college

-mr.x-

anyone doing or finished business in U.L .
is it a good course

Yillan

Business is never a good course

tinhat

Mossin

Yillan wrote: »

Business is never a good course

Thats very unhelpful, and a ridiculous statement! :mad:

-mr.x- wrote: »

anyone doing or finished business in U.L .
is it a good course

I'm currently in 4th year of the old BBS course along with Ninty9er and DJCR.
There are quite a number of others currently doing the new BBS course.

I can comment a little on the new course as I covered a lot of the same modules in my course.

Its an interesting course, which gives you a taste of Marketing, Accounting, HR, Economics and Insurance and Risk in your first 2 years, and then you can choose which you want to major in.
Its very broad and some may say its too vague blah blah...but trust me, its an excellent course overall.

I went the Marketing major route, and I'm loving it.

There are usually over 450 people who start BBS in 1st year and as such people tend to think its an easy course, but its not. The drop out rate is about 18% in both 1st and 2nd year. Its not a course for dossers.

-mr.x-

thanks

nouveau_4.0

Mossin wrote: »

Thats very unhelpful, and a ridiculous statement! :mad:



I'm currently in 4th year of the old BBS course along with Ninty9er and DJCR.
There are quite a number of others currently doing the new BBS course.

I can comment a little on the new course as I covered a lot of the same modules in my course.

Its an interesting course, which gives you a taste of Marketing, Accounting, HR, Economics and Insurance and Risk in your first 2 years, and then you can choose which you want to major in.
Its very broad and some may say its too vague blah blah...but trust me, its an excellent course overall.

I went the Marketing major route, and I'm loving it.

There are usually over 450 people who start BBS in 1st year and as such people tend to think its an easy course, but its not. The drop out rate is about 18% in both 1st and 2nd year. Its not a course for dossers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

ImDave

Mossin wrote: »

Thats very unhelpful, and a ridiculous statement! :mad:

+1

I would agree with Mossin 100% on everything he has said there. I am in 3rd year of the BBS (out on co-op now), so the first year of the new course, and have to say it is a very good course overall. I am doing the Accounting and Finance major with Entrepreneurship minor (which is class). There are a few modules over the past three years that one may question the relevance of, but this will be the case in the vast majority of courses in uni., but none the less most modules are excellent.

The class size, which ultimately leads to didactic lectures being the only feasible option for teaching the majority of the course content is the only thing I dislike, but it doesn't present an overwhelming problem, particularly if you are comfortable with such a style of learning.

Overall I would not hesitate to recommend the course to anyone, but would say only do the course if you are prepared to do a bit of work and have some, even a vague, interest in business.

Peteee

Yillan wrote: »

Business is never a good course

tinhat

Careful now.

If your going to mock a course, please be funny at the very least.

Rowley Birkin QC

I started doing business in UL in 2002, absolutely hated it.

The size of the lectures were ridiculous, the content was horribly bland and I generally didn't enjoy it. I liked business in school but found the 3rd level course mind-numbing.

Just finished doing my final year exams in Town Planning in Bolton St. and couldn't be happier. Apart from the recession business obviously.

Mossin

bigkev49 wrote: »

I started doing business in UL in 2002, absolutely hated it.

The size of the lectures were ridiculous, the content was horribly bland and I generally didn't enjoy it. I liked business in school but found the 3rd level course mind-numbing.

Just finished doing my final year exams in Town Planning in Bolton St. and couldn't be happier. Apart from the recession business obviously.

Business isnt for everybody, and just because you liked it in secondary school doesnt necessarily mean that you will like it at 3rd level.

You would have been doing the old BBS course which I am doing.
It is difficult to adjust to the large lecture size and some of the content in 1st year, but it gets better, and who knows, if you had stayed at it maybe you would have enjoyed it and found that its not bland at all

Rowley Birkin QC

Mossin wrote: »

Business isnt for everybody, and just because you liked it in secondary school doesnt necessarily mean that you will like it at 3rd level.

You would have been doing the old BBS course which I am doing.
It is difficult to adjust to the large lecture size and some of the content in 1st year, but it gets better, and who knows, if you had stayed at it maybe you would have enjoyed it and found that its not bland at all

Have to say I doubt that, but as you say it's not for everybody.

Still in contact with people who finished the course and I'm nearly asleep listening to their job descriptions. The size of the course really was an issue for me, zero interaction or personal relationships with lecturers, more akin to a factory churning out huge numbers of degrees every year than a learning experience IMHO.

Just recommending that the OP look into this course further before choosing it.

Yillan

bigkev49 wrote: »

Have to say I doubt that, but as you say it's not for everybody.

Still in contact with people who finished the course and I'm nearly asleep listening to their job descriptions. The size of the course really was an issue for me, zero interaction or personal relationships with lecturers, more akin to a factory churning out huge numbers of degrees every year than a learning experience IMHO.

Just recommending that the OP look into this course further before choosing it.

With complete disregard for my first post on this thread, isn't business the same everywhere, as regards huge class sizes?

To be honest, I'd recommend UL as the best place to do anything, especially something like business, which can end up being a 'token degree' elsewhere. From UL you actually do have to work for the degree and I think this is recognised by employers.

UL or Trinity, for its reputation abroad alone

dragonfly!

Did you go to the open day? FOund it v helpful when I was at it in 07:)

nouveau_4.0

Yillan wrote: »

With complete disregard for my first post on this thread, isn't business the same everywhere, as regards huge class sizes?

To be honest, I'd recommend UL as the best place to do anything, especially something like business, which can end up being a 'token degree' elsewhere. From UL you actually do have to work for the degree and I think this is recognised by employers.

UL or Trinity, for its reputation abroad alone

LOL, thats a lie and you know it.

Mossin

nouveau_4.0 wrote: »

LOL, thats a lie and you know it.

If you want a 1st class honours then thats not a lie!
I glided through 1st and 2nd year by putting in feck all effort, and lads here can testify to how much I went out and how little I did college wise, but I always managed to do the required work and passed my exams in good stead.
My XBOX was overused in those years.

But since 3rd year I've put in savage effort, and if results go my way I could be looking at a 1:1 this year.

Rineanna

Hi Mr. X,

I'm currently in third year Business too, so, like a previous poster, out on co-op at the moment.

The course has its advantages and disadvantages. I won't lie, there are aspects of it I'm not mad about, but, in general, its good points outweigh its bad ones from an educational point of view.

First of all, the very fact that its such a broad course illustrates its good points and bad points. You get a well rounded perspective on everything business-wise, obviously. I had very little interest in accounting coming into 1st year; didn't do it for the LC, hated the book-keeping part of JC business apart from the P&L stuff. However, there are three obligatory accounting modules in the course (Financial, Managerial and & Financial info analysis), so every person, whether they were a person who loved the HR/Marketing side of things or someone able to construct a set of accounts in two minutes flat, you studied these modules. There isn't a problem if you're crap at accounting because they teach the syllabus with the very fact that there is an anti-accounting sub-culture within the course . I am so glad I studied these modules, even though I'm a Marketing major, as I'm using techniques and skills learned while studying them everyday on co-op in my marketing position. Plus, I'd rank Finanacial Information Analysis as one of my top five favourite modules so far, partially down to an excellent lecturer and secondly because it was so relevant to all the turmoil in the national and global economy currently. On the other hand, you do come accross a few, not many, but a couple of modules which you have no interest in and on which you would rather not have to do exams. You get over it though, as long as you put the effort in to compensate for the lack of interest. This could be avoided if you were to study a more specialised course (say, Economics and Sociology, which would cut out the HR, Marketing and Insurance stuff). It really depends on what you want to do at the other end but despite its drawbacks, I'm happy to have experienced so many facets of the business world.

Just before I go on, there are a few ill-informed naysayers (not just on this board) who love throwing around ridiculous comments on the 'Business Degree' that you graduate with, the statistics do speak for themselves. IIRC, the numbers employed one year on in posts relevant to their degrees stood definitely within the 90%-100% bracket, with the majority of the remainder in postgraduate studies and something like 3% unemployed. I stand to be corrected on those figures as I don't have the actual ones in front of me, but that's what I remember from memory. Despite what it may appear like, I'm not just trumpeting my own course for the sake of it; indeed,there were times at the very beginning where I was disillusioned with it, but I'm glad I endured.

bigkev49 wrote:

The size of the lectures were ridiculous

Err..yeah they're huge, but as Yillan pointed (and I'm suprised someone had to point it out), business courses are always gigantic, compared to some courses which might only have less than 10 or 20 students. This, or so I thought, was pretty much common knowledge. I, and everyone I know in the course, knew this before we started or even put it on the CAO, even when we were in secondary school. The places for each course are listed in the prospectus and are pretty much available with very little research, so I don't understand how you wouldn't have known this before picking it, and why, if you did know its size, was it such an issue?

bigkev49 wrote:

Still in contact with people who finished the course and I'm nearly asleep listening to their job descriptions

What?
This perplexes me somewhat. Given the fact you picked the course, I would imagine you had an idea as to the type of jobs you'd be getting into when you completed it. So, it's pretty obvious you didn't have any sincere interest in Business, aside from the superficial aspects of it, if you find the job descriptions of people who actually graduated sleep-enducing. A little research prior to picking the course wouldn't have gone astray, to be honest.

wrote:

zero interaction or personal relationships with lecturers

Ok. I have to ask. Do you have any genuine arguments against the course or are you, like many others, just lambasting the course because it's an easy target due to its size?

That zero interaction malarky is nonsense. I have had extensive interactions with several of my lecturers. Yes, it's probably more difficult to achieve than in other courses, but, in all fairness, all it takes (God forbid) is a little effort. You take from the course what you put into it, and if you endeavour to interact and build a relationship (strictly platonic, of course :pac:) with your lecturers, then it will happen. Let's not forget that the semesters with 100% 'common' modules (i.e. 300-400 students) is only for the first three semesters out of a total of seven semesters on campus. From the second half of 2nd year, you split into your major and minor options, meaning smaller , more manageable classes.

Bigkev49, I know it looks like I'm picking holes with every thing you say (and, well, maybe I am), and I'm sure you had genuine reasons for leaving, but the reasons you've stated don't wash AT ALL with me. They certainly aren't anything that a little research or effort would've solved by highlighting the fact that you weren't suited at all to the course.

1huge1

Agree with the majority of things said so far.

I'm only a 1st year so my knowledge of the course is limited to 1 semester.
That said I have enjoyed it and believe I definitely made the right choice in picking the course.

I'm doing business and German and i'm sure by now people on this board are sick of me saying this but I can't recommend high enough doing a language with the business. It adds so much to the course.

As for the business side I'm really interested in economics (despite never doing it for the leaving cert) and can see myself majoring in economics and finance next year.
This course has something for everyone thats interested in business.

nouveau_4.0 wrote: »

LOL, thats a lie and you know it.

I find it hard to take anyone seriously that uses ''lol'' on a message board.

ninty9er

If there was one thing I would change it would be specialisation from 1st semester of 2nd year as opposed to second semester. From an accounting perspective, they could actually churn out qualified accountants if there was a specialised Accounting course as opposed to having a minor and lots of shite in 1st and second year. I will be giving that advice as feedback after I graduate (I think they ask us anyway and if they don't I'll do it myself).

For the other specialisations such as Risk, Marketing, Finance, HR and Entrepreneurship there is no "technical" study programme to follow after graduation like the 3 year training contract for accountants, so they are more suited to the current system.

The main thing with UL is Co-Op which is invaluable and if you're any good you'll most likely get a job where you did it if you want one after graduation. It allows a relationship to build whereby (in my case) they overlook exam results to some (reasonable) extent in choosing you over more "paper qualified" graduates from UCC, UCD, Trinity etc...

Rowley Birkin QC

I will admit that I walked into the course not knowing a whole pile about it, we were basically advised to do business if we didn't really know what else to do.

Once again my advice to the OP is to research it well and to make himself aware of issues such as the class size. I fully stand by the comment I made about interaction.

Finishing in DIT this year and it's always possible to ask direct questions to lecturers in class.

-mr.x-

Is there much to do with stockbroking and shares with the business course in U.L,,,,,,,,, Thanks again.

PeakOutput

Mossin wrote: »

Its not a course for dossers.

you are right about the rest but are absolutely taking the piss with that statement

i know at least 5 people who never go to lectures or if they do they go for 1 or 2 hours a week they keep up with the projects by doing them last minute and photocopy notes a week or two before the exams and cram and they are getting b's one even has a 3.1qca. they ar in 2nd year now by the way

op it seems like an interesting relevant and broad ranging course that is not that hard but i dont do it

TeganRainIsGod

i'm in fourth year business (accounting major) myself and i have to admit i think its a bit of a joke of a course..

some of the modules covered in first and second year are absolutely sh*te and extremely boring...

third and fourth year arent much better...

modules like ireland and the world economy and business resource methodology (FYP module) are a waste of time

not to mind that but neither of those modules evern rewards people who attend lectures...

eg - half the class got the BRM exam the night before, the other half didnt....it was a pretty tough exam also which meant anyone who didnt have the exam was at a major disadvantage...

economy - you could attend every single lecture but you would be no better off than anyone else...it basically amounted to learning essays off word for word the night before

again there's modules that just are downright a boad of bol*ox - management accouting - what a pile of shi*e

(note also, my dislike of htese modules is purely content based, and not anyway spiteful or anything...i was one of the people who had the brm exam[A2 - woo] and got B1's today in both economy and mangament)

i couldnt agree more with the statement saying that "some of the job descriptions nearly put you to sleep" .... (how many people's dream job is actually to become an accountant)


unless you really know what you want to do at the end of it, i wouldnt suggest it....

granted business isnt for everyone....but some people do enjoy it and in no way do i intened to slight the other 4th year bbs people here....


but basially i'm probably gonna end up doing another undergrad degree next year....simply because none of the job options really appeal to me...


i've had great craic here for the four years, but the job possibilites strike me as being very boring......

really, i would just say, look at the job prospects and if you think that one of them is your vocation, then go for it....

but if not....then dont do it....

1huge1

TeganRainIsGod wrote: »

again there's modules that just are downright a boad of bol*ox - management accouting - what a pile of shi*e

Management accounting is a pile of sh*te? Damn and I'm starting it monday morning...fun fun

cson

Hmmm, I think I can offer a somewhat impartial view of the course given we (Law & Accounting) share a good whack of modules with business. I think what'll make or break you in the course is going to tutorials, because of the class sizes in lectures there is only so much the lecturer can do. I certainly would value the tutorials in those modules as far superior to the lectures.

Secondly, there are some fantastic lecturers in the course, Anthony Leddin who does Macro-Economics in 1st year and Fergal O'Brien who does Finance in 2nd year are two that immediately spring to mind. Both are very enthuasiastic about what they teach. The economics modules are very good from the point of view of someone who never did economics before, easy enough to get a grasp of I thought.

There are some ****e modules too though, BIM being the one that sticks out imo. Overall I'd say its quite a good course if you're prepared to do a bit of work and choose carefully what you major in.

rmacm

Mossin wrote: »

Its not a course for dossers.

Agreed, granted I don't think any course in college should be a course for dossers (granted I did enough dossing myself). Personally I think you get out of a course what you put into it i.e. if you put in a decent(ish) effort you'll get a decent result out of the course. If you put in **** all effort then be prepared to reap **** all results out of it.

ninty9er wrote: »

If there was one thing I would change it would be specialisation from 1st semester of 2nd year as opposed to second semester.

You lot (and I don't mean that in a degrogartory way) specialise in 2nd year? In Comp Sys we didn't really end up specialising in anything until the end of 3rd year. I suppose it depends on how long you think someone needs in a course to decide on what they want to specialise in. Myself, I was pretty much dead set on Localisation from 1st year till mid way through 3rd year (due to co-op and family influence) but after 3rd year I changed my mind drastically enough to pretty much an entirely different area of computer science.

ninty9er wrote: »

The main thing with UL is Co-Op which is invaluable and if you're any good you'll most likely get a job where you did it if you want one after graduation. It allows a relationship to build whereby (in my case) they overlook exam results to some (reasonable) extent in choosing you over more "paper qualified" graduates from UCC, UCD, Trinity etc...

Yep that is indeed one of the good things about co-op if you do a reasonably good job you've got a good chance of being taken on after college in the same company.

PeakOutput wrote: »

you are right about the rest but are absolutely taking the piss with that statement

i know at least 5 people who never go to lectures or if they do they go for 1 or 2 hours a week they keep up with the projects by doing them last minute and photocopy notes a week or two before the exams and cram and they are getting b's one even has a 3.1qca. they ar in 2nd year now by the way

op it seems like an interesting relevant and broad ranging course that is not that hard but i dont do it

Meh some people can pull that kind of thing off but for the rest of us it requires a small bit of work. There are some people who can waltz through college like this but it doesn't count for everyone. Every course requires a bit off effort for at least some of the people on the course and to be honest 5(ish) people isn't really a representative sample. This kind of thing doesn't happen in BBS alone either.

Anyway just to fulfill the sterotype that I'm supposed to live up to, I'm drunk and I'm off to bed soon.

Mossin

PeakOutput wrote: »

you are right about the rest but are absolutely taking the piss with that statement

i know at least 5 people who never go to lectures or if they do they go for 1 or 2 hours a week they keep up with the projects by doing them last minute and photocopy notes a week or two before the exams and cram and they are getting b's one even has a 3.1qca. they ar in 2nd year now by the way

I'm really not taking the piss. Its the small proportion of people like the people you know [and that I know] that give the BBS degree such a bad name.
Being in 2nd year mean their qca has only counted from the last set of exams just before xmas '08, so having a high qca is well achievable by cramming, and that can be said for all courses imo.

But if you really want to succeed and make use of the degree, it might be worth actually attending, learning something, networking with lecturers and T.A.'s and fellow classmates. Imo, that way your degree will stand more to you than just graduating with a 1:1 or 2:1 because you crammed fror 4 years.

TeganRainIsGod wrote: »

i'm in fourth year business (accounting major) myself and i have to admit i think its a bit of a joke of a course..

You are like myself and a few others here who are the last of the old BBS course, which is important to note, because any advice you give cannot be told as fact anymore, unless you know the exactness of the new course.

some of the modules covered in first and second year are absolutely sh*te and extremely boring...

third and fourth year arent much better...

modules like ireland and the world economy and business resource methodology (FYP module) are a waste of time

not to mind that but neither of those modules evern rewards people who attend lectures...

I will agree that we did a lot of pointless modules: Communications, Business and Society [1 + 2], Principles of Law, and having to do an elective also in the 1st 2 years. These are all removed now, with the exception of Communications.

Like you say the FYP module was a joke, a complete and utter waste of time, but seeing as in the new course, students get to choose whether they do an FYP or not, means that that module is also irrelevant to them!

IWEC in 4th year was a good module, just badly taught imo.
Like you said it didnt benefit you at all to attend the lectures, which were 2.5 hours long each week!

i'm in fourth year business (accounting major) myself

i couldnt agree more with the statement saying that "some of the job descriptions nearly put you to sleep" .... (how many people's dream job is actually to become an accountant)

but basially i'm probably gonna end up doing another undergrad degree next year....simply because none of the job options really appeal to me...

i've had great craic here for the four years, but the job possibilites strike me as being very boring......

Perhaps you should take your own advice. You chose BBS and took the accounting major. So I'm assuming that you had some indication that you were interested in being an Acountant? If not, then why take that route? The job prospects for accounting majors are fairly straight forward. You must go and do another 3 years, and become a qualified accountant. I'm confused as to why you'd take this route and knowing this

cson wrote: »

Hmmm, I think I can offer a somewhat impartial view of the course given we (Law & Accounting) share a good whack of modules with business. I think what'll make or break you in the course is going to tutorials, because of the class sizes in lectures there is only so much the lecturer can do. I certainly would value the tutorials in those modules as far superior to the lectures.

This is very true. The BBS degree is coupled with other courses for certain modules, which makes lectures even larger, often over 600 people. Making the tutorials is a must! Lecturers are going to be under pressure to deliver effective lectures to that many people, so the interactions in tutorials provides a more suitable learning experience.

Secondly, there are some fantastic lecturers in the course, Anthony Leddin who does Macro-Economics in 1st year and Fergal O'Brien who does Finance in 2nd year are two that immediately spring to mind. Both are very enthuasiastic about what they teach. The economics modules are very good from the point of view of someone who never did economics before, easy enough to get a grasp of I thought.

Again very true. I also had Anthony Leddin, and he was by far one of my favourite lecturers, and I hated economics. I managed to get an A1 in his macroeconomics module in 1st year. He makes it interesting, and I for one actually wanted to attend his lectures, which cannot be said for all lecturers!

-mr.x-

whats the difference between commerce and business in college

Rineanna

Pretty sure there isn't any; just U.L, the I.T's and one or two other Uni's call it Business, while the NUI's like UCC and the rest of them traditionally called the course 'Commerce'. No difference as far as I know.

1huge1

Ya the subjects for commerce in UCC are very similiar to the ones in UL.

-mr.x-

Is going out as good as in dublin?

1huge1

Well Dublin would have more choice but in my opinion the night life in Limerick is class, A lot to choose in the city and a lot of places are free in (almost everywhere on tuesdays).

Mossin

-mr.x- wrote: »

Is going out as good as in dublin?

You can make going out anywhere fun if you want to.
You have to experience somewhere for yourself in order to ascertain the best location for going out imo.

Peteee

-mr.x- wrote: »

Is going out as good as in dublin?

Its certainly cheaper!

Risteard

Sorry for the bump, but I have a few questions regarding business with french.

I'm sure I want to do a business course in U.L. but I'm undecided as to whether to do it with a language. One of my friends is adamant that I have to do the actual business course through French but I don't think that's the case.

In the French part what exactly is involved and is it just a separate module at the end of the year or is it an ongoing course throughout the year?

ImDave

Risteard wrote: »

Sorry for the bump, but I have a few questions regarding business with french.

I'm sure I want to do a business course in U.L. but I'm undecided as to whether to do it with a language. One of my friends is adamant that I have to do the actual business course through French but I don't think that's the case.

In the French part what exactly is involved and is it just a separate module at the end of the year or is it an ongoing course throughout the year?

The language component of the BBS represents one module per semester I think. All other modules are taken as normal with the rest of the BBS class. In first or second year (can't remember which) when standard BBS have six modules, the language students don't do one of those modules, doing their language instead. Those doing the BBS + Lang. choose a major option like mainstream business, but do not take on a minor option. Many doing a language will go on Erasmus and/or co-op in the country of the chosen language.

I think there is at least one person here doing BBS + Language, so I'm sure they'll have more info.

ninty9er

ULPaddy is just finished BBS (HR) and German, DJCR is just finished BBS (HR) and French. I did BBS (Accounting and Finance) and did German instead of a minor until 2nd year because none of the other minors up to that point took my fancy.

I didn't apply for BBS and German, just BBS but took German as my elective in first year. I don't think there are electives anymore however.

1huge1

ninty9er wrote: »

ULPaddy is just finished BBS (HR) and German, DJCR is just finished BBS (HR) and French. I did BBS (Accounting and Finance) and did German instead of a minor until 2nd year because none of the other minors up to that point took my fancy.

I didn't apply for BBS and German, just BBS but took German as my elective in first year. I don't think there are electives anymore however.

And im just after finishing my 1st year in Business and German, don't forget me ha

Love the course, think so much is added to the course by doing it with a language, the trips abroad etc, for example over the easter holidays my whole course (all 12 of us in business and german...) went over to east germany and had the greatest time.

Also I think at times people can find business a bit anonymous which is why at the start of 1st year I found doing a language so great.
Plus theres erasmus, Im off to austria myself in September and can't wait for it.

I hear theres about 22 students generally in the business and french course.

Same As

Do Commerce in UCC, I can't but recommend it!

Sorry to be posting this in a UL S.F but I opted away from the Business course in UL in favour of Commerce at UCC; best decision of my life to date!

Risteard

Thanks for the replies,. Only 22 doing business and French? I thought there'd be more. I might keep it up so, sure if I don't like it I might just drop back to regular business.

Epicurus

1huge1 wrote: »

And im just after finishing my 1st year in Business and German, don't forget me ha

for example over the easter holidays my whole course (all 12 of us in business and german...) went over to east germany and had the greatest time.

must be one of the few courses able to facilitate time travel :pac:
I wish i could travel back to 1990 :mad:

ninty9er

Epicurus wrote: »

must be one of the few courses able to facilitate time travel :pac:
I wish i could travel back to 1990 :mad:

I'm not aware of any country that doesn't have an east:rolleyes:

Co-op and a 4 year degree will also put you at a marketplace advantage.

1huge1

German people call it East Germany even to this day. Its just its location in the country.

The country your referring to as East Germany was called the GDR (German democratic republic) or DDR (Deutsche demokratisch republik)

Sorry about going off topic.

As for the guy who said about doing Commerce in UCC instead of business in UL, well my best mate is doing commerce and chinese in UCC and says while the course modules are very similiar he says he enjoys the nightlife etc in UL much more.

I can't speak much for commerce course myself but how can you say it was the best decision of your life if you never even did business in UL?

DJCR

Risteard wrote: »

Sorry for the bump, but I have a few questions regarding business with french.

I'm sure I want to do a business course in U.L. but I'm undecided as to whether to do it with a language. One of my friends is adamant that I have to do the actual business course through French but I don't think that's the case.

In the French part what exactly is involved and is it just a separate module at the end of the year or is it an ongoing course throughout the year?

If I may ......... Just finnished doing Business and French!!

Course is changing......... and for the better!!

I myself found most of the Business side completely boring but looking back it is neccesary.

The french side kept me alive!!! Put simply i spent 8 months in France for my co-op..... one of the best experiences of my life!!! My French is reallly good..... not quite fluent yet but I'm going back to France tomorrow for three months to fix that!!!!

The fact is, with a language you keep you options open.

I hated things like Economics, Accounting, Stats, maths and i had to do them for two years!!! ....... pretty much killed my QCA in 2nd year!!

But you guys on the new course are lucky, you specialise earlier so basically you get to do what you want for longer!!

On the Language side most of it is useful:

You do....

1) Fench business ie. how to do things in france. Cheques are different, bank accounts are different, getting a driving license is different... helpful stuff. How to get an appartment, if its TTC or not ..... its a different culture so different rules apply.

That bit was interesting.

2a) FRENCH CULTURE - Two parts to this.... what I thought was the best part eg. football, food, democracy, history etc really really interesting

2b) French Lit - Yawn - Every semester we had to read a book, do a 5 min presentation and an exam on it. Honestly, its good for your french, but the books were ****e (in my opinion - remember you might like them - I don't like reading anyway).

3) Politics....... Hilarious!!! brilliant part of the course... if you speak good french watch the vid below (I wouldn't have been able to understand it when i arrived so don't worry if you can't)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axDyUNWyuw8

really interesting.... goes thorugh french attitudes towards europe etc (Really good for making friends when you get over there - you know whats unpopular and you can have a laugh at its expense).

4) Discussion groups online..... keeps you uip to date with whats happening in France ........ I personally always talked about Soccer and Rugby as well as my time in France but you can discuss what ever you want.

Doing a language in UL is great. But it is completely up to you. You can be paired with an international Person when they arrive and you basically become friends (I did it for two years and I still talk to them.... in fact i stayed with one of them in paris, while i got myself sorted with an appartment).

You can join the international society and meet with people that way and speak French there .. they really don't mind, in fact they do sometimes get sick of speaking English and its a goood release for them.

Also in your classes you will have French erasmus students, so honestly there should be mno reason why you don't come out of UL with a decent standard of French if you get involved.

that is one thing I will say though:

THIS IS COLLEGE - NOT SECONDARY SCHOOL, YOU CAN'T EXPECT EVERYTHING TO BE DONE FOR YOU!!!! :D:D:D:D

Enjoy it, whatever you decide to do!

Risteard

Thanks DJCR, that's exactly what I was looking for. You should take up a job in marketing with that business degree, I'll keep it on now.

Madias

nouveau_4.0 wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

lmfao :-D

If all ye college pre madonnas r reading this, remeber college courses gets ye the job so be sure u want those type of jobs & all that comes with it. If you get a job you love you'll never have to work a day in your life

Mallox

DJCR wrote: »

If I may ......... Just finnished doing Business and French!!

Course is changing......... and for the better!!

I myself found most of the Business side completely boring but looking back it is neccesary.

The french side kept me alive!!! Put simply i spent 8 months in France for my co-op..... one of the best experiences of my life!!! My French is reallly good..... not quite fluent yet but I'm going back to France tomorrow for three months to fix that!!!!

The fact is, with a language you keep you options open.

I hated things like Economics, Accounting, Stats, maths and i had to do them for two years!!! ....... pretty much killed my QCA in 2nd year!!

But you guys on the new course are lucky, you specialise earlier so basically you get to do what you want for longer!!

On the Language side most of it is useful:

You do....

1) Fench business ie. how to do things in france. Cheques are different, bank accounts are different, getting a driving license is different... helpful stuff. How to get an appartment, if its TTC or not ..... its a different culture so different rules apply.

That bit was interesting.

2a) FRENCH CULTURE - Two parts to this.... what I thought was the best part eg. football, food, democracy, history etc really really interesting

2b) French Lit - Yawn - Every semester we had to read a book, do a 5 min presentation and an exam on it. Honestly, its good for your french, but the books were ****e (in my opinion - remember you might like them - I don't like reading anyway).

3) Politics....... Hilarious!!! brilliant part of the course... if you speak good french watch the vid below (I wouldn't have been able to understand it when i arrived so don't worry if you can't)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axDyUNWyuw8

really interesting.... goes thorugh french attitudes towards europe etc (Really good for making friends when you get over there - you know whats unpopular and you can have a laugh at its expense).

4) Discussion groups online..... keeps you uip to date with whats happening in France ........ I personally always talked about Soccer and Rugby as well as my time in France but you can discuss what ever you want.

Doing a language in UL is great. But it is completely up to you. You can be paired with an international Person when they arrive and you basically become friends (I did it for two years and I still talk to them.... in fact i stayed with one of them in paris, while i got myself sorted with an appartment).

You can join the international society and meet with people that way and speak French there .. they really don't mind, in fact they do sometimes get sick of speaking English and its a goood release for them.

Also in your classes you will have French erasmus students, so honestly there should be mno reason why you don't come out of UL with a decent standard of French if you get involved.

that is one thing I will say though:

THIS IS COLLEGE - NOT SECONDARY SCHOOL, YOU CAN'T EXPECT EVERYTHING TO BE DONE FOR YOU!!!! :D:D:D:D

Enjoy it, whatever you decide to do!

wow tanx for dat .. im kinda between galway and ul at the moment hoping to do commerce/ business and french .. french is more important love it :D and hopefully specialise in economics maybe love that too ... hey can i ask should i be worried if my french is kinda a low B high C standard .. i wouldnt get lost from day 1 would i???

1huge1

I'm not trying to be biased here but I haven't heard great things about the commerce course in NUIG, its only 3 years and there is no co-op as far as im aware.

Love economics aswel myself, though it comes with finance which can be a bit annoying at times but good all the same.

Sent you a pm but I might as well post it here aswel just in case anyone else wants a look

Right no problem, first off when it comes to business I'd recommend UL over any other university in Ireland, it really is its specialty, the Kemmy Business school is really impressive.

So you did French in the LC last week I assume (hope it went well for ya), well by all means go for Business and French, I know a few in the course and believe there is about 20 or so places compared to 10 in Business and German and 4 in Business and Japanese.

Basically you can kinda view it as doing two courses, Business one one side and French on the other side and while they try to integrate the French into it with 2 hours a week of Business French (a module that will give you all the vocab for business as well as how businesses operate in General in France), now if its exactly the same as business and German in layout you will also have art type modules such as French History/Culture etc which can be annoying at times and completely unrelated to Business and what career you intend on getting it can be interesting all the same (Mine went from learning about William Tell in Austria to East Germany...)

If your anything like me you'll love the fact that your doing the language as it really adds to the course and give you a real edge on the 600 or so business students that are gonna be in your year (as well as 80 or so Law and accounting students).

Ok now the hours, in general you will have more hours than the normal business student but not by much and in comparison to other courses it wont be too much.
So 1st semester of year 1 you'll have around 22hrs a week of which 4hrs will be French related and 18 Business related.
2nd semester is much of the same.

You asked in your post about studying abroad, its called Erasmus and its open to everyone and while its not compulsory its highly recommended, I myself am heading off to Austria in September to study at the University of Graz to improve my German and hopefully be fluent. You basically do the same course you do as at your home university and your grades obtained abroad count as your overall grade at UL.

In Business in the 2nd semester of 2nd year you choose your major. I believe the options are economics and finance, accounting and finance, human resource management, risk management and marketing.
You will try them all out in 1st year and the 1st semester of 2nd year and make your choice.

I'm going for economics and finance myself but still have another few months to have to fully decide.

Anyway I think thats everything, ask way if ya want to know anything else

Mitchell

ninty9er

Kemmy is also the first Business School in the country to have one of its courses (BBS) ECTS acredited. It's a big deal, but you'll need an academic to tell you why as it's a little complicated and I can just about grasp the concept.

Mallox

just accepted business and french from my cao offer ... cant wait .. wat kind of prices am i lookin at for the books??? anyone else doin this course .. i heard the class numbers are more around 40 for business and french ... please say thats not true .. the smaller the classes the better

Risteard

You think 40's bad? For our Business lectures there'll be about 400 I think. About 40 for the French I think.

Mallox

well wit the french class i imagine well all get to know each other but with business its a given u wont get to know everyone .. d smaller d french d better i tink

1huge1

Mallox wrote: »

well wit the french class i imagine well all get to know each other but with business its a given u wont get to know everyone .. d smaller d french d better i tink

Ya thats exactly what happened in German. Theres only 10 doing the course and you know everyone really well but only get to know a fraction of the business students. Still though I'm fairly sure there's only about 25 doing business and french.
You'll also be with some arts students doing french at times on top of that.