Need advice on University - any input welcome

p1akuw47h5r3it

Hey. Looking for some advice here.

Entering uni next year and I'm stuck between two universities, UCD and UCC.

Basically the prob with UCD is that I'm from Dublin, but the north side. My sis goes UCD but says that travelling over every morning is a pain (about 1hr and 30min).Also class sizes are huge so its hard to make mates and cause I line far away I'd miss all the social eevents and all that sh1t. Can't get accomodation as it goes by distance from colledge.

UCC would be great as I'd get a place run buy students council (vic Lodge r whatever) and only be 10 min away but the course structure isn't as flexible as UCD (want to do science) but don't really mind that fact. But would need to get a job for food and stuff. Mam will help up to crimbo but can't rely on her cause thats unfair obviously.

What you think I should do?? Also, if you know, can you tell me how big are classes in UCC (biological and chemical science is what I want to do) ??

Anyone who's left home to go to uni or has gone to one of these colledges advice would be great.

Thanks for the help.

p1akuw47h5r3it

any advice??

MagicMarker

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

any advice??

It usually takes posters more than 60 seconds to read and respond to posts. Patience is a virtue.

MagicMarker

Right, after reading your post, i advise you to choose whatever college you WANT to go to, and then figure out the rest as you go along.

If you want to move to cork because you don't want to sit on a bus for 90 minutes, so be it. Personally, that's just fúcking stupid.

Jello

Also, it would be better to post under the Edu section in the UCD/UCC forums.

Have you considered Trinity?

p1akuw47h5r3it

Jello wrote: »

Also, it would be better to post under the Edu section in the UCD/UCC forums.

Have you considered Trinity?

No. Can't go there.

I'll put the thread where you said, so.

Rosita

I suspect there might be better areas of Boards for advice on this one, (both UCD & UCC will inevitably argue that theirs is better but at least they will have some knowledge) but essantially it boils down whether you want to spend an hour and half travelling to UCD every day.

Let us assume that you won't have an early lecture every day and that the term is 12 weeks x 2, it is something that you could just get on with as the academic year is very short. Many people going to work spend that length of time communing anyway and they get by.

While I am sure that UCC is a very fine college, going to Cork seems a tad over the top largely to avoid a long commute. if that is the sole reason.

I don't know where on the Northside you are but have you looked at alternatives such as getting the DART or commuter trains part of the way into the city centre?

Have you considered DCU or TCD for Science?

jen_23

I would pick Dublin. youre sister goes there so could't ye share the driving?
Atleast you would be 3 hours nearer to home at the weekends.

I have friends who went to UCC. It is a great college ( I went to CIT and prob shouldn't be saying that :P) They put on a new bioscience building recently which is state of the art. So that's a plus for it.

Though your saying an hour and a half is a long way when you can share it. How would you find a 4 hour drive on a friday?

Also I would base your choice on the college courses/facilities and at the end of four years which one you feel you would get the most out of for you.

p1akuw47h5r3it

jen_23 wrote: »

I would pick Dublin. youre sister goes there so could't ye share the driving?
Atleast you would be 3 hours nearer to home at the weekends.

I have friends who went to UCC. It is a great college ( I went to CIT and prob shouldn't be saying that :P) They put on a new bioscience building recently which is state of the art. So that's a plus for it.

Though your saying an hour and a half is a long way when you can share it. How would you find a 4 hour drive on a friday?

Also I would base your choice on the college courses/facilities and at the end of four years which one you feel you would get the most out of for you.

She gets the bus and I'm 16 so will be few years before I get a car.

Does everyone in uni go home for the weekend?? Do you not stay at uni sometimes for the weekend??

Wibbs

Jello wrote: »

Also, it would be better to post under the Edu section in the UCD/UCC forums.

Agreed, moved to ucd forum.

dyl10

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

Hey. Looking for some advice here.

Entering uni next year and I'm stuck between two universities, UCD and UCC.

Basically the prob with UCD is that I'm from Dublin, but the north side. My sis goes UCD but says that travelling over every morning is a pain (about 1hr and 30min).Also class sizes are huge so its hard to make mates and cause I line far away I'd miss all the social eevents and all that sh1t. Can't get accomodation as it goes by distance from colledge.

UCC would be great as I'd get a place run buy students council (vic Lodge r whatever) and only be 10 min away but the course structure isn't as flexible as UCD (want to do science) but don't really mind that fact. But would need to get a job for food and stuff. Mam will help up to crimbo but can't rely on her cause thats unfair obviously.

What you think I should do?? Also, if you know, can you tell me how big are classes in UCC (biological and chemical science is what I want to do) ??

Anyone who's left home to go to uni or has gone to one of these colleges advice would be great.

Thanks for the help.

I'm from Dublin and attend UCD, personally I half regret not moving away from home to go to college. From what I've seen, it seems a better way to meet new people/friends and have a better time in college in general.

Although my personal downsides of moving away would be, being stone cold broke and the fact that I can't cook would probably present a problem.

As what's said before, do what you think would suite yourself best

Jev/N

Get an apartment near UCD, it costs the same or sometimes less than campus in UCD depending where you're looking and at the moment the property market is ****ed so it's a great time to rent

Just because you live in Dublin doesn't mean you can't get an apartment here, if you decide on Cork you'll have to pay for accommodation anyways whether it be on, or off campus, and on top of that you'll have a nice 3-4 hour bus or train ride down from Dublin which will cost more

With regard to class sizes, it doesn't generally depend on college, rather it depends on what degree you choose e.g some subjects in Arts have up to 700 in the lecture

p1akuw47h5r3it

dyl10 wrote: »

I'm from Dublin and attend UCD, personally I half regret not moving away from home to go to college. From what I've seen, it seems a better way to meet new people/friends and have a better time in college in general.

Although my personal downsides of moving away would be, being stone cold broke and the fact that I can't cook would probably present a problem.

As what's said before, do what you think would suite yourself best

Ye I'd love to move out and give it a go. But the prob would be gettin a job to pay rent. If I went to cork or wherever parents would pay for the accomodation and i'd look after food and stuff. But i don't think its fair to ask them to do that if i was in dublin as I could just stay living with them.

p1akuw47h5r3it

MagicMarker wrote: »

Right, after reading your post, i advise you to choose whatever college you WANT to go to, and then figure out the rest as you go along.

If you want to move to cork because you don't want to sit on a bus for 90 minutes, so be it. Personally, that's just fúcking stupid.

But it would be 3hrs on a bus a day.

5 3's is 15. thats 15 hrs on a bus a week compared to 4 on a friday and another 4 on sunday. So overall Cork would involve less travel as apposed to more, so it wouldn't really be ****ing stupid now would it?

dyl10

Travel time IS a big deal for a lot of people.
I've got two 1 hour lectures on a Friday, there is no way in hell I'd spend 3 hours traveling for 2 hours of lectures.

Duvet day for me, thank you :pac:

Consider everything when picking your college, you're not just there for the course

Woden

Thats a long enough commute alright. I did science in UCD also and then an additional year in a Comp Sci hdip. I was one hour each way then for 5 years.

Its not the commute per se though more that perhaps I did not obtain the full uni experience by living at home instead of moving off somewhere. However the end goal was the degree I was interested in and only TCD and UCD where offering it. So I would consider what you are interested in first and then the other factors as secondary.

If you can't get the course you want in UCC or the college experience you want in UCD what about looking abroad also?

kev_s88

ok heres the story....

im from north dublin too.and im in UCD...and it takes me 90 mins each way to get to college....but yeah it is worth it. ive had a great time so far and i made friends within a couple of days even though i came to UCD not knowing anyone

dont use making friends as a factor of where you go.you will make friends no matter where you end up going. think about it more like this :

(1) you go to UCC and make friends fast cause you live on campus. you go home some weekends and xmas and summer and you dont see them as much cause they live in cork......

(2) you go to UCD and make friends. you may not make friends as fast but you'll see them more often cause you can actually hang out with them at weekends and over the holidays.

UCD is great and you wont miss out on the nights due to having to travel.there will always be someone who will be heading your way....i regularly walk into town after a UCD buzz and get a taxi or a nitelink home so theres always a way....


hope this helped a bit

Pride Fighter

UCC has bucketloads of students as well. It takes me 60-90 minutes to commute to UCD.

From experience I have learned that you dont have to come in everyday and you can do a lot of study from home.
In many cases you pick your own timetable so you can get 1 or possibly 2 days off.
I'd go to UCD, you would save money on accommodation.
But the reasons one should go to college is to study something they enjoy. Is the course you would prefer in UCD or UCC?
If its in both what are the strengths and weaknesses of the comparative faculties. These are the questions you should ask yourself.

passive

Where on the Northside? I'm coming from Beaumont and it was a 70-90 minute journey, with buses & waiting & walking and bad luck..

It's now a 40 minute cycle . So you have plenty of options...

Mr.Nice Guy

I'm also a Northsider going to UCD. (Yo yo I'm here to represent!) I can actually relate to the OP's situation a lot so here's my thoughts on the pros and cons of the OP choosing UCD...

Pros:

- You won't have to adapt to living in a new place
- You'll have more money by staying at home
- You say your sister goes to the college so you can have her introduce to a few people surely? (or should I say 'tottie' )
- Leaving aside the social aspects it's a great college with lots of clubs, societies and facilities

Cons:

- You might feel you're missing out on something by not living by yourself
- The commute IS tough going when you first do it (though from my experience you learn to get used to it)
- It will be more difficult for you to attend social events if you're living on the other side of the city
- It's a big college and can feel overwhelming at first (but if your sister is there that shouldn't be a problem for you)

Overall my problem when I went to UCD in first year was that I wasn't aware of what the downsides would be. I knew no one there and I found it quite daunting. As a result I neglected the clubs and societies and preferred the comfort of just going home each day. I didn't realise this was counter-productive in my effort to make friends there and so my first year was tough going. After that first year though I gradually managed to meet some great people and now that I'm in what is probably my final year, I'm still meeting good people.

Bottom line is you'll get the experience that your efforts merit. "Life is a sum of all your choices" as Albert Camus once said. This will be the case whether you choose UCD or UCC. Make a good effort in UCD and I reckon you will enjoy it. It depends on what you have your heart set on though.

I would think if you have your sister there that she can at least make sure you aren't miserable. You might not want to hang out with your sister but it might be useful to be around her in the early stages. Anyways think carefully about what you really want and make a real effort wherever you choose.

gubbie

I did the opposite of you. I'm from Cork and went to UCD even though both options were available to me at the time.

Mind you my reasons for moving were not for the commute...

And not everyone goes home for the weekend. I've found that if you live with people from close enough (anywhere in Leinster for a UCDer) they tend to go home pretty regularly but people outside that don't.

Jev/N wrote: »

Just because you live in Dublin doesn't mean you can't get an apartment here, if you decide on Cork you'll have to pay for accommodation anyways whether it be on, or off campus, and on top of that you'll have a nice 3-4 hour bus or train ride down from Dublin which will cost more

Here's the prices you'd be looking at for both:
Weekly for an equivalent room you'd be paying €125 in Dublin, versus €80 in Cork. The train is €42 but its under 3 hours and you can just get the 7 o clock train so you can still have dinner with your parents on a sunday . The bus to Dublin is a beautiful €16.50.

If you do go to Cork get your food in the English market. Amazing stuff! I miss it hugely being up in Dublin

Ring up the departments in the respective colleges and ask can you talk to a student or something. But don't just pick it on time spent travelling. And also look at the way they're run. UCD and UCC are run completely differently. UCC are on the old system where as UCD are on this new Horizons malark

rainbow kirby

I'm in my 6th year in UCD (long story, 4th CS now) and I've had a relatively long/awkward commute (I'm from Firhouse, and I don't drive) since I started. While the commute is a pain in the arse, you just learn to live with it. For me it's always been time to read my book or play GBA/DS games.

In a way, I wish I'd been able to move away when I went to college, but I really couldn't afford to leave Dublin at the time. Such is life. Do make an effort to join clubs and societies though, they are by far the best way to get to know people in UCD (or wherever you end up), I joined the taekwon-do club in first year and got to know a lot of people through that - but there's something there for everyone.

I will say one thing though - when your timetable comes up with only one class on a Monday, and it's at 9am, it becomes way too tempting to skip it.

p1akuw47h5r3it

passive wrote: »

Where on the Northside? I'm coming from Beaumont and it was a 70-90 minute journey, with buses & waiting & walking and bad luck..

It's now a 40 minute cycle . So you have plenty of options...

I'm sorta whitehall/drumcondra so jus down road from you.

Is it really only a 40min cycle??

p1akuw47h5r3it

Pride Fighter wrote: »

UCC has bucketloads of students as well. It takes me 60-90 minutes to commute to UCD.

From experience I have learned that you dont have to come in everyday and you can do a lot of study from home.
In many cases you pick your own timetable so you can get 1 or possibly 2 days off.
I'd go to UCD, you would save money on accommodation.
But the reasons one should go to college is to study something they enjoy. Is the course you would prefer in UCD or UCC?
If its in both what are the strengths and weaknesses of the comparative faculties. These are the questions you should ask yourself.

Yeah basically I want to get a degree in microbiology so both these universities suit.

Can't get into trinity as don't fit maluwhatever

p1akuw47h5r3it

rainbow kirby wrote: »

I'm in my 6th year in UCD (long story, 4th CS now) and I've had a relatively long/awkward commute (I'm from Firhouse, and I don't drive) since I started. While the commute is a pain in the arse, you just learn to live with it. For me it's always been time to read my book or play GBA/DS games.

In a way, I wish I'd been able to move away when I went to college, but I really couldn't afford to leave Dublin at the time. Such is life. Do make an effort to join clubs and societies though, they are by far the best way to get to know people in UCD (or wherever you end up), I joined the taekwon-do club in first year and got to know a lot of people through that - but there's something there for everyone.

I will say one thing though - when your timetable comes up with only one class on a Monday, and it's at 9am, it becomes way too tempting to skip it.

Yeah I'll join societies and stuff but gettin out to the meetins??... Like I don't know where there held so it could be a long commute out to them...

The 2 probs I have really is travelling time and mates.

Obviously I've my own mates at the mo but none are goin UCD bar 1... my fear is that others will jus drift away as they'll be wit mates frm their colledge...

rainbow kirby

The vast majority of society stuff is held on-campus, so finding them is not something to worry about really. I didn't know many people when I came to UCD - the only people I knew from school in UCD did arts or commerce. I got to know people pretty quickly though.

p1akuw47h5r3it

And did you jus travel out to soc meetings and what time wer they usually at??

froosh69

kev_s88 wrote: »

ok heres the story....

im from north dublin too.and im in UCD...and it takes me 90 mins each way to get to college....but yeah it is worth it. ive had a great time so far and i made friends within a couple of days even though i came to UCD not knowing anyone

dont use making friends as a factor of where you go.you will make friends no matter where you end up going. think about it more like this :

(1) you go to UCC and make friends fast cause you live on campus. you go home some weekends and xmas and summer and you dont see them as much cause they live in cork......

(2) you go to UCD and make friends. you may not make friends as fast but you'll see them more often cause you can actually hang out with them at weekends and over the holidays.

UCD is great and you wont miss out on the nights due to having to travel.there will always be someone who will be heading your way....i regularly walk into town after a UCD buzz and get a taxi or a nitelink home so theres always a way....


hope this helped a bit

yyoltaly agree...im from dub15 and i love ucd. you get used to the journey and learn to enjoy it...ive made great friends and couldnt recommend it hghly enough

Pride Fighter

What do you want to study Dan?

rainbow kirby

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

And did you jus travel out to soc meetings and what time wer they usually at??

Most of them are in the afternoon or evening. I know that with the TKD club, training is 5-7 Monday, 6-8 Tuesday, 5-7 Thursday, 1-3 Friday and 1-3 Sunday (I normally went to the first 3) - but my classes often ran right up until 4 or 5 anyway. When I organised the video gaming events - held in the student centre - as a Gamesoc committee member, I often started them at 6.30pm (which fitted in with my 3rd CS timetable, labs until 6 most days).

p1akuw47h5r3it

Pride Fighter wrote: »

What do you want to study Dan?

Science and want to end up with a degree in microbiology.