Has anybody studied the UCLAN BSc in Astronomy?

[Von]

Hi Micheal,

sorry for my delay.

As said in the previous email I found UCLan fantastic..! The coursework intensify exponentially from level 4 to 6 but it normal.

Modules level 6 like "Extreme States of Matter" or "Cosmology & Relativity" require lots of maths and physics. Personally I enjoyed particularly the quantum mechanics (originally I have a BSc, MSc and PhD in Chemistry). Anyway the lecturers are amazing, very detailed feedbacks and ready to support you in each moment.

My transition from BSc to MSc was very enjoyable I never had problems in terms of subjects (i.e. maths, physics) is just the LJMU MSc organisation non-sense.

Again there is no feedback or a way to discuss your assessment...!!!.

On the top they don't provide any exam solutions, you need to work on that alone... 

Anyway is not my intention to discourage you but there are lots of better Uni than LJMU, just think before to apply or spend money 🙂

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Von

[NovaeSci]

On 19/01/2021 at 19:51, Von said:

Hi Micheal,

sorry for my delay.

As said in the previous email I found UCLan fantastic..! The coursework intensify exponentially from level 4 to 6 but it normal.

Modules level 6 like "Extreme States of Matter" or "Cosmology & Relativity" require lots of maths and physics. Personally I enjoyed particularly the quantum mechanics (originally I have a BSc, MSc and PhD in Chemistry). Anyway the lecturers are amazing, very detailed feedbacks and ready to support you in each moment.

My transition from BSc to MSc was very enjoyable I never had problems in terms of subjects (i.e. maths, physics) is just the LJMU MSc organisation non-sense.

Again there is no feedback or a way to discuss your assessment...!!!.

On the top they don't provide any exam solutions, you need to work on that alone... 

Anyway is not my intention to discourage you but there are lots of better Uni than LJMU, just think before to apply or spend money 🙂

 

I never even noticed this response. I only noticed because I came back to re-read things, ha!

Regarding the maths at Level 3, how is the maths introduced for these modules, or did that require extra learning outside of the course? Just unsure if it's included in the modules, or you get pointed towards additional reading. Unless you're just assumed to know regardless, so could be quite the shock for students?

I'm looking forward to the Investigations in Astronomy and due to wanting to end up with a career of academia, I want to get as many opportunities to research as I can. Do you think this module is a good way to take away what you've learnt and apply it to your own topics of research you can study at home and publish on your own blog? I mean in the way that it gives you the tools on how to organise your research in to topics that may interest you and guide you to writing up an article about it. obviously nothing ground breaking, but always additional ammo to fill out your blog with academic material that you can point to at a later date when applying to grad school to show you are active. Obviously by the time you reach grad school, you will have a much more extensive knowledge base and research skills. But no harm in honing skills along the way.

With Liverpool, do you think it's just that at Master's level, they usually expect you to be more independent? Or do you think something just didn't sit right? I potentially want to progress on to a MSc by Research. That's another reason I chose this course over a Physics course: I know it Astro I want to aim for and I'd rather avoid hardly studying Astro for the next 6 years, then trying to cram it all in a year. I want to leave the BSc with extensive knowledge of Astrophysics and reasearch skills to be able to study the MSc by Research, as apposed to cramming a lot in to a taught masters. Plus, they cost like half the price, ha.

[Von]

Hi Michael,

In my opinion math level is gradually introduced progressing at level 3 but having some extra learning is always a great idea.

Anyway is depends from your background if is maths orientated or not ;-)

Investigation in Astronomy could be useful to build bases but I would recommend to familiarised soon with software package as IRAF, Phyton, SQL, Matlab, C++, DS9 or data Science if your aim for research level. Personally despite my titles I am thinking to go for an MSc in Computer Science or similar to improve my IT level....

About Liverpool again the MSc was very stimulating but for me there is something not right there.

Level 7 (MSc) assumes students to be independent, but it doesn't mean that you can't ask questions about your exam results or understand the rational behind a specific mark.

Personally it was a massive disappointment but if could be my experience :-)

Hope your studies at UCLan proceed well but is you have more question and I can help just ask

Thanks