Any Lancaster Students willing to answer a few questions?

Sure. I'm happy to do it over the forum so other prospective students can see, or in private message if you'd prefer

Hi!

Thanks for your response! I really appreciate the help. I'm going to the UK this spring and need to decide on which colleges to visit.

I don't really have a preference. Would you prefer messaging, forum, or email? Anything works

I'd say on the forum would be best personally - then if other people in your situation are thinking of asking the same questions they'll also be able to see the answers.

Alrighty! Sounds good

So what made you decide to go to Lancaster?

Whats your favorite thing about Lancaster?

What are some disadvantages to attending?

How selective are they?

Those are all I have for now

1) My decision originally was a combination of how far it is from home, the reputation of the department I was applying to (Physics), the reputation of the university as a whole but mostly how friendly and enthusiastic the staff and students were about being there. It seemed genuine, unlike on open days at other universities.

2) My favourite thing would be that there's always the opportunity to do something new. This is technically the case at every university, but because Lancaster is so friendly it feels a lot easier. Also it's really close to the Lake District which is among the most picturesque places in the world. Also there's a whole ton of good pubs in Lancaster and the local beer is top notch (although this is the case for most of Northern England). The city of Lancaster is very pleasant and really safe and it's not too big which is good for me as I grew up in a tiny village.

3) We don't have great weather. IT never gets really hot/sunny in the summer for long, it never really gets very cold in winter, it almost never snows and it rains A LOT. I've got used to it, but it's something that a lot of international students aren't prepared for. Even for England it's wet here.

4) Depends on the department - some are very very selective and some will take people whoa re enthusiastic and have more or less the right grades. On the whole they were pretty lenient when I first got here five and a half years ago.

If you do decide to visit I'd be happy to show you around.

1) My decision originally was a combination of how far it is from home, the reputation of the department I was applying to (Physics), the reputation of the university as a whole but mostly how friendly and enthusiastic the staff and students were about being there. It seemed genuine, unlike on open days at other universities.

2) My favourite thing would be that there's always the opportunity to do something new. This is technically the case at every university, but because Lancaster is so friendly it feels a lot easier. Also it's really close to the Lake District which is among the most picturesque places in the world. Also there's a whole ton of good pubs in Lancaster and the local beer is top notch (although this is the case for most of Northern England). The city of Lancaster is very pleasant and really safe and it's not too big which is good for me as I grew up in a tiny village.

3) We don't have great weather. IT never gets really hot/sunny in the summer for long, it never really gets very cold in winter, it almost never snows and it rains A LOT. I've got used to it, but it's something that a lot of international students aren't prepared for. Even for England it's wet here.

4) Depends on the department - some are very very selective and some will take people whoa re enthusiastic and have more or less the right grades. On the whole they were pretty lenient when I first got here five and a half years ago.

If you do decide to visit I'd be happy to show you around.

1) Sounds good! Do you know how they rank for geology or meteorology? I have been having trouble with finding rankings.

2) Cool! I grew up in a smaller town as well. Seems like a good place so far! How far is it located from London and larger cities? Is transportation easy?

3) Geez. I'm from Michigan and our weather is pretty bipolar. One day, we had snow in the morning, then it got hot and calm, then there was a tornado, hail, wind, a thunderstorm, then it got really calm and clear that night...I will probably be able to handle it :P

4) Thats good to know. How selective are they for earth sciences? What were your grades in high school? Do they look at consoler and teacher recommendation letters?

Thanks again for the help! I really appreciate it

Forgot to add...if you could show me around, that would be awesome! Thanks so much for the offer

1) The environment centre is pretty good for these kinds of things, the Geography course does include some geology aspects and the department as a whole is very well respected internationally, apparently. Though you may want to look at the "Earth and Environmental Science" course: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/earth-and-environmental-science-msci-hons-4r71/
I'm currently studying something closely related to geology (volcanology, to be specific) and there are some great lecturers in this area. I'm not sure about meteorology though, I've not seen any modules for it but I didn't study my undergraduate in this department so I can't be sure. There are a whole ton of optional modules I don't know about.

2) It's quite far from London (250 miles) BUT we have very good transport links so it takes only 2 hours 30 minutes to get from Lancaster to the centre of London on the train, and this can be inexpensive if you book in advance. Closer to Lancaster there's Manchester, which takes about an hour to get to and Liverpool which is more like 90 minutes. Preston is about 15-20 minutes by train, too, although I don't go there. Within Lancaster there's regular bus services which run between town and the university and currently it costs £2.50 for a return. If you're living on campus then you probably won't need to use the buses much as everything you need is on campus. I live in the town and so I bought a bus pass which lets me use the buses as much as I want.

3) That's good to hear! It's also pretty windy here, but you're probably used to it!

4) Not massively selective, the current entry requirements is ABB at A level. I'm not sure how this directly translates to the US system of AP tests though, there is some translation you can do so the university knows what your grades mean. They will want to see a recommendation or reference from a teacher, I don't know how much they take that into account though. If you definitely want to apply then getting in contact with the admissions tutor is probably best as they know a lot more about the process for international students than I do! I think this is the person who is most relevant: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/about-us/people/catherine-dolan


No problem! Just let me know in advance when you'll be around so I can make sure I'm free.

Thanks for the great respond! I really appreciate the help

1) That looks like an awesome course! I was considering volcanology actually! It looks really fun! Is the field employable though? What is the course like? Lectures sound alright. How big are the classes and are there hands on activities?

2) Sounds convient! Glad you don't need a car. I hate driving :P Can you get student discounts on the tickets?

3) Haha, probably. We had some big gusts today!

4) That sounds good. Thanks for all the links and stuff

Also, are there any sites that compare rankings between British universities? I have't had any luck finding them.

A few more questions...

What made you choose Lancaster?

What makes it stand out from other Universities?

How expensive is housing and other living expenses?

Thanks again for the help! It was super helpful and I really appreciate it

1) Volanology is a post-graduate course, unfortunately, although you can do related things as an undergraduate in Earth Science. It's fairly employable if you want to go into research like I have, other than that it's just a normal masters degree. There's quite a few practicals, yeah - same as most geology related courses, I think. Undergraduate class sizes vary from 10-20 in later years to over 100 in first year. Depends entirely on the class itself.

2) Yeah, running a car here is very expensive - you have to pay for paring on campus, fuel is more than twice the price of the USA and insurance (which you have to buy) is typically £500/year or more for young people. You can't get a student discount on rail or bus tickets but you can get an 18-25 railcard which is available to anyone between 18 and 25 and give you 1/3 off rail tickets. It costs something like £30 for a year so if you use it for one trip to London it pays for itself.

3)

4) No problem

5) I picked Lancaster originally because of its location (about an hour from home and near to the Lake District), the department seemed really friendly and the students seemed enthusiastic. Also the range of student societies included the hiking club which I wanted to get involved in.

6) For me it stands out because it's very friendly and open - the university itself isn't some faceless entity that hands out degrees. The university seems to have an interest in making sure its students develop as people rather than just make them do the things required to graduate. There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the main thing - it's just a nice environment to be in!

7) Quite cheap for the UK, although it might be more than you're used to in the USA. I comfortably spend about £20 on food a week (excluding going to restaurants) and I eat well. My rent at the moment is £80 a week and that includes all my bills like heating and electricity. My rent is on the lower end of student type accommodation but it's possible to get things that are cheaper in town. On campus it's more like £90-120 per week or more in some cases. If you budget about £150-200 per week for everything including rent then you'll be fine. If your visa allows it then you'd be able to get a part time job and that would help you get by. There are a lot of jobs available for students in Lancaster, usually in the service/hospitality industry.

EDIT: Oh and university rankings do exist and there some here:
http://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2015/may/25/university-guide-2016-league-table-for-geography-environmental-studies
http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Geography+%26+Environmental+Science
Lancaster does well, but not amazingly well. The two main things to ask yourself when looking at a university are a) Is it reasonably well respected i.e. top 20 or 30. and b) Will you enjoy being there. Student satisfaction rates are somewhat deceptive because what other people like it not necessarily what you will like. Most courses in a given subject are pretty similar at different universities, particularly anything involving science.

1) Alrighty. What kind of research jobs are there for volcanology? It looks like a really fun post graduate degree but I'm worried there might not be a lot of jobs out there. What undergraduate degree did you get before studying volcanology?

2) Yeah, insurance is high for new drivers in America as well! Sounds good with the railcard though! Does Lancaster have a lot of trainrides to other areas? How close is the nearest airport? I've heard a lot of good things about the UK having cheaper flights.

5) Sounds awesome! I'm really into hiking myself actually! How far is it from major cities and airports? Is transport expensive?

6) Sounds nice! I'd like to have that in an university. My high school is sort of like that as well.

7) Cool! Doesn't seem that bad. Is is possible to do paid work/research jobs with professors? Lots of students get those in the US but I'm not sure if they exist in the UK. And here is a pretty stupid question...does Lancaster have an ice hockey rink? I referee ice hockey and would like to get a refereeing or coaching job if those exist over there :P

Thanks for the links to the rankings! I'll keep that in mind when I apply.

Thanks for all the help and everything. I really appreciate it and you're very helpful!

1) Well there's working for the USGS who have a lot of geologists/volcanologists, or BGS (British Geological Survey) who have a few, too. Also INGV in Italy have a lot of volcanologists. Beyond that you've got things like disaster management consultancy which is a more general thing but volcanology is useful. Plus there's academic research which is what I do (I'm a PhD student). But also just having a masters degree is helpful for getting employment. Before I did my MSc in volcanology I did physics, also at Lancaster.

2) From Lancaster you can get direct trains to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Morecambe, London, Brimingham most often but from those you can pretty much get anywhere in the UK on a second train and they stop at a lot of intermediate places like Kendal, Carlisle, Preston, Wigan, Warrington, Milton Keynes. The nearest airport is Manchester airport which is about an hour away and there are direct trains there. There might be small airfields closer but they won't do international flights. We do have budget airlines like Easyjet who can offer some very good deals (like going to various places in Europe for under £50 for a return ticket).

5) Great - as well as the hiking club there's trains to Windermere (one of the bigger towns in the Lake District) and buses that go further North than that and they're about £10 for a day rider. Most of our transport is fairly expensive, but it is also extensive and you can usually get to wherever you need to go to.

7) It's certainly not unheard of for undergraduate students to help out with research in their holidays, but it's not as common as in the USA I think. There are a lot more opportunity for paid work as a PhD student to be honest. I do a bit of teaching and marking for extra cash, but that's only open to PhD students. Ice hockey isn't really a big thing in the UK at all so there isn't a rink in Lancaster but there might be one in Manchester. We do have a 'regular' hockey team though, which is probably not too dissimilar to what you're looking for and they'd probably be happy to have someone on board with refereeing experience


No problem - I like talking about the university. I've been here quite a while so I know a fair bit about it, although I don't know everything. I still sometimes manage to find places on campus I haven't been before after nearly 6 years!

1) Thats true...The thing with the USGS is most volcanoes are in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington. I'm alright with living in Washington but not really with the other two! They don't have many positions open often either Research sounds fun though! What kind of research are you doing now? Can you become a paid researcher with that type of degree? Disaster management sounds good too! I think I am going to reconsider on volcanology.

2) That sounds pretty awesome! Trains here are slow and old. Flights are so expensive and airports are annoying. Haha "Milton Keynes" xD Was that intentional?

5) Thats awesome! Gas is more expensive, trains are about the same but British rail service is more reliable. Flights are much much cheaper though.

7) Sounds good. I'll just do that once I get a graduate degree.

Also, the entry requirements for Americans are 3 AP exams. I will have 3 at the end of the year but for US government and politics, macroeconomics, and US history. I am doing an engineering class that counts as a college credit at community colleges though and will have AP calculus, environmental science, and geography after I graduate as well as after I apply. I'll have an SAT though. Even though I might not have the correct APs at the time of application, will I still have a chance of getting in? Do British colleges like work experience or volunteer hours? I've got a good amount of that as well.

Cool! Haha, I have that in my hometown too :P Thanks again

There's work done in Oregon too, I understand. Plus some work is done on extinct volcanoes, I think. Also not all USGS workers are based in the USA, there used to be some out in the Philippines, for example. They go wherever the organisation think is necessary to understand the processes. My research involves looking at how bubbles in magma influence the style of an eruption. Without going into details, anyway. I'd have to explain a LOT of background to explain exactly what I'm doing, how and why! Well a PhD pretty much is a paid research job. I get paid what is effectively a salary to do my work. Afterwards I could apply for postdoctoral positions which are much better paid and can eventually lead to a lecturer position, which is also a research position at most universities.

Some of our trains are slow and old but they are being upgraded. The West Coast Mainline runs between London and Edinburgh but stops at a few places in between runs at about 125 mph which is why it's possible to get to London from Lancaster in two and a half hours! Milton Keynes is a real place:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Keynes
It's not very interesting (I used to have family that lived there) but it is on the West Coast Mainline. What did you think I'd said that is funny? XD

Usually what you'd have to do is have your grades converted from the US system to a UK equivalent (and this can be expensive, I understand). Most students don't have their final grades when they apply but they will have a predicted grade. Typically the university will give out a conditional offer - that is if you accept the offer and then get the grades then you get into the university. Normally you have to apply through a system called UCAS where you can apply to five universities. When you get your offers you would then take one are your first choice and one as your second choice. If you meet the grades of the first then you get in, if you just miss them then they see if you've met the grades of your insurance and if you meet those then you end up going there. If you miss both then there's a whole other system in place. Normally applications are made between September and January, offers are given out before the end of Spring and then you have to make a decision later. Results in the UK come out in August and the academic year starts in September or October.

It might be a bit late for you to put in a normal UCAS application for starting in 2016, however international students might be able to go through another system that I'm not aware of. Best thing to do would be to contact the admissions person I mentioned to you before and see what they can do for you.

Oh yeah! Forgot about those places. Not sure though. That seems fun! What kind of postgraduate work is there? Do you get to travel?

Sounds awesome! Is it expensive? Can you take trains from London directly to the airport?

Milton Keynes is a funny name because it combines the names of two famous economists: Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes. Just sounds really funny. I'm a nerd and follow stocks, economics, and other useless things :P

Interesting. Glad I won't need the grades right away then. Really weird system...never heard of that concept. Do you think you can go into more detail on the UCAS process? Do you need essays and recommendation letters when applying?

Oh, really? I'm planning on applying this fall and starting in the fall of 2017.

Thanks again for the help!

Well for PhD students most of the work I do is teaching or marking and I also help out on interview days, but most students have that opportunity. Most of my day to day at the moment work is reading papers, writing my literature review and planning my experiments. Although this week I'm also going to be helping to plan a conference happening next month. I've not travelled for my work yet but I am probably going to Germany for a week in the summer for a course. There's a possibility of travelling later in the project but it will depend on whether I need to for my project. On the other hand, the guy on the desk next to mine in my office has already been to Chile, Italy and Germany and is planning on returning to Chile and Italy in the next year or so.

A train from Lancaster to London and back is typically about £90 but is £60 with a rail card. It can be much less (Less than £40) if you book in advance. There are trains running from London to Heathrow, yes. Although Manchester Airport is much nearer to Lancaster and it is an international airport.

Oh I see! I have vaguely heard of Keynes but that's about it. There's nothing wrong with having interests beyond the subject you want to study!

The UCAS website is here: https://www.ucas.com/
And the idea is that you make an account with them and search for the course you want to study. Then you pick five, fill in what qualifications you already have plus predicted grades, write a personal statement about yourself and submit one reference/letter of recommendation from a teacher or someone at your school. There is also an administration fee but I think it was £20 when I applied, so nothing too major. When you've sent your application off the universities will review it and they'll usually do one of a few things:

a) Give you an unconditional offer. This is quite unusual but basically means that you have the requirements for the course already and they're happy to take you on.
b) Give you a conditional offer. This might be something like "If you get three A grades then you can study here". This is probably the most common result that people get, well this and the next one...
c) Ask you to come for an interview. As you're international they'd probably let you do this over skype rather than expect you to fly over just for one day. After the interview they may do any of the three other options.
d) Reject your application. This does happen to some people, but usually when they apply to a university that is much beyond their abilities.

Then depending on when you get responses from the universities you have to make a decision about where you want to go. So you select your first and second choice from whatever offers you have. Then you pretty much wait until you get your results and then you place is confirmed if you have a conditional offer

The time scale is usually that you need to apply between September and the middle of January for entry in the following September/October. So if you applied this October you would be looking at 2017 entry. If you want to come sooner then it would be worth contacting the universities you want to apply to directly to see what they can do, but they will probably tell you to apply for 2017 entry. Does that help clear things up? The UCAS website has a load of information on how to apply and so on.

Do you know roughly when you'll be visiting, by the way? Just so I know whether or not you're planning on being here during a holiday or anything important for me.

Sounds like some pretty neat work actually! Where abouts in Germany? I lived there for a while!

Sounds good then! Does Manchester offer any flights to the US or Canada?

Oh really? Is economics not required? Haha, thanks!

Interesting process. Here, you just send in your application and they accept or reject you. Usually done though a letter in the mail though. Sometimes if you have the required grades they will put you on a wait list and you may or may not get accepted. The British system seems a lot better though.

Yeah! That clears things up. I am planning on applying for 2017 entry. When do you normally find out if you are accepted or not? I also like how it doesn't overlap with ours much so that way I can get my applications to American schools out of the way first.

I will be visiting sometime between April 4th-9th. Are there any major British holidays then? Where would I be able to find the tour/open day information? The site is kinda big and confusing :P

Thanks again for the help!