Natural Sciences MSci

Course overview

The vision behind the Natural Sciences Programmes is to offer distinctive cross-disciplinary subject combinations that would not be available within any single department, by exploiting a vast range or existing scientific learning opportunities.

We want our students to be comfortable crossing artificial subject boundaries, collaborating, and making connections in their professional life, whilst also benefitting from a deep level of expertise and knowledge that ensures they can compete on specialist terms for employment or further study with graduates from single discipline programmes.

We achieve this balance through carefully structured curricula that enable our students to access teaching across departments and divisions, at all undergraduate levels of study. Many classes are taken alongside students who are studying for degrees in a single discipline.

The programme is sub-divided into many different subject “streams”, which broadly reflect major research themes and similar specialist science degree subjects. A combination of two streams is selected early in the programme from a long list of available options and is followed for the duration of the degree. The curriculum design for each stream combination ensures that in years one and two there is strong cross-disciplinary emphasis on core knowledge, whilst in the third and fourth years there is scope for students to exercise their diverse interests.

The first three years of the MSci follow the same structure of our BSc programme. In the fourth year, you will deepen and extend your knowledge of one stream by undertaking a major research project as well as specialist taught study.

The BSc programme follows the same structure as the first three years of the MSci. If students are unsure whether to pick the BSc or MSci, they are advised to apply for the MSci initially, although transfer between the two programmes up to the end of the third year is straightforward.

Natural Sciences enables students to combine science subject areas, known as streams, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of high-quality, internationally leading research undertaken at UCL. The BSc programme follows the same structure as the first three years of the MSci.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

The foundation of your career

Our programme is one of the largest and most comprehensive Natural Sciences courses in the UK. Our graduates have progressed to a diverse range of exciting graduate careers, including research, teaching, finance, management, consulting, technology, and science journalism, to name just a few.

Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2020/2021 cohort.

Employability

On completion of your degree you will be able to:

• demonstrate coherent, detailed knowledge in two complementary scientific disciplines
• apply accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry
• describe and comment upon current scientific research and advanced scholarship​

Crucially, you will also benefit from the opportunity to adapt and apply your learning across boundaries, developing your abilities to draw connections between topics and develop unique insights. This may make you a highly attractive candidate for some some career opportunities.

You should expect to compete successfully for jobs and further study opportunities in the sectors relevant to your main areas of study. Recent graduates have gone into areas such as technology, finance, law and the civil service. Further postgraduate study is also a common destination for leaving students. The most popular industry sectors for Natural Sciences graduates include:

• Accountancy & Financial Services
• IT, Technology & Telecomms
• Publishing, Journalism, or Translation
• Teaching or other educational activities

During your studies you will gain experience using e-learning technologies and you will produce a variety of outputs such as word-processed documents, posters and infographics, presentations, or recordings. You will write your own computer code and will develop your oral and written communication of science through a diverse range of assessments.

Problem solving and data analytic skills are extensively developed across a large fraction of the modules that you will have access to, and the ability to apply these skills to tackle unseen and interdisciplinary problems is challenged and evidenced via project work. Independent critical thinking and creativity are similarly encouraged and developed. All this project work requires excellent team work and leadership skills, and ability to manage projects. You will be trained in these skills in the programme core modules. Some students develop these attributes further via roles such as Student Academic Representative, Transition Mentor, or leadership roles within the NatSci Student Society.

In the third year literature project module, “critique” and “insight” are key assessment criteria, and the meanings of these terms are discussed in workshops. You will develop your critical thinking and creativity as you move through the programme, via assessments requiring increased levels of sophistication such as open-ended and long-form essay questions or journal clubs.

These attributes are common to all Natural Sciences students, but you will develop greater sophistication in some aspects through the study of your two streams. For instance, students who specialise in Mathematics and Statistics or Physics or those who take a computational project in year four can expect to develop high levels of proficiency in computing; students who take History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science can expect to become highly developed communicators with excellent understanding of ethical issues in science. Some students may also have opportunities to use specialist instrumentation.