information which was unexpected but good!). Someone in the 2015 application thread didn't seem particularly keen on the open day but I thought it was very nice. You will definitely notice quite a massive contrast between UCL and Imperial, I guess it's up to personal preference which one you prefer.


Ah, I'm quite surprised. I'm definitely glad you get to look round if you get an offer then.
My school only had very basic advice post GCSE's for all the " disadvantaged" kids, for the A grade pupils we were basically given no advice so I picked Geography, Geology and Chemistry thinking that would be perfect for a geology degree.
Nope.
I am capable of the A*AA requirement for Oxford geology ( 96% in OCR Geology AS last year, best result my school has had so far!) but didn't do maths so I'm quite annoyed. Why does OCR , Oxford, Cambridge, RSA offer A level geology if they don't want me to take it to study geology :angry: ?

Considering Durham as my number 1 choice followed by St Andrews, Imperial, Birmingham and Bristol.

I'm definitely considering a masters and going into research science post graduation so if anybody has anything to say about Msci / PhD courses that would be helpful.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by NimbleNeil
My school only had very basic advice post GCSE's for all the " disadvantaged" kids, for the A grade pupils we were basically given no advise so I picked Geography, Geology and Chemistry thinking that would be perfect for a geology degree.
Nope.
I am capable of the A*AA requirement for Oxford geology ( 96% in OCR Geology AS last year, best result my school has had so far!) but didn't do maths so i'm quite annoyed. Why does OCR , Oxford, Cambridge, RSA offer A level geology if they don't want me to take it to study geology :angry: ?

Considering Durham as my number 1 choice followed by St Andrews, Imperial, Birmingham and Bristol.

I'm definitely considering a masters and going into research science post graduation so if anybody has anything to say about Msci / PhD courses that would be helpful.


Very sorry to hear about that, but well done with your brilliant AS results. Durham looks like a really good choice though, and so are the rest of your options. In terms of going into research (something I'm also interested in), the most affordable pathways seems to be doing an MSci first and then applying for a PhD. I know that the BSc -> MSc pathway is preferred by some industries but if you're looking to go into academia then the MSci is absolutely fine because a lot of your fourth year will be devoted to a research project (and doing an MSci is generally going to be a lot cheaper than a BSc and MSc) which is apparently good PhD preparation.
Original post by Plagioclase
Very sorry to hear about that, but well done with your brilliant AS results. Durham looks like a really good choice though, and so are the rest of your options. In terms of going into research (something I'm also interested in), the most affordable pathways seems to be doing an MSci first and then applying for a PhD. I know that the BSc -> MSc pathway is preferred by some industries but if you're looking to go into academia then the MSci is absolutely fine because a lot of your fourth year will be devoted to a research project (and doing an MSci is generally going to be a lot cheaper than a BSc and MSc) which is apparently good PhD preparation.


Hi, thank you for your reply:smile:

Do you know which area of research you might go into?
I love Chemistry and I'll be sad to stop it once A levels are over so I'm hoping I can do something related to it.

Also, would you mind explaining the difference between "BSc -> MSc pathway" and " MSci" , I was unaware of the difference so this might help which course I chose.

Cheers,
Neil
Original post by NimbleNeil
Hi, thank you for your reply:smile:

Do you know which area of research you might go into?
I love Chemistry and I'll be sad to stop it once A levels are over so I'm hoping I can do something related to it.

Also, would you mind explaining the difference between "BSc -> MSc pathway" and " MSci" , I was unaware of the difference so this might help which course I chose.

Cheers,
Neil


At the moment I'm very interested in paleoclimatology or glaciology, but for all I know my interests could change dramatically once I discover new areas when I start my degree! What area are you interested in at the moment?

You definitely will be able to continue with Chemistry in a geoscience degree, you could probably specialise in geochemistry in a lot of courses.

There are two main pathways you can take. Either, you take a 3 year BSc degree (in geology or similar) and then take a 1 year MSc degree, which would be specialised in a particular area of interest. The advantage is that you can study a very specialist area (this is one of the reasons why it's so popular with industry because you can take a specialist course in petroleum, for instance) which you might not be able to do in an MSci where your options are more limited. The disadvantage is that it can be a lot more expensive and getting funding is a lot more difficult because the MSc is a postgraduate course so I don't think you get funding from SFE.

An MSci is a four-year integrated masters degree, so when you graduate you're at the same 'level' as someone who has done a BSc + MSc but you get your degree at the end of the fourth year, rather than graduating at the end of the third year and doing a separate postgraduate qualification. The advantage is that it's more convenient and generally significantly cheaper, particularly since SFE will give you loans for all four years (assuming you're from the UK). The potential disadvantage is that because all four years are attached to a geology degree, you might not be able to specialise as much as you would be able to with a MSc (e.g. you can do a MSc in glaciology or volcanology). You can still specialise with an MSci, particularly with the research project, but you may be more limited. With Oxford, for instance, the degree is still fairly broad even in the fourth year whereas you could be doing 100% paleontology somewhere else, for instance. Still though, unless there's a particular reason why you'd want to do an MSc, an MSci is probably the better route for most people and it's absolutely fine if you want to go into research.
Thanks for explaining that, it does sound like Msci is the best route to take then.

Glaciology is great, I have been lucky enough to visit Banff and Jasper national parks in the Rockies and see the Athabasca ice sheet, very nice indeed.

Another thing I see is a lot is Accreditation by the Royal Geological Society, this is obviously an advantage but do you know the exact benefits this accreditation has?
Original post by NimbleNeil
Thanks for explaining that, it does sound like Msci is the best route to take then.

Glaciology is great, I have been lucky enough to visit Banff and Jasper national parks in the Rockies and see the Athabasca ice sheet, very nice indeed.

Another thing I see is a lot is Accreditation by the Royal Geological Society, this is obviously an advantage but do you know the exact benefits this accreditation has?


Oh lucky you! I desperately want to see a glacier but my family likes hot places so I've never been anywhere north of Leeds! Soon...

And regarding accreditation, it's actually not "obviously an advantage". There was actually an article in the Geological Society's magazine last week talking about how irrelevant accreditation is. Basically, if your degree is accredited then that means you need fewer years of work experience before you can apply for Chartered Geologist status. The thing is, unlike in Engineering where being Chartered is a big deal, nobody actually cares about it in Geology. There was a letter from a Geologist who had worked in industry his entire life and never once saw a job advertised that even mentioned chartership as a requirement. And CGeol is an industry-oriented award - it's even less important for academia. And of course, even you want to be CGeol, you can still do it without an accredited degree, it just means you need to wait a bit longer.

The only advantage I guess accredited degrees have is that it shows you, as an applying student, that the degree covers certain areas that the Geological Society considers important. But again, if the degree isn't accredited it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. UCL's Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Geoscience degrees are accredited, for instance, but their Earth Sciences degree isn't because students can choose their own modules and hence it doesn't match the exact requirements that GeolSoc wants. That doesn't mean it's a bad degree, just that it doesn't tick a certain list of boxes.

And it's not just me saying this, I actually asked professors at Oxford and UCL whether accreditation matters and both basically said "No".
Original post by Plagioclase
Oh lucky you! I desperately want to see a glacier but my family likes hot places so I've never been anywhere north of Leeds! Soon...

And regarding accreditation, it's actually not "obviously an advantage". There was actually an article in the Geological Society's magazine last week talking about how irrelevant accreditation is. Basically, if your degree is accredited then that means you need fewer years of work experience before you can apply for Chartered Geologist status. The thing is, unlike in Engineering where being Chartered is a big deal, nobody actually cares about it in Geology. There was a letter from a Geologist who had worked in industry his entire life and never once saw a job advertised that even mentioned chartership as a requirement. And CGeol is an industry-oriented award - it's even less important for academia. And of course, even you want to be CGeol, you can still do it without an accredited degree, it just means you need to wait a bit longer.

The only advantage I guess accredited degrees have is that it shows you, as an applying student, that the degree covers certain areas that the Geological Society considers important. But again, if the degree isn't accredited it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. UCL's Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Geoscience degrees are accredited, for instance, but their Earth Sciences degree isn't because students can choose their own modules and hence it doesn't match the exact requirements that GeolSoc wants. That doesn't mean it's a bad degree, just that it doesn't tick a certain list of boxes.

And it's not just me saying this, I actually asked professors at Oxford and UCL whether accreditation matters and both basically said "No".


Oh that was quite unexpected and very helpful indeed, that is actually very good news because that opens up a lot of optional modules that I wouldn't have been able to do if I'd blindly gone for the accredited degree. Should have read up on it before i decided it was a really great thing >.<

Seeing the glacier was great but it did make me feel uncomfortable looking at the terminal moraine half a kilometer away from the snout. They also do bus tours where you walk on the glacier itself, you can see through the ice and see the algae and cracks going down for a couple of meters. Also, Ice caves, sooo wanted to go inside but too risky.
Original post by NimbleNeil
Oh that was quite unexpected and very helpful indeed, that is actually very good news because that opens up a lot of optional modules that I wouldn't have been able to do if I'd blindly gone for the accredited degree. Should have read up on it before i decided it was a really great thing >.<

Seeing the glacier was great but it did make me feel uncomfortable looking at the terminal moraine half a kilometer away from the snout. They also do bus tours where you walk on the glacier itself, you can see through the ice and see the algae and cracks going down for a couple of meters. Also, Ice caves, sooo wanted to go inside but too risky.


No don't worry, I was also really confused about it because there's very little information about it. A lot of people automatically assume that it's a big deal because it is a big deal in Engineering, and that's also what I assumed. But when I actually enquired about it, it turns out that it doesn't matter.

Oh, you're making me so jealous... But yes, it is terribly sad that all of the glaciers are retreating. Being a glaciologist must be such a depressing thing because you're studying a beautiful phenomenon that is inexorably dying out. That's partly why I'm so desperate to see one. I saw such a sad interview a while ago where a scientist broke down in tears when talking about how she fears that her grandchildren will never be able to see these wonders :frown:
Original post by Plagioclase
No don't worry, I was also really confused about it because there's very little information about it. A lot of people automatically assume that it's a big deal because it is a big deal in Engineering, and that's also what I assumed. But when I actually enquired about it, it turns out that it doesn't matter.

Oh, you're making me so jealous... But yes, it is terribly sad that all of the glaciers are retreating. Being a glaciologist must be such a depressing thing because you're studying a beautiful phenomenon that is inexorably dying out. That's partly why I'm so desperate to see one. I saw such a sad interview a while ago where a scientist broke down in tears when talking about how she fears that her grandchildren will never be able to see these wonders :frown:


Studying Oil, Gas and Coal in an A2 geology module this year, not going to enjoy it one bit haha.
I'm a bit deflated I've found out Durham and St Andrews both don't do Msci courses;( I'll have to move Imperial and Bristol further up my rankings!
Original post by NimbleNeil
Studying Oil, Gas and Coal in an A2 geology module this year, not going to enjoy it one bit haha.
I'm a bit deflated I've found out Durham and St Andrews both don't do Msci courses;( I'll have to move Imperial and Bristol further up my rankings!


Yeah, I shall definitely be avoiding those at Uni, although funnily enough, my second interview at Oxford was actually based on coal and fracking and because I'm so opposed to those industries, I happen to know a lot about them so that was actually my best interview! I think I'm going to have to keep my mouth shut next year though because spouting anti-establishment stuff is probably going to make me a bit unpopular since a lot of people on my course are probably aiming towards those industries (and some of my professors will no doubt be receiving money from them).

You'll be happy to know that both Durham and St. Andrews do in fact both offer MSci courses! Durham has an MSci Earth Sciences course, you follow the ordinary Geology, Environmental Geoscience, Geosciences or Geophysics course from Year 1-3 and then do an extra fourth MSci year. St. Andrews offers a MGeol degree (which is completely equivalent to an MSci, just with a different name, Oxford's course is called MEarthSc, it doesn't make any difference) although that is five years long which is a long time.
Original post by Plagioclase
Yeah, I shall definitely be avoiding those at Uni, although funnily enough, my second interview at Oxford was actually based on coal and fracking and because I'm so opposed to those industries, I happen to know a lot about them so that was actually my best interview! I think I'm going to have to keep my mouth shut next year though because spouting anti-establishment stuff is probably going to make me a bit unpopular since a lot of people on my course are probably aiming towards those industries (and some of my professors will no doubt be receiving money from them).

You'll be happy to know that both Durham and St. Andrews do in fact both offer MSci courses! Durham has an MSci Earth Sciences course, you follow the ordinary Geology, Environmental Geoscience, Geosciences or Geophysics course from Year 1-3 and then do an extra fourth MSci year. St. Andrews offers a MGeol degree (which is completely equivalent to an MSci, just with a different name, Oxford's course is called MEarthSc, it doesn't make any difference) although that is five years long which is a long time.


I can imagine that is going to be quite difficult, I think my opposition to the industry is one of my main driving forces in studying earth science! Fracking is an issue that's really getting under my skin at the moment, I have even e-mailed my local council members and they claim to be against it but I will never trust a politician.
Also just remembered there is a fellow 2 years older than me from my college doing geology at Oxford called Sam Henson, maybe you'll see him there.

I am so relieved. Different names caught me out, I'm losing it, must be too late haha.
Yeah that's the only thing i dislike about St Andrews, and the fact that the Scottish students don't pay -.- I'm getting into golf recently too and you can play on all 7 courses there for £200 a year, I think it's the best value golf in the world and at the place where it was supposedly first played.
Original post by NimbleNeil
I can imagine that is going to be quite difficult, I think my opposition to the industry is one of my main driving forces in studying earth science! Fracking is an issue that's really getting under my skin at the moment, I have even e-mailed my local council members and they claim to be against it but I will never trust a politician.
Also just remembered there is a fellow 2 years older than me from my college doing geology at Oxford called Sam Henson, maybe you'll see him there.

I am so relieved. Different names caught me out, I'm losing it, must be too late haha.
Yeah that's the only thing i dislike about St Andrews, and the fact that the Scottish students don't pay -.- I'm getting into golf recently too and you can play on all 7 courses there for £200 a year, I think it's the best value golf in the world and at the place where it was supposedly first played.


Yes, same here! If there's one thing I've learned over the past two years, it's that I don't have enough energy to engage in politics. It's just too frustrating. I've sent many letters to members of parliament, I either get ignored or possibly even worse, get a two page response that basically condenses down to "Shut up". I used to be very politically involved but getting angry about it just makes me too tired now and it's not worth it, so I'm just trying to stick to what I know is right and to do the right thing. I'll try to remember the name, I guess he'll be in the year above me (which is actually a very small group of about 27-ish if I recall correctly).

I think I read about your passion for golf earlier. It's a big shame that the English government doesn't appreciate the value of Higher Education like the Scottish (and rest of Europe) do but I think you should direct your anger at Westminster rather than the Scottish students! St. Andrew's looks like a lovely place, there were several places in Scotland I wanted to apply to (but didn't because of the distance). I like the idea of living in a small quiet town though.

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