Marine Science!

earlyturner

hey everyone,
i'm hoping to do marine science next year in nuig. does anyone have any info on what the course is like or what the suba club is like?
thanks for any help,
john

quacks

I'm also interseted if anybody can shed some light on the course, particularly for somebody with no diving experience like myself?

C-J

Not sure about the actual course but I know that the Marine Science Institute is pretty darn impressive! Best place in country to study Marine Science so I hear

Crazy Ivan

Be warned!!

I know that the course in NUIG is considered to rank highly among similar courses in Ireland, but the employment prospects from it are not great. It's not that the course is dodgy or anything. There just aren't that many jobs around in things like marine mammal studies etc.

I lived with two guys that did the course. One of them did a masters in Wales (in marine stuff) because he couldn't get a job and hasn't been able to get employed in the field since. He finished that over a year ago now. The other guy maved to America and, last I heard, he's driving earth-moving equipment at building sites - not very marine-based!

They both seemed to enjoy the course, but the job prospects don't seem great from what I've seen.

Ive a friend currently doing that course.. She was soo excited last year about doing it.

But now she hates it as you dont actually do any "marine science" until the very last year. Meh. Thats all I know.

Crazy Ivan

I will point out that most people are unhappy in some way with their course, whether it's Eng, Science, Arts... I think it's because people feel if they're doing Chemistry, say, there's no point in doing Maths, Physics, Computer Science, etc. Degrees usually start off rather vague and wide-ranging and then narrow in for the last couple of years. It's so that you have the basics covered in a lot of topics before specialising.

My point above was that the course is good overall. However, job prospects don't look excellent *right now*. The situation can only improve though. With more of a push into research and so on, Ireland is well placed to become a global leader in Marine Science. Galway is an excellent location for that kind of thing!

To summarise: The course is good and enjoyable, especially in the last couple of years (like most degrees), but the current jobs market is not excellent. You may have to travel (New Zealand, Australia, USA...) if you want to continue research in the field after your degree.

chat2joe

...or what the scuba club is like?

Check out www.galwaydiving.com

The club provides all the main diving gear (tanks, bcd, regs etc). You'll have to get snorkel gear and a wetsuit in the first year - usually a very good deal as the order is done in bulk with all the new members.

The first year is mostly training. Training is done weekly with lectures then a pool session. Then the pub for 1 or 2! Most people start from scratch, in which case you'll get your first real dives over St. Patrick's weekend in Malinbeg in County Donegal!!

If you've already dived with CFT you can start going on the trips straight away. If you've a PADI cert you can do a short crossover course to CFT/CMAS (few of the lectures and a few dives).

There's usually day-trips and weekend trips away every couple of weeks throughout the year. Most of all it's good craic though!