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Director of Studies
Dr Tom Spencer
http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/people/spencer/
Other Fellows
Dr Mark Billinge
7 (2 First Year + 2 Second Year + 3 Third Year). 1PhD student at present in residence; we also have occasional MPhil students in Remote Sensing, Environment and Development and Quaternary Studies and sometimes teaching certificate (PGCE) students.
We expect about 12-15 applicants for around 2-3 places in Geography. The number of places varies according to the calibre of the candidates.
Geography at Cambridge involves undergraduates in a wide range of lectures, practical classes and field courses, organised around a three year course, called the Geographical Tripos. This is divided into three parts, with an examination at the end of each year. Unlike some Universities, you are not required to study a subsidiary subject.
In your first year you study for five examination papers. There is no choice at this stage: we think it important for everyone to begin with the same basic grounding. In 2006-2007 these papers will be:People, Space and Geographies of Difference, Historical Geography, Society, Environment and Development, Environmental Processes and Environmental Change through time. You also follow a course in Geographical Skills and Methods.
In the second year you may begin to specialise but we expect you to maintain an interest in the discipline as a whole. This means that you have to choose four papers from 10, with at least one paper from each of two groups: Human Geography and Physical and Environmental Geography. You also have to write an essay on Geographical Ideas and Methods, which builds on the foundations laid in the first year, and provide records of three practical exercises.
Current (2008-2009) Human Geography courses will be:
Cities; Understanding the Economy; Development; Geography and Public Policy; Culture and Society.
and in Physical and Environmental Geography:
Earth Observation; Glacial Processes, Landforms and Sediment; Environmental Hazards; Modelling Global Environmental Change; Biogeography and Biogeomorphology.
In the third year you can choose whatever combination of papers you like, so that you can either specialise further or maintain a balance across the subject as a whole. You select four papers and you also research and write a dissertation: here too the choice of subject is up to you. Current ( 2008-2009) third year courses include (from a total of 15):
The New Europe: People, places and politics; Contemporary India; Conservation and Society in Sub-Saharan Africa; Historical Geographies of Food, Famine and Power;
Volcanology; Glacial Environments
The dissertation is an independent piece of work and an opportunity to put into practice what you have been taught in lectures and practical classes and to work on something which really interests you; for many students it is the most challenging, and the most rewarding, part of the course. The subjects and locations of dissertations vary widely, many involving financially supported fieldwork outside the British Isles, as a few titles from recent years indicate:
In every year there are one-day excursions associated with particular courses. These include museums and the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, and trips to Birmingham, The Fens, and to important Quaternary (the last 2 million years of Earth history) sites in East Anglia. Field trips also form part of some practical exercises in years one and two. A compulsory general field course for second year students, generally with a Mediterranean focus, gives rise to a piece of assessed practical work. Recent locations for this course have included Morocco, Portugal, Berlin and Dublin. Some specialist field courses are also associated with second or third year lecture courses; locations include Iceland and S.W. Switzerland.
Further information can be found at: http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/
Terms at Cambridge are much shorter than at most other Universities, but are used intensively. Each academic year consists of three terms of eight teaching weeks. Teaching occupies the first two terms, together with the first half of the third term: the remaining four weeks are given over to revision and examinations. You can expect to have 7 or 8 one hour lectures each week, although this is only a rough guide: much depends on which papers you are taking and how they are timetabled.
In the first two years you will also have laboratory, practical classes or workshops each week. In the summer vacation after your second year you will work on your dissertation.
In all three years you will normally have three one hour 'supervisions' per fortnight, where a small group of students (usually 2 - 4) discuss a particular topic for about one hour. You are often expected to have written an essay for each supervision. This is a valuable discipline in itself and provides a springboard for discussion: supervision essays do not count towards your final examinations. This means that you can afford to be more adventurous than might otherwise be the case: you can read beyond the syllabus, try out your own ideas, and reach your own conclusions. Supervisions are led by experts in the field, and since no College has a monopoly on these, you can expect to be supervised by people from many different Colleges while you are here. In this way, not only do you have the chance to tackle questions at the frontiers of research: you are also exposed to different teaching styles, ideas and opinions.
Lectures, practicals and supervisions are the formal elements in the course. You will be expected, however, to read widely and in depth on all your courses; to gain a good degree it is essential to do so. How you go about this reading is up to you but self-discipline and good time management are essential.
It really doesn't matter what subjects you studied at school. It isn't even essential to have studied Geography (although most students will have done so). If you are particularly interested in Contemporary Human or Historical Geography, then Economics, English Literature, History and Sociology are useful supporting subjects; if you are interested in Physical Geography, then Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics are useful; and wherever your interests lie, a working knowledge of a foreign language will help you to keep in touch with developments in what is, after all, an international discipline, and to gain a greater insight into the courses in regional Geography offered in the second year and third years.
A*AA at A2 level, assuming good A/S results already obtained. We expect that some candidates will not yet have their A/S results: it is College policy not to disadvantage any candidate because of a school policy on certification of A/S levels.
For candidates studying the IB offers typically range from 38 - 40 points to include 7, 7, 6 at Higher Level subjects.
We are willing to consider candidates for deferred entry; such applicants are likely to be asked about their plans for a 'gap year' at interview.
We are prepared to consider reapplications. However, potential applicants are advised to think very carefully before giving up a place at another good University in order to pursue a Cambridge re-application.
Mature students are admitted from time to time, and usually find that they are successful and happy with their course. If you wish to be considered as a mature applicant for Geography, you should be engaged on or have recently completed a course such as A-level, OU or an Access course. If you are in any doubt about your preparedness for a University course, or your choice of Cambridge College, you are advised to contact us to discuss your particular circumstances prior to making an application.
We encourage Geography applicants from all types of school and college background. Although the information about offers given above indicates a typical requirement, each candidate is looked at in the light of his or her individual circumstances.
Geography undergraduates are encouraged to apply for Departmental and University funds to assist with fieldwork expenses incurred in data gathering for the third year dissertation. There is an annual College prize for a Geography essay, submitted outside the formal examination requirements. College Scholarships are awarded for First Class results in University examinations. The College also has a number of travel awards.
Magdalene typically has a lively group of undergraduate geographers with the annual intake varying between about two and three students. Interviews are usually held in early December: successful applicants are those who can demonstrate strong academic potential, an aptitude for the self-discipline and organisation required for University level study and a real enthusiasm and interest in Geography. Interview and non-interview candidates are asked to submit a geographical essay (in the broadest sense of the term) on any topic. Conditional offers do not normally include S-level or STEP papers.
Overseas candidates are offered interviews either in Cambridge or in their home country. If you are unable to attend, you will be required to submit samples of written work and you any be asked to complete a written test, administered for us at your school.
No Cambridge degrees are vocational in the strict sense: even graduate engineers, lawyers and medical students have to undergo further training before they practise. But employers are very obviously attracted to graduates who have a good knowledge of the wider world and a genuine interest in economic, political, social and environmental issues; who are trained to deal with multivariate problems and to grasp their wider implications; who are used to writing essays and completing research projects on their own initiative; and who are skilled in information retrieval, data management and computing.
For these reasons, Magdalene Geographers find that a very wide range of career opportunities is open to them. Over the last few years, around 25% have found jobs in the financial services sector, including banking, stock-broking and accountancy; 16% have continued in education, either studying for higher degrees or taking the postgraduate certificate of education; 14% have moved into various management jobs, including the Civil Service (both home and overseas) and private and public sector corporations; and 10% have entered marketing and advertising.
It is rare for Geography graduates not to find employment if they seek it.
March 2008
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©2012 Magdalene College, Cambridge, CB3 0AG
Registered Charity Number 1137542