Studying Geography at University

How to Succeed in the First Year of Your New Degree

Simon Tate, Peter Hopkins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781351166744
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geography
• Index: Geography

Written by leading academics, this book is an invaluable 'how to …' guide to studying for a Geography degree. Written in a practical and conversational style, it offers important insights into how to succeed in the first year of your degree course, covering everything from how to succeed in assessments to how to decide where to live. Some of the information the book provides is academic and some of it is non-academic, as negotiating both is important in order to be successful in the first year of a Geography degree.

Studying Geography at University is ideal for those in the early stages of applying to university. Each chapter offers hints and tips and gives practical real-world insights into becoming a successful geography student that will enrich applications, open days and visit days. It is also possible to dip into the chapter summaries, 'What Do Students Say?' and 'Top Tip' boxes only. Written by current students, from a range of institutions, these provide unique insights into the book's key points. Current students should also keep and refer to the book as an invaluable guide through the first few months of their degree.

This guide is a must-read for anyone starting their studies in Human Geography, Physical Geography, Environmental Science or any other related subject at university.

PART I

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOUR GEOGRAPHY DEGREE BEGINS

CHAPTER 1

ACCOMMODATION AND THE SOCIAL TRANSITION TO UNIVERSITY

Halls vs home

Our best guess is that you are a bit surprised to find that the first chapter of a book about studying Geography at university is about where you will live! To explain, we have always believed that beginning university involves both an academic transition and a social transition – and that there is a strong relationship between the two. In other words, if one aspect is not going well, you cannot be sure that the other aspect will go well, either.

When it comes to social transitions, one of the big, early decisions that you will have to make is where to live while studying for your Geography degree. Broadly, there are two choices – move into halls of residence (commonly just called ‘halls') or continue to live at home. Beyond the obvious, this choice is important as it impacts on how you will make new friends, how you will interact with the university campus in the early weeks of university and, therefore, how you will go about settling into your new Geography degree course.

Most universities provide halls of residence that are safe, comfortable and good value. In some big university towns and cities, private companies are now also offering halls of residence. Halls are usually furnished flats, with several single bedrooms sharing a kitchen, toilet, bathroom and lounge area. Some are catered, others part-catered or self-catered. Some are mixed-sex, others are single-sex halls. While the more modern halls are en suite, there is nothing like sharing the living, cooking and washing facilities to help you to get to know other students quickly and to make new friends. Indeed, students enrolled on larger Geography degree courses often become friends with students from their halls before they make friends with people on their course.

As a result, the commonly held view is that students who live at home ‘miss out’ on some parts of the student experience, because they are physically detached from the campus and other students for large parts of each day. We both lived at home throughout our undergraduate degrees, and a sense of isolation and ‘missing out’ were not feelings that we experienced, but for some new students living at home these feelings can be very real. That said, looking back, we can now see that continuing to live at home did change our experience of being students: it was not worse, just different. For example, for students who continue to live at home, the first university friends they are likely to make are those also taking their Geography course. These are really useful friends to have, as students studying other subjects experience the transition to university differently, and so being good friends with fellow Geography students creates a more supportive sense of shared experience. However, for students who live at home, the process of making friends will inevitably be slower as they spend less time with students on their course than people who live together in halls. In the short term, this can leave the students living at home (us included) questioning themselves and what is going on. Am I suddenly unpopular? No! Do I fit in? Yes. It is just possible that you will not make as many good friends as quickly as you might expect.

TOP TIP

Remember that the transition to university is a process rather than an event, and will go on well beyond induction week. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to have made lots of good friends and to be on top of your studies in the first couple of weeks.

Getting into a routine

Usually, one area where students who live at home have an advantage over students living in halls is that they often manage to get into, and stay in, a routine sooner. Independent learning is frequently spoken about as a key part of being an effective Geography student (see Chapters 3 and 4). Our view has always been that an equally important first step is getting to grips with independent living. Everyone can really study effectively only once they have the other aspects of their lives sorted and have routines for washing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, sleeping and so on. For students living in halls, these things take a while to establish. And for some, these take so long to establish that their studies begin to suffer. This is understandable, as it is a tricky aspect of becoming a student yet one in which most universities offer no training.

WHAT DO STUDENTS SAY?

‘In my first few weeks I partied so much. Everyone did it, so I felt I had to join in, even though it wasn't really me. After about a month I was broken, and I realised I couldn't keep it up. From then I went out less, did more of the things I actually wanted to do and I made some of my best university friends through societies and at work in Tesco.’

(Josie, graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Geography)

In contrast, students who live at home tend to have fewer of these social complications. In part, this is due to logistics: their bus or train comes at a certain time each day, so they have to be ready to head into university. It is too far to travel home in the gaps between lectures, so they use this as study time in the library (see Chapter 13). The last bus home is at midnight, so the options for staying out drinking late are reduced. They still have friends from school or college living close by, so this part of their life tends to continue as normal. However, in part, their routine is also governed by practicalities, especially when their parents continue to do most of the washing, shopping, cooking and cleaning. As several aspects of their life continue as before, the social transition to university can come as less of a culture shock. The knock-on effect is that they are often able to focus on getting to grips with the academic challenges of studying Geography at university sooner than students living in halls.

After about four to six weeks, you will see that most students (whether living in halls or at home) are starting to settle into more of a routine, having fewer nights out, getting more sleep and spending more time in the library. Helpfully, for most, their body tells them it is time to slow down a little at about the same time that the first assignments are due! However, some need more help to find this balance, and this is where your tutor and university welfare support services come into play (see Chapter 7). We have both been tutors to new students for over ten years and many of our tutees have confided in us how they have struggled to settle into university. We will not tell you any more here, as (like all university tutors) our meetings with tutees are confidential. Therefore, the key message is that tutors will not be shocked by what you tell them and will not judge; they will only offer helpful support and advice.

WHAT DO STUDENTS SAY?

‘I'd say that the key to surviving the first few weeks successfully is self-awareness and self-discipline: learning from your mistakes; managing excesses; beginning to figure out who you really are as a person and feeling like your life is generally on the right track towards something balanced and sustainable.’

(André, graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Physical Geography)

Accommodation costs

Finally, we cannot overlook the importance of cost. In most cases, it is cheaper in terms of accommodation and living costs to live at home than it is to rent a room in halls of residence. That said, it is not all one-sided, as students who live at home have to incur the costs of their daily commute, whereas those who live in halls tend to be within walking distance of campus. Relatedly, apart from the financial costs, you need to consider the time cost of where you live. We both lived about 15 miles from university and so, in rush-hour traffic, we both spent more than an hour commuting from home to campus. This meant up to a three-hour round trip to attend a one-hour lecture! And, as Human Geography students, on some days we only had one hour of teaching on our timetables; some days we did not have any (see Chapters 3 and 4). The only way to cope with this was to become very efficient in managing time and prioritising tasks. In themselves, these are important transferable skills, but they seemed alien to us, having gone to school and college much nearer to our homes. It always seemed like we had to be more efficient with our time and more organised than students who lived on campus. It was not easy, for example, to study at home and just call into the university library to pick up a book that we had forgotten to collect the day before. In fact, at times, it seemed like we were juggling too many balls – attending classes; trying to find time to study in the library; trying to find time to make and to meet friends; trying to fit in shifts at our places of work; and trying to reduce our commuting costs by studying at home on some days. Over time, this all became much easier, but it taught us that there are not just economic costs to consider when deciding whether or not to live at home, but time costs.

TOP TIP

Whether you live at home or in halls of residence, there are social challenges to be faced as a new Geography student. Be aware of these – and be self-aware enough to ensure that they don't affect your health or your studies. Over time, the pros and cons of living in halls or at home even out. Most students can successfully manage either.

Summary points

1. There are pros and cons both to living in halls of residence and to living at home while you study for your Geography degree. Make sure you weigh them all up carefully and decide what is right for you.
2. Remember that it is not a choice of one or the other: many students spend some of their degree living at home and some of it with other students (either in halls of residence or in privately rented accommodation).
3. The transition to university is a process, rather than an event, and it will go on well beyond induction week. Do not put too much pressure on yourself and give yourself time to settle in.

Key reading

1. Christie, C. (2007) ‘Higher education and spatial (im)mobility: On-traditional students and living at home.’ Environment and Planning A, 39(10), pp. 2445–2463.
2. Holdsworth, C. (2006) “Don't you think you're missing out, living at home?” Student experiences and residential transitions.’ Sociological Review, 54(3), pp. 495–519.

CHAPTER 2

THE TYPES OF GEOGRAPHY YOU CAN STUDY AT UNIVERSITY

What is university Geography?

We both completed our first Geography degrees about 20 years ago, but even now can remember being completely perplexed by some of the things we were taught in the first year of our degree. There was Dr Stone, who talked endlessly about Coleoptera (beetles) and their usefulness as an indicator of biodiversity; there was Dr King, who loved regression analysis and t-tests (the sort of statistics we never expected to encounter, having dropped Maths at school as soon as we could); and Professor Phillips, who, for some reason, taught us a lot about general elections! In its own way, some of this was interesting stuff, although admittedly some was not. But how, we both asked, was this Geography? And why weren't we being taught more about Ordnance Survey (OS) maps or Central Business Districts (CBDs)? With hindsight, a better question for us to have asked would have been: what is Geography? Without knowing it, our expectations of what the first year of our Geography degree would be like had been narrowed by the types of Geography that we had encountered, and enjoyed, while at school and college.

In reality, at university there are more definitions of what Geography is, and what geographers do, than you can imagine. This arises because of the breadth of the subject matter with whic...

Table of contents

• COVER
• HALF TITLE
• TITLE
• COPYRIGHT
• CONTENTS
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF TABLES
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• PART I WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOUR GEOGRAPHY DEGREE BEGINS
• PART II THE ACADEMIC SKILLS YOU NEED TO SUCCEED
• GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
• REFERENCES
• INDEX