Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Uni by a BA Geography Student

by | Jul 17, 2024 | Geography and Global Development, Undergraduate | 0 comments

Reflecting on my first year studying Geography BA at the University of Manchester, there are numerous things that I wish I knew before starting my course which I will share with you in this blog.

The first thing I wish I knew before starting my course is the how the exams work. One of my favourite aspects of my course is that first year exams are online (usually 2-7 days) and open-book exams. This relieves a lot of the pressure surrounding exams and allowed me to really focus on understanding the content as opposed to the stress of timings. However, for those who prefer in hall exams, certain optional second year modules are assessed in this manner. Furthermore, there are numerous group projects which provides different forms of assessment.

Whilst I was aware of the introductory field trip to Keswick before starting my course, I wish I had known more of what this would entail. During the trip, we were placed in study groups for day activities and separate groups for rooms. Keswick was extremely helpful for making friends on the course and made starting lectures and tutorials so much easier as most of us already knew each other. Whilst Keswick was an academic trip, it was a great experience, and I would strongly recommend it as a lot of people found their friendship groups here.

On a non-academic note, one thing I wish I knew surrounding accommodation is that your hall of residence is not as important as it may seem. When coming to Manchester, I was placed in a hall outside of Fallowfield. Before arriving, I was under the impression that Fallowfield was the most sociable area for students to live which made me nervous about moving into accommodation outside of this. Whilst Fallowfield is extremely sociable and a great environment for first year accommodation, I had a great social experience in Victoria Park accommodation and made such a great group of friends. Therefore, I would say if anyone were disappointed about not being placed in their first choices of accommodation, I would stress the importance of the people rather than the place. Furthermore, you have second and third year where you can choose to live in Fallowfield. I was also extremely lucky that Geography is such a sociable course, and I found that a lot of my friends came from my course.

Before starting university, I wish I knew about the versatility of content across the geography course. Whilst I study Geography BA, all my first-year modules are the same as BSc students, with optional modules ranging from studying glaciers to globalisation. This allows Geographers who are in the middle ground of human and physical geography to tailor their module choices to fit their interests. We are also given the option to change the title of our course from BA to BSc or vice versa near the end of our degree if we feel our areas of interest have changed. Furthermore, we can choose modules from other degrees such as politics, economics or languages in the first two years of our degree. This makes my course so interesting as I never feel constrained in my studies as I have such a broad range of topics to choose from.

The final thing I wish I knew before starting my course is the role of the Manchester University Geography Society (MUGS). This student ran society holds numerous events such as pub golf and hikes which enable geography students to meet each other in a more social setting. MUGS organises the end of year ball, which was a great success this year. They also have sporting clubs within them such as MUGS football, netball and hockey.

Overall, I had such a great experience in my first year and I would recommend my course to anyone looking to studying Geography as a degree. I would really recommend taking almost every opportunity offered in order to make the most of your experience in Manchester.

Written by Ella Lawson a 1st Year, BA Geography Student

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