psychology/veterinary???

nc0987

Hey people! doing my leaving this year and was thinking about doing psychology in UCD... or veterinary... not really linked but im in the confused stage. :DIf anyone does either of these courses could they tell me whats involved and if they really like it or not so much? Thank u!!!:D

nc0987

Nobody.....???????????????

remus808

One of my friends just started Veterinary, and another started Psychology...not that thats any use to you

They both got scolarships though, which is nice

spudington16

karmabass wrote: »

One of my friends just started Veterinary, and another started Psychology...not that thats any use to you

They both got scolarships though, which is nice

It's remarkable how unhelpful a reply that really was.

Moving on, I'm in stage one psych in UCD, and while that aspect of the course is fine, it must be mentioned that, thanks to the wonders of Hugh Brady's (UCD president) magnificent modularisation scheme, a psych degree in first year is basically a common arts degree, and as a result only 1/3 or so of your hours will actually be in psych in first year (aka stage one).

Then, stages 2 and 3 will both be pure psych (presuming you pass first year ), so it's plain sailing.

All lecturers and psych dept. staff have so far been excellent, but the stage one issue should be a serious consideration.

nc0987

spudington16 wrote: »

as a result only 1/3 or so of your hours will actually be in psych in first year (aka stage one).

Then, stages 2 and 3 will both be pure psych (presuming you pass first year ), so it's plain sailing.

All lecturers and psych dept. staff have so far been excellent, but the stage one issue should be a serious consideration.

ok, so what are you at for the rest of your hours in stage1?

imarugbyball

Yeah i'm in the same boat as the other guy. Psychology is the subject i seem to have to do the least work for (mcq ftw) and i put more hours (lecture and reading time) into philosophy which is my other big arts subject.

This totally wrecks my head BUT this is mainly because psychology KICKS ASS, it so interesting and easy so far. Espically compared to my other subjects. If you like it and understand that it is more of a science than like, how to read peoples thoughts. It can be hella interesting.

I do know a few people who wanted to do vetinary but gave up after some summer work experience, because imho it is the ****test job ever. So i would suggest you do this for a week or two during christmas if you didnt do it in 4th year.

And i know it wont go down well here but if you can get the point for vet. id go to trinity as you wont have to deal with the arts BS and the people are cooler.

hope that helps

lizzyvera

A thing that gets a lot of people who want to do vet or zoology is the amount of dissections they have to do. If you like animals so much you couldn't chop them up, vet isn't for you.

nc0987

ha, you're a chancer,,,
problem is, trinity dont have a veterinary course, UCD's the only college that does. to be honest though, psychology is what im into at the moment.
so you'd say do it as an arts degree then cos of the lack of work in it?

another thing im worried about is that theres so many doing psychology that theres just no jobs out there?
im fascinated by the mind though so i think i'd really like that or psychiatry.

one more thing... what kind of stuff are you going through in the course, just to give me a taste for it?

Thanks guys, ur really helping me sort my head!! That takes effort!

nc0987

lizzyvera wrote: »

A thing that gets a lot of people who want to do vet or zoology is the amount of dissections they have to do. If you like animals so much you couldn't chop them up, vet isn't for you.

yeah, thats understandable. i think i'd be ok with it though.

Atargatis

Here's a little info about veterinary that might help you get a better picture of what you're dealing with.

It has a lot of dissection in the beginning - you start off on greyhounds and then move onto other animals. Most people are pretty excited about it at first and then get used to it. It's also very scientific with lab work and a run through the basics like histology (cell stuff) and physiology (systems stuff) for the first year or two. They do some problem based learning as well where you get to practice researching and diagnosing cases in small groups from the very beginning. Very similar to the first few years in medicine. In second year, there are lots of class trips to a farm where you get to practice your animal handling which can be a bit rough and messy, but fun. Oh, and you'll also be assigned a few weeks of experience with sheep, pigs, cows and horses depending on your own experience. Some people get off easy since they come from farming backgrounds while others have to fit in several weeks of experience over the first two years.

The class sizes are usually around 80 people, so they're pretty small. All the years get to know each other intimately (and I do mean intimately) as there are plenty of nights out to introduce the first years to everyone.

nc0987

Ha, sounds pretty interesting!!! Thanks for that, really appreciate it!

imarugbyball

I meant that if you can get into vetinary anywhere you will have the requisite points to study in trinners which i would advise...

nc0987

imarugbyball wrote: »

I meant that if you can get into vetinary anywhere you will have the requisite points to study in trinners which i would advise...

i get ya... so why not ucd? pm me if u'd prefer

pretty*monster

spudington16 wrote: »

It's remarkable how unhelpful a reply that really was.

Moving on, I'm in stage one psych in UCD, and while that aspect of the course is fine, it must be mentioned that, thanks to the wonders of Hugh Brady's (UCD president) magnificent modularisation scheme, a psych degree in first year is basically a common arts degree, and as a result only 1/3 or so of your hours will actually be in psych in first year (aka stage one).

As much as I love a bit of Brady bashing that particular "problem" (in inverted commas because actually I reckon it's a good thing) was in place long before he became the president.

imarugbyball

Just reckon it's a nicer place. The campus is undeniably nicer and better located.

You get to skip out on the whole arts thing, which i'd like for one.

Also the guys( liek 15 person group of my mates split pretty evenly between the 2) in trinity seem to like it better than the ones in UCD. A few of my m8s also switched after the rechecks and they liked it better too.

It's totally subjective though and i'm sure theres people in trinners who would liek to make the switch also.

Then again gettin an extra 50 points will make 6th year more annoying and the differences arent THAT great, but i'd definatly stick trinners before ucd on the ol cao.

laters.

nc0987

Right! thanks for the advice!

Stepherunie

The UCD/ Trinners thing is something you need to consider yes but you need to look at the actual courses.

If you're thinking of medicine, Trinity has higher points to get into it but I know that a lot of people who say that the UCD med course is considered better because of the system in place that Trinity have yet to implement.

I think you need to look beyond appearances and actually look at the course structure.

lizzyvera

About jobs in psychology... mainly you'd get jobs that you'd get with any other arts degree. It's very hard to get into actual clinical psychology.
You mentioned psychiatry, which would definitely be treating people with mental disorders. You have to go through medicine for that. In UCD you could probably do a couple of psychology electives with a medicine degree.

I've done a few psychology electives and they are unfairly easy compared to science, but interesting all the same.

sweetiepie

Im in vet at the moment and worked in a clinic before I decided to do it.I would definitely advise getting experience before you decide to do it. Where i work there there three graduate vets and 2 of them are going back next year to study something else. It can be a dirty job, the hours are long, chances are you'll have to go to the UK to get experience before places will hire you here so it really has to be what you want to do. The course itself is interesting, but just do experience to make sure its def what you want to do

nc0987

Thanks everyone, you've really, really helped. im going to the open days anyway so ill be able to look around but at least im a lot clearer now. THANK YOU!!:D