Zoology at Trinity

Phoebus

I'm just finishing up with Transition Year at the moment so I have another two years until university but I want to know what I want to do and how it works. I know I want to do Zoology and according to the TCD website it was 415 pts this year. Does anyone here do the Zoology course there? If you do what does it comprise of? I'd love to know because I'm leaning towards Trinity!

King.Penguin

I do Zoology.

in first year and second year you do Science with lots of other people. At the end of second year you choose which moderatorship you want to do (Zoology, Biochemistry, Physics etc.) and if there are more students then places it's he/she with the best exam results gets the place.

In 3rd year the course comprises of lectures, labs, tutorials and field trips. Most of the courses are assessed by a examination in April, some of the other courses are assessed by a lab report or by an essay. Some of the courses are listed below (not an extensive list of available options).

In 4th year you chose 6 subjects and they are taught by tutorial. For each course you'll be given an introduction by the lecturer then some direction, for the next class you'll prepare a presentation on your own research in the literature or have a debate about the subject.

You also write a thesis in 4th year based on your final year project. You do your own research and lab work and write it up at the end.

In 3rd Year Subjects some of the subjects were called

Wildlife biology
Fundamentals of ecology
Marine Science
Behavioural Ecology
Comparative physiology
Parasitology
Invertebrate form and function
Vertebrate biodiversity
Entomology
Basic techniques of molecular biology
Developmental Biology
Data handling and Statistics

Also a number of field trips and animal husbandry mini-courses.

You else get to do a couple of subjects from other courses (molecular evolution, palaeocology etc.)

In 4th year some of the the course titles were
Environmental Oceanography
Evolutionary Parasitology
Medical Parasitology
Evolution
Marine Biology
Wildlife and man
Global biodiversity
Developmental Biology
Freshwater biology
More Data handling and statistics

In 4th year you undertake a big final year project and write a thesis on it.

Phoebus

That sounds really interesting, sometimes I regret doing Transition Year because it means another year to wait. :P

What year are you in currently?? And do you need a strong stomach haha, I've heard there's animal testing or something but that might not be completely true.

Sounds amazing though, I love it.

King.Penguin

I'm in 4th year.

Animal testing?

Not really. i'll give you a limited run down of what you actually do with real live animals. might change by the time you get here but for your own information.

Behavioural Ecology - Feeding experiments on chicks and shrimp. The chicks are male and are by-products of the hen industry. They are used in the experiments and then killed (they'd be killed anyway).

Developmental Biology - Different mouse embyros are studied. Mice are impregnated and then killed.

Terrestrial field courses - we trap and then release some Inmice and voles

Invertebrate and marine courses - we examine starfish and mussles, cutting them open, dissection of earth worm

Vertebrate - dissections of rat and mouse

In none of these cases the animals are made to suffer.

Phoebus

Thanks I was thinking it would be something like drugging animals, have no idea where that idea came from. =P

Yeah we dissected a sheep heart a couple of years ago and it didn't bother me. The whole mouse killing thing would be a bit different I know but I could handle that aswell :P

Definitely the course I want to do though. =]
Thanks for your help! Are there any subject requirements, such as you need at least one science or anything??

europerson

Phoebus wrote:

Are there any subject requirements, such as you need at least one science or anything??

OC3 or HD3 in mathematics and HC3 in two of: physics, chemistry, biology, physics/chemistry, mathematics, geology, geography, applied mathematics, agricultural science.

King.Penguin

Sorry if I was misleading. You don't actually kill any animals (vertebrates anyway) yourself. The animals you dissect are provided for you already dead.

Admission Requirements
http://www.tcd.ie/Science/schadm.php

You basically need two Cs in honours science subjects (physics, biology, chemistry, geography) and a D in higher level maths ( or a c in ordinary).

When you get to first year science you'll need to take biology and in second year biology 1 and biology 2 (you'll learn more about them in the future).

I'd recommend you study biology and chemistry for the leaving cert along with higher level maths. Good luck.

I'd also recommend you start paying more attention to those wildlife programmes on television, especially the david attenborough ones. There is loads and loads of relevant information in them. Also pay attention to science and nature news like on rte and the bbc websites. If you see the magazine nature in libraries or if you school has a subscription you should look browse through it from time to time.

Oh and if you can get involved with any of those animal socities like whale watch ireland, bird watch ireland, irish seal sanctuary, all will be beneficial

Phoebus

I've got Geography and Biology plus German (we apparently have to do a language) and also Technical Graphics incase I need something to fall back on if I don't get the points for Zoology. I'm also going to be taking Higher level Maths.

I love David Attenborough documentaries and I often watch Countryfile and the programmes on Animal Planet, National Geographic, etc.

I've also considered joining The Irish Wildlife Trust or something like it.

Ohh I thought you killed the chicks or mice for the Developmental Biology??

Thanks again for all your help

King.Penguin

That's sorted them you'll do great and you sound like you'll enjoy the course. You'll get two years of general science before you have to decide anyway. In first year and second year there are plenty of courses given by staff in the zoology department so you'll get a chance to see for yourself what the subject is like. have fun. any more questions don't hesitate to ask.

Phoebus

Thanks it's appreciated I'm sure I'll come up with some more questions somewhere along the line. :P Thanks again

John

Phoebus wrote:

Ohh I thought you killed the chicks or mice for the Developmental Biology??

That's all done by postgrads/staff. You're not legally allowed to do any killing as an undergrad, you need to have a license to do it (a bit like James Bond).

King.Penguin

I still have your "how to kill animals humanely" book john remind me to give that back to you.

John

I'll be passing through TCD tomorrow evening, need to give a neuroscience book to Roro. If you're around I can take it off your hands.