BESS/commerce??

leavo08

If I do get the points...which is a better course, BESS or commerce, and what are the main differences between them, apart from that BESS is a year longer? Does Trinity or UCD have a better rep for business and do employers take that into consideration?

Bartronilic

In Commerce you go straight into the business side of things and do lots of group projects, presentations etc STRAIGHT away (i love that kinda stuff but alot of people don't) whereas in BESS in first year Business is really academic and you do 4 other courses unrelated to business. Then you either go down Business/Politics, Business/Economics, Economics/Politics, Business/Sociology, Sociology/Polictics (pffffffh) or Pure Business.

Pure Business eases you into the presentations and group projects, deadlines, businessy finance stuff etc whereas the other degrees (Biz/Pol etc) give you a good balance of business and whatever else your doing.

BESS has ALOT of choice, I mean ALOT, 2 people doing Pure Business may only be in 2 classes together in 3rd year!

Commerce seems more tailored towards the Big Four Accounting (judgining by friends getting jobs) whereas BESS seems more geared towards a wider range of employers but they'll try spring the Big Four on you (they seem to presume you want to do accounting even though in BESS you never actually do accounting except for a small bit in 2nd year where if you have done it for the Leaving Cert its an easy course).

Also (this is what I've been told!) both BESS and Commerce are known internationally or something (by UBS etc). BESS has alot of American lecturers, textbooks and even courses based on America.

I don't do Commerce so I don't know but I can say that BESS seems better in the way its an extra year in college, a wide range of studies, central location, less cliquey, don't require a laptop, smaller college, etc etc etc

Bartronilic

Oh and just recently the Trinity Business School overtook the UCD one but thats based on MBAs.

rover84

if you want to do accountancy (ACA), you have to do an extra 5 exams if you have a bess degree to get to the level of a commerce one

leavo08

Thats great thanks, I understand much better now. One more thing, what kind of jobs do people get after BESS or do they usually go into further study? Im thinking of BESS because I dont have an exact idea of what I want to do except that business and law interest me..and I dont want to go in at the deep end incase I dont like it, but im thinking I could follow the law root afterwards. Did you take the legal or the language module in BESS and does it have any impact on your degree when you finish??

VB

I did BESS ( 9 years ago, oh my god im getting old!) and it was the range of subject options that swayed me over Commerce in UCD. I wasnt sure if I wanted to do pure business or something different. In the end I ended up doing business and politics (pfffh indeed).

There are pros and cons to both courses (obviously they have probably changed a lot since I was applying!). I guess with commerce in UCD you are instantly defining the route you want to take, whereas Bess gives you a bit of leeway to try out different subjects. Having said that it gives you a bit too much leeway and you can arse around taking one of everything and not really focusing on anything for the first couple of years.

I was happy with the degree I ended up taking but going in I never intended taking up politics! So you could go in with your business brain intact and end up coming out as a sociologist!

Regarding employers views, both colleges and both courses are well respected. If I was hiring someone with a business degree from either I couldnt say that I would have a preference over either course, you know the person got good points, studied hard and came out with a good well rounded degree.

leavo08

I can't believe I just spelt route "root".

leavo08

9 years finished? What I would do to be there right now! well, what I would do to have my results and last two exams over..

So, as I don't know yet what sector of business I am interested in, I get the impression its better to do BESS as it is better rounded.
Just one other thing, what are the class sizes like and is there a strong emphasis on maths? I did Ordinary Level for the Leaving Cert and I hope to get a B-ish...

I really appreciate the replies its making it so much easier to decide as I don't feel im making a completely uninformed decission..:)

Stabshauptmann

leavo08 wrote: »

So, as I don't know yet what sector of business I am interested in, I get the impression its better to do BESS as it is better rounded.

Commerce you don't specialise until year 3, I think BESS you make a choice what path to take in year 2?

Commerce covers every facet of business in the first 2 years then you specialise and gain in depth knowledge - which is what many employers (particularly in finance) want.

You can be well rounded through your travel, hobbies and horizons electives and still specialise in a business topic

Stabshauptmann

Bartronilic wrote: »

Commerce seems more tailored towards the Big Four Accounting (judgining by friends getting jobs) whereas BESS seems more geared towards a wider range of employers but they'll try spring the Big Four on you (they seem to presume you want to do accounting even though in BESS you never actually do accounting except for a small bit in 2nd year where if you have done it for the Leaving Cert its an easy course).

Perhaps your friends specialised in the accounting mode!
The Bcomm covers a broad range of business subjects for the first two years then allows you to specialise in year 3.

Accounting
Banking & Finance
General Management
Human Resource Management
International Business
Management Information Systems
Marketing

As well as that, in each year as part of UCD horizons you pick 2 subjects from course in UCD so long as they fit on your timetable.

The advantages of Commerce over BESS are:
You do more group work and presentations
You use a laptop every day (gain a lot of tacit skills)
The classes are small group = more interaction, better learning
Specialisation in year 3 is very in depth (Accounting mode students are exempt from year 1 of the ACA exams)
The Quinn school in UCD has more accreditation

Commerce in UCD is a focused business degree that will equip you for the business world by builing your knowledge and skills. BESS is more academic in my opinion.

Theresalwaysone

Im going into 3rd Comm, PM me if you have any specific questions.

steoucd

I've got to disagree with the statement that you have little choice once you choose Commerce. I've just finished final year and while many people are going to the Big Four now there is also the option to choose to specialise in any of the other streams listed above in final year. I know people going to work for Google Ireland, Jameson International, doing teaching in the UAE. What Commerce does do is force you to try a module in all the different areas of business before choosing which to specialise in, which has helped shaped the direction of many people.

Also mentioned above is the small group sizes, I reckon being in the same group of 50 for most classes in the first two years is a briliant way to make lifelong friends. You also have the oppertunity to go abroad for a semester (I went to Vancouver, there are locations across Canada, in Austrialia, New Zealand, Singapore and across Europe).

I wrote a comprehensive detail of the Commerce course which is available here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=56169385&postcount=268

Bartronilic

leavo08 wrote: »

Thats great thanks, I understand much better now. One more thing, what kind of jobs do people get after BESS or do they usually go into further study? Im thinking of BESS because I dont have an exact idea of what I want to do except that business and law interest me..and I dont want to go in at the deep end incase I dont like it, but im thinking I could follow the law root afterwards. Did you take the legal or the language module in BESS and does it have any impact on your degree when you finish??

You can do lots of Law in BESS. I'd do Business & Legal in UCD over BESS and Commerce but BESS over Commerce if you wanna go that route. I know at least 5 people going into law from my course.

Bartronilic

Oh sorry about anything I said about Commerce! I dont do it or know it that well, jsut going off what I heard and probably got wrong.