what uni does arachnology ?

[Josh-sama]

Originally Posted by joeyboy

well the zoology course is the degree...unless you meant A-levels there.

You don't necessarily need two science based A-levels, though it depends where you go obviously. You would need biology really which is pretty obvious.

Yeah, Biology is insanely obvious.

Hm... I have a tough choice... Exotics or Graphic Design?

[Chaika]

Originally Posted by joeyboy

well the zoology course is the degree...unless you meant A-levels there.

You don't necessarily need two science based A-levels, though it depends where you go obviously. You would need biology really which is pretty obvious.

If you want to do biology/zoology at a good university you will have a strong advantage over other people applying for the same course if you have two sciences and a maths. Aim to get as high grades as you possibly can as this will widen your choices when it comes to applying to unversity, and go for the best university you can get into (this will widen your choices when it comes to looking for a Masters).

I did Biology, Chemistry and Maths for my A-levels and this combination got me offers at all the best universities that I applied to including Cambridge and York which were both up in the top five when I was applying in 2001.

[george dobson]

if i get the right grades for a level im going to do :
Biology ofcourse
English
Art - mainly becuase i would like to do decent photos of spiders and stuff

[joeyboy]

Originally Posted by george dobson

if i get the right grades for a level im going to do :
Biology ofcourse
English
Art - mainly becuase i would like to do decent photos of spiders and stuff

Art has nothing to do with photography really, see if there's a photography A-level, I've seen something like it.

But really A-level art probably won't help, I know the course at our college hasn't really got anything to do with taking photos on a professional level.

[george dobson]

Originally Posted by joeyboy

Art has nothing to do with photography really, see if there's a photography A-level, I've seen something like it.

But really A-level art probably won't help, I know the course at our college hasn't really got anything to do with taking photos on a professional level.

oh ok ill try and do something else then, i mainly want to do art because i enjoy it

[joeyboy]

Originally Posted by george dobson

oh ok ill try and do something else then, i mainly want to do art because i enjoy it

well if you think you'll get a good grade go for it. After all there's loads of routes to Uni. If you find they want two sciences just do a foundation degree or something.

I have to figure out what career I want...

[ph0bia]

Be forewarned, as R.Breene has been quoted saying, numerous times:

"No jobs for arachnologists, ever. Never were, never will be."

I'm actually looking at Imperial myself for Entomology, I have Chemistry, Physics and Biology A Levels behind me, plus a year of Forensic Chemistry and Pathology at university, so...

There are a good few in America and Australia that do arachnology as a post-graduate degree, but you'd need to complete an appropriate undergraduate study first.

Also, arachnology is surprisingly little about tarantulas. Don't go into it assuming you'll work with theraphosids, you really won't; this is the equivalent of going into a veterinary course, expecting to work with crocodiles. It might happen, but it's incredibly unlikely. You'll be studying things like mites, scorpions, toxicology and more 'common' spider forms first. You may touch on tarantulas, but it certainly isn't a direct module in most courses I've seen.

[matto2k]

Cambridge has one of the best zoology degree courses available and you can study entomology. However you'll need top grades, a huge pile of money and a strong back ground in the choosen subject. If you can get something published in a journal you'll be onto a winner! or show any evidence of furthering the hobby etc... not just keeping a couple of spiders.



this link may be of help to you.
http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/

[big stu]

Nottingham uni would be a good place to go, theres no direct course of arachnology but they do have a spider lab which could be usefull.

[GRB]

Well, my experience was this:

I finished high school with 6 highers and 2 advanced highers. These included highers in the 3 sciences, Maths, English and Geography, and then 6th year courses in Biology and Chemistry.

I then started a Bsc course at the University of St Andrews after a year out where I worked in a commercial lab. I took a mix of chemistry and red/green* biology until second year before aiming for an Ecology and Conservation degree. As such, I ended up studying a myriad of topics from animal behaviour, genetics, ecology, physiology and marine biology.

I then started my final year dissertation where I conducted a 3 month field study of Harvestmen under different thinning regimes in a managed forest. I self proposed this project, and it took far longer than 3 months to actually complete!

I managed to graduate with a Bsc (Hons.) in Ecology and Conservation, and won the award for best field dissertation project. I was "as close to getting as first without getting a first as I could have been" - hence, a very high 2:1.

I'm now applying for funding at the same institution for a PhD. I have 2 very good lecturers who are going to co-supervise, with a Prof as principal investigator (this is to do with funding etc).

My advice would be to stick in at school and get stuck into the sciences. Zoology tends to retain a decent level of cell biology which I found boring, so Ecology is probably better suited to those of you less interested in golgi apparatus and such, or abbreviations (rough ER anyone?). If you then go into a uni with a good School of Biology (don't be fooled into thinking that "Oxbridge" is the only way to go - you'll end up studying "Natural Sciences" which IMO is a waste of time in this era of super specialisation).

You don't actually need to go down the Msc Entomology route if you get a decent 2:1 from a good university. A masters course is expensive and you won't reliably get funding to complete one. Expect to pay fees of around £3500 upwards for a masters. Factor this in, because you'll have your living costs as well (for example, halls in St Andrews are around £3500 - £4000+/year)

Entomology is also quite different to Arachnology - arachnids and insects are similar at a glance, but there are big differences between them. What's the point of studying Lepidoptera for a year then spiders, when you could just study spiders?

I'm (hopefully) going straight to a funded PhD. This pays you a salary (it's full time) and pays for the tutition fees. It's based over 3.5 years of funding typically, and you have to submit a thesis before the end of 4 years. There are many methods of funding it, and I wouldn't really worry about this just yet. Just be prepared to do a lot of reading if you self propose (this is basically designing it yourself) and be prepared to wait for funding to come through. You can get projects with funding already secured, but these will probably only come from researchers like Dr S Goodacre (and will probably be dispersal of Linyphiids! ).

One last thing, keep your options open. It's hard to get established - once you get established in the field, then you can hopefully specialise into tarantulas with greater ease. Trying to do a PhD solely on them for example will probably be met with failure to secure funding. A multi taxa study, using tarantulas as part of a guild of predatory organisms, will probably secure more chance of funding.



*Red biology is cell and molecular biology, green are the environmental sciences.