Choosing to do TY ?

Halpin94

So all my friends are doing TY, I will be 19 doing my leaving if i do TY, and I wont get a second chance at my leaving cert if i do bad. I enjoy going to school except the whole class and learning part ( obviously ) and that's why TY looks so good. My two older brothers are telling me to not do TY saying it is a waste of time. ( Neither of them did it, but then again I enjoy going to school and being with friends and they hated it with passion )
Also if i do TY i could have a full drivers licence by the end of 5th year.
I heard all the debates like that it's a waste of time and that you get out of it what you put in etc..

So if you were me what would you do ??

thetonynator

i'd do it, theres no disadvantage to being 19/20 going into college except that you get into more nightclubs!!!

being serious, if you enjoy school, you might as well do it, it is a good year assuming you put some bit of effort in, and if you're friends are doing it, it'd be best stay with them.

Halpin94

Thanks, good advice. Best i have had out of everyone I have asked.

thetonynator

Halpin94 wrote: »

Thanks, good advice. Best i have had out of everyone I have asked.

you're welcome, which bit was good, the bit about nightclubs or the rest of it???;):D

ItsAWindUp

The older you are leaving school the better.

xsarah1995x

Hey im in the same boat as you really..
all my friends are definitely doing ty and they all want me 2 do it.
My parentsdont want me to do it though but they said its up to me...
I think it'l be a great year sounds like great fun!! ahah
if i dont do it il be 16 doing my leaving cert.. every1s saying its too young (besides my parents - they'd rather i went straight 2 5th year so i can hav 2 go's at the leaving..)

dont know what to do!! please help!!

roxykid07

xsarah1995x wrote: »

Hey im in the same boat as you really..
all my friends are definitely doing ty and they all want me 2 do it.
My parentsdont want me to do it though but they said its up to me...
I think it'l be a great year sounds like great fun!! ahah
if i dont do it il be 16 doing my leaving cert.. every1s saying its too young (besides my parents - they'd rather i went straight 2 5th year so i can hav 2 go's at the leaving..)

dont know what to do!! please help!!

OMG! 16 doing your leaving is seriously young!
I know of a girl who was in your situation, skipped TY and did her leaving when she was 16. She studied nonstop from when she was about 11, as in not being allowed because she had "work" to do in fifth class. Crazy stuff. But anyways her results in her leaving were not the best, compare to another guy i know of the same age,who did TY and came out a lot better off. She now is nearly at the end of her second year in college, at the age of 18.


Also i see a lotta people here are talking bout having two goes at the leaving!? That has never even crossed my mind!

As regards to TY itself, i love it!!
I hadnt a clue at the beginning of the year what i wanted to do, now I have a clearer image:P
You talk to loadsa people that you wouldnt have before the JC..which is always a good thing:)
And you just grow up a lot!

How come your parents dont want you doing it?

If I were you i'd do it!:D

xsarah1995x

roxykid07 wrote: »

OMG! 16 doing your leaving is seriously young!
I know of a girl who was in your situation, skipped TY and did her leaving when she was 16. She studied nonstop from when she was about 11, as in not being allowed because she had "work" to do in fifth class. Crazy stuff. But anyways her results in her leaving were not the best, compare to another guy i know of the same age,who did TY and came out a lot better off. She now is nearly at the end of her second year in college, at the age of 18.


Also i see a lotta people here are talking bout having two goes at the leaving!? That has never even crossed my mind!

As regards to TY itself, i love it!!
I hadnt a clue at the beginning of the year what i wanted to do, now I have a clearer image:P
You talk to loadsa people that you wouldnt have before the JC..which is always a good thing:)
And you just grow up a lot!

How come your parents dont want you doing it?

If I were you i'd do it!:D

they just think its a waste of a year coz you dont do any proper work towards the leaving cert during the year.. and they've seen tys in shops packing bags and sweeping up the street... they only did that for like 1 day in the whole year though and now they think thats all they do!!

i really think it'd be a great year and you'd probably bcome way closer 2 people in your year which would be cool too! but i'd be scared incase id regret it at the end of the year..

also my parents think if i do it now it'd just be because my friends are n that im following what they're doing...

really confused now!! haha

johnmcdnl

if oyur friends are doing it do it... simple as that... i didn it because i just like the craic in school in general and therefore it was great for me... sounds pretty much like your situation

and like you said your gonna be ableto have the driving license before the end of 5th year so therefore your gonna be the lad with the car basically all 6th year... and that is good buzz

being yound and going to college is no craic like it's mentioned your not gonna get into many niteclubs

do it you'll love it

mag_red286

i want to do ty as most of my friends are doing it nd believe dat i'll only get dis chance once!! da only ting is my dad recently lost his job nd ty is expensive nd i hate askin my parents money for any thing!!! da other ting is i find it hard 2 settle back into skool after da summer how will i ever settle back in after a whole year??? i no my parents dont want me 2 do it as my brother did it and he turned out to be a complete waster but if i did they wud probally say ok dats alrite!! i'm so confused!!!

coldwood92

Do TY

Duffman'05

I can't recommend skipping TY highly enough. A waste of a year imo.

To my mind, and in my experience, the two main reasons to skip it are:

1. If you ended up having to repeat for whatever reason - it'd be a lot less painful without having already spent another year in school.
2. Just stop and think for a few minutes about the possibilities, experiences and opportunities open to you in 4th year at 16 years old confined in a school from September to May and compare them with what you could do with a year of complete freedom at 17/18.

There's nothing available to you in transition year that can't be experienced at a level 100 times greater during a year out.

Those little trips to adventure centres or once or twice abroad vs travelling whatever part of the world you want to for however long you want to in that year.

If the volunteering and community service opportunities of TY appeal to you - check out TEFL, Suas, Niall Mellon Project, Bóthar and hundreds of other organisations for opportunities to make a difference abroad.

Personally, the 2 weeks or however long of ''work experience'' don't appeal to me as much as the potential to get a paid-for job for x/12 months of a year -again it could be something you really love - at home or abroad.

Even the people I know who say they enjoyed most of TY were dying along with the rest of of boredom by march/april - the majority of people just end up skipping most of it anyway.

Also, if you worked hard in JC and want to achieve high points in the LC - don't underestimate how much your brain can literally rot with no stimulation for a year and how difficult it could be to get back into the swing of things in 5th/6th year.

Ireland is one of the very few countries in Europe that offer this ''opportunity'' - Don't fall into the trap of chasing the temptation of relaxation after the JC. We are also the only country to not even have yet considered a continuous assessment system in place of the rote-learning monstrosity that is the LC for deciding who is most suited to what college courses. The DOE responsible for continuing to keep life in that LC also claims that TY is an ''integral part of education'' - BS imo... About as integral as being able to write and speak Irish (compulsory subject) is to being suitable for studying medicine, law, engineering or english.

I could go on and on but take it from someone who did TY, I, and nearly all of my year also, look back on TY as a year down the drain. Even if you think you can get something out of it in your school's programme - can it really compare to the benefits of doing your own thing for a year at 18 years old?

I just really hate that I've been able to say ''I told you so'' to so many friends and relations who have come out of TY after me with regrets.

BrianPatten

I'm in TY now and i began wishing that i skipped it in the beginning of November because you do nothing except for a few good things like first aid and having an extra year for the maths but thats just about it. Right know i'm practically counting down the days till its over, but to be honest it is probably better in other schools

CosmicLove

I was very torn about whether to do 4th or not. In the end I skipped, and have NO regrets whatsoever.

I'm like you, if I had of done 4th I'd be 19 sitting the LC. But to be honest, I loved school and my friends, but at 18 I'm done. Time to go experience the real world, & all that jazz.

Don't be swayed to do what you're friends are doing. Virtually 90+% of my friends did it and yet we're still friends. Ok, you do miss some parties & whatever during 6th, but I really did find the cliché "If they're your<i>real</i> friends they'll understand.." is so true.

I suppose another advantage I had was I knew what I wanted to do (medicine) since first year, so didn't really need work experience (Did a little in summer). Do you know what you wanna do?

A lot of my mates who did do TY have said to me they wish they had skipped too (Ok maybe not at this exact moment in time due to the lc pending in a week & they've just finished their sumer exams xD). I can't name anyone who regretted skipping 4th however.

So yeah, I hope this helps. PM me if you wanna ask any questions or anything

sabrinaspelman

DO TY- you might end up at the end of the year saying it was a complete waste of time and that you did nothing but you will grow up a lot in that year.
I did it because i didn't want to leave school at 17 and spend a whole year of college being unable to do the things i would do if i was 18. I had my whole career path decided before I did ty but within 2 months of the year i had completely changed my mind and got to actually take the time to think about what i really wanted, which i couldnt have done if i had been in 5th year.

As much fun as it might sound to have a year to doss around and do nothing that's really not what you do. While i have to admit my school was pretty pathetic in trying to organize anything when we took it into our own hands we got to do a lot more and this years ty's actually benefited from our work last year.
The important thing to remember in ty is dont wait for things to happen just do it. Go organize your work experience (and dont just do it for the craic pick something you actually want to do), organize trips, look into awards such as Gaisce and dont turn any experience down. Our best trip all year was a religious retreat with almost the whole year beforehand expecting it to be a waste of time.

Dont listen to the people who say it's a waste of time because they're the people who made no effort all year. Because of ty i know i want to apply through UCAS to uni in england. I have my course picked, my personal statement finished, all relevant work experience and volantary work done all before i even start the leaving cert in September.