Thursday, April 30, 2020

Part 2 Looking for Scholarships Abroad? UCC (Study + Travel)

Hi, everyone. Usually I write my entries directly without greeting any possible readers but my 'editor' (ehem, ehem) told me that I should do this like I am doing a vlog. He said that I should think about those cringy YouTube videos. Anyway, enough with the tangential.

This is Part 2 of my blog about looking for scholarships abroad. As I said, I have no experience with this so if anyone's reading who've done it before, kindly comment down below and berate me on how pretentious and uninformative this entry is. Lol.

It's not that we don't have a school here in the Philippines who offers an MSc degree in Geology (UP) but I would just really want to do it outside of the country because I'm choosy like that. Also, a taught degree in Europe will suit me because I want the classroom-vibe in a romantic setting and have a lot of interactions with shining blond colleagues and professors.

So, this entry is about University College Cork, Ireland. I am basing my choice of university from the GOI-IES scholarship that I've mentioned in my previous post (click here). Since the scholarship will only cover one year of studies, the program they offered there in MSc Geology - Exploration Field Geology is a perfect choice for me.

The university was one of the three Queen's Colleges, the two others were in Belfast and Galway, founded in 1845. I won't bore you with these kind of details so just click this link if you want to read more about it.

So, before, I am thinking about taking a specialization in petroleum geology. I mean, I am really interested with it, it's also fun, challenging and not gonna lie, I've heard that it pays well to be working in the petroleum industry. I was all set for that program, even looking for admissions at Malaysian unis (because Petronas is there) or Brunei unis, but everything changed when I heard about the Paris Agreement of 2015.

It's already 2020 and I only encountered about this agreement when I took an online course regarding international energy. Talk about the Philippines being progressive environmentally, am I right? With Climate Change being more evident as the years progress, the world is now taking steps to mitigate and enforce measures against the impacts of our Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions. So, from dependence on fossil fuels, we're now shifting to invest more and more to renewable energy sources (I included here all advanced biofuels) and carbon capture studies and technology.

So, this does not bode well to the study of Petroleum Geology. In a few years time, we will reach Peak Oil Demand and the world will never be the same again (just in oil consumption, lol). Because of this, it'll be more wise to invest in an education degree that can at least give you strong footholds in the future.

Having a specialization in Field Geology will be profitable in the long run. Even though we are turning our backs more and more from fossil fuels, exploration for metallic and nonmetallic deposits will be extended as long as technology is evolving and world population is ballooning. We're gonna need more and more nonmets for constructions and metallics for just about anything.

UCC offers this program which is a 1-year full time course. Aside from having in-depth learning about field geology, what's exciting about this is the opportunity for experiencing ship time aboard the Irish State Research Vessel, the Celtic Voyager, travelling across the Republic like Co. Donegal, Co. Clare, Co. Kerry and South Wales (in UK, eeey). Don't worry about people telling you that you're not taking a thesis degree, part II of this taught-degree is a 5-month long research project which you can also do outside of Ireland. You wanna travel to Switzerland to see the Alps and do some geology there? Go ahead.

In order to finish the said program, you'll need to finish Part 1 which is comprised of 60 units covering the following courses:


If you're a Vincentian Geologist, we got this, bruh!

Part 2 is 30 credits. This is the 5-month long research project I've mentioned above. This will be consists of a dissertation and a project seminar and yep, can be taken abroad.

This program has written exams and continuous assessment elements. You'll get to do essays (c'mon!), attend seminars, assessed seminars (I hope minus the usual humiliation incidents), submit practical and technical field reports and the most exciting part, do offshore and field surveys.

Submission of application will cost you around ~2,800 Philippine Peso or the equivalent of 50 Euro as of this writing. What you need to prepare are the following:
1. Official Academic Transcript (according to their website, this course requires a Second Class Honours, Grade II (2H2 Equivalent) degree or equivalent in a Geological/Earth Sciences area or a related relevant degree. I looked for the equivalent here and the website just say that "there is no standard grading system used in Higher Education" and that I should contact the International Office for this)
2. Graduation Certificate
3. Photocopy of Passport
4. English Language Test Result
5. CV
6. Official documentation relating to any other academic/professional non-degree qualification
7. Reference Letters/grading certs

For Non-EU students, the tuition amounts to 18,000 Euros which is around a million Philippine Peso (2020). So if you can afford that and the living expenses in Ireland and not to mention attend a school that looks like a palace and gives you prince/princess vibe, I think you should attend UCC.


This school is currently number one on my list. There are a lot that offers scholarships for Geologist around the world and you just have to look for a school that fits you and your interest. You should of course take into consideration whatever is important for you. Choose a city or even a country that you are interested with culturally or even geologically because it will keep you sane when the going get tough.

I know two people personally who are now taking their MSc in Japan (if you're into JPop, cherry blossoms and the kohai/senpai culture), also another one who's taking his PhD, and two other colleagues who are currently studying in ETH Zurich.

A German geologist friend from Aachen told me that ETH Zurich really gives a lot of opportunities to deserving international students. Maybe if you're really into seeing the Alps or you want to know more about the deep geological nuclear repositories they're building in the Opalinus Clay formation, you should consider the school.

Make sure to tune in for Part 3! It'll be very interesting.

Hasta la proxima.

No comments:

Post a Comment