Guidance (/guardian angel) Needed!

Fionn MacCool

Hi

I'm an English (cough, London-Irish) student currently sitting my final (A-Level) exams. I've applied for GY206 (Business Information Systems) in my CAO course and quite looking forward to it should I acheive the required grades. That's my first question... obviously I'm not sitting the Leaving Cert, instead we do A-Levels, and only 3 at that. I know the CAO entry requiremnt is 330 points but does anyone know how it will convert? Do they take some of my GCSE results into account? I have two As (one in English) and seven or eight Bs (including Maths).

Secondly, at what point will I know which place I have been offered? I'm worried about the (potentially) short time I will have to sort out accomodation and stuff, especially considering the added hassle of moving country! Although fees are 'free' (since I am an EU undergrad) I think I'll have to take out a loan to cover accomodation fees and stuff until I'm earning.

Have to go now, but any help would be appreciated concerning the above questions and anything regarding accomodation/loans etc!

risaphoenix

I had problems like that, I'm from the US. If you talk to the people who deal with international students they'll tell you what they expect. Accomedations they told me it was best to just book them even if you dont know yet, because the most you lose is your deposit which isn't apparently very much.

po0k

Applicant Scoring
I don't see NUIG listed there (unless GY is the code for Galway-Mayo IT - it's been a few years).
NUIG EU Admissions

Fionn MacCool

Aye I looked at that Applicant Scoring page o nthe CAO site but it only really applies to the ITs.

Another question I had was regarding travel. Now I would only estimate that I'd be coming home (to London that is) 2-3 times a year (Christmas break, summer break and possibly another break) but I've only ever gone from London Gatwick/Stanstead/Heathrow to Shannon (our family are from Clare). What would be the cheapest/easiest route of travel for me? The only airline that seems to fly to Galway airport is Aer Arann and they only go to London Luton... which isn't exactly London at all. Would flying to Shannon or Knock and getting a coach be better?

risaphoenix wrote:

Accomedations they told me it was best to just book them even if you dont know yet, because the most you lose is your deposit which isn't apparently very much

Hmm how do I know where to look for accomodation though? I'm likely to be going to either NUIG or CIT so they're the ones I would have to consider...

Thanks again!

Fionn MacCool

Sorry for the double-post, there's no edit function...

NUIG got back to me, it wasn't the Admission dpt but the fella reckons it's as follows (for the benefit of anyone else who wants to know):
190 – A
160 – B
130 – C
100 – D

That means I only need C,D,D... which leaves me wondering if this is a mickey mouse course? Actually they all seem to be pretty low with their entry requirements... apart from UCC who want three B's to do the same course.

Yet another question of mine is would anyone recommend purchasing a laptop, especially given the nature of my course? I am giving it some thought, although it obviously means more expense.

risaphoenix

Fionn MacCool wrote:

Sorry for the double-post, there's no edit function...

NUIG got back to me, it wasn't the Admission dpt but the fella reckons it's as follows (for the benefit of anyone else who wants to know):
190 – A
160 – B
130 – C
100 – D

That means I only need C,D,D... which leaves me wondering if this is a mickey mouse course? Actually they all seem to be pretty low with their entry requirements... apart from UCC who want three B's to do the same course.

Yet another question of mine is would anyone recommend purchasing a laptop, especially given the nature of my course? I am giving it some thought, although it obviously means more expense.

yeah, the entry requirements do seem low. for me they wanted a 3.0 gpa and sat scores of like 1200, which is way lower then all the us schools i applied to.

get the laptop, just as a general college thing it seems like it would be really useful, especially if your doing IT. pretty much everyone i know in college has one and says its like necessary.

kevmy

In Ireland the points for getting into courses are not, repeat not, done on how difficult the course is. The points are determined by demand. If a lot of people want to do the course then the points for entry will be high even if the course is a mickey mouse one (this is very uncommon though).

Much more common is a average to difficult course with low points due to low demand (which is probably the case with your course). I know that the course I did at NUIG (Science) had a points level of 330 also but it was not easy. So alot of people ended up getting it as there 2nd or 3rd choice but then dropped out cos the weren't able to hack it.

Also be advised that the points for entry may very well fluctuate. If demand increases or decreases this year the points will also change. They usually do not change by more than 15 points so if you get 350 points you should be safe.

As regards accomadation the accomadations office will provisionally book a place in the colleges student accomadation if you ask them. Either Corrib Village or Gort\Cuirt na Coirbe. If you have a choice pick Gort\Cuirt it's of a much higher standard but prob a bit more expensive.

As for travel both Shannon and Knock are between 1hr 20 and 2hr away by bus depending on traffic etc. Shannon prob slightly closer. I think Galway airport is being redone at the moment to handle bigger planes so more routes to London will probablty open up soon.

JIZZLORD

i know a few guys doing BIS, and they like it. i wouldnt mind doing it myself but i didnt know about it back in the day. apparently it has very good prospects too, go for it