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Botany Degree

Hi all,

I'm currently considering my degree options, for 2010 entry.

My As-Levels are chem, physics, maths, further maths.

I was considering Botany, but I don't have biology, does this completely rule it out?

Are any of you studying botany? If so how is it and where are you doing it?

Thanks
Reply 1
Avatar for jay8
jay8
I applied for Botany at every uni except the one I'm at - I ended up doing Biological Sciences, but am now specialising in plant science. Not having Biology does not rule out doing Biology at university, it just rules out specific courses at specific places. It's interesting that you're considering Botany given you don't take Biology, but I'm not criticising - it's cool you're considering all your options, and for most people an interest in plants comes relatively late in their academic career compared with eg. aspiring doctors.
Technically you could get on a course eg. Bristol ask for 2 science/maths subjects, as do a lot of places, without specifying Biology. I would contact unis you're interested to double check it's worth applying though - Biology might not be an official requirement, but they might be very reluctant to let someone in without it, and you'd be way behind most people on your course at the beginning (the vast majority of whom will have Biology A Level).
Botany's an interesting one. Some places it's separate from 'Biology', other places it shares its intake with general Biology. At places where it's separate I should imagine it's much less competitive: I think the number of people who actually apply for C200 can't be many more than a few dozen each year, maximum.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Short answer: it's technically worth a shot, but I would email the relevant admissions people at any unis you're interested in applying to. You would also have to somehow justify on your personal statement why you're applying for Biology without A Level Biology, I would imagine.
Thanks for the reply.

I think I'll put my email hat on tommorow and get to work lol
Reply 3
Avatar for jay8
jay8
I had a trawl through the UCAS website, for C200 courses (weird, some of them have vanished since I applied), and found 3 universities that do not say you have to have Biology:
Edinburgh - 2 subjects from Bio, Chem, Phys, Maths
Glasgow - 2 science subjects
Manchester - 2 science subjects (but it says "usually Biology and Chemistry" )

Hopefully some of the others might consider you too, but those are the ones which, without contacting them, say you don't definitely need Biology. Hope this helps. (It would probably help your chances if you could take Biology AS this year, but I have no idea whether it would be possible for you to do that or not, and you're already doing quite hardcore subjects...)

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