Natural Sciences

Check the course content carefully - for NS the courses are vastly different at each Uni, and you need to look at all of the optional units for your appropriate pathway for all years of each course. Make sure you know exactly what you are signing up to.

As a very general rule of thumb, the smaller the Uni the better the individual student support tends to be.

Thanks, out of the courses, I prefer Lancaster but I don't know how good they really are?

HI guys,
I am in the final stages where I have to put down my firm and insurance choices. I have applied to study natural sciences with a year abroad, and I can't decide between lancaster, UEA and Nottingham?? Mainly just unsure on what the support is like within the course and how good the lectures are/how supportive they are but any info would be helpful.
Thanks

HI guys,
I am in the final stages where I have to put down my firm and insurance choices. I have applied to study natural sciences with a year abroad, and I can't decide between lancaster, UEA and Nottingham?? Mainly just unsure on what the support is like within the course and how good the lectures are/how supportive they are but any info would be helpful.
Thanks

Hi @Orca500!

Nice to hear that you're considering coming to Lancaster. What mixture of courses are you looking to do on the natural sciences scheme? I studied Physics but had a few friends that studied natural sciences and took some physics modules as part of their degree.

I've really enjoyed my time at Lancaster and continued onto postgraduate study here. I decided to apply because it is a campus based uni, it's collegiate and has a good location for me. The main thing that helped me to decide was visiting the uni, I found everyone to be really welcoming and friendly and the facilities on display were impressive. Have you had a chance to visit on an offer holder or open day as yet? If you haven't been as yet we also have student-led campus tours every Friday and Sunday so there could still be chance to visit if it would help you to make your decision. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/open-days/campus-tours/

In terms of support, in physics we get an academic tutor. We met up with them once a term to discuss how things were going and whether we needed any additional support. I am not sure about other departments, it may be the same but it would be best to check with a student subjects the streams you're interested in. You can talk to current students here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/chat/

In my experience the physics lectures were on the whole very good. The lecturers also have an open door policy so we could go and discuss any issues we had with the content whenever the lecturer was free or in an allocated office hour.

Let me know if you have any specific questions about life at Lancaster

- Tineke
Lancaster Student Ambassador

HI guys,
I am in the final stages where I have to put down my firm and insurance choices. I have applied to study natural sciences with a year abroad, and I can't decide between lancaster, UEA and Nottingham?? Mainly just unsure on what the support is like within the course and how good the lectures are/how supportive they are but any info would be helpful.
Thanks

Hi!

My name is Georgia and I am a current third-year student at Lancaster University. While I can't speak for natural sciences themselves as I am a history student, the university itself is amazing. I have found that there is a great amount of support - everyone is assigned an academic tutor that they can schedule meetings with as they wish, and all lecturers have office hours which many people do attend to receive help if they need it.

I also did a year abroad to Canada, it was a great experience and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about the study abroad programme at Lancaster.

Please let me know if you have any more questions I can answer.

~ Georgia

Hi @Orca500!

Nice to hear that you're considering coming to Lancaster. What mixture of courses are you looking to do on the natural sciences scheme? I studied Physics but had a few friends that studied natural sciences and took some physics modules as part of their degree.

I've really enjoyed my time at Lancaster and continued onto postgraduate study here. I decided to apply because it is a campus based uni, it's collegiate and has a good location for me. The main thing that helped me to decide was visiting the uni, I found everyone to be really welcoming and friendly and the facilities on display were impressive. Have you had a chance to visit on an offer holder or open day as yet? If you haven't been as yet we also have student-led campus tours every Friday and Sunday so there could still be chance to visit if it would help you to make your decision. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/open-days/campus-tours/

In terms of support, in physics we get an academic tutor. We met up with them once a term to discuss how things were going and whether we needed any additional support. I am not sure about other departments, it may be the same but it would be best to check with a student subjects the streams you're interested in. You can talk to current students here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/chat/

In my experience the physics lectures were on the whole very good. The lecturers also have an open door policy so we could go and discuss any issues we had with the content whenever the lecturer was free or in an allocated office hour.

Let me know if you have any specific questions about life at Lancaster

- Tineke
Lancaster Student Ambassador

Hi @Orca500I spoke to my friend who studied natural sciences at Lancaster. She said that she really liked how flexible the degree was and that it’s really helpful to talk through your module choices with your academic advisor before selecting them as there’s so much choice but what you pick in each year will determine what you can take in later years.

Hope this helps!

- Tineke
Lancaster Student Ambassador

Hi!

I've just graduated with a Natural Sciences BSc (with Placement Year) from Lancaster University. For me, the support was incredible. Not only do you get given an academic tutor from each department that you sit in (Engineering, Maths, and Physical Geography for me), you also have the Natural Sciences staff who give a lot of support. Every time I've had a query about swapping modules or anything about the course, I have either gone to the programme coordinator (Carla) and received help straight away, or emailed the Nat Sci email and received a response really promptly.

In terms of the lectures, I can only speak for my departments but they've been great. I loved the course and the range of work that I got to do throughout my degree. I'm just finishing a Master's in Mechanical Engineering at Lancaster University and have a graduate job lined up for afterwards. I really don't think that that would have been possible without the content, or the support and guidance that was given to me throughout my Natural Sciences degree.

I didn't do the year abroad personally but my flatmate did and she loved it. There is a separate team in the university who organises the whole process and it all seems to work well from what I have seen.

That's my experience with the degree and the university but all of my friends on the course have loved it too! If you have any more questions about how the course is run, feel free to ask Also, if you can come along to an open day or an offer holder event, they give a great idea of what the university and department are like. If you can't make them, you can always email the department and they can organise a call with some of the current students/staff so you can get a feel for the environment.

-Bethan (Lancaster University Natural Sciences Ambassador)

Hi Tineke,

Thank you so much for your reply and all the helpful info!

I'm currently thinking of doing ecology + genetics + psychology in my natural sciences degree as those are the subjects that I enjoy most.

I have been on an applicant day and I loved the uni when I looked round it. I'm not sure about what accommodation/college I would go for tough; it's between the standard flats and the ensuite flats; I'm debating whether the extra money for an ensuite is worth the price; what is your opinion on this? Also, I don't quite know what college to apply for (when do you apply for what college you would like?); I had a look at the colleges but I can't see what the major differences/characteristics are of each one as they seem similar to me; do they have any distinct characteristics/aspects? If I was to go standard flats, I was looking at Furness and Pembroke but the ones I slightly prefer are Cartmel and Lonsdale but it says that they are further out of the campus, how far away would you say they are and are they still involved in the action of the campus? Which college did you go to?

I did wonder, what is the student union of Lancaster uni like?

I like the fact that there is an open door policy and that there is support available, that is comforting to know.

Thanks so much
Melody

Hi Bethan,

Thank you so much for your fantastic reply! Congrats on graduating!!

I am really glad that you do get that support from the academic tutors and the NatSci staff as that is a big factor for me confirming whether to go to Lancaster. It is also reassuring to hear that you have had great lecturers and that you've done so well once graduating from uni.

I did wonder; when do we start choosing what modules we want to do? Do we chose per term or all of them at the beginning of the year? Also, have you had any timetable clashes and how did you deal with this? Lastly, is there any prep I should be doing in the Summer for natural sciences?

Thanks so much
Melody

Hi @Orca500!

I'm also a third year student at Lancaster University, and I just wanted to add some information about my experience at the university, as I saw that you mentioned that you would like to take Psychology as part of your Natural Sciences degree, and I'm currently doing my BSc in Psychology.

I just thought that I would give you some insight into Psychology here at Lancaster, and whilst your experience of Psychology wouldn't be exactly the same as mine, as yours would be a part of the Natural Sciences degree, I imagine that you would still have similar contact with the department and do at least some of the modules that I have done. In terms of the support that you get from the Psychology department itself - it's so great, and the lecturers are always happy to help via email/via our online Q&A forums. Even though university itself can be quite daunting when you start, I felt so much more at ease in my first year because of how welcoming the department is, and this feeling has continued throughout my second and third years.

The modules we do are also so interesting, and as you've mentioned that Psychology is an area that you are interested in prior to doing your degree, the course itself (at least for me!) made me so much more interested in Psychology, when I didn't think it was possible to be more interested! We go through the basics, and build upon them as we go along, to make sure that everything is understandable, and get the chance to learn about not only historical research, but new research as well, and sometimes even research that our lecturers have been a part of, which I think is really cool.

I hope this gives you some insight, and please feel free to ask any more questions if you have them!

Best of luck!

~ Cathryn (Lancaster University Student Ambassador)

Hi Melody!

As I did history abroad I could choose any history courses (because you don't have to study a 'specific' thing to gain a history degree). I don't know how flexible it is for other courses, I imagine that some courses are less flexible, but the people I knew from other universities doing 4-year degrees did have quite a lot of flexibility regardless of which course they were studying.

I started my application for the study abroad programme quite early in the year before I left - I think I started with the forms in around November.

You do get student finance for your year abroad, and actually you can get extra. The total amount you can get is higher, but it remains means-tested so depends on your parents income just the same as when you are at home. For accommodation, I received an email from my host university telling me when to apply - everyone studying abroad for the full year received accommodation, although I know this isn't the same at all universities. Some require people to stay in accommodation off-campus that isn't owned by them but the universities should be able to tell you where to look for accommodation.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions!
~ Georgia

Hi Melody,

No worries, and thank you, I'm glad that my response was useful!

You select your three 'pathways' between receiving your A Level results and coming to Lancaster. In first year, you usually don't get much choice of modules within your three pathways because they want you to get a certain range of core skills that will give you more choice down the line. In later years, there are a lot more choices for what modules you want to do within your pathways (the difference between pathways and modules is laid out quite nicely in the brochure on this webpage - https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/natural-sciences/). This selection process takes place around April/May time of the previous academic year (eg you will choose your second year modules in the April of your first year). There is a lot of support with this process, full descriptions of each module are uploaded, there is usually a sit down meeting with one of the Natural Sciences staff members to talk through your options and what you want to do, and they check through your choices to make sure you have done the required modules in your first year (for example they would definitely question if you suddenly chose to study a physics module after doing no physics in first year!).

All of your modules for the year are selected at this point, however if you realise that you're not enjoying a module or want to change a module in a later term, there is scope to switch as long as you do it either before or relatively soon into the module (eg within the first week or so). I have done this before and it's a very easy process where you just go and chat to the Natural Sciences Programme Coordinator, Carla.

In terms of clashes, Nat Sci doesn't allow for clashes between workshops/laboratories, which tend to be the more hands on components of the degree. For lectures, sometimes clashes occur. I have only had one lecture-lecture clash for a term between geography and engineering in my first year. Because all the lectures are recorded, I just alternated which lecture I attended and watched the recording of the other one each week. I also think the university has a new computer system to sort it out so I don't think many students even have lecture-lecture clashes anymore!

In terms of prep over the summer, because Natural Sciences isn't its own subject, there isn't any prep to do for Natural Sciences itself. There might be some prep that the departments from your pathways want you to do over summer but this tends to be quite light and I didn't have anything to do in my summer. The lecturers tend to be quite nice at reintroducing concepts at the start of the degree as everyone is a bit rusty after the break! There are also potentially whatsapp/facebook group chats etc that start up in the summer for your course/accommodation. I didn't join any of these but had friends who did and they found them quite a nice way to meet people also going to Lancaster.

Good luck with everything and let me know if there are any more questions
Bethan