Geography and politics degree

I'm a student from Croatia and I'm hoping to study in Scotland. Up until recently I was planing to apply for law but then realised that I'd like to study geography and politics. The problem is that, since I suddenly decided to change my choice, I have no relevant experience in geo (compared to some that I had in law) + it's really not something people even do in Croatia since universities here only care about your exams. Also, there aren't any projects/jobs in my city that I could've even patricipated in. What are the chances of getting an offer from e.g. Dundee or Stirling if the only thing I'll be able to show on my personal statment is a genuine wish to study the course?

geography has a massive content as social geography, demographics, statistics etc - surely you studied some of that at some level, maybe age 15?

I just dropped a relative off at Stirling yesterday for the next four years, excellent smooth start....very impressive place.

So this year Scottish universities were positively discriminating through normal UCAS entry towards "home students", which is natural - they also quite like English students as they pay the €10K/year for four years - EU students get the places that are left! But they are available, as well as my "italian" application, there was a French and a German girl that I met who have just started. That was out of a random six people in a shared hall, so exactly 50% of EU students in that hall.

We applied to fully FIVE Scottish universities, however during UCAS clearing applied/discussed with two English universities who were value-for-money at €10K/year for three years. (Stirling gave quite a late final acceptance)

My suggestion, find a uni that you are interested in, e.g. RGU Aberdeen, look at their Geo & politics course (if they have one) or just their Geo course - drill down on their website/blogs/chats until you find a recommended reading list for their Geography textbooks, and buy a used social geography book from Amazon, say? read it and enjoy - then talk about that at interviews

Hi @sarazulin

It's great to hear that you wish to go to university.

On the personal statement, if you make it clear that you have a passion for geography and that it is something that you really want to get into most universities would be happy to accept you. For a lot of courses, relevant experience is not always applicable and for your case, this seems to be the case. Universities will also look at your character to see if you would be an outstanding student. Highlighting all the experiences you have in Law will help your application as well.

Hope this helps.

Dom