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Geology and Earth Sciences 2017 - Applicants Thread

Geology and Earth Sciences
2017 Applicants Thread

Welcome to the 2017 Geology and Earth Sciences Applicants Thread! This is a discussion thread for those of you applying to Geoscience courses for 2017 Entry.

You may want to leave your details here using the following format:

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Useful Links

GeolSoc's Pathways website

Reading lists:Good websites:Useful A Levels for Geoscience

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(edited 7 years ago)

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Reply 1
A Levels taken (and predicted grades): Geography (A*), Chemistry (A*) and French (A*)

I applied to:
Imperial - geology MSci (international) AAA
Leeds - geological sciences MSci (international) A*AA
St Andrews - geology BSc AAB
Durham - geology BSc AAB
Exeter - geology BSc AAB

Favourite rock/mineral: pyrite
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 2
A Levels taken (predicted grades): Geography (A), Physics (A) and Politics (A*)

I'm applying to:
Birmingham- Geology
St Andrews - Geology
Exeter - Mining Engineering
Exeter - Applied Geology
Cardiff- Exploration and Resource Geology
Reply 3
Original post by rockhead
A Levels taken (predicted grades): Geography (A), Physics (A) and Politics (A*)

I'm applying to:
Birmingham- Geology
St Andrews - Geology
Exeter - Mining Engineering
Exeter - Applied Geology
Cardiff- Exploration and Resource Geology


My cousin did mining engineering at Exeter and absolutely loved it - it's meant to be a really good course :smile:
Reply 4
Original post by c.lewis99
My cousin did mining engineering at Exeter and absolutely loved it - it's meant to be a really good course :smile:


Its definitely going to be my first choice if I get an offer. Who doesn't want to blow stuff up?
Thought this article might be of interest to some of you...

Geologists hit gold with best graduate pay (Sunday Times - paywall)
Reply 6
Predicted A/A* Geology; Geography; Business Studies

Exeter MGeol Applied Geology
Birmingham MSci Geology and Physical Geography
Southampton MSci Geology
Cardiff MESci Exploration and Resource Geology
Liverpool MSci Geology and Physical Geography (N.America)

currently 1st choice would be Cardiff and Soton 2nd, trouble is I expect all offers to be AAB, but Soton, Liverpool and Birmingham have all confirmed that they would offer the BSc equivalent if I miss the grades, Cardiff might and Exeter wont
Reply 7
Original post by tcwhite
Predicted A/A* Geology; Geography; Business Studies

Exeter MGeol Applied Geology
Birmingham MSci Geology and Physical Geography
Southampton MSci Geology
Cardiff MESci Exploration and Resource Geology
Liverpool MSci Geology and Physical Geography (N.America)

currently 1st choice would be Cardiff and Soton 2nd, trouble is I expect all offers to be AAB, but Soton, Liverpool and Birmingham have all confirmed that they would offer the BSc equivalent if I miss the grades, Cardiff might and Exeter wont


Leeds offer a really interesting course (geological sciences) and if you miss the entry requirements for MSci they automatically offer the BSc equivalent - it's worth checking out :smile:
Reply 8
AS grades: AAAA in maths, further maths, geography, music
A level predicted: maths A*, further maths A, geography A
Taking up AS physics this year

I've already sent off my UCAS - applying to:

Leeds MGeol International
Bristol MSci Environmental Geoscience with a year abroad
Birmingham MSci Geology with a year abroad
Manchester MEarthSci
Edinburgh BSc Environmental Geoscience
AS grades: AAAB in geology, biology, chemistry and maths.
Predicted grades: A*AA

Applying for BSc geology at following universities:
Durham
Leicester
Leeds
St Andrews
Edinburgh
Predicted AAB in Geology, Psychology, Biology
applying to:

Leeds (would be firm)
Manchester
Birmingham
Liverpool
Nottingham
Predicted A*'s in: Chemistry, Maths and Biology.

Applying to:

Oxford- Earth sciences
Bristol- Geology
Leeds- geological sciences (international)
Southampton- Geology (offer received)
Durham- Earth sciences
Reply 12
Is Bristol any good for Geology as i see not many are applying to them also the entry requirements are comparatively low??
Original post by f.bloom
Is Bristol any good for Geology as i see not many are applying to them also the entry requirements are comparatively low??


I think they are good, I applied to them at least. I don't think their entry requirements are that low, they seem pretty standard for Geology, the only places I've seen with significantly higher entry requirements are Imperial and Oxbridge (and of course, remember that entry requirements are not necessarily an indicator of course quality). From what I've heard, the Bristol geology course is pretty 'hard rock' geology heavy (i.e. more traditional), I'm not sure how true that is though (I heard that from somebody who didn't actually do geology).
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by f.bloom
Is Bristol any good for Geology as i see not many are applying to them also the entry requirements are comparatively low??

I applied for Bristol last year and a lot of people on my course do seem to have applied to them as one of their choices. The course is supposed to be known for being very quantitative, and has more maths content than some other courses I believe. Course quality is not necessarily related to the entry requirements, for example my Cardiff and Imperial offers were the same, and the standard entry requirements don't seem that low, although if I remember rightly they lower them if you do 3 hard sciences?
Reply 15
Original post by Headingtonian
I applied for Bristol last year and a lot of people on my course do seem to have applied to them as one of their choices. The course is supposed to be known for being very quantitative, and has more maths content than some other courses I believe. Course quality is not necessarily related to the entry requirements, for example my Cardiff and Imperial offers were the same, and the standard entry requirements don't seem that low, although if I remember rightly they lower them if you do 3 hard sciences?


Correct, a typical offer is AAB but with 3 hard science subjects it is ABB. Okay I'll take that into consideration. What uni are you studying at and do you know anything about earth sciences at Durham?
Has anyone received any offers yet from the unis they have applied to? If so, which ones??
Reply 17
Original post by Plagioclase
I think they are good, I applied to them at least. I don't think their entry requirements are that low, they seem pretty standard for Geology, the only places I've seen with significantly higher entry requirements are Imperial and Oxbridge (and of course, remember that entry requirements are not necessarily an indicator of course quality). From what I've heard, the Bristol geology course is pretty 'hard rock' geology heavy (i.e. more traditional), I'm not sure how true that is though.


Thanks, that helps a lot. What do you make of the other universities i have applied for: Leeds, Durham, Southampton and oxford? What kind of reputation do they have specifically for geology?
Reply 18
Original post by samanthayates98
Has anyone received any offers yet from the unis they have applied to? If so, which ones??




yes mate i received 4 offers this week from Southampton, Leeds, Durham and Bristol. How is your application going?
Original post by f.bloom
Thanks, that helps a lot. What do you make of the other universities i have applied for: Leeds, Durham, Southampton and oxford? What kind of reputation do they have specifically for geology?


The only one I can comment on properly is Oxford (because that's where I am now). The Earth Sciences course is very good, quite broad (you probably study a broader range of subjects for longer than most other similar degrees) and quite theory and science heavy. Whilst there still is plenty of practical work and traditional geology, I'd say the focus definitely is on Earth Sciences as a modern natural science (rather than more traditional interpretations of geology). If you want more information, feel free to PM me.

I also applied to Southampton (although for Geophysics). I think Southampton's got a pretty good reputation for Earth Sciences in general although their main specialism is oceanography.

I didn't apply to Leeds or Durham but both of their Earth Sciences departments look great to me, particularly Leeds. I think Leeds does quite a bit of atmospheric science, not sure if that translates to their Geology course though.

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