Neuroscience

dr.barbie

Anyone on the board studying neuroscience? Is it as interesting as it appears? I know that theres tough competition for spaces on it....would love to hear the opinions of students in the course, or indeed students studying science in TCD generally.

Cheers.

Nietzschean

Sounds like a mission for John2............

Scarinae

I'm in Science but I'm a first year so would be of little use to you I'm afraid. I'm just jumping on the bandwagon with questions about Neuroscience - do you have to take Bio 1, Bio 2 and Chemistry in SF year?

ApeXaviour

Aye John2, our resident 4th year Neuroscientist. You need to do chemistry in first year to get biology 1 in second year to get neuroscience in third.

As far as science in general. Yeah at the end of second year there is a second CAO basically. Your matriculation (ie what subjects you studied) limits your choices. There is often (if there's places) the opportunity to jump ship into other courses who study along side you like Med Chem, Human Genetics, Comp phys, comp chem and Physics/Chemistry of Advanced Materials. It's demand/places vs Average mark for 2nd year that determines whether you get your course. The physical sciences tend to scare many people off yet have a lot of places so if they're your first choice you'll rarely not get in unless you fail. Afaik there is some competition for some of the biology subjects like neuroscience, physiology, microbiology, genetics and zoology. It differs every year but they tend to be more popular than places allocate..

Science is a fun subject to pick. My advice is not to be too determined in what you want to do. I came into JF pretty much certain I was going to do Biochemistry. I eventually chose physics over it (weird eh?). The subjects differ one hellovalot from LC to Uni. Get a feel for the subjects and make an educated choice only when you have to..
Best of luck

John

*flexes neuroscience muscles*

Right, first off neuroscience is a very interesting course. You need chemistry in first year and biology 1 in second year as far as I remember. I'd recommend chemistry in second year as it makes understanding bits of biochemistry a lot easier. Bio 2 is a help as well as that's where physiology is covered if again I remember correctly.

Third year is spent sharing classes with many other courses. Basically you trot around college doing courses in biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, psychology, immunology, zoology, pharmacology, statistics and genetics. There's a lot of continuous assessment, a heavier load than you get in first and second year but this is true of all JS courses. What I like most about the course is how varied the subject is. Not only that but so much research is essentially mapping uncharted territory that there's always something out there that will interest you.

Fourth year so far is much easier than third year (which counts for 10% of your degree). The level of detail is obviously much higher but when you're into the subject the more the better. However I imagine my attitude will change when I get into my project.

Another thing, the word on the street is that the class size is to be expanded in future years. At the moment it's ten but it's to go up to fifteen. Basically if you get a 2.1 or higher you should get in.

I hope this was of some use to you. If you've any more questions fire away.

geraghd

I applied for Neuroscience first and got micro instead: havent looked back since! In retrospect I would have applied for micro first to be honest, but neuro is certainly very interesting, a very up and coming subject in research and with the new institute and money that is seemingly being pumped into it you are sorted in so many ways for a Ph.D afterwards. However, like Physiology: great course, grand to do well, but good luck getting a job, and its hard enough as it is!
Its prob better to do neuro now though, as there were quite a few worrying developments with the course in its first few years (a new course, and sudden unfortunate change of course coordinator when I was applying), but as I said with new insitute (they finally have somewhere to go rather than walking aimlessly around other peoples departments) and more experience for the lecturers, its a good time to go into it.

Scarinae

How do they decide who gets into what course - is it all based on your SF summer exam, or is it all your results from the first two years added together?

DrIndy

Neuroscience sucks..........

John

DrIndy wrote:

Neuroscience sucks..........

Oh yeah!?! It's better than medicine. Kinda.

John

Oh by the way, anyone going to the TCD open day check out the neuroscience stall. I'll be working it

DrIndy

I'll come to throw eggs........

doctor evil

For genetics do you need to do chemistry in first year?, how competitive is genetics for places. Is chemistry in third level very different/harder from second level?.

John

Very very different. I got an A2 in leaving cert HL and failed my first chemistry test in college (and yes I studied). There is some overlap but basically the LC course is very flawed. And as far as I know you need chemistry for genetics. Possibly in second year too.