Geology interview help

Citrine1990

Could anyone tell me what sort of questions I will be asked at a Geology interview, I have a interview for Manchester coming up and I don't know what to expect.

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Reply 1

alex p

i geuss mine @ bristol will be most relevant. i got asked mostly about my interests in geology from what i said in my ps. why i want to do it, what i enjoy, what im looking to do during my course and after. also they asked me to identify a bit of pumice from vesuvius :p:

Reply 2

Citrine1990

alex p

Thank you for the reply, i'm guessing you only had to identify it was pumice and not what volcano it came from lol.

Reply 3

alex p

well, the guy asked me what sort of tectonic area id expect to find it in, why i thought it was there etc.

Reply 4

Citrine1990

alex p

well, the guy asked me what sort of tectonic area id expect to find it in, why i thought it was there etc.

How specific did he want you to be?

Reply 5

trm90

Just a guess, would pumice be ejected from composite volcanoes i.e. along the andesitic line (around the pacificish area) and destructive margins?

Bleh, I have like... no access to geology textbooks.

Reply 6

Citrine1990

trm90

Yeah its a felsic rock so the andesite/Rhyolite line would be correct, I haven't got a clue which region it would be formed.

Reply 7

trm90

EDIT: Woops. Totally got it wrong. Has to do with the slow rate of depressurisation as the magma moves upwards.

So when is your interview with Manchester? Are you applying for BSc Geol, MEarthSci Earth Sci or something else?

Reply 8

alex p

i just went on a bit about anatexis at subduction zones, and other personal experiences (went to tenerife a few weeks before to do my a2 geol coursework) so was pretty detailed. a freind got asked to identify a mor basalt when she was at rhul with me, but i didnt get any rocks there, so it changes with the interviewer.

Reply 9

Citrine1990

alex p

By any chance do you go to a private school? At my school going 10 miles to do our geology coureswork is an achievement never mind a trip to Tenerife lol. I have an interview at Durham now lol so i'm happy, did you get an offer from Bristol?

Reply 10

alex p

no, i went to a public school, and im now at southamtpon university doing geology. our school did cornwall, tenerife and the scottish island ive forgotten the name of. our year was me and 2 other people so all we got to do in the as/a2 was tag along to tenerife with the lower year.

my offer from bristol was given anyway i think, it was mainly to discuss course options, having to do chemistry etc. in the end i didnt get the grades so went to southamton, it being my 2nd choice.

Reply 11

Citrine1990

alex p

Oh nice, Southamtons a great university, I didn't apply to it due to the fact its as far south as you can go and I wanted to stay in the north so I could get back during some weekends. Same applies with Bristol.
So did you take a gap year? If so what did you do during it?

Reply 12

alex p

nope, came straight here, didnt see much point in doing a gap year, increasing fees etc. im in my 2nd year now and its all going pretty good, especialy seeing as i only put southampton in my ucas app to make it 6 choices :p:

Reply 13

Citrine1990

trm90

My interviews 30th January and in applyin for a BSc Geology.

At Alex
How are you finding it at University studying geology, what do you think is the hardest topic?

Reply 14

alex p

its not too bad tbh. it seems to be a bit of a commitment e.g. my flatmate has 6 hours doing history, whereas i usualy have about 25 but its still good.

Geochem and Geophys are the hardest. i havent doing chemistry or physics properly ever (had to do the double science at gcse and only biology at a level) but its still allright. you do have to be able to cope with maths tbh, im not great, but can do it eventualy :p:

Reply 15

Citrine1990

alex p

Is Geochemistry and Geophysics included in a geology degree?? I thought they were different subjects?

Reply 16

trm90

Normally they are, yeah. It's nothing you should be too surprised about tbh. They're very integral parts of earth sciences these days!

Reply 17

alex p

yeah, theres alot of things like that, geohazards etc. if you do the mgeol degree, you get about the same amount of geochem as if you did a bsc in geochem (if you choose the max amound of chem modules)

but you take groundings in all of the geology stuff really, and you choose your modules as you progress to fit to what you want to do for a career, for me, paleontology.

Reply 18

Citrine1990

alex p

Oh right so the first year is basically a taste of things, then you choose the topics that you want to do in the second year? What job do you want to get into when you have finished your degree?