Dear Christ Church Geography Freshers,
Congratulations, all the hard work for the next 3 years is over! We’re Issy and Rachel, you Geography subject reps --->
If you’re into extra-curricular, geography is the right subject for you – we don’t have many comebacks when people accuse us of having the best degree at Oxford! We thought we’d introduce ourselves, and give you a taster of what Geography has in store for you, both at Oxford, and more specifically at Christ Church!
Geography at Christ Church is fab – we have about 10 contact hours a week which is really manageable whilst giving structure to your days. Geography sits between the humanities and the sciences, so we get the best of both worlds - we get the structure and fun practicals of science, and also the essays and more discussion-based topics from the humanities. Within Christ Church, geography is quite small so everyone gets to know each other across year groups, primarily through our fortnightly geography lunches! We usually have one tutorial per week and one essay to prepare for that and sometimes some bonus questions, but our tutors are really good at giving us a week’s notice. There are two great field trips during first year; a week to Dorset (a great opportunity to meet geographers from other colleges), and one day in Oxford town centre!
Top Tips
●Read a controversies book over the summer - you'll thank yourself once term begins!
●Do not worry about what you have/have not studied in Sixth Form - all courses assume zero prior knowledge
●Tutorials are definitely not as scary as you imagine - especially at Christ Church - all our tutors are lovely!
●Get ready for all the colouring jokes, but be content in the knowledge that we have one of the most interesting and fun degrees!
●Go to as many lectures as you can – you will thank yourself in the run-up to Prelims!
●Get to know Geography people from other colleges too - you will see them every day at lectures and go on fieldtrips together
Christ Church’s Geographers
We're the second year geographers, a rather sporty bunch. Izzy plays netball and enjoys many a mad night out with Kasia our volleyball player. Callum is our footballer known for going a bit rogue, but when he's there he makes it known. Issy is on almost every chch sports team going and her keenness continues through to geography being front row pals with Rachel, who attempts to be a runner but mostly capitalises on the cross country's masseuse on the regular. Geography allows you to take the time to explore many other things going on in Oxford and have a go at everything. The geog life isn't too strenuous also allowing scope to explore more of what you love. We're all super friendly.
Christ Church’s Geography Tutors
Dr Simon Dadson is our secret stats expert – asked by Wiley (textbook maker) to write them a stats textbook! He focuses on the processes that link climate, hydrology and geomorphology – basically does all of physical geography
Dr Alex Vasudevan is our Canadian human geography tutor who specialises in the combination of cultural and historical geography, and urban studies. He also focuses on techniques, and recently made his debut on BBC Radio 4. He’s not only there to help you push the academic boundaries, but also to sort out any problems you might have.
Fun fact: Simon and Alex did their masters together in Canada at the University of British Columbia.
That’s all we have to say for now - if you have any questions, feel free to get in contact with any of us (you will be receiving a letter from your college parents shortly!).
We look forward to meeting you in October!!
Issy and Rachel x