Arts Subject Choices At UCC

bobbyrae

Just wondering ..any recommendations for arts subject choices at ucc? im hoping to become a 2nd level teacher if i do the course and was thinking of geography and english?
Anyone have any experiences with these or advice for other subjects?

HereIGo

bobbyrae, you should ring the arts department in UCC and discuss your choice of subjects. They are very helpful. Some subjects are more popular than others and you may not get all your choices.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

English is good, do put it down as your first choice though otherwise you will NOT get it, the demand is huge. First year is okay, I found some modules in second and third year great and some not so great. I'd recommend you pick modules there based on the lecturer rather than the course description, they have some absolutely great lecturers and some not so much...

I'm doing History of Art and absolutely love it, but maybe that's the kind of thing you have to have a bit of interest in beforehand to enjoy.

On that note, I'd warn you off Sociology tbh. If you search this forum you'll find a lot of people giving out about it, which I think stems from people seeing it on the list in first year thinking "Oh that sounds interesting/fun, I'll throw that down because I don't have a specific subject in mind for my fourth subject" and then being thrown into into the grossly misnamed Introduction to Sociology, where you're expected to reach a fairly high level fairly quickly, with very little actual introduction especially in researching/referencing etc. That was my experience anyway, though that was two years ago so it might have changed. Also sociology for some reason seems to have a somewhat ironically high level of lecturers and tutors who are visibly uncomfortable in a group/public speaking situation and just read from their notes in a monotone (or a south african accent, as the case may be...). If you have an interest in it anyway and an idea of what it entails though, I'd say go for it.

ReacherCreature

bobbyrae wrote: »

Just wondering ..any recommendations for arts subject choices at ucc? im hoping to become a 2nd level teacher if i do the course and was thinking of geography and english?
Anyone have any experiences with these or advice for other subjects?

bobbyrae, have a look here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055821212 Small thread (8 replies) with a bit of information and a useful in my first post.

Hard to ask what recommendations to give, you have to have an interest in the subjects you like/ or would possibly want to do. It's your own choice. You pick four subjects and drop two. History, Politics, Greek/Roman Civilisation are all enjoyable subjects. English is quite good too and the advice electro~bitch gave about following the lecturers is solid; some of them are very good. Put down English for number 1 on your subjects list, the demand is incredible. Have a look through the UCC Book of Modules online to get a rough overview of modules within subjects. Link: http://www.ucc.ie/modules/

grenache

OP, whatever you pick, give an extremely wide berth to Sociology, Psychology and Folklore Studies (Léann Dúchais).

ReacherCreature

I heard Psychology isn't the worst. Not the best but it's 'do-able' if it's a word!

Byron85

ReacherCreature wrote: »

I heard Psychology isn't the worst. Not the best but it's 'do-able' if it's a word!

I'm doing Psychology in Arts and I love it but then again, Psychology was my first choice on the CAO and I didn't get it. The only bad thing about it is that it seems to be filled with utter cretins. We started a Biological Psychology module this semester and the lecturer asked if many people were surprised they'd have to study some Biology as part of the course. Quite a lot of people said they were surprised. I facepalmed....hard. I find it easy, as i've studied it before at PLC level, but for someone that is completely new to it, it could be difficult. It's worth trying though, at least for the first few weeks. You can switch if you don't like it.

ReacherCreature

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I'm doing Psychology in Arts and I love it but then again, Psychology was my first choice on the CAO and I didn't get it. The only bad thing about it is that it seems to be filled with utter cretins. We started a Biological Psychology module this semester and the lecturer asked if many people were surprised they'd have to study from Biology as part of the course. Quite a lot of people said they were surprised. I facepalmed....hard. I find it easy, as i've studied it before at PLC level, but for someone that is completely new to it, it could be difficult. It's worth trying though, at least for the first few weeks. You can switch if you don't like it.

The bit in bold infuriates me. It pisses me off when there's people who've picked a subject so it can be a 'doss' one and not give a care about it whether in lectures or in study. But that's just me.

Byron85

ReacherCreature wrote: »

The bit in bold infuriates me. It pisses me off when there's people who've picked a subject so it can be a 'doss' one and not give a care about it whether in lectures or in study. But that's just me.

It's the exact same with Sociology. People turn up and do nothing but talk all the way through it and then start packing up and making noise 10 minutes before the end. On Monday we had a guest lecture from one of the lecturers in the Department and I actually apologised to him after the lecture about the noise level and general disrespect some people were showing. I was actually embarrassed by the behaviour of some people in the lecture.

curly from cork

hope this is nt a stupid question but to take english or irish as a subject , roughly what grade should you have achieved in the leaving cert ?

ReacherCreature

curly from cork wrote: »

hope this is nt a stupid question but to take english or irish as a subject , roughly what grade should you have achieved in the leaving cert ?

I can't speak for Irish but with English you don't 'need' a specific grade. If you like it, are willing to read, put in the work and are okay to do a fair few assignments then you should be okay to do it.

Here's an overview of the subject:

http://www.ucc.ie/modules/descriptions/page019.html#EN1001

It's the exact same with Sociology. People turn up and do nothing but talk all the way through it and then start packing up and making noise 10 minutes before the end. On Monday we had a guest lecture from one of the lecturers in the Department and I actually apologised to him after the lecture about the noise level and general disrespect some people were showing. I was actually embarrassed by the behaviour of some people in the lecture.

I might be initiating a firestorm here but it's students like that that give Arts students a bad name. They do nothing and have no interest. I know it's Sociology and has a bad track record by the sounds of it (I've never done it) but at least make an effort to get on with it. People packing up and talking 5 minutes before the ending of my History core lecture a few times in the last couple of weeks. Drives me insane. Have some respect!

Apologies for going off-topic.

GERMAN ROCKS

curly from cork wrote: »

hope this is nt a stupid question but to take english or irish as a subject , roughly what grade should you have achieved in the leaving cert ?

realistically in irish you would need anywhere from a b upwards

GERMAN ROCKS

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

It's the exact same with Sociology. People turn up and do nothing but talk all the way through it and then start packing up and making noise 10 minutes before the end. On Monday we had a guest lecture from one of the lecturers in the Department and I actually apologised to him after the lecture about the noise level and general disrespect some people were showing. I was actually embarrassed by the behaviour of some people in the lecture.

ah come on its some load of bull. it started off with a high with niamh hourigan and gradually when downhill from there. if they hadnt her first id say a lot of people who have changed there subject but the time was up before she left.

Byron85

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

ah come on its some load of bull. it started off with a high with niamh hourigan and gradually when downhill from there. if they hadnt her first id say a lot of people who have changed there subject but the time was up before she left.

Disliking a subject does not give anybody the right to act the twat during the lecture. All the lecturers, bar Piet, have been good imo. If you don't like the subject that's fine but at least keep it quiet for those of us who enjoy it somewhat.

And besides, the lecture on Monday was quite good. I initially went up after the lecture to talk to Kieran about some things he had mentioned during the lecture and ask some questions and I ended up talking about the behaviour of the people at the back.

mariaf24

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

Disliking a subject does not give anybody the right to act the twat during the lecture. All the lecturers, bar Piet, have been good imo. If you don't like the subject that's fine but at least keep it quiet for those of us who enjoy it somewhat.

And besides, the lecture on Monday was quite good. I initially went up after the lecture to talk to Kieran about some things he had mentioned during the lecture and ask some questions and I ended up talking about the behaviour of the people at the back.

Hi everyone i have a BA in sociology from ucc (2008). I'm very upset to read the comments about Piet, I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but i have to say he was a dream of a lecturer! I PERSONALLY THINK HE IS QUITE SHY AND HAS A DIFFERENT STYLE OF LECTURING. He was brilliant to us in second and third year, really helpful and approachable.
And as for people who warn potential students off sociology, the reason this subject is unpopular is due to the fact that many people use sociology as a 'filler' subject or see it as an easy option. People are then very surprised at the amount of reading etc required and how difficult social theory can be!
Anyway,Good Luck to everyone in Arts :)

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

mariaf24 wrote: »

Hi everyone i have a BA in sociology from ucc (2008). I'm very upset to read the comments about Piet, I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but i have to say he was a dream of a lecturer! I PERSONALLY THINK HE IS QUITE SHY AND HAS A DIFFERENT STYLE OF LECTURING. He was brilliant to us in second and third year, really helpful and approachable.
And as for people who warn potential students off sociology, the reason this subject is unpopular is due to the fact that many people use sociology as a 'filler' subject or see it as an easy option. People are then very surprised at the amount of reading etc required and how difficult social theory can be!
Anyway,Good Luck to everyone in Arts :)

I actually did like Piet, but the section of the course he was doing was fairly difficult and detailed, and standing at the top of a lecture hall with a couple of hundred people in it and reading your notes doesn't really cut it. When he ad-libbed a bit, like when he told us a bit about his life, he was much more engaging. A likeable guy though, who knows what he's talking about, but (at least in a lecture hall situation) communicates it quite badly, you can tell he's shy though so I did feel bad for him, god knows I'd faint if I was put up in front of Boole 4

I did say that picking sociology as a filler subject was the reason so many people give out about it, but I do think it's taught badly as well. Plus they trick you by putting Kieran Keohane on at the start, if they started with Piet or some of the other ones I think a lot more people would switch to something else. My tutor wasn't amazing either, a post-grad student, also shy, unused to teaching. He knew about sociology but again, he couldn't successfully get across what he meant to people who were totally unfamiliar with it. So that really influenced my lasting impression of Sociology. However, many people (and presumably there's more than one tutor), seem to have come away with the same impression

Byron85

mariaf24 wrote: »

Hi everyone i have a BA in sociology from ucc (2008). I'm very upset to read the comments about Piet, I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but i have to say he was a dream of a lecturer! I PERSONALLY THINK HE IS QUITE SHY AND HAS A DIFFERENT STYLE OF LECTURING. He was brilliant to us in second and third year, really helpful and approachable.
And as for people who warn potential students off sociology, the reason this subject is unpopular is due to the fact that many people use sociology as a 'filler' subject or see it as an easy option. People are then very surprised at the amount of reading etc required and how difficult social theory can be!
Anyway,Good Luck to everyone in Arts :)

I enjoyed Piet quite a bit at the start but he seemed to get quite repetitive after the first few lectures, which was a pity.

Zayne Scarce Society wrote: »

I did say that picking sociology as a filler subject was the reason so many people give out about it, but I do think it's taught badly as well. Plus they trick you by putting Kieran Keohane on at the start, if they started with Piet or some of the other ones I think a lot more people would switch to something else.

He was the guest lecturer we had on Monday. He's a really nice guy as I was walking and talking to him after the lecture. Very nice man and a good lecturer.

Nova_era

^Don't listen to this guy. He makes it look like he's being all friendly and helpful, and before you know it he's in your house scoring your sister.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

He was the guest lecturer we had on Monday. He's a really nice guy as I was walking and talking to him after the lecture. Very nice man and a good lecturer.

Yeah he is good, his books were as well, as far as I remember

brokenaudio

Just a quick question re needing to pick English as your first choice subject. Psychology is my actual first choice, I'm studying arts as I didn't get into the Applied Psychology course and would certainly like for English to be one of my other subjects. I'm just worried that if I were to put down English as first choice that I could possibly miss out on Psychology - would that be a likelihood?

closeline

When must you decide to chose second year subjects??

ReacherCreature

brokenaudio wrote: »

Just a quick question re needing to pick English as your first choice subject. Psychology is my actual first choice, I'm studying arts as I didn't get into the Applied Psychology course and would certainly like for English to be one of my other subjects. I'm just worried that if I were to put down English as first choice that I could possibly miss out on Psychology - would that be a likelihood?

My first instinct would be that if you put Psychology second, you'll get that along with English as your first choice. The demand for Psychology isn't as high for English, where they've to split the classes and whatnot.

brokenaudio

ReacherCreature wrote: »

My first instinct would be that if you put Psychology second, you'll get that along with English as your first choice. The demand for Psychology isn't as high for English, where they've to split the classes and whatnot.

Yeah I was kind of thinking that alright, would just be such a shame if I missed out on Psychology seeing as it's the reason why I've decided to go back to college...

ReacherCreature

brokenaudio wrote: »

Yeah I was kind of thinking that alright, would just be such a shame if I missed out on Psychology seeing as it's the reason why I've decided to go back to college...

I'm fairly sure that if you put Psychology down as second you'll be fine. Just to be sure what're your other prospective subjects? Some of them may have to be put in as second, such as history (I think). Other boardsies may advise too.

brokenaudio

ReacherCreature wrote: »

I'm fairly sure that if you put Psychology down as second you'll be fine. Just to be sure what're your other prospective subjects? Some of them may have to be put in as second, such as history (I think). Other boardsies may advise too.

Other choices would be sociology, politics or philosophy (in no particular order) but the main two in order of preference would definitely be Psychology - English...
Cheers

SuitedAces

Zayne Scarce Society wrote: »

English is good, do put it down as your first choice though otherwise you will NOT get it, the demand is huge. First year is okay, I found some modules in second and third year great and some not so great. I'd recommend you pick modules there based on the lecturer rather than the course description, they have some absolutely great lecturers and some not so much...

I must agree with Electro Bitch here, if you get the right lectures, 2nd and 3rd year English can be excellent, very easy to study for, but very interesting too. I learned the hard way in 2nd year to choose modules based on the lecturers rather than what the module relates to...

Lady Gagarin

Not to turn this into an Arts bitchery thread but it's great to see that other people are pissed off by inconsiderate students in lectures too. It gets better in the latter years, thankfully, when most people have either grown up or become conscious of their need to do well, but it still drives me crazy when I'm at a large lecture (for, say, history) and the people in front or behind me won't shut up, or constantly disparage the lecturer for all to hear.

Even if the lecturer is terrible, I'm doing my best to keep up and learn, so if you'd rather not deal with it, just leave. You're doing everyone else a favour and no one will be sad to see you go. Giving Arts students a bad name, indeed... I honestly wish some lecturers would be more strict about it. Some aren't afraid to call disruptive students out (and in a polite manner) but others just try to continue in spite of them and it's awkward. Also, if you have a genuine complaint about a lecturer, report it to his/her department in the appropriate manner rather than interrupting a class and causing a scene. It'll lend your complaint a lot more credulity.

Arts isn't the "dose" people think it is, it's only "easy" if you actually do give some kind of ****e about what you're studying. Then it can be great. But if you go in expecting it to be a breeze and ignore everything in favour of chatting to your buddies or texting, you're going to fail and deserve to.

Whew, sorry, had to get that out of my system. I'm not even in Arts anymore!

jazzzzy

I'm going into second year, not of Arts, but Applied Psychology where we were required to take two arts subjects for the year.

I chose English and Sociology.

You will read of much, much ill-speak towards sociology. I found it to be a lot more complex than I anticipated. However, the exam at the end of the year was very straightforward and lecturers were very helpful in stating what would be coming up etc. A lot of the course was heavy going such as an in-depth look at the communist manifesto. If you are good at history, it would help.

English. Well, I didn't like it at all. However many of my class mates loved it!!! It is loaded with readings from James Joyce to the plays such as Beowulf. If you enjoy reading from wide varieties of genres, you should be fine. The course is vey well structured. A lot of emphasis placed on middle and old english, which can be taxing.

I've heard great reviews as Relgion as a subject and also Philospohy (no end of year exam!)

Would highly recommend studies in psychology as an arts subject btw