College Choices

subway_ie

Yeah, I know it would be more suited to the Leaving Cert/Education forum, but I figured it would get more views here, and maybe more responses:

Anybody here doing Financial Maths in UL? I've got it down on my CAO, but I don't really know all that much about it. My preference would be Financial Maths and Economics in NUIG, but I'd prefer to go to UL and do a similar course. Any advice on what the course/prospects are like? I've tried getting info direct from the college, but they just recite the prospectus, the usual old crap. Any views on financial maths and economics in NUIG would be helpful too.
Thanks in adavnce.

Sleepy

I don't know anything about the courses but with regards to social life, you're far better off going to NUI, Galway than UL... Everyone I know that did postgrads in UL after studying in Galway were depressed as hell down there. Those that came the other way couldn't get over the social life in Galway...

Easy choice imho.

Lainey

did you try the website???? i know for maynooth you get loads of info off the website.. go into the specific department you want.. sometimes there are even lecture notes too so you have idea of whats ahead

IronMan

I don't know anything about the courses you suggested, but I did one year in Limerick, and hated the place. I then transferred to Galway, and have had a whale of a time. Great city, real student atmosphere, two big colleges. The college ain't bad either!

subway_ie

Well if I was to go to Galway I'd be living at home for the first year at least... which doesn't really appeal very much. Plus the course is roughly 70 points more than similar (i think) courses in UL. Plus I've been given a guaranteed place on campus on UL...

StephenInsane

Galway is a WAY better city for social life. Galway is about the best city going, Limerick is about the worst.

subway_ie

Originally posted by StephenInsane
Galway is a WAY better city for social life. Galway is about the best city going, Limerick is about the worst.

Ok, well the thing is, if i go to Galway, my social life would be non-existant, at least in limerick I'd have some chance. But I'm kinda more interested in finding out about the courses more than the social aspects...

silverside

First off, get the prospectuses from the college ASAP and study them carefully. Call round to the colleges and talk to the lecturers/students, if you have time.
Its a big decision so make sure you have all the info.

I believe smiles is doing Financial Maths / Economics in UCG.

I did the equivalent course in DCU and the course itself was very good, although DCU isn't the liveliest of colleges. It was a lot of work though. I believe UL would be similar.

There are similar courses in Maynooth and UCD also, have you considered them?

If you really want to work in hardcore financial maths, you will probably end up doing a postgrad, in that case it doesnt really matter what you do for undergrad as long as it has plenty of maths content, so theoretical physics, pure maths, etc would be suitable also.

If you are looking for advice here, tell us what type of course do you want to do, what are your favourite subjects at school, what are you career goals (if any)? Maths or Economics focus?

silverside

with a degree in financial maths/economics some of the things you could do are

teacher
actuary
research
bank graduate scheme
options trader (need to have right personality)
quantitative analyst etc in bank/fund (prob need postgrad)
civil service statistician
etc, etc

UL has vg reputations careers wise. UCG prob also good, at the end of the day your results are more important than the college you go to.

Post up a link to the online prospectuses for the courses and I might comment on them for you.

subway_ie

Thanks silverside - I have been researching all the courses, the problem is that the prospectus' all seem very vague and dont really give very much info. The info they do give (specific class names, etc) is fairly ambiguous and you don't get any real feel for the difficulty/content.

In school, I'm doing Higher level english, maths, french, applied maths, business, physics and ordinary level Irish. Favourite subjects would probably be Maths and Physics, although both can be a bit tedius at times. Business - I like the internation trade/government aspects, although I hate the marketing/conflicts/PR units.

To be honest, I haven't really considered seriously anywhere apart from UL and NUIG. I wouldn't be totally opposed to going to UCD, but it wouldn't be my first (or even my second) choice.

I think I'd be more attracted to the Economics part, but the maths does sound fairly interesting. I'm looking for something with a good balance between the two.

Career goals: Have a job with decent advancement prospects, preferably be able to work in different countries for a few years, while staying in the same line of general work. Decent hours (as long as it's not over 11 hour days it's fine with me). And obviously it's got to be *well* paid. Ideally, retirement by 50.

Here's a link to the NUIG course: GY309
And the UL LM037
And another (similar?) UL course: LM058.

I noticed that UL does "co-operative education" in the last few years of most of their courses - something I can't really find anything about in NUIG (I think they do some kind of placement?). I know it probably won't be great, but it should look good on a CV?

I was also fairly interested in engineering in NUIG (Undenominated) or UL (Mechanical), but now I think I might prefer the maths/economics courses.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Stevie G

i'm in ul at the moment and i love the place their system is good your exams are split up so your not landed with all your exams in may you've half in january which means you'd have to do some study over christmass but after those exams you get 3 weeks off to relax which is very handy!
as maths goes i'm not to sure but i'm in 1st year mech eng and it's an ok course it's very maths and theory biased i was like you liked phisics and maths and this course is ok you'd probably find it interesting if youve any interest in how things work or in design of stuff. the maths department is very good and helpfull if you have questions just email a lecturer in the maths dept their very helpfull!
as far as the social side is concerned ul has one of the best ents manager in the country (galway is a laugh but limerick is as good)
they have free buses running between town and the college most nights and there are pub/clubs on campus also there are pleanty of watering holes near the college

the sports facillities are second to none and the clubs and socs. are very well run the student union is one of the best in the country. it has been one of the best years of my life and would recomend it to anybody.
your best bet is to e-mail people in the college with your questions its the best place for info.
hope you find what your looking for

sparkite

Originally posted by Sleepy
I don't know anything about the courses but with regards to social life, you're far better off going to NUI, Galway than UL... Everyone I know that did postgrads in UL after studying in Galway were depressed as hell down there. Those that came the other way couldn't get over the social life in Galway...

Easy choice imho.

post grads have a much bigger workload than undergrads amd therefore dont have the as much time nor energy to socialise

silverside

have had a look at those prospectuses, they all look like interesting courses,

UCG is kind of a joint honours economics/maths degree, includes some very dry mathematics in 3rd/4th year, traditional type degree, quite a broad range, not sure how well it all ties in together (e.g. 'Rings,Fields and Codes' and 'International Ecnomics' are very different. actuarial subjects can be very boring unless you are sure you want to be an actuary.

UL econ/maths looks very focussed on people who want to do economic analysis/econometrics e.g. in civil service/research role, some maths/statistics thrown in, but not a lot.

UL financial maths to me looks the best course (but I am biased), there is not much economics in it though, just some accounting & financial theory, most physics-type courses of the lot. If you want to work in pricing derivatives or trading for a bank, the lack of economics wouldnt be a problem.

CoOp where you spend 6 months in industry looks good on the CV & gives you a chance of a job offer there when you finish,

personally i dont like limerick city centre but the facilities in castletroy are supposed to be brilliant & the student bar/hurlers supposed to be great craic, intensive courses there. I love Galway city but you might want a break from it & its no harm living away from home, meet new people and all that.

subway_ie

Thanks for the advice. I just got my mock results back recently, 455 points. I'll need to improve by about 40 points to get the NUIG course, which isn't very realistic. I think I'll keep it near the top (1st/2nd choice), but definetly have the UL ones up there too. Although I'm not too sure what exactly I want to get into, but the finance/actuary/accounting area seems pretty sweet. The UL financial maths course seems to be ideal, although I would like some economics thrown in, but I suppose I'll just have to settle for what's out there.
Thanks again for the advice.