zoo:logic

Hello! If you look around carefully at the courses different universities offer, you should be able to find that some universities allow you to take what are usually known as ‘elective’ modules that are from outside of your department, so then if the university also has courses in art you might be able to take one or two modules from those. Also don’t forget that even if you can’t take art as part of your degree, almost every university is likely to have an active art society that will probably organise workshops etc. that you could be involved in outside of your academic work. If zoology is something you really want to study don’t be too afraid to try!! Being passionate about your subject is so important, and will motivate you to get through things you do struggle with if they happen to come up. For example I didn’t take chemistry at AS or A level, which for starters meant that I couldn’t even apply to some universities at all as it was a required subject, but also meant when I arrived at uni it was compulsory for me to do a chemistry course in the first semester to bring me up to speed. I really wasn’t looking forward to it but I worked on it, it ended up not being so bad and I passed it just fine! So even things that seem scary are really not impossible to get through! Good luck with everything and let me know if you have any more questions :)

Great to hear that you’re interested in zoology! I agree, the animal world never ceases to amaze me. As far as university/college goes, we don’t have majors/minors in the UK so here it really mostly depends on what title you want to graduate with. In general, biology and zoology degrees (here in the UK at least) involve the same available modules but biologists tend to have more free choice than zoologists, who have more compulsory modules that are the most related to animals. (So a biologist can pretty much choose to do all the same modules as a zoologist, but will still graduate with the title of BSc Biology, whereas a zoology course will be more laid out for you.) With biology you are however likely to have a few compulsory modules that are focused on humans and plants that zoologists may not have to do - it depends if you’re also interested in those things! Even now, going into final year after two years of study, it would be possible for me to switch from one programme to the other because they are so similar. In the end, both are great degrees. Even though biology may be generally better recognised if you were to end up looking for a job outside of science fields, I just can’t imagine graduating with anything other than BSc Zoology so it’s really personal choice! If you have any more questions I’ll be happy to answer them, loads of luck with your studies :)

Hi, first of all good choice of subject! :) I think an important thing to remember that I didn’t necessarily consider much before I started is that zoology is a science degree, and unfortunately - however much I would like it to be - it’s not always specifically learning cool stuff about animals. I think it is quite important to have a broader interest in biology as well as just the animal side in order to tackle a zoology degree, as you’ll generally have to take units such as molecular biology and genetics that are of course important and necessary but - as they tend to be shared across the life sciences degrees - tend to be run by people that are not zoologists and do not explicitly relate the topics to animals, so they can feel a bit heavy. You’ll also have to deal with a bit of stats for analysing the results of any practical work and in reading scientific papers, as well as some mathematical models related to scientific theories. Not that I’m not trying to put you off!! - I’ve found it to be an interesting degree for the most part, but I feel that if someone had reminded me a zoology degree would not be learning cool facts about different animals all day long I’d have felt less shocked by the slightly less pleasant stuff we have to study. I’d recommend looking closely at the units offered at different universities and choose a course that sounds best suited to your interests. The units I’ve enjoyed most during my degree are the field trips, which tend to be specifically tailored towards zoology so I’d also recommend checking out what they offer in terms of trips during your degree. But what I’ve loved most about it is the wonderful people I’ve met on my course - animal people are the best! I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky but everyone on our course gets on so well and if you want to surround yourself with lovely like-minded people zoology is a great choice. Best of luck with it!