Geology & Earth Sciences 2015

A*A*A*A*. I'm in a similar position to you in terms of visiting, I've only seen UCL and Imperial's departments. I definitely agree that Imperial has a lot of "Wow" factor, their earth science facilities look amazing. Imperial would be a no-brainer for me, were it not for the issue of accommodation. UCL's earth sciences department is small - although I definitely wouldn't say it's a bad thing - but it doesn't look as exciting as Imperial. It'd be way cheaper for me though since I could stay at home. I've also not been to Southampton. Have you submitted your UCAS yet?

Woahh four A*'s that's unbelievable. I guess with those predicted grades you can choose whatever uni you want lol.

And no not yet, my school's set the UCAS deadline for non-Oxbridge applicants for next Friday so I'll most likely submit it sometime next week.

That's quite an early deadline - ours is in late November! Well anyway, best of luck for your application! What are you particularly interested in with Geophysics?

Thanks! And I'm mainly interested in the tectonics side- earthquakes, volcanoes, hazard detection that sort of thing. Really not sure at the moment about what sort of job I would go into after uni though.

Hi future geologists/earth scientists!
I will be applying to:
Imperial A*AA-AAA (The online entry requirements say A*AA, but the prospectus says AAA...)
Durham AAA
Leeds AAB-ABB
Manchester AAA-ABB
Portsmouth 260-320 UCAS points
In terms of open days, i have visited Leeds and Manchester uni and i don't know yet my predicted grades :P

For Imperial, their entry requirements have changed from when the prospectus was printed. When I went to their Earth Sciences open day earlier this year, they said that whilst their minimum offer was AAA, virtually everyone would get offers of A*AA or above (apparently it's not uncommon to get A*A*A offers or even higher). It appears that since then, they've decided to raise the minimum offer to A*AA.

Hi future geologists/earth scientists!
I will be applying to:
Imperial A*AA-AAA (The online entry requirements say A*AA, but the prospectus says AAA...)
Durham AAA
Leeds AAB-ABB
Manchester AAA-ABB
Portsmouth 260-320 UCAS points
In terms of open days, i have visited Leeds and Manchester uni and i don't know yet my predicted grades :P

Anyone have a favourite rock/mineral? :P Obligatory for any Earth Sciences thread. Mine's Labradorite.


This is the beautiful sample they have in UCL's rock room. I saw it on their open day, it was very exciting!

Oh I love labradorite. I actually have my own sample of the stuff . I don't think I have a favourite rock or mineral though. I've seen so many that I can't decide. You'll also find that different samples of the same type can vary a lot, with some being far more attractive than others.

Good luck with your 2015 applications everyone. It doesn't feel that long ago since I was posting in the applicants thread about applying, but that was a few years ago now! I studied Earth Sciences at Imperial College, so feel free to ask me about the course and university.

Any idea where I could get hold of some Labradorite? I've had a look around but the only samples I've found are annoying polished shapes or pebbles.

Aaah I had that problem when looking for obsidian. I just wanted a nice natural lump of the stuff. My labradorite sample was a gift from someone, but I'm pretty sure they got it off ebay. You may have to keep looking around for a while I'm afraid. A lot of my rocks and minerals are samples I found myself, or passed to me from someone else.

Earth Sciences at Imperial for 2014 entry the offers were A*AA or AAAA. But as Chlorophile has pointed out Imperial do seem to play around with their offers. My daughters offer was A*AAA. I am aware they have given even higher offers but these non standard offers are based on your A level predictions.

Good luck.

Anyone have a favourite rock/mineral? :P Obligatory for any Earth Sciences thread. Mine's Labradorite.


This is the beautiful sample they have in UCL's rock room. I saw it on their open day, it was very exciting!

Mine is this basalt lava from the Afar region in the horn of Africa . I got them from a lecture xD.

I wish I'd been to a lecture where they gave out free rocks D:

Thanks! And I'm mainly interested in the tectonics side- earthquakes, volcanoes, hazard detection that sort of thing. Really not sure at the moment about what sort of job I would go into after uni though.

This is what I am interested in too! Are you applying for Bsc or Msci? Imperial seems like the dream university to me but not sure I could get the predicted grades needed to even be considered! but I think UCLs course appeals more to me