Californian debating attending UCD Smurfit this fall...

royclark24

Hello,

A few months ago I applied for the MSc Finance programme at UCD Smurfit and was accepted to study this September. I have been very excited and planning my financial expenses for the next year until I began seeing more and more articles regarding the economic situation in Ireland. I'm excited to study for a second time in another country, this time being Ireland and not Hong Kong, and look for employment outside of the United States. However, the recent news regarding the economic recovery time seems quite daunting and worries me that I would not be able to find a job in Ireland, the UK or the EU one year from now. Afterall, it is a very large investment on my part to attend UCD as a foreign student and having to deal with an unfavorable exchange rate unlike a favorable situation in China.

For those of you living in Ireland and the EU I want to know your personal assessments on the current economic, employment, and college graduate situations along with your opinions of UCD Smurfit's MSc Finance programme and its international appeal in case Ireland's economy proves to be too tough of a climate.

Thank you very much and I'm sure I will have many more questions later.

Pride Fighter

I am not a finance student, but what I will tell you is straight from the news here in Ireland.

First regarding your course, I have heard that the Smurfit Business School in UCD is rated in the top 30 in the world as a graduate Business school. So your degree will be highly valued by employers around the world.

Secondly, the economy in Ireland is an absolute mess. Unemployment was about 3-4% 18 months ago, now it is 12-13% and expected to go up to 18-19% and reach a peak there. However due to the fall in economic activity prices fall. This should negate some of your expenses here as a student. You did mention that you would look at elsewhere in the EU. The larger economies in the EU bar Spain had a recession involving negative growth rates of between 1 and 2 and a half percent. Spain had higher due to a property bubble bursting, the same reason the Irish economy is screwed. Negative growth here is 12% for the last 12 months. Thats how bad the economy is. There is light for you though. Britain is the first country of the developed world out of the recession. They are starting to grow again due to the excellent leadership of Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain.

My advice, come to UCD, it is an excellent University, in an excellent city, in a friendly country. Then when you graduate seek employment in Britain.

Time Magazine

My advice can be posed as a question: with what has happened over the past two years and its implications for the regulation (and consequently wages) of the financial industry, why the hell are you thinking of doing a masters in finance?

Bartronilic

Ignore the Economist.