The first thing most people say to me when they learn I’ve been studying Geography is… “Oh so you’re good at colouring in?” or “Oh can you give me directions to so and so?” When really the truth of the matter is that doing Geography doesn’t make me a fantastic colourer nor does it make me a ... Read review
Advantages: Fantastic City, Good Facilities, 8 Hours Per Week Disadvantages: Expensive City, Fair Amount of Work
...they learn I’ve been studying Geography is… “Oh so you’re good at colouring in?” or “Oh can you give me directions to so and so?” When really the truth of the matter is that doing Geography doesn’t make me a fantastic colourer nor does it make me a walking A-Z! So what’s it all about then?
* The Subject *
Geography is classed as a social science – it’s not a scientific subject nor does it belong to the alternative arts ... ...Most of you who studied Geography at school will no doubt have (un) fond recollections of colouring in maps, looking at tourism, cycles of rain and problems of pollution – when really there is much, much more to it (or so I’m told!).
* Geography at Manchester *
At Manchester you either opt for a Geography BA or BSC degree; a BA simply stands for Bachelor of Arts which means you will study the more human sides of Geography ... more
The first thing most people say to me when they learn I’ve been studying Geography is… “Oh so you’re good at colouring in?” or “Oh can you give me directions to so and so?” When really the truth of the matter is that doing Geography doesn’t make me a fantastic colourer nor does it make me a walking A-Z! So what’s it all about then?
* The Subject *
Geography is classed as a social science – it’s not a scientific subject nor does it belong to the alternative arts group of subjects. It spans across the humanities, sciences and society as a whole and is a subject that is continuously changing. Most of you who studied Geography at school will no doubt have (un) fond recollections of colouring in maps, looking at tourism, cycles of rain and problems of pollution – when really there is much, much more to it (or so I’m told!).
* Geography at Manchester *
At Manchester you either opt for a Geography BA or BSC degree; a BA simply stands for Bachelor of Arts which means you will study the more human sides of Geography (as well as having done more art subjects at A Level – English, History, etc.) whereas Bachelor of Science means you will opt for more physical approaches as well as having studied more scientific subjects at A Level (Maths, Chemistry, etc.)
The Geography department at Manchester has it’s own building – a whole 4 floors! It’s the Mansfield Cooper building and is situated behind the union and adjacent to the John Rylands library so a very handy location for studying!! The building consists of numerous staff offices, 4 large lecture theatres, a computer lab, 2 science labs and a personalised Geography library too!
In your first year you’ll have approximately 7-8 hours of lectures with a 1 hour tutorial. In lectures there can be anything from 20 people right up to 200 people, depending how many people opt to take the particular module. For the first term the 3 modules you take are set, one based on human geography (people, places & policies), one on physical geography (hydrological systems) and one neutral one (medical geography). You’ll also have a weekly tutor meeting with a group of up to 10 people where you’ll be set particular exercises such as essays or group presentations and can also discuss any problems you’re having. In addition to this there’s also the chance to study a subject from a different discipline, including practically any subject at all, from French to Maths, from Psychology to Drama – to give you a better understanding of the different faculties for one – two hours a week.
Examinations in the first year occur at the end of semester 1 where you complete a free choice exam (i.e. there’s 4 possible answers given for each questions and you simply select) while the exams at the end of the year are essay based.
So as not to send you to sleep with details I’ll just tell you that the second and third years of Geography are pretty much similar. In the second year you’ll start your dissertation which replaces the end of year exams – basically like a big, fat coursework project similar to those done at school; this will take about 6 months of the year.
There’s also the option to travel as well throughout the 3 years at Manchester, at the beginning of the first year all freshers go on a “hidey hi campers” type trip to Keswick for 2 nights to “bond” as well as numerous day trips (all with a Geography theme of course)! In the second year there’s the chance to go abroad for a week to numerous destinations including New York, Cuba and Ireland (the latter being the least favoured!).
* Manchester as a Whole *
Rather than bore you completely with information on Geography and the department I’ll now introduce you to the city and student facilities as a whole. Manchester is a fantastic place to study, it’s fast becoming one of the largest cities in England (not quite big enough to rival London yet!).
Shopping There’s just no fault to be found with the shopping in Manchester, there’s the Arndale Centre with your average high street stores (Next, Topshop, USC, etc.) as well as a massive Marks and Spencers and also a Selfridges store too. You’ve also got the advantage of having the Trafford Centre a 10 minute drive away too.
Nightlife Nightlife is about as good as it gets, every night of the week there’s at least a choice of 3 different venues to go to which all boast a student night and cheap prices. Deansgate Locks and the Printworks are the trendiest places to be seen with venues such as Tiger Tiger, Loaf and the Sugar Lounge being found here. There are numerous bars, e.g. Baa Baa, Revolution, Square Bar as well as many other clubs – something to suit everyone’s tastes can be found in Manchester!
Transport Car parking is not something that’s great about Manchester, there’s a distinct lack of it but on the up side there’s a brilliant bus service which runs from all the suburbs (day and night) as well as 3 metro links, 2 train stations and the airport is about 15 minutes away.
Culture The infamous home of Manchester United and Manchester City lie in Manchester, both easily accessible for all you football fans out there. There’s also the Whitworth Art Gallery, Imperial War Museum North and the Palace Theatre all provide alternative attractions.
* Accommodation *
The all important student accommodation section and what can I say once again, there's a fabulous choice! Manchester offers a superb range of catered, self catered, single study room or ensuite study room accommodation.
Locations include on Campus, City centre, Victoria Park and Fallowfield and there's about 25 to choose from in total. Last year I lived in a self catered residence in Fallowfield and didn't have one single problem! Prices start from £50 - 98 a week.
And so there you have it, a brief but hopefully informative guide to studying Geography at Manchester. For all your educational people out there Manchester was rated 17th in The Times Educational University League Tables overall whilst being 23rd for Geography in particular.
I think it's a great University in a fantastic city - obviously I'm biased though!
Advantages: more teaching time than any other Uni geog to degree Disadvantages: more teachin gtime than any other Uni geog degree
...like to study. From Human geography of Ireland, To glaciology to geomedical sytems.
6. In the second yr at easter you can go on a wicked field trip to a whole host of destinations. Last yrs included Cuba, New York, Spain and Ireland. All the trips are subsidised and everyone including tutors has a good laugh.
7.The department have its own computer cluster and 4 big lecture theatres most of which have just been refitted.
8.Department has its own ... ...normal ones.
8. hhmnn maybe I should go to uni more any questions let me knwow though.
Overall its a great place and any degree you do here or pretend to do will be most enjoyable. There is also currently massive investment in the town and uni as UMIST and manchester unis merge to create on even better uni. Top up fees shouldnt put the price up as much as in other unis, and everything inmanchester is cheaper anyway.
Hope you have fun whatever ...
Rob664 05.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Geography
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Advantages: Wonderful lecturers Disadvantages: it rains alot in Keele!
I loved the Geography part of my degree at Keele. I specialised in Human Geography - the lecturers were great, the field trips fun (I went to Malta). The thing that struck me most was that the lecturers were really interested in what they were teaching and kept up to date with developments and wrote many papers.
The only bad thing was one of the historical geog modules, the lecturer was rather dry, but the other historical one I took (Scotland) was fantastic - I would recommend that to anyone!
The department are good at preparing you for the 'real' world with lots of group work and presentations, which gave you confidence and useful transerable skills.
The field trip to Malta was fantastic, we learnt so much without realising it and got a nice tan at the same time (oh and Malta still has Duty Free :) ...
