Best place to study music?

Scotty C

Hi everyone!
I'm hoping to study music at university and I was wondering if you had the choice of any universities in the country that offers music which you would chose. Please try to be impartial if that’s even possible . If you were in school and had never been to university which one would you have chosen if you disregard things like location etc...?
I would really love someone to respond as it's such a difficult choice for me to make!
Thanks

shoegirl

Scotty C wrote:

Hi everyone!
I'm hoping to study music at university and I was wondering if you had the choice of any universities in the country that offers music which you would chose. Please try to be impartial if that’s even possible . If you were in school and had never been to university which one would you have chosen if you disregard things like location etc...?
I would really love someone to respond as it's such a difficult choice for me to make!
Thanks

Avoid studying Music as a single subject as you'll be apologising for it to employers for the rest of your life. A lot of people assume that people who study music do so because they are too thick or away with the fairies to do anything else - despite the fact that the majority of my class back in college nearly 15 years ago had at least 2 As in the Leaving. (Which is a lot more than I can guess than many of the semi-retarded people I have worked with who graduated with various other subjects from mostly, one particular college).

You can study Music in combination with other subjects in most universities.
WIT always had a good name, but not sure if you can do other subjects.
CIT seems to be excellent for Music, but again unsure if you can do other subjects.
Of the other small instutitions St Pats Drumcondra actually teaches quite a nice little Arts degree and there are a few excellent lecturers in Music Dept.

TCD - high standards and you tend to be left to fend for yourself. A two subject Arts degree is really good to have, if you can get the points. They tend to regard TSMs in the Music School as a lesser breed, but if you can ignore this bit of politics and do the work it shouldn't matter. Huge failure rate mostly due to internal politics and picky requirements.
Maynooth - good lecturers and good standards. Nice performing groups. A lot of people seem to like it here.
UCD - don't know a lot about this place. Was always a mixed bag. Friends who did the music degree there seem to have done alright out of it. Again go for 3 subject option.
UCC - used to have good lecturers but appallingly poor standards that mean that a lot of graduates simply didn't have great aural skills etc. I think its probably improved since, but CIT gets many of the better students.

Look at the QUB and UU options also. God locations and cheaper than the republic to live it. Much better employment options on graduating and Music has less of a pariah status than in Ireland.

Consider hard the negative perception of Music as a subject choice carefully as you don't know until you graduate how much this will affect your employment prospects later on.

dolce

Scotty C

I'm in UCD who are having their open week this week for prospective students

I agree with shoegirl that studying music with another subject in University is a very good idea for future options.

I myself did a year in TCD (a good while ago) and when I decided to go back and finish the degree opted for UCD (both in terms of overall course options, teaching staff and location - I live only 20 mins away).

Shoegirl gave really good feedback on all the uni's and colleges. But you can also consider the courses on offer from the RIAM and DIT.

In making your choice, you should consider what you would like to do after university?

If you want to teach in a school - Go for as many subject options as you can to ensure that your employability is high and you can be on the open register.

NB: If you can, go to all the open days of the universities you are considering. Meeting the staff, seeing the resources and getting a feel for the campus can be very important.

Good luck with your choice.