quick Q relating to universities

ldxo15wus6fpgm

im assuming there are a few on here who have studied law at 3rd level.
between DCU and UL, in relation to studying law, could anyone tell me which would be the most prestigious, if theyre even that far apart? and also which would be a generally better place to study?

this may seem to belong in the edu. section but i'd rather hear this from people who have studied law, and not arts/history/music etc.

cheers!

Arsenal1986

Frankly, neither of them are prestigious for Law. UCD and Trinity are the two standout lawschools in Ireland in terms of reputation and one tends to have better job opportunities coming out of them. This is just my opinion and what i have seen as a graduate of UL.

McCrack

I might be bursting a bubble but these days law is as about as prestigious as walking in dog ****e...

great career if its what you want but be under no illusions about getting there and the realities of the job. The theory/college is not the reality. Any 3rd level institution offereing law or legal studies will do the job. Get experience working in an office or shadowing a barrister. Far more useful.

Gurgle

Your FE1 results shout a lot louder than which college you did your undergraduate degree in.

Sangre

Gurgle wrote: »

Your FE1 results shout a lot louder than which college you did your undergraduate degree in.

I wouldn't agree with that. That certainly wasn't the experience of myself or my friends.

College results and positioning in the class above all else.

ALincoln

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

Frankly, neither of them are prestigious for Law. UCD and Trinity are the two standout lawschools in Ireland in terms of reputation and one tends to have better job opportunities coming out of them. This is just my opinion and what i have seen as a graduate of UL.

This is wrong. It is true that TCD is regarded as one of the prestigious law schools in Ireland - why - partially historical reputation, partially that they have some noted academics (but NB that does not account for their standard as lecturers; they could be horrendous at that!).

UCD is generally thought to rank below TCD and UCC. The reason for this is probably that UCD opt more for the interdisciplinary approach - courses like Business and Law for example are practical, but little more than jumped up Commerece degrees at the end. The quality of academic is also generally agreed to be slightly higher in UCC.

Arsenal1986

I'd really have to disagree, strangely it seems prospective employers dont particularly seem to care what you get in the FE-1s once you've passed them. Your undergraduate results still seem to be more important. Having said that however, it does seem important when applying to firms that you either have all 8 FE-1s done or 4 , because again from my experience when people apply with 6 done or 5 or 7 it looks like they failed one and this never looks good. Also while they don't seem that important, passing them all does eem to make up for less than stellar academics ie. reassures firms you have the intellectual ability for a career in law.

And not prestigious?! What's more prestigious in your opinion? Just out of curiosity.

Arsenal1986

ALincoln wrote: »

This is wrong. It is true that TCD is regarded as one of the prestigious law schools in Ireland - why - partially historical reputation, partially that they have some noted academics (but NB that does not account for their standard as lecturers; they could be horrendous at that!).

UCD is generally thought to rank below TCD and UCC. The reason for this is probably that UCD opt more for the interdisciplinary approach - courses like Business and Law for example are practical, but little more than jumped up Commerece degrees at the end. The quality of academic is also generally agreed to be slightly higher in UCC.

I was just saying thats been my expierence. As far as big firms are concerned anyway, UCD is defintly more highly thought of. Maybe this is simply because thee firms are all in Dublin or the partners are more likely to have gone there, I don't know. There were very few UCC people at the drinks nights of the big firms this year, although alot more than there were of NUIG or UL.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

lads, chill out. :cool:
all i wanted to know was between UL and DCU which would look better on my CV...

Thirdfox

CV for what though? A top 4 corporate firm? I remember at last year's summer internship (top 4 firm) there were 9 interns, 5 from UCD and 4 from TCD.

I'd guess that if you were living in Limerick and want to work there it would be better to go to UL (more of the alumni working in their own city etc.) and vice versa if you want to live/work in Dublin, DCU may be better.

But FE-1s, I haven't heard of many firms looking very closely at those (unless you're continuously failing them :P ) What uni, what rank, what other key skills you have are much more important. But it is true that the theory one is taught in college is quite different to what actually goes on in real life law (from my personal experience).

partyguinness

Trevor Grumpy Spectator wrote: »

lads, chill out. :cool:
all i wanted to know was between UL and DCU which would look better on my CV...

Well if they are your only options...I dont think it matters to be honest.

Whether people like it or not...TCD, UCD and UCC are the best regarded law schools. I personally know law graduates of TCD who were not too complimentary of the lecturing and attitude in TCD (as in lazy).

As someone said earlier, the FE1s are more relevant now IMO...not what mark you got in 1st year Contract as a 19 year old...

Also bear in mind, I know at least 4 of my colleagues in the "Big 5" who did ordinary BAs and did some legal studies course in DIT to prepare for the FE1s. In other words they didnt even study law in college. They also got their apprenticeship's there...so firms seem to take a general overview of the candidates abilites.

But that was in 2001/2002. That might be changing now.

partyguinness

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

I was just saying thats been my expierence. As far as big firms are concerned anyway, UCD is defintly more highly thought of. Maybe this is simply because thee firms are all in Dublin or the partners are more likely to have gone there, I don't know. There were very few UCC people at the drinks nights of the big firms this year, although alot more than there were of NUIG or UL.

Those firms bring graduates from whatever Uni they are visiting i.e. if they are visting UCG, they will bring a UCG graduate (and now solicitior) and so on if available.

Arsenal1986

partyguinness wrote: »

Those firms bring graduates from whatever Uni they are visiting i.e. if they are visting UCG, they will bring a UCG graduate (and now solicitior) and so on if available.

No I mean at the drinks night in their offices for all the people they called to interview, the night before the interview. There were 80 - 90 % UCD/Trinity people there.

stringy

Arsenal1986 wrote: »

No I mean at the drinks night in their offices for all the people they called to interview, the night before the interview. There were 80 - 90 % UCD/Trinity people there.

DCU only has 1st years studying law as it's a brand new course, so it's bound to take a while for them to "catch up", however in terms of general industry recognition, DCU and UL are ranked usually the highest in calibre of graduates and their graduate emplyoment records demonstrate this.

Arsenal1986

We're talking specifically about Law firms here so no thats not correct in the legal industry, out of my class of 75 in 08 in UL Law 4 have apprenticeships, The majority of people in B and L in UCD that went down the law route this year have secured traineeships