English Studies Advice!

SBseventeen

Hello:)
I am currently in sixth year and at the moment I have English Studies down as my first choice on my CAO form.
I love english. I have a huge passion for it both in and out of school, but its not my whole entire life and I am wondering if I am diving into something that I will learn to hate?
I have heard that the course is extremely intense with hours upon hours of work. I want to enjoy the college experience just as much as the next person and basically I would like to know if you have to be completely devoted to english to do this degree?

Any contributions would be lovely!!!:)
Thank You

x

claire h

Well, you have to LIKE it.

I'd say you have to be 'completely devoted to it' to do really well on it, but I mean a first class degree, which isn't everyone's goal.

To a certain extent it's as intense as you make it - it is intense if you put in the work, sure, as most courses are, but not everyone does, or does all the time, or does for every single course, by a long shot. It's c. 10 contact hours a week (12 possibly in first year? Not sure with single honors and the new system...), with a lot of reading/researching time on top of that, but if you can stay on top of that instead of approaching it as a 'I've only ten hours a week, and the whole rest of my week shall be spent drinking!' thing, you'll have nothing to worry about. The tricky thing's just getting the balance when you're managing so much of your own time, which is the same for most arts degrees. e.g. if you're involved in a lot of society stuff in the evenings, do your reading et al in the morning/afternoon, or if you're going out most nights and sleeping late, spend evenings before you go out in the library, etc.*

*theoretically if you can manage this, well done. Most people can't, which is where the stress comes in when essays/presentations/dissertations/exams are happening.

SBseventeen

Okay, thank you for your reply:)
Are you or did you do the english studies degree?
Would you recommend it? Did you like it?

x

claire h

SBseventeen wrote: »

Okay, thank you for your reply:)
Are you or did you do the english studies degree?
Would you recommend it? Did you like it?

x

Did History and English, so TSM rather than single honors, can't comment on those courses that only single honors English do, and honestly the course has changed in the last couple of years anyway. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes literature and likes thinking critically about literature, definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea and isn't as easy as people often seem to think it is either.

SBseventeen

Yeah, that is what I'm most worried about. I'm worried that I may be diving into something that I will find far too difficult!!
I'm just another nervous leaving cert student with about a thousand question about college!:rolleyes:
Only time will tell!
Thank you for the advice;)

x

devinejay

SBseventeen wrote: »

I want to enjoy the college experience just as much as the next person and basically I would like to know if you have to be completely devoted to english to do this degree?

Well one of the main things for enjoying the college experience is doing a course full of material you'll enjoy, so I sounds like English would be a good choice for you. If you get that right the rest should fall into place.

Having said that I've no experience in the English course myself, so I can't offer much better advice than the above rule of thumb.

MsDarcy

I'm not actually doing English in Trinity ( just bored lurking around the tcd forum ) but I'm doing it in Nuim so I might be of little help.

There a few things you should know, regardless of where you decide to go. English is a totally different ball to the leaving cert in good ways and bad! You could be a C student in the L.C but get on great in college or an A student at l.c and despise it in college and drop out ( like a friend of mine).

At the core of it all, you need a genuine interest and curiosity for all types of literature (plays,fiction,poerty etc) .. You should be a regular reader (and not the chick-lit kind either :P) so when you get to college you'l be able to even kinda handle reading lots of books.

The great thing about it is, theres no learning off essays and guessing whats coming up on what exam.you get to open your mind to great literature and if your going to trinity i'm sure great lectures too.

There is some things that are really difficult like Critical Theory which I'm sure they do in Trinity which is really dense reading of analysis of literature. its crap. simple as!but if your interested enough in the good stuff it should be motivation to get you through the hard stuff!

Hope that helps a little bit! just thought i'd let you know because I've seen a few people do english in college because they were half decent at leaving cert and were able to learn essays by heart and think they like to read ( cecelia ahern + cosmo doest count :P). G'luck!:)

Millicent

I did English in UCD rather than TCD but my advice is to be sure you really love the subject because reading four books a week can be grating when you have other studies as well. At times it can suck the joy out of literature. The other downfall to it is that there are not many jobs you can get from an English degree (in a related field) without having to go on and do a Masters afterward or a HDip to teach.

Having said all that, I'm glad I did it for my undergraduate. I enjoyed it and got to read some great literature along the way, something which you can't say for many other courses.:)

Good luck with it.

Lame Lantern

It's not in the least bit intellectually intense and you may find the academic approach to assessing literature fairly idiotic. The teaching takes a largely theoretical, broadly thematic approach instead of an analytical one which is both easy and boring. There are some awful works on the syllabus for that reason.

Them's the wages of an English degree unfortunately. Just be aware that passion and empirical, textual analysis count for little. Agreeing with everything Foucault (for example) has ever said while pretending to arrive at those positions naturally is the way you get firsts in English.

SligoBrewer

Do us a favour and read the stickies and search please.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055822693

Sir Ophiuchus

Lame Lantern wrote: »

It's not in the least bit intellectually intense and you may find the academic approach to assessing literature fairly idiotic. The teaching takes a largely theoretical, broadly thematic approach instead of an analytical one which is both easy and boring. There are some awful works on the syllabus for that reason.

Them's the wages of an English degree unfortunately. Just be aware that passion and empirical, textual analysis count for little. Agreeing with everything Foucault (for example) has ever said while pretending to arrive at those positions naturally is the way you get firsts in English.

I entirely disagree. Honestly, it sounds like you had dreadful lecturers and tutors. I've never felt discouraged from taking novel approaches or from applying a detailed textual analysis to a thematic perspective. Literary criticism is neither easy nor (for the most part) boring.

claire h

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

I entirely disagree. Honestly, it sounds like you had dreadful lecturers and tutors. I've never felt discouraged from taking novel approaches or from applying a detailed textual analysis to a thematic perspective. Literary criticism is neither easy nor (for the most part) boring.

Hear, hear. The English dept are by no means perfect, but the idea that there's one and only one way to get a first is nonsense.

Lame Lantern

I did indeed have dreadful lecturers and tutors, though coming to the end of four years with the department I see it as the rule on the exception (though, fair enough, there are a few wonderful exceptions).

I didn't mean to imply that there's only one way to get a first, but it's certainly the only guaranteed method. Independent analysis is a crap shoot, feigning independent analysis while repeating popular theories is the best approach.

And it's been a profoundly easy and incredibly pedestrian experience. Theoretical models of literary criticism are unsophisticated and very accessible, and it is that method of cultural study that represents the majority of what you'll be doing.

That's just my view and I can fully appreciate dissenting opinions. It is, however, my honest response to my degree here and I think it's fair to register with the OP the disappointment I personally feel and the reasons for it, even if it's a minority perspective.

SBseventeen

Thank you for your in depth answers:)

The main reason I have TCD down is because I really do love english and I don't really know what else to put down on my CAO. Unfortunately I have no idea of any career yet and I'm hoping that an english degree will be a good place to start. Do you think that I may be better off doing an Arts degree with two subjects to broaden my horizons instead of just the degree in english?

Fringe

SligoBrewer wrote: »

Do us a favour and read the stickies and search please.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055822693

People aren't allowed ask their own questions anymore?