University specialisms

So I'm intending to apply for Geophysics/Earth Sciences in the next UCAS cycle. I've been hearing a lot about people talking about University 'specialisms', like Imperial's apparently excellent for petrochemicals. So I've got a couple of questions.

Firstly, how do you find out these specialisms?

Secondly, how much of an impact would this have on the undergraduate course? I really want to apply to Imperial but I have detest the idea of having anything to do with petrochemical engineering. I'm much more interested in climatic and tectonic modelling. Which universities would be best for this?

Sorry if I sound really ignorant!

X

Thank you so much for this really helpful response! I've got a few more questions too, if you don't mind answering them.

Firstly, the concern that I've got is that most geophysics courses are very much rock-based, whereas I'm more interested in the entire earth as a system. It's really important to me that I have the opportunity to study the climate. The issue with this is that Oxford appears to be more or less the only 'top' university to offer this as a major component of their course.

I really don't want to give the impression of snobbishness or anything, but some of these standard offers get me a bit nervous. I've always been really academic and I'm on track for a 95%+ UMS at AS and A*s at A2, which is why I'm slightly concerned that so many of the standard offers in this field are AAB or lower. I don't want to go onto a course that doesn't do my grades justice, if you see what I mean. Whereas subjects like Maths have tons of extremely competitive courses, the only three places that seem to be of this kind of calibre are Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial. Again, I'm sure this is really ignorant and sounds awful, but from someone who was until fairly recently planning to go into Engineering, it's a worry for me.

So I'm sort of stuck, really. My first choice will definitely be either NatSci at Cambridge or Earth Science at Oxford, both of which look absolutely brilliant for me. But obviously, it's extremely hard to get into them so I need to be realistic for the rest of my options. Imperial is great for me because it's close and their ESE department has links with the Natural History Museum which I love, but again there's a big 'rock' emphasis and the whole petrochem thing worries me. And for the rest of them, the concerns I mentioned above apply. I looked at Leeds and thought their course sounds interesting, but I'm not that keen on going to a Uni that's that far away for the moment. And again, the grades... Same thing with Southampton.

What I want is a very academic course (I'm much more interested in the theory than fieldwork) that gives me a very holistic understanding of the Earth (i.e. not limited to rocks) that will leave my options open. I'm interested in the humanitarian applications of the Earth Sciences, so things like hazard prediction, climatic modelling (and museum curatorship!) interest me. I don't want to do a course that's just geology based because that's not what I want to do afterwards.

Ugh, I know I'm in a complete mess. I only found out about this as an option recently and I'm getting stressed. Sorry :/

The reason the grades are low is because not many people apply for earth sciences, that's why even UCL's grades are AAB, if the grades were high you'd only get a few people applying.

In terms of courses, Cambridge's course is not a geology course, so if you want a job in the sector, do not go there. Oxford's course is very academic and not geared towards employment so again, if you want a job in the industry it's not the best. Grads tend to go into research or jobs like finance etc. imperials course is very academic but highly employable, UCL's is very academic but less employable.

With what you want, Bristol or Birmingham are the best. All the courses at the RG unis are very academic, especially the ones that are good at maths, eg Bristol Manchester imperial Oxbridge, so there is no worry there. In terms of planetary science, that is one of Manchester's expertises as well as a few others, Manchester have a geology course with planetary science.

Also check out environmental science.

Don't rule out unis just because of grades.

Does this answer your questions?



Ps, if you go back to engineering, do not apply to Oxbridge


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Thanks again. Why do you say Cambridge's course isn't Geology? They claim that at the end of the 4 year NatSci course, you will have covered as much geology as someone studying pure geology at another university.

The fact that Oxford's course is so academic is part of the reason why it's so appealing. Obviously I'm not going to rule it out, but I'm not particularly interested in going into industry. That's the whole reason why I decided against going into Engineering: I want to actually contribute to human knowledge and understanding rather than making money for some corporation.

But still, thank you so much. I hadn't even considered Universities like Bristol or Birmingham, so I'll definitely have a look at those courses.

Edit: I just had a look at some Environmental science courses and they look perfect! Especially the course at Leeds.