Higher Options 09

itsokay

any1 goin to the higher options conference this year. is it worth goin bar the obvious day off skool?? any tips??

Conor108

Our school is taking us

DancingQueen:)

Yeah i think i'm going with my school too. It'll be good to go i havn't got a clue what to do next year

Fad

itsokay wrote: »

any tips??

*Resists telling you to use your entire keyboard.......*

Go to everything that interests you in the slightest, try to actually learn something before you leave to enjoy the rest of your day off!

RexMundi

Has anyone been to a previous "Higher Options Conference" that could tell us if it is worth going to or not?

My school get the day off anyway.

theowen

RexMundi wrote: »

Has anyone been to a previous "Higher Options Conference" that could tell us if it is worth going to or not?

My school get the day off anyway.

I went last year and I'm going again this year. It's worth it if you actually plan on doing something constructive. Half my school didn't have a clue what they wanted to do in college and ended up leaving after half and hour.

monaghanmissus

We went in 5th year and hopefully I'll try and go this year.. Well worth it in my opinion

LovexxLife

Is this the one where the times newspaper organise it??

RandomIrl

to be honest, i didnt find it all that helpful, the again i knew what i wanted to do so the random pointless prospectuses.....were, as i said, pointless..

its probably useful if your thinking of applying to UCAS..

good pens though...still have some!

Halla Basin

Wow, my school organised the Delphi trip on the exact wrong days, at the exact wrong time. That's St. Brendan's for ya.

itsokay

RandomIrl wrote: »

good pens though...still have some!

its all about the free pens:D:D:D

RandomIrl

we had a competition at it, to see who got the most, i came in second with a fine gathering of 27 pens.

ironictoaster

Go to NUIM's table for USB sticks or some university from the UK for hackysacks!

Higher Options in general is a waste of time. The place is very busy and it's very hard to get to actually talk to someone. Once you get to talk to someone, they barely no anything of the course you're interested in and will more or less repeat what's in the prospectus. The open days for the colleges is where you get to know what you want.

Go anyways for the day off.

pjtb

I got loadsa free stuff at Higher options!

The prospecti/ prospectuses (?) I picked up were very useful to me. When I was at Higher Options I wasn't very sure of what I was going to do, so I took as many prospecti as I could carry in the free bags I got. They were great for referencing later on, even if they did nearly pull my arms off carrying them round on the day! It has been highlighted here that some people you speak to at the stands might not have a clue about the course you want to find out about, but some also will. They'll still be able to tell you about the college and its facilities though.

tootyflutty

It's good in for English colleges, and some of the colleges are really helpful. But you really have to ask the right person, there are some people at the stalls that havn't a clue.
The army were good fun though :P
Griffith college give free cloth bags, and maynooth gives USB sticks (still have 2), loads of stickers, badges and pens. Got a free tshirt from one of the foreign aid agencys, and one of the art colleges possibly IADT gives out cookies!
Plan which colleges you might be interested in and only get those prospecti. Other wise your arms will be dead! I only got 4/5 last year and still my arms were fit to fall off!!
I found the Gardai stand were really unhelpful last year, too busy chatting amongst themselves too talk to us, but the army guys really would have talked you to death, and had loads of leaflets and info. You can get into the tansk and stuff too, and the army band put on a good show if your willing to stand for it all.

sean0

"one of the art colleges possibly IADT gives out cookies!"

ah ffs I was there last year and never got free cookies!! I got alot of free pens and what not but still doesn't make up for missing out on the cookies:mad:.

Its well worth going to, there are many talks on various different topics such as business, study skills, career guidance etc...
You will get all the college prospectus's/prospecti?? that you want.Its a good laugh aswell.Last year the weather was class at it so most people were just sitting out in the sun where the food stands were.I'm repeating this year so i'll probably end up going again.

LovexxLife

Can you go on your own like with a parent cos my school doesnt do these trips anymore?

monaghanmissus

We went last year as 5th years and there's about 10 of us who want to go again this year.. Thing is, the school booked the tickets for 5th years last May and I spoke to the guidance counsellor today who said we'd have to organise our own tickets..

How do I go about doing this?

sean0

LovexxLife wrote: »

Can you go on your own like with a parent cos my school doesnt do these trips anymore?

You need a ticket, last year I think it was 10euro for a ticket which we got from the guidance counselor in our school.
I'd imagine there must be away where you can apply for a ticket, maybe someone who knows will post.

RandomIrl

Now in its twenty fourth year, the conference has become the definitive and centralised forum of third level choices for Irish students. It also has the official sanction of the Irish Department of Education & Science.

Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009 - Friday, 18 September 2009

Venue: Hall 1 (Main Hall)

Opening Hours:
Wednesday - Friday 9.00am - 3.00pm

Organiser's Contact Details:
The Irish Times
24-28 Tara Street
Dublin 2

Tel: + 353 (0)1 675 8000
Fax: + 353 (0)1 679 2789
Web: http://www.irish-times.ie

Bigrob

i'm goin aswell with my school and i was there last year. if your prepared to ask questions its very good. with all the english colleges there its ideal to find out info to avoid having to go over to the actual college

swatch

I'm going too, our school brings the 6th years every year and advise the whole year to go as it's meant to be worthwhile!

Nice day out too I suppose and you can stock up on free pens to do you for the whole of the leaving cert ha! :P

Gael23

Im going on the Thursday.

phasers

I went to it last year, there was a DISTINCT lack of freebies.

I did get a 1gb memory stick from the Maynooth people though, head there

(tbh I found it very unhelpful, the big crowds and the whole booth thing sucks for me, I just rang individual colleges for information)

itsokay

im gonna head on the wed i think. can u get tickets on the day??

FridaysWell

phasers wrote: »

I went to it last year, there was a DISTINCT lack of freebies.

Recession.

You may aswell go to higher options. Its better then not going to it I suppose. The colleges etc., really need to figure out how to make the information they give out alot clearer for people.

Some of it is pure bull****e. (Excuse me)

Fad

FridaysWell wrote: »

Recession.

Higher Options was before any mention of a recession (I think)

FridaysWell

Fad wrote: »

Higher Options was before any mention of a recession (I think)

Last year.

The Govt. and the figures wern't saying we where in recession, but we were!

Sure that was the time that the banks knew they were bust and didn't tell no-one

ayumi

what bus do you take to the RDS from stillorgan?
im going next Friday and I don't noe wot bus to take & I'm going with my school but u have to go there urself!

DancingQueen:)

I'm going on Friday too, getting the dart

Scrambled egg

This the one in the RDS ?