CK 404 Earth system sciences

Absolute Zero

Hi guys, i am looking for any helpful people who are doing the course CK 404 Enviromental and earth systems sciences, This course is looking very interesting to me because i loved geography in leaving cert and always wanted to do a degree in this, i am arecent drop out of computer forensics in WIT and i believe that the computing road is just no for me.

Basically my questions are about what the course is like and how people are finding it. I see that there is maths and physics in first year as to be expected in a science course, But do they take up a big part of the course after first year??.
what the job prospects are especcialy in the coming years, how the course content is and difficulty in general.


I loved geography so this course is looking great for me and any replies from those who are doing it will be great!:D

Dorg

Hi Zero, Im doing that course now. Yeah, there is chemistry/physics/maths in first year but after that there is a major branching out into a number of different areas. There is enviro Science, zoology/plantbio/ecology etc, and Geology/geography.

The enviro science is the only one I would conder to be a realy Sciencey based degree with chemistry etc.. Im doing the Earth Science/Geography/Geology end and its realy interesting and broad.. modules are mostly electives for me and include social geogrpahy, city planning, climatology, physical geography, palaeonotology, geology and best of all loads of field trips!!!

Jobs?.. not too bad, probably not as badly effected as most degree programmes, by the end of the 4 years you will more than likely chosen a specialised stream of the sciences so there is also the choice to pick modules where you see jobs in the future.

The course content is realy enjoyable so.. difficulty is not realy an issue once you put in a bit of effort and you understand whats going on (which is not too hard!)

Everyone seems to love the course and lots of interesting people seem to do it! Class in first year is around 70-80 and with all the field trips/ practicals you will get to know them all!

Hope this helps you to make up your mind!

Absolute Zero

deadly. thanks for the reply Dorg, more hands on work and field trips is always nice, i would also take the geography/geology road like your self, yes this course is really looking great for me , i just hope the points dont go up much higher for the next year , seeing the course information on ucc website it went up 100 points from 2006 but i guess these courses are becoming much more popular.

More replies appreciated

taram

I did this course a few years ago, the geography you do is a great mix of social and physical, loved learning city development stuff then taking meterology

After 1st year the only chemistry/physics you do is related to the subjects: geophysics goes into very specific physics, but while I find physics hard in general, I found geophysics pretty straight forward as it was all geared towards further knowledge of the stuff you're doing in class. Chemistry is general mention of chemical breakdown of rocks etc, but again, very easy to comprehend.

If you go the biology route you'll do a stastics module and a pinch of biochemistry You don't have to pick your course until the end of the 1st year anyway, so plenty of time to decide, I was going geology then found out I loved plants like a crazy thing so went for the biology route

cameron13m

taram wrote: »

I did this course a few years ago, the geography you do is a great mix of social and physical, loved learning city development stuff then taking meterology

After 1st year the only chemistry/physics you do is related to the subjects: geophysics goes into very specific physics, but while I find physics hard in general, I found geophysics pretty straight forward as it was all geared towards further knowledge of the stuff you're doing in class. Chemistry is general mention of chemical breakdown of rocks etc, but again, very easy to comprehend.

If you go the biology route you'll do a stastics module and a pinch of biochemistry You don't have to pick your course until the end of the 1st year anyway, so plenty of time to decide, I was going geology then found out I loved plants like a crazy thing so went for the biology route

hi was just reading about ck404 and im wondering mostly about future career prospects, im mostly interested in physical geography. what are you doing now and what kind of jobs did your friends get ? is it the kind of course you have to go on and to a masters in to get a job ?