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History in trinity?

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  • 01-06-2015 6:44pm
    #1
    DelilahWn62
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭


    I am in the midst of finalising my cao and I am really tempted to put down history in trinity or UCD. I loved it for junior cert but ended up choosing chemistry instead for the leaving and really regretted it.

    Was wondering if I would be at a big disadvantage going into history with no previous leaving cert experience of the subject? Also if anyone has any personal experiences of history in college, what you liked/disliked etc
    Thinking about doing it with economics or French as I love both of those subjects.
    Any advice really appreciated!


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    #2
    endasmail
    Registered Users Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭endasmail


    all you need is a like for the subject, dont worry bout not doing it in leaving cert


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    #3
    Pandora13
    Registered Users Posts: 17 ✭Pandora13


    Do not worry at all about not having done history for LC, in first term anyways the modules are ones that you have never done before in secondary school, all you need is a love for history. It is a wonderful course, I think it is ranked the second highest course in TCD. The history department put on an incredible choice of modules, and this year especially they went above and beyond themselves in providing a wide range of modules for students to choose from.

    History in college is a little different from secondary school - for starters you are footnoting when writing essays, and the department operates on the Harvard style of referencing. It seems daunting at first, but you will be so surprised at how you get the hang of it after a couple of essays! In addition, there is also a lot of focus on historiography as you progress through the years - that is the history of history, basically the arguments made by previous historians and the schools of thought associated with a particular topic.

    Once you choose what you love, you will excel at it! Just in case you didn't know, there is an option for students to take a language course alongside their degree, so if you chose History and Economics you could still take two hours of French classes per week, though it would not be part of your degree course.


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    #4
    endasmail
    Registered Users Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭endasmail


    Pandora13 wrote: »
    Do not worry at all about not having done history for LC, in first term anyways the modules are ones that you have never done before in secondary school, all you need is a love for history. It is a wonderful course, I think it is ranked the second highest course in TCD. The history department put on an incredible choice of modules, and this year especially they went above and beyond themselves in providing a wide range of modules for students to choose from.

    History in college is a little different from secondary school - for starters you are footnoting when writing essays, and the department operates on the Harvard style of referencing. It seems daunting at first, but you will be so surprised at how you get the hang of it after a couple of essays! In addition, there is also a lot of focus on historiography as you progress through the years - that is the history of history, basically the arguments made by previous historians and the schools of thought associated with a particular topic.

    Once you choose what you love, you will excel at it! Just in case you didn't know, there is an option for students to take a language course alongside their degree, so if you chose History and Economics you could still take two hours of French classes per week, though it would not be part of your degree course.

    I agree with most of the above apart from the History department operating on the Harvard style of referencing, it does not. It follows the `Historic Journal` style as found on Endnote i.e Footnotes


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    #5
    gutenberg
    Registered Users Posts: 983 ✭✭✭gutenberg


    I would say don't worry about not having done LC history. The only 'advantage' it would have given you would be some familiarity with approaching and working with primary sources via the case studies section, but even then it's debatable, and much of it is common sense anyway. History at university is much more about argument, evidence, and historiography (as Pandora described it), so if you enjoy a good debate and getting stuck into evidence and weighing sides, you'll love it. In any case, most first-year courses will cover material unknown to most other students, as the focus tends to be on medieval & other earlier periods- 99% of schools offer only the late modern history course.

    The only other I would say is to make sure you enjoy reading, and writing. Being as comfortable as possible with both, but especially the latter will only help you on a History degree, so if you hate writing essays it may not be the course for you...


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    #6
    qweerty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 367 ✭✭qweerty


    I strongly considered doing history as part of a TSM but opted not to because of how restrictive it is when taken with another subject. You're required to do 50:50 medieval:modern during first and second year, and while I'm not uninterested in medieval I'd rather spend my time studying something else. Module choice is renowned for being very good.

    Here are the first three questions from a recent first year paper (chosen for no specific reason):

    -What enabled the Virginia colony to survive the consequences of its own founding assumptions?

    -How important was the religious factor in the development of the British Colonies in the seventeenths and eighteenth centuries?

    -"The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people." John Adams, 1820. Discuss.

    I think you should ask yourself whether you'd be interested in writing an essay on those topics: whether you would be willing to read multiple sources on each, collate the info and assertively argue a position. Junior Cert History is a poor indication of what university history is like: it treats past events as a story and merely requires that you reproduce it. In reality, historical consensus is arrived at following significant disagreement and is liable to be wrong or incomplete. The undergrad historian isn't so much judged on their conclusions as the way in which they arrived at or argued them.


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    #7
    Snrn96
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭Snrn96


    I am considering doing History and Philosophy or History on its own. How does the credit system(ECTS) work in Trinity for History? How many credits do people receive who are doing a single History degree and how many credits do people receive for History when doing a Two-subject Moderatorship degree? Also do students have to pick from subjects available from each term or are all subjects available to chose from? (what restrictions apply to the choice of subjects within history?)


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    #8
    endasmail
    Registered Users Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭endasmail


    Snrn96 wrote: »
    I am considering doing History and Philosophy or History on its own. How does the credit system(ECTS) work in Trinity for History? How many credits do people receive who are doing a single History degree and how many credits do people receive for History when doing a Two-subject Moderatorship degree? Also do students have to pick from subjects available from each term or are all subjects available to chose from? (what restrictions apply to the choice of subjects within history?)

    You get 60 ECTS for the year
    SIngle honours history = 60 ECTS
    TSM subjects = 30 ECTS for each (30 for History and 30 for Philosophy)

    Students pick modules which make up the total 60 ECTS
    In Freshman year some of the modules are compulsory (dependent on which Professor is not on "research leave")


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