Geographical Sciences

I am in my third year now at the University of Bristol, studying for a geography degree. Having been here for over 2 and a half years I have experience with the department and the way things work.

TEACHING
The standard of teaching in the geography department is exceptionally good. The lecturers are at the forefront of research and are therefore extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject they are teaching. They recommend ...
...puts us in good stead for exams and having knowledge about the current scientific debates. Lectures are normally easy to follow, although there is the odd lecturer who is boring or makes the lectures hard to follow. The lectures are usually written on power point and are put on 'blackboard' (an online learning resource) afterwards so if you missed parts (or missed the whole lecture!) you can down load it afterwards.

WORK LOAD
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I am in my third year now at the University of Bristol, studying for a geography degree. Having been here for over 2 and a half years I have experience with the department and the way things work.

TEACHING
The standard of teaching in the geography department is exceptionally good. The lecturers are at the forefront of research and are therefore extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subject they are teaching. They recommend us the most up to date literature to read which puts us in good stead for exams and having knowledge about the current scientific debates. Lectures are normally easy to follow, although there is the odd lecturer who is boring or makes the lectures hard to follow. The lectures are usually written on power point and are put on 'blackboard' (an online learning resource) afterwards so if you missed parts (or missed the whole lecture!) you can down load it afterwards.

WORK LOAD
One thing with geography at Bristol is the large amount of course work that students have to do for their course. This is largest in your second and third years and is sometimes very stressful. Every week we have a formal hand in which counts towards our final degree mark - this puts you under constant pressure to keep working hard. Also, the large amount of coursework means it is extremely hard to keep up with all the extra reading you are supposed to do. Many people (including myself) solely concentrate on coursework during term time since it all counts towards your final degree grade, and catch up with the extra reading during the Christmas and Easter vacations. The marks for our coursework are usually given back to us within 4-5 weeks which is nice but the feedback varies from lecturer to lecturer. Sometimes it is very good with detailed accounts of where we have gone wrong or where something has been good. Other lecturers are extremely bad at giving feedback and will just put a cross next to something that is wrong in an essay and not explaining why.
The work load is high and the coursework, practical write ups and tutorial work does add up if you do not keep on top of your work load. However, this is expected considering bristol is a top university and is ranked high up for geography.

FIELD TRIPS
In your first year you start university with a 3 day field trip before freshers week has even started. This is a great way to meet everyone on your course and good fun. You don't do any work and mainly go for walks and do team building activities. However, it is not absolutely vital to go- I am not really friends with those people I hanged around with on the field trip now. It is a great way to give you a confidence boost though so you get to know some people before freshers week and you have some one to sit with in your first lectures! On the down side when I went it was around £100 (3 years ago).

The second field trip you have at the end of the Easter holidays in your first year- it was to Exeter for 4 days when I went. In contrast to the first year field trip this was very very hard work. Breakfast was at 8am every day and then we were working in the field from 9-5 and then working on our write ups until 10.30-11 every night. This field trip is marked and went towards our first year grade. It is extremely hard work but is very social and fun.

In your second year the field trip is longer 5-6 days and is abroad. Where you go depends on the course you are on as there are 3 syllabi- the A (human geography) ,B(physical geography) and C (environmental geography). The A course went to Barcelona, B course went to Switzerland and the C course to Mallorca. The price was £350 when i went to Sitzerland which included all food, flights and accommodation. Again this field trip is very hard work and all the write up and presentations go towards your second year grade which in turn goes towards your final degree. The field trips are fun and there is lots of team and group work which gives you an opportunity to work with different people and is very social. You are left to your own devices in terms of sleeping arrangements, curfews and use of the bars!

In the third year there is no field trip which is disappointing but you have so much course work that maybe it's so they don't stress us even more!

ADMINISTRATION SIDE
Overall I would say that the department is extremely well organized. The department has it's own administration group of 4-5 people in one office and they handle most of the admin that goes on. Students are very well informed of lectures which may have been re-scheduled, cancelled or additional ones organized by email well in advance. The staff are extremely helpful if you have a query but don't know who to go to - they will point you in the right direction.Students marked work are 90% of the time handed back to us on the date specified in our hand in and return time table. The only exceptions are if the member of staff marking it is abroad or ill then we are usually notified by email in advance. The administration staff are also helpful if you have extenuating circumstances- if you are ill or have to miss a practical for a reason- you fill out a form and they take care of the rest- getting in touch with your tutor and unit directors.

OVERALL
The department is very well organized and you are expected to work extremely hard. However, you are rewarded with world class facilities and lecturers. The feedback on our coursework is sometimes not up to the standard you expect when you are paying £3300 a year but overall is of a good quality.  

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