Mathematical Sciences UCC - any suggestions?

E92

Hi,
I'm going into the Maths Science Course this year, which is my first choice in the CAO. But I have some choices to make for some of the subjects I will be studying this year.

I'm after picking Introduction to Physics I And II, but I've been told that these are supposed to be very hard. How there are other choices, such as AC1117 Business Finance I, theres a Biology one(I'm allergic to biology), 3 Computer Science ones(I've no interest in anything computer related like that) EC1206 Principles of Economic Analysis, Introduction to Geology(definately wouldn't be interested in that), CM1006 Introduction to Chemistry for Physicists and Mathematicians and the Physics one I've mentioned.

The Physics ones, Chemistry one, Bus Finance, Principles of Economic Analysis are 10 Credits each(theres 2 Physics one which I've mentioned) and I have to take a total of 20 credits.


Even though I got an A2 in Physics for the Leaving, I never found Physics that particularly interesting, and I still think that my A2 was a bit of a fluke, because I used to get B's and C's in Physics all the time, and in this years Leaving Cert there was one full question which might as well have been out of an Applied Maths paper, which was brilliant for me because I did Applied Maths for the LC and loved it. Now, I'm told that Physics in college has a lot of Maths in it, and if thats true, that would be brilliant, because as one would expect when doing Mathematical Sciences, I love Maths.

The Bus Finance one looks like Business from the LC revisited, just a bit harder(I did that too), and I didn't like Business at all for the LC(cause there was a lot of essay writing mainly).

The Chemistry one sounds great, plenty of Maths from the sound of it, but I never did Chemistry for the Leaving Cert - is that a big problem, cause my gut instinct tells me that it would be?

Similarly with the Principles of Economic Analysis - it sounds fascinating, but again, I never did economics for the LC(though I did Business and Accounting).

The other choices really don't interest me at all, but I'm worried about Physics, since I heard that its fairly hard, and it wasn't one of my favourites for the LC(but LC Physics doesn't have a lot of Maths in it either, so that didn't help).

I always found Accounting really easy(at least easier to learn), but in Physics I got an A2, and in Accounting and Business I got B grades overall.


So I guess what I'm wondering is, does anyone have any experiences of doing Maths Sciences in UCC, and what options would they recommend doing?

Any help is much appreciated.

RedJoker

Hey E92,

I'm in 3rd year in Maths Sci, doing financial maths.

I took AC1117 and EC1206 in first year since I knew I wanted to go the financial maths route.

I didn't take any business, economics or accounting classes for my leaving. The courses are taught from scratch.

AC1117 is very maths heavy, first term is personal and corporate finance. It starts with the basics, time value of money, compounding, etc. Gets on to slightly harder stuff like annuities and perpetuities, how they're used for loans, pensions, etc. Corporate finance is just working out if projects are profitable, comparing them to other projects using various methods (NPV, Yield, etc.).

The really interesting stuff (for me anyway) starts in the second term which is all about the markets. How companies raise capital, discussing Efficient Market Hypothesis, Capital Asset Pricing Models, market anomalies and all the mathematics behind that (which looks fairly nasty but most of it won't be on the exam).

EC1206 is basic economics. The whole year is very easy, mostly supply and demand curves, some very simple algebra. Easy marks if you turn up to class even if you know nothing first day.


The answer to your question is another question. What do you like doing? That's probably a good start. What do you want to do when you finish college, and what will give you the best chance of getting that? That's probably another good area to look at although you probably don't know right now. Stick to what you enjoy or are interested in.

E92

RedJoker - I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier, but when I posted this at first, I kept checking back for say the first week and I got no reply so needless to say I didn't bother checking after that either.

But by chance I did just now, so I just want to say thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

We had to go to a mentor on registration week(I think we're the first year that ever has this, but amn't sure), so I asked him about that, and the mentor promptly sent me to a Professor in Statistics who really knew his stuff about the LC and what was in the modules. He pretty much offered the same advice you gave me, though suggested I should do AC1117 and EC1206, since I told him I felt I wanted to be doing Financial Maths next year anyway.

For the first week I did both options(no timetable clashes on Week 5), just to see what they were like.

I chose AC1117 and EC1206 in the end.

AC1117 seems to be a little tough, we're about to start Capital Budgeting, and we just finished how to calculate the AAR(Average Accounting Rate of Return), NPV(Net Present Value), and Payback period, and which is the best and why. I just need to study it a bit more.

EC1206 is easy enough so far, every God damm lecture we're drawing supply and demand curves about 10 times! I could do them in my sleep these days. But its interesting so far, and seems grand and easy thus far. I think a lot of it is just common sense.