Starting A-levels: Geography uni advice?

3

I'm about to start my A-levels and want to study Geography at university in the future. Any tips from students who've done this? Should I aim for certain grades or look at specific universities? Thanks! 😊

Diggory the AI Uni Coach helped write this post

Reply 1

Geo Lover 7

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18

Original post

by Procy La Pietra

I'm about to start my A-levels and want to study Geography at university in the future. Any tips from students who've done this? Should I aim for certain grades or look at specific universities? Thanks! 😊
Diggory the AI Uni Coach helped write this post

Hi. I'm applying for Geography for September this year. Also Happy New Year!🎉

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 2

McGinger

20

There are numerous different areas of Geography - and every Uni course will have a different focus. You have plenty of time to research all of this, so start by just looking at a wide range of Uni course pages and thinking about the sort of course you want to do. My only advice is that you look for courses with a placement or study abroad as these extras add enormously to your graduate CV.

Reply 3

Emma:-)

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Original post

by Procy La Pietra

I'm about to start my A-levels and want to study Geography at university in the future. Any tips from students who've done this? Should I aim for certain grades or look at specific universities? Thanks! 😊
Diggory the AI Uni Coach helped write this post

I know of a couple of people who went on to do geography at uni.
I know one went to Sheffield Uni. Thats meant to be good. Another went to Derby.
Grades wise- double check the unis websites to see what grades they specify (it may have changed since the people i know went). Also check if theres any specific subjects they require. I know you need to do geography. I dont think theres any others they require but double check.

Reply 4

Geo Lover 7

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Original post

by Emma:-)

I know of a couple of people who went on to do geography at uni.
I know one went to Sheffield Uni. Thats meant to be good. Another went to Derby.
Grades wise- double check the unis websites to see what grades they specify (it may have changed since the people i know went). Also check if theres any specific subjects they require. I know you need to do geography. I dont think theres any others they require but double check.

With some unis you don't need Geography at A-Level which is surprising.

Reply 5

McGinger

20

Original post

by Emma:-)

I know of a couple of people who went on to do geography at uni.
I know one went to Sheffield Uni. Thats meant to be good. Another went to Derby.
Grades wise- double check the unis websites to see what grades they specify (it may have changed since the people i know went). Also check if theres any specific subjects they require. I know you need to do geography. I dont think theres any others they require but double check.

You don't always need A level Geography to do a Geography degree - examples :
Geography BA | University of Leicester
Geography Degree (Hons) | BA | University of Southampton
Geography BA | University of Leeds
BSc Geography (Human) - 2026/27
etc

Reply 6

Emma:-)

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Original post

by Geo Lover 7

With some unis you don't need Geography at A-Level which is surprising.

Yeah that is surprising.
If it was me, id still want to do it though.

Reply 7

Emma:-)

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Original post

by McGinger

You don't always need A level Geography to do a Geography degree - examples :
Geography BA | University of Leicester
Geography Degree (Hons) | BA | University of Southampton
Geography BA | University of Leeds
BSc Geography (Human) - 2026/27
etc

Yeah that is surprising.
If it was me, id still want to do it though.

Reply 8

Uni of Southampton Students

Official Rep

16

Original post

by Procy La Pietra

I'm about to start my A-levels and want to study Geography at university in the future. Any tips from students who've done this? Should I aim for certain grades or look at specific universities? Thanks! 😊
Diggory the AI Uni Coach helped write this post

Hi @Procy La Pietra
I’m currently in my third year studying Geography Ba at the University of Southampton. Its great to hear that you’re thinking of studying geography as will in the future too! I couldn’t recommend it more since it’s such a wide area of study, where you’ll be able to gain a lot of transferable skills.

In terms of looking for specific universities I would first say understand which part of geography you like best! A lot of universities tend to split geography into two separate degrees based on human and physical geography. Southampton has four geography degrees: Geography Ba, Geography BSc, Human Geography Ba, and Physical Geography Bsc.

For Southampton the human and physical course only focus on these parts of geography, whereas Geography BA and BSc do the same modules within first year, giving you an experience of both sides of geography. This is perfect for those who might be certain on only studying one side of geography or unsure which side they like most. After first year Geography Ba and BSc students can swap their degree to the other if they tend to enjoy one side of geography more.

However, all universities have their own unique geography degree so I would highly recommend looking into what modules they offer in all years of the course! I personally wanted my degree to have an optional module around economics and economic geography, which Southampton has and I chose to do in my second year.

Now for tips. You’ll be doing quite a bit of reading for your degree, especially on the human side of geography as there’s a lot of theory and ideas that you’ll need to look into. The bigger marks will come from when you have read literature outside of the reading list. So go beyond the list and use search engines such as Google Scholar, Jstor, Web of Science, Taylor and Francis etc. to find relevant literature - this will really wow your lecturers if you do this in first year!

GIS is a big part of Southamptons geography degrees. GIS is basically a mapping system that allows you to present data geographically. I would say ensure you’re willing to learn computer programming and work hard on learning this as it’ll be very beneficial for when you’re looking for jobs post graduate.

Another tip is understand how you would like to do your notes in lectures before starting uni. You want to be able to keep all your notes throughout the years in one place to make it easier to find. You don’t want to be going to one place to another to try find something from last year’s lectures. Some people prefer handwritten notes on iPad or paper, but personally I think laptop notes are better as you can get up the lecture’s powerpoint and also have your own notes up too.

I hope this has helped a bit, and let me know if you have any more questions!
Lucy

Starting A-levels: Geography uni advice?

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