Visual Communications at W.I.T. - a good course?

ann_nna

Hi everyone!

Is anyone here doing Visual Communications course at W.I.T.? if yes - can you tell me if it's good? is it what you expected?

cheers in advance!

Paddy@CIRL

Hi Ann,

I'm just about to go into fourth year of the B.A. Hons Design Communications course. We were the first year through the new semester system and have had our fair share of problems with course layout, course content and just a general feeling of being a 'beta' year.

However, the course has adapted better and better with every new year that has come along and the quality of the education is sky rocketing. The course has some of the best staff in the country, people who are truely dedicated to their jobs and have dedicated their lives to design.

The equipment we have gets better every year. A whole range of new iMac's have been added to complement the already 15+ strong armoury of Apple Mac Pro's. All the studios have WiFi and plenty of space. The Campus is close to town, has it's own canteen, shop and ATM. We have access to two colour A3 laser printers, two colour A3 inkjet printers and one A0 sized colour plotter.

I know we've been unfortunate in the way things went but the staff couldn't of delt with things any better. You'll get a fine education from it and it is most definately worth doing.

ann_nna

hi Paddy!
thank you very much for all the information about the course and the college itself! it's been of great help. i alredy decided to go to waterford but i still wasnt sure about it... now i've no doubts!:)
thanks a million!
Anna

Paddy@CIRL

No problems,

See you in September ! (I'll be the one that the lecturers will tell you to stay away from )

ann_nna

hahaha:D see you! (i hope i'll get in!:p)

KolaBABY

Ya I really want to do that in Sept too. But it was so hard to get info at the open evening. Argh!

Sully

All lecturers should be around till June 20th so if you want to email them and try organise a meeting about the course - might help your decision making You have till July for the CAO ya?

KolaBABY

I have all WIT courses on my CAO. Visual Communication is #2, Psychology is my #1 but its a stab in the dark as far as points go. I have no idea what to expect. The lecturer F. Nutty was v. helpful when I asked her all about the course for Sept. I'm academically challenged and I really hope I get into WIT! I love the place!

Chochese

I'm just finished first year of that course and I found it to be very good. Looking forward to seeing yis next year if ye get in.

PS: Stay away from Paddy. He WILL warp your little mind

kingcurls

well i did a year and a half and then left here is my negatives but ill hit ya with some positives too HIYA PADDY btw

neg
1. firstyear was a mess because we were the first year of the 'new' course so we were guinea pigs and got screwed around quite alot.
2.some lectures werent completely on the ball
3. alot of work piles uptowards the end of the year
4. very hard to get any action on problems like printer issues and bla bla bla
5. college street campus a bit away from the 'main' cork road campus so often forgotten about in terms of getting forms sorted, canteen standards etc.
5. the expectancy to attend every class is very high for college
6. money..as in ok now you have to buy like 40 markers and they are 6 quid each

ok positives

1. had alot of fun in there mainly due to the people but some of the projects were a bit of crack.
2.all of the negatives might have been fixed by now who knows
3.college street campus is close enough to town thats handy right?
4. some of the lecturers are class (see: ross lee)
5. relatively easy if you are willing to work
6. suits some people more then others..if you like art an comic books and rock music you should be fine (skin heads and trance lovers- might not be for you)

so i left and to be honest im glad i did but thats just my opinion since you asked

good luck to you whatever you end up doing

ann_nna

thanks very much for the answers! they are very helpful:)
i hope i'll get in because i can't wait for it now :]
thanks!

ps. can you tell me how many people is in a class?
and are you happy with the work with computer programs?

Sully

kingcurls wrote: »

3. alot of work piles uptowards the end of the year

Happens in a lot of courses apparently.

4. very hard to get any action on problems like printer issues and bla bla bla

Not a course issue but a WIT issue. Seems to only go arseways when the printers get busy.

5. college street campus a bit away from the 'main' cork road campus so often forgotten about in terms of getting forms sorted, canteen standards etc.

I know the feeling! Some people love it and a lot of others hate it. I think a lot of courses will be moved up to WIT in Sept. thanks to the new building.

5. the expectancy to attend every class is very high for college

Depends on the lecturer, but if you attend very little you are bound to get noticed.

6. money..as in ok now you have to buy like 40 markers and they are 6 quid each

There are more shops then the ones in the college, you know?!

Just thought id point out a bit there

Chochese

Good points there Sully.

As for the attendance, it's a requirement that you have 85%. In fairness, the course is based on continual assessment with projects issued every couple of weeks. If you don't have the 85% (or close to it), you're making thing very hard for yourself. The nature of the course doesn't lend itself to the 'bum the notes off someone and study before the exam' method of gaining a degree.

As for the cost, the course is very high on consumables such as paints, markers, papers, mounting boards etc. But, that's what you have to expect when you're doing a practical based course.

Also, don't be discouraged if you are a skin head trance lover... We're all a friendly bunch here and stuff like that doesn't matter a **** to us, regardless as to what was said previously. The first years who have just completed the course are as diverse as anything and we all get along with the other years. As we all share a common floor in the college, you will feel part of a group with all of our peers, regardless of what year we're in.

Except for Paddy. He's a different sort altogether... :P

As to how many in a class, I think there was close to 30 in the first year last september, but for most modules you have 2 or 3 lecturers at a time so don't be discouraged by the student to lecturer ratio.

Computer facilities are great too. Shiny Macs for Design Studens only

kingcurls

yea i would definitly agree with the follow up points anyway the only thing is the new building in the cork road campus as far as im aware courses that are already on the cork road are being put in there i dunno if any courses are being moved from college street up and I defo wouldnt say design communications is being moved as its well settled in the college street campus....as for the trance heads no doubt everyone around is sound out and its a great atmosphere to have classes in!

Sully

Well afaik, there is a push to move courses from that campus and there will be courses moved next year from College St. to Main Campus

Chochese

I'm fairly sure the Design course is not being moved this September to the main campus. The final year have been assigned their room for the last two semesters, and the other 3 years are ready to settle into their new rooms in Septmber! Already scouted me a workstation next to a plug for the ol' laptop

ann_nna

now it'll be much easier to go there (if i'll get in...) as i know little bit more about everything:) thanks!:D

hiddenkarl

Hi guys, I just got accepted for this course a short while ago and I went down to Waterford from Dublin there last Sunday for the first time to have a look around so I was wondering since this was last replied to in 2008 could someone update the information on it a bit as it's been a while.

My friend is doing Social care on the college street campus and she said I should be on her campus for Visual Comms but the college is closed for the summer so I can't get any information and she wouldn't know anything about my course so I'm panicking about stuff like learning photography for the first time as I applied through advanced entry and got straight into 2nd year and I need to sort out what campus is for accommodation too ha, thanks.