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How competitive is Geography at University?

3

Please don't flame me for asking this question ~ I would like to study Geography at University (even though I'm not 100% sure what I want to do yet), but I was wondering, how competitive is it? What A-Level subjects go well with Geography? I was thinking Chem/Bio, but are there any others? I know it will depend on which university, but I was just looking for a generalised view.

Thank you for any advice! :tsr:

Reply 1

undiscovered

13

It totally depends on where you want to go; at the "top" universities for geography such as Durham, Bristol, Cambridge, Nottingham etc it is pretty competitive, but there are also some damn good universities that aren't so hard to get into. Nottingham has from 11-20 applicants per place every year; this year there were 14. Durham gives just under 50% of applicants an offer (usually), but they seem to care a lot less about grades than other places. Bristol's statistics show it is uber-competitive there too. A lot of good universities go into UCAS Extra though, like Sheffield, Reading, KCL. I think UCL give about 400/700 applicants an offer each year.

Loads of A-level subjects go well with geography. It's harder to think of ones that don't go with it! Biology and chemistry are often combined with geography at A-level. If you want to do human geography though, you might want to take at least one social science or humanities subject. Nottingham want you to have geography and another relevant subject. Sheffield say geography and/or a related subject such as sociology, economics, environmental science. Get the picture? :smile:

Reply 2

ghtrevgy

OP

3

Thanks for your replies!

Jools

It's not that competitive.

If you want to specialise in Physical geography, good A-Level choices are Biology and Chemistry. Physics and Maths may also be useful. For Human Geography, Economics is recommended, and also Sociology is actually very useful. English may help with essay-writing skills, and History could give you a good background for topics like transition from feudalism to capitalism and the Empire.

I'm more interested in Human Geography. I take it you can choose between Physical/Human at degree level? Is there a "mixed" course? I was thinking about Economics A-Level but thought it wouldn't be very useful....hmm...maybe I should re-consider :smile:

Thanks again!

Reply 3

dobbs

17

seaspray

Thanks for your replies!

I'm more interested in Human Geography. I take it you can choose between Physical/Human at degree level? Is there a "mixed" course? I was thinking about Economics A-Level but thought it wouldn't be very useful....hmm...maybe I should re-consider :smile:

Thanks again!

Economics at A-level is VERY VERY useful for Human Geography trust me! At Durham you do the same course in the first year whether you're wanting to do a BSc (Physical Geog) or BA (Human geog) and then you specialise from there.

I think that my A-levels helped me as I did Geography, Biology, and Economics - the Biology helped with Physical geog and the Economics helped with Human geog....I also did AS-Maths which helped a lot when it came to learning statistical methods which you apply to fieldwork.

Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 4

ghtrevgy

OP

3

Thank you so much! This advice is really helpful.

I definitely want to do Geography ( :wink:

) and Chemistry at A-Level, but for the other two I'm not sure....I could pick from: Biology/History/Economics.

I "like" them all to the same degree, but I think I would be better at History or Economics. What do you think?

Thanks again!

:tsr:

Reply 5

JML161

1

Economics is a great subject, really encourages you to look at both sides of an argument and is really intresting and has topical stuff too (my exam on Friday was exactly on the road pricing story that was all over the news the day before, almost word for word! :smile:

)

Reply 6

Eternal Fantasy

2

I do Geography, Biology and Economics, and I find the latter two definitely go with Geography, especially Economics. :smile:

Reply 7

weirdloverwilde

Universities like Bristol have around 1200 applicants for 90 places- it's therefore quite competitve in the "top" universities.
obviously, competition is not as tough as other (more vocational courses) like medicine or law.

Reply 8

skagirl

1

go for the subjects u like, and if there are still decisions to be made, go for the ones youre best at. that way, even if you get a really c.rap teacher you should be ok.

next, think which type of geog ud like to do, but although some uni's make u specialise, others allow u to keep it mixed. most first years at uni are a mix of both human and phys, but some e.g. royal holloway and reading have specific human/physical courses.

the qsn of 'how competitive is it' is very different from 'which subjects go well with it', by the way. top unis= v.competitive, as a general rule.

Reply 9

ghtrevgy

OP

3

weirdloverwilde

Universities like Bristol have around 1200 applicants for 90 places- it's therefore quite competitve in the "top" universities.
obviously, competition is not as tough as other (more vocational courses) like medicine or law.

1200 for 90 places???!!! Oh my god. I was hoping to go to Bristol as well.... LOL.

Thanks for all your help. :smile:

Reply 10

Carreh

2

I did Geo, Maths and Physics - both go well with geo BUT if i had my time again i would do Economics cos its really useful in some of my units.

But do what you think you will enjoy cos you will get better marks in it

:smile:

Reply 11

ghtrevgy

OP

3

bouncy

I did Geo, Maths and Physics - both go well with geo BUT if i had my time again i would do Economics cos its really useful in some of my units.

But do what you think you will enjoy cos you will get better marks in it

:smile:

Thanks. I have decided I will do ~
Geography, Chemistry, Economics. As for the fourth choice, it will be Biology (if I get an A or A* at GCSE), but if not History is my back-up :smile:

Reply 12

ghtrevgy

OP

3

Jools

Yes but they actually give out offers to 400-500 students, it's just that ~90 will be taking it up (say 70 firm, and 20 insurance who miss their firm). Applicants:Places ratios are deceptive since the applicant has 6 choices and so there are many more places given out than offers.

Thanks for explaining it to me! :smile:

Reply 13

undiscovered

13

seaspray

Thanks. I have decided I will do ~
Geography, Chemistry, Economics. As for the fourth choice, it will be Biology (if I get an A or A* at GCSE), but if not History is my back-up :smile:

Don't rule out Biology if you get a B for GCSE. I did, and got a very high B last year, retook and module and now have an A grade. I'm not going to maintain that but I should get a B. Although it is a lot of work for me I suppose, so much to remember.

Reply 14

ghtrevgy

OP

3

-Sian-

Don't rule out Biology if you get a B for GCSE. I did, and got a very high B last year, retook and module and now have an A grade. I'm not going to maintain that but I should get a B. Although it is a lot of work for me I suppose, so much to remember.

Unfortunately I have to rule out Biology if I get a B.....my school won't let you take it without an A or A* :frown:

...... oh well, I will keep my fingers crossed.

PS - Do you actually find out whether you got a "high" grade? I think GCSEs are so unfair - for example somebody getting 45% could get a B grade, but then somebody getting 64% could also got a B :confused:

It makes me so angry. Oh well. Thanks for your advice!

Reply 15

undiscovered

13

What?! OMG, that is so stupid! They let people with CC in double science do it at my sixth form, although they do get E/Us.

You could ask your teacher whether you got a high B or whatever. Me and my friend went into our final GCSE Bio exam with EXACTLY the same % of marks and she got a an A, I got a B. That tells me that I nearly got an A! I missed out on so many As by a few marks in my GCSEs!

Reply 16

ghtrevgy

OP

3

-Sian-

I missed out on so many As by a few marks in my GCSEs!

Oh, please don't tell me that! I am A/B borderline in a few subjects (Maths/Biology/French) and I would be so upset if I got a B grade in any of them, because I have worked so hard this year. So, the teachers will know our "raw" marks and be able to tell us how close we were to the next grade up? How about universities etc.? Are GCSEs really that important? If so, can you state that your "B" grade was very high?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 17

undiscovered

13

Teachers will know, but at the end of the day a B is a B and that's that. It's pointless saying "I got a high B" really. [I was, and still am, very annoyed with my missing of A boundaries by small margins lol]. Universities don't know your raw marks for GCSEs or even A-levels! As to their importance, well...it depends. I wouldn't say they don't matter but they're not really a "big deal" if you have good A2 predictions and a good PS. :smile:

Reply 18

ghtrevgy

OP

3

-Sian-

Teachers will know, but at the end of the day a B is a B and that's that. It's pointless saying "I got a high B" really. [I was, and still am, very annoyed with my missing of A boundaries by small margins lol]. Universities don't know your raw marks for GCSEs or even A-levels! As to their importance, well...it depends. I wouldn't say they don't matter but they're not really a "big deal" if you have good A2 predictions and a good PS. :smile:

Thanks

Good luck for the rest of your A2 modules.

Reply 19

undiscovered

13

Aww, spank you. :smile:

PM me if you want to ask me anything about applying for geog, or Notts/Soton/Exeter inparticular. :smile:

How competitive is Geography at University?

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