University choices - Urgent Help please?

Hey... I'm really pushing it with deadlines now but I'd appreciate it if someone could offer some insight into my choices. I've spent an entire day looking through prospects but am worried if I might have missed something.

As I'm a gap year student. I'm only limited to 5 slots unfortunately so I'd like to make each one really count.

Southampton - Geology with Geophysical Science [3 Years Bsc] [Semi-Flexible]
East Anglia - Geophysical Sciences [4 Year Bsc] [Flexible]
Durham - Geoscience [4 Year Msci] [Flexible]
Birmingham - Environmental Geoscience [4 Year Msci] [Semi-Flexible]
Bristol - Geology or E.Geoscience [4 Year Msci] [Semi-Flexible]

There are other choices that I've considered by nailing down to 5 is difficult. Could someone give me some recommendations or opinions on my choices based on what I understand?

While I'm studying these courses. Ideally I'd like to stay away from paleontology, ecology and petroleum as I have zero interest in biology and history. I wonder whether this is too much to ask for though?

I think I'm more interested in the processes of the earth, structural geology, hazards, tectonics, magnetism with some interest in atmospheric processes, glaciers, global climates. My grades aren't brilliant so I'd be pushing it at ABB.

Please help me out someone with their insight? :frown:

Reply 1

trm90

I know what you mean. :wink:

East Anglia -- definitely keep it, you can take a lot of earth physics/earth maths/physical process modules there. Soton: Why not geophysics? Do they even have a geology with geophysics course anyway :s-smilie:

? Durham has a geology with geophysics course. Bristol: Apply for geology at first, perhaps. As for Bham I'm not sure.

What are your A-levels anyway? Do you have maths and physics? As for your grades: pff, don't worry. Did you know that most top universities except Oxford don't give out offers higher than ABB for earth science? It's a very under-subscribed course so don't worry too much about your grades for the moment.

As for the course content, Sanity, I'm very much afraid you will be stuck learning about paleontology and historical geology at the minimum in your first year of your geology degree. Firstly, you need to find geophysics degrees instead if you want to avoid paleobiology and stratigraphy etc in the second year because they normally have that as a requirement (additionally, geochemistry has some biology related things you might not like). Geology degrees are also very heavy on modules concerning resources (environmental geology), so you really should avoid anything with the 'envrionmental' prefix for now. Finally, about 'petroleum' -- that's something you'll learn about in any earth or environmental science degree. It's something you should learn about anyway, tbh :p:

.

I don't know how keen you are on location, but Birmingham and Bristol don't really have programmes which don't contain compulsory modules in your un-desired subjects. The best option you have is to apply for programmes that incorporate as much geophysics as possible.

I realise you shouldn't ever rush into choosing, but seeing how there's a month left to apply, there's a couple of things you need to accept:

•

Paleontology and historical geology are a VERY integral part of earth science, and regardless of the fact that they may not be as interesting as you hope they still contribute a lot to earth science anyway.

•

Geophysics degrees will still have the un-desired content in your first year of study. Additionally, you need to be prepared to handle university level mathematics and physics.

•

You should still opt to look at geology degrees considering the under provision of geophysics programmes. It's only a module or two per year of paleo/historical geology anyway; in some unis you can drop it all together by the third year.

Take a look at Leeds and Liverpool. They have a lot of physical geology in their programmes, as well as Leicester (albeit they still have the compulsory modules that you don't like :wink:

). Ultimately I'd say East Anglia has what you need, though. Take a look at their ENV prospectus; I'm sure you'll find a lot of interesting modules that you'd prefer there (from volcanoes, to geophysics, to meteorology, to oceanography, etc).

Reply 2

Sanity Panda

Thanks for the rapid reply. I always appreciate your help trm90.

East Anglia seems like my favourite choice at the moment with it's diversity, I've looked at the other three you mentioned but I'll re-check its modules.

Yep... from reading it looks like the first year will have modules that I'm not particularly interested in and I can accept that, in this regard it's the later years that I'd like to diverge from the traditional aspects.

Funny, I would have thought that environmental geoscience was more focused on the big picture but I can see how they focus on resource management etc. Guess I'll heed your advice - Truthfully I'm just tempted by the abroad studies :p:

I don't think I'll mind geochemistry too much however.

With regards to geophysics, my reason for not focusing on this subject is due to the fear of difficulty. I don't have any problems with maths but I struggled with physics at AS-Level for some odd reason. My subjects compromised of Geography, Maths and Chemistry. Most of the students here taking geophysics seem to be within the AAB-AAA boundary, courses like Leister also require physics at A-Level so thats out.

What courses did you take at the end? I recall you choosing universities dependant on flexibility.

Reply 3

2^1/2

have a look at Leicester, they do very good courses in earth sciences.

Reply 4

trm90

Ahh, shame about Leicester! If you took AS Level physics you would be a suitable candidate to apply for the geophysics minor. But seeing how you've mentioned you can accept the un-desirable modules early on I think it would definitely be a good idea for you to apply for a Geology degree then, seeing how the non-existent physics will pose problems for applying to geophysics degrees. Just keep in mind that your preferences tend to lean towards the physical side of geology, that's pretty much why I suggested geophysics as it's compulsory modules tend to consist of geophysics and physical geology rather than compulsory paleontology modules.

But take a look at Leicester's course anyway (as above). In your third year you can do stuff like physical volcanology, seismology, petrophysics, planetary science... It's an awesome degree basically, there's just a lot of options open despite the fact that years one and two have no compulsory choices. They are a very flexible uni with earth science courses.

By the way, keep an eye open for geodynamics third year/ fourth year modules as well (when searching for a course); that's the type of stuff I'm sure you'd be most interested in. :wink:

Reply 5

Sanity Panda

Think I've finally finished my choice of 5, I've got to say my mind has been destroyed but at last!

East Anglia - Geophysical Sciences (Looking to be the favourite so far)
Durham - Geoscience
Soton - Undecided
Liverpool - Undecided

Leicester/Royal Holloway [Both courses seem to be a mixture really, what do you think of RHUL?]

Decided to ditch Birmingham and Bristol, Bristol because it seemed to be more focused on the evolution aspect and Birmingham because I can't seem to tell what their offering exactly....

I'm glad I've finally reduced it the remaining few... :biggrin:

Thanks for the help.

Reply 6

trm90

RHUL is great as well, I myself was going to apply there too (dropped it cause of foundation year issues :p:

). I would definitely recommend applying there as well. If you want to differentiate between RHUL and Leicester I'd say it boils down to the actual university itself rather than the course. Leicester is more quaint while I think RHUL is a bit livelier. I've only visited the former though :smile:

.

As for the actual course, RHUL's look great as it isn't so focused on paleobiology. Like Leicester, it's just a really all-rounded course that focuses on breadth and ends up being depth by year three (although arguably, a lot of geology courses are and SHOULD do this anyway!).

Plus, they seem to have almost identical modules :p:

.

Good luck choosing (and your welcome)!

EDIT: And by the way, you're probably better off choosing Geology (as it is flexible, meaning you can probably switch easily in your first year to a similar course) for both Soton and Liverpool, unless you're still deciding whether you like physical geography or not as well, as they both seem to have those courses available as a minor or a double major.