Geology & Earth Sciences 2015

I don't like how their offer varies though. The whole AAA-ABB is a very broad range.

Hmm. My offer was ABB. I'm not sure what they base that on though.

Exactly. They don't say. Professor Ian Wood, the admissions tutor that responded to my email told me they based it upon your GCSEs, predicted grades, and AS levels.
I have a suspicion that they may lower offers for people from non-selective state schools. Did you go to one of these?
I actually asked Ian Wood in the email if they did this, and he said no. But still, Durham do it, so it wouldn't surprise me.
If they do I'm disadvantaged because I go to a grammar.

Professor Wood is a lovely person, I felt absolutely dreadful saying "No" to UCL in the end because of the wonderful staff there. I did go to a non-selective state school but if Prof. Wood said it's not based on what school you go to, then it isn't. There's no reason why he'd lie. I don't understand how it's based on your grades though because I was predicted well beyond their entry requirements yet I got a comparatively easy offer.

Exactly. Maybe they wanted to entice you to take the offer by making it as low as possible.

How competitive is the MSci Palaeontology and Evolution at Bristol?
I've got 9A*/4As at GCSE and AABD at AS, which once I've retaken two papers will be AAAC. I've dropped maths and am likely to be predicted A*AB in Bio, Chem and Physics respectively, with an A in my evolutionary bio EPQ.
What are the odds of getting an offer?

Thank you

Is this for 2016 entry? You might want to join the 2016 applicants thread.

To answer this question though, I'd say you've probably got a very good chance. For your subjects, their standard offer is AAB which you already have at AS so I think an offer is pretty likely, particularly since their geoscience courses don't attract a huge number of applicants (this doesn't mean the course isn't good, it's just because not many people apply for geoscience courses) and you have excellent GCSE results. An A*AA prediction would be great if you could get it but an A*AB prediction will probably be absolutely fine. They'll also be happy to see you doing an EPQ in evolutionary biology, you should definitely consider expanding on that in your personal statement.

What is the coursework like in Geology and Physical Geography?
if anyone has any idea it would be appreciated.

I'm actually considering going for Geology and Physical Geography instead of straight up Geology now.
Can you still become a Geologist with that kind of degree? Birmingham's prospectus says you can, but I thought a straight up Geography degree was useless.

I have submitted my Personal Statement to TSR's PS library. It would be really nice if other 2015 applicants could upload theirs too if you feel comfortable with that because the geology section is a bit lacking at the moment and it would help future applicants out!

You can find instructions on how to add your Personal Statement to the library here. I suggest you add it yourself because otherwise it's just going to spend forever in a queue as there's a massive backlog. At the bottom of your entry, you need to add the categories. Here you can see an example of how to edit this properly - left is old, right is new (and correct).

Thanks Plagioclase, that's really helpful. Great A level grades, well done. Have you got any revision technique advice you could share? x

I'd have thought so. There's quite a lot of overlap between the sciencey side of Geography and Geology, particularly if you're interested in environmental issues. To be honest, I'm quite jealous of the stuff Geography students get to do...

Hey plagioclase, whats your take on exeter geology and exeter as a uni?

As a university, Exeter looks very pretty. I know someone who applied there and it looks like a good place to be a student (and it's set in a beautiful area, which you can probably appreciate if you're applying for Geology!). In terms of the course, I briefly looked at it when I was applying but I don't know a massive amount of it. There does however seem to be a big tradition of industrial Geology there though (for your information, Geology is taught by the Camborne School of Mines which is one of the old industrial Geology institutions in the UK along with Imperial's Royal School of Mines). If you look at the modules offered in Geology, for instance, there are a lot of modules connected to (mineral) resources and exploration, so it looks like a very good course if that's what you're interested in.