Switching course this late in the day

Tomlowe

I'm a first year TSM Economics and Maths student, having chosen my course over BESS as a result of parental pressure and advice from other, older students. That said, I was perfectly happy to put it first on my CAO last year. Now however, the maths is really starting to become a pain in the tits. A lot of it seems too woefully abstract to ever be of use to me and I don't enjoy any of it. I'm not doing too badly in homework/tests but it takes an enormous strength of will to even go to the lectures.

I am considering switching to BESS to eventually do politics and economics: would anyone in the know recommend this, or is it even possible so late in the year? I already do one bess course, Introduction to Economics, but everything else would be completely new to me.

Thanks

Tom

AlanSparrowhawk

Dude, if you're just not feeling it I recommend you talk to your tutor and ask for the transfer. I think you should have the Leaving Cert points and judging by the size of the bess course there shouldn't really be a space issue. There are a couple of guys with similar stories to you on this forum so they should give you some good advice.

I'm not taking anything away from 1st year BESS and I've never done the course but I wouldn't imagine you'd have any problem catching up as long as you make an effort.

Go for it.

shay_562

I know a guy who transferred from Maths/Economics into BESS around this time in our first year; he had to do a fair amount of work over Christmas to get Political Science and Sociology essays in on time, but he got it done. If you're sure this is what you want, then go to your tutor ASAP and get their help - BESS has loads of dropouts in the first few months, so space shouldn't be an issue, it's just a matter of getting the departments to agree, so tutor and Bartley (education@tcdsu.org) are the ones to talk to. But do it soon or you'll miss your window.

Do the above. The closing date is, AFAIK, the friday of the first week you're back so if you want to transfer it'd be good to contact your tutor/whoever this or next week to get things organised.

zuchum

Alternatively, if you drop out before April, you can start 1st year net year and pay half fees and continue to spend your time gorging on the souls of innocent phone buyers.

April? I remember the deadline for half fees was January.

defiantshrimp

shay_562 wrote: »

I know a guy who transferred from Maths/Economics into BESS around this time in our first year....

I'm that guy! It shouldn't be too late to move if you start the process now, I moved in during the last week of MT. They made me sit all the exams of course

You should really make sure you want to move. I had regrets about moving during 1st and 2nd year but I'm pretty sure I made the right choice. Do you dislike all your Math courses or just a few?

Importantly if you have ambitions to become a research economist I strongly, strongly, strongly reccommend sticking out Maths/Econ. If I wanted to do a Phd I'd need to spend a lot of time building up my maths, even given the fact that I've taken all the maths I can through BESS.

Keep in mind that if you stick the year out and manage to pass, you can always move straight into 2nd year BESS. That might be a good option.

If you do move catching up on the other BESS stuff shouldn't be too much of a problem and even if you only do enough of the 1st year stuff to scrape a pass it won't matter since you pretty much start afresh in second year in all subjects. BESS should be a 3 year degree... but that's a discussion for another day.

PM me if you have any more specific questions you need answered.

ApeXaviour

This thread had turned into a two page esoteric BESS circle jerk. All posts from that moved to bess thread. Anyone with any further advice about for Tomlowe about changing courses is welcome to post here.

manicmonoliths

Tomlowe, I'm in first year BESS at the moment. I don't think catching up would be too difficult. We're mid exams at the moment and most of us are just cramming it all this week.

Economics is the most study focused part of BESS at the moment but you already do it! Sociology and Politics should be easy to catch up on, but they are very different to what you may be used to. They expect us to do a lot of personal reading. Business also shouldn't be too bad.

As far as I know in TSM Econ/Maths, you are exempt from the Maths that we do in BESS (Maths and Statistics) but if you were doing straight Maths it really shouldn't be a problem! The course so far hasn't gone past Leaving Cert Higher Level.

I know a few people in BESS who are seriously considering dropping out, so there's plenty of room!

Good luck! I know its a tough decision to make.

Brods

Not doing either of these courses but i know I wasnt happy at this stage last year. I stuck the course out til the end of the year did my exams but decided to leave and start a new course this october. costs a bomb! if youre not happy now Id be talking to your tutor...

sully-gormo

I did maths and economics in jf and went straight into sf bess econ/pol where i am now(slaving over an essay to be precise). I was told by pj drudy i could move straight into second year Once I got a II.1. You should really consider making the jump, maths isint going to change as you go forward by all accounts; i started out in TP, changed to maths/econ first week back and then got into bess for second yr. Its waaay better to jump now, do a bit of work catching up(not that much really) that regret it for the rest of your life. The next 3 and a half years are gonna be that much longer if you hate the maths. Also, apparently first year bess isn't too taxing anyways. Maths/State is a piece of piss if youre good enough for maths tsm, Ill give you the notes to Law if you want them, you can get an F1 in one subject as well and youll still get through by compensation. It really shouldnt be that difficult to catch up


Go for it

dan719

Tomlowe wrote: »

I'm a first year TSM Economics and Maths student, having chosen my course over BESS as a result of parental pressure and advice from other, older students. That said, I was perfectly happy to put it first on my CAO last year. Now however, the maths is really starting to become a pain in the tits. A lot of it seems too woefully abstract to ever be of use to me and I don't enjoy any of it. I'm not doing too badly in homework/tests but it takes an enormous strength of will to even go to the lectures.

I am considering switching to BESS to eventually do politics and economics: would anyone in the know recommend this, or is it even possible so late in the year? I already do one bess course, Introduction to Economics, but everything else would be completely new to me.

Thanks

Tom

Hi tom, how's the selling phones coming along. You know I have already said all of this to you but the only problem with switching to BESS is your actually doing less economics this year and possibly next year- can you not do econ and political science! Have a good xmas btw! P.S why the hell were you not in the Pav Friday?!

Awayindahils

dan719 wrote: »

Hi tom, how's the selling phones coming along. You know I have already said all of this to you but the only problem with switching to BESS is your actually doing less economics this year and possibly next year- can you not do econ and political science! Have a good xmas btw! P.S why the hell were you not in the Pav Friday?!

Economics and Political Science is a course only offered in BESS and the politics department are quite sticky about students having completed the political science and sociology courses that are taken in first year. (I know this from tyring to change from BESS to Hist/Pol)

Yes you do do one less economics course in 1st year BESS as opposed to TSM Economics but that course does not have all that much value as they do not want the TSM Economics student's to be at a hige advantage when compared to the student's who choose to do economics out of BESS.

Doing BESS in first year gives you the chance to ty out alot more subjects which you may find that you actually perfer to economics.