International Relations vs Geography

I have accepted a firm offer at my university to study International Relations and Modern Languages with a compulsory year abroad, but in the last few weeks I have questioned my choice. The degree is 4 years, but I plan to do a masters after as well, and I have asked the university to switch my degree to just international relations, but there is no longer any space on it. However, there is space on a 3-year BA Geography course, and I am considering this, but I was wondering which subject is better from an employability point of view? I would have applied to geography initially but my understanding was that IR was overall 'better' than geog. any advice is much appreciated!

Reply 1

McGinger

18

What you should be thinking about is 'Do I want to study Geography and only Geography for the next 3 years?' and 'Does the course at that Uni interest me enough?' - not 'what job do I want on graduation', because if you dont enjoy this subject, you will have dropped out well before graduation even happens.

Go back to basics. Why did you want to go to Uni at all. What do you hope to get out of it. Its not about 'subject knowledge' its about 'higher thinking skills' and having your brain stretched. Degrees like Politics, IR and Geography can all lead to a thousand different careers and life pathways.

And if you are still confused about what you want to do - and why - then you might like to consider pulling your UCAS application, planning an interesting gap year with some work and travel, rethinking, and reapplying for 5 new choices in the autumn.

Reply 2

delightup

OP

5

Sorry - I should have been more clear. I am entirely interested in both Geography and International Relations, it is rather a case of circumstance that I am unable to study both subjects. I am more than happy doing a geography degree for 3 years, but my initial decision was based on future prospects (again, that was only because I had the option to study just one of those subjects). Me second guessing myself is more to do with how long it would take to complete each degree (+ potential postgrad), and whether one is more highly regarded overall. Thanks for your comments though - thinking about what I want to get out of uni has given me some more clarity :smile:

Original post by McGinger

What you should be thinking about is 'Do I want to study Geography and only Geography for the next 3 years?' and 'Does the course at that Uni interest me enough?' - not 'what job do I want on graduation', because if you dont enjoy this subject, you will have dropped out well before graduation even happens.

Go back to basics. Why did you want to go to Uni at all. What do you hope to get out of it. Its not about 'subject knowledge' its about 'higher thinking skills' and having your brain stretched. Degrees like Politics, IR and Geography can all lead to a thousand different careers and life pathways.

And if you are still confused about what you want to do - and why - then you might like to consider pulling your UCAS application, planning an interesting gap year with some work and travel, rethinking, and reapplying for 5 new choices in the autumn.

Reply 3

University of Huddersfield

Official Rep

16

@delightup

University goes really quickly!

When I originally went to university, the idea of doing a course longer than three years was a major turn off, but university flies by! Don't let the number of years put you off doing something that you really want to do!

It's great that you want to study further, but what do you want to do after you have completed a Masters? What would like to do a Masters in?

If you do decide that want to do a Masters, you do not have to do one straight away. It might even be better to work first, before launching into an intense postgraduate year of study.

Personally, I think an degree in International Relations with a language looks better than a degree in Geography, but it depends on what you want to do with that subject.

I think you have to choose which subject suits your interests more in terms of what you want to do as a career going forward.

Hope that helps,

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

International Relations vs Geography

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