#geob

GEOB is one of the few specializations that don’t require you to have to go through an application process, you can simply declare it yourself!

From Science website:

“If you don’t get one of your first three choices of specialization via the UBC Science Second-Year Application, you may still be able to enter one of the following areas of study by selecting the specialization on the Student Service Centre: Astronomy, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Geographical Biogeosciences, Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics. The specialization will expect you to complete the courses listed in the Calendar and to get competitive marks.”

At UBC, you need to take 6 credits of sciences, which usually  means taking 2 classes.

I took GEOB 103 (with mitsukejima) 

and ASIC 200

GEOB stands for geographical biogeosciences, which is basically a ridiculously lengthy name for geography.  The course focuses on rocks and minerals, tectonic processes (ex, subduction zones, fault lines, etc) and consequences of these processes (ex, the different kinds of mountains and volcanoes that form).

The second half of the course switches to water features and forms.  Things like Karst and glacier formation and movement are examined, along with how human interactions with the environment (like deforestation and urbanization) effect the water cycle.

I actually happened to really like this course even though it did get kind of old by the end of the class.  The lab assignments were easy (except for the first one, designed to scare people away) and so were the exams if you studied.  The class also happened to cover almost everything I learned in Geography 12 (BC curriculum).

ASIC stands for arts and sciences integrated courses.  The course covers two interdisciplinary themes every spring semester and untangles them from an arts and sciences bridged perspective.  Arts students can take the class for science credit and science students can take the class for arts credits. This is a night class that's only once/week.  I didn't like this class as much.  When I took it, the two themes were global warming and human genomics.

While I really enjoyed learning more about the political, social, and scientific implications of these two issues, the classes were THREE HOUR LONG LECTURES at night.  I couldn't help but fall asleep on more than one occassion and the lab assignments were usually group projects (which were actually ok for me) but they were really demanding.  They were basically getting us to develop policy ideas on these issues, something which is really hard when you're just in second year.  The TAs and the professors weren't that supportive either.