Law in UCC

yourmother

Hi in leaving cert and just hoping someone could help me out here

I've read the prospectus, been to the open day etc. All I'm wondering is do many avail of the summer placements in the USA and are they extremely competitive to get? Prospectus says that students are offered summer placements in San Francisco, L.A, New York etc. Has anyone done any of these or have anymore info on them?

Also, anyone on the Law & Irish course, did you do the year in Montana as part of the degree?

Thanks for your help and time in advance!

Mario007

hey, i'm a first year law student so hope i can help ya.

the summer placements for the usa are quite competitive and really in first year you will not get them(some even stipulate that you need to be in your second year). there are some irish placements are kinda cool like the AG's office etc or working with barristers and solicitors.

but really i can only recommend the law faculty at ucc. though you do get some boring subjects(like contract law) but you have to do them everywhere really. the lecturers are really good though and the resources are great too. besides from what i heard limerick and cork have the best law faculties in ireland.

cant answer your question about law and irish as i'm doing international

CantGetNoSleep

You are wrong about Limerick being one of the best law faculties in Ireland, don't know where you heard that

yourmother

Thanks for replies

Could you tell me a bit about the course not the content really but just like how many lecture hours you have and how much work is required, research wise and stuff? Do you know of anyone who has been to the states?

CantGetNoSleep

12-14 hours a week, a fairly handy course in general, you will have 2-3 1500 word assignments each semester in first year, and once you have been to a good few lectures and do a few weeks good study in April before the exams I would imagine you will pass, given that you had the intelligence to get enough points in the first place.

The placements in the states are not impossible to get, just try get ok marks (a 2:1) and do some society / club work in college or something to show that you don't just go drinking all the time and you will get one after second year, or at least have a good chance of getting one

You can also go to the states for the full year with BCL International, hard work and hard to get accepted for but a great experience nonetheless

randomuser77

I largely agree with CantGetNoSleep on this. I would however, emphasise the importance of joining a club or society for reasons other than improving your chances at getting a placement. You'll have so much time on your hands that you'll be inclined to waste it on something less productive, and will probably regret the wasted time. At least that was my experience for the first half of my first year which I spent watching reruns of Scrubs. I then got more involved in both the Law Society and the Philosophical Society and haven't looked back.

Just one other thing ...

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

You can also go to the states for the full year with BCL International, hard work and hard to get accepted for but a great experience nonetheless

That's not quite true anymore as BCL International and Clinical (which I'm currently on myself) are both accepted through the CAO since last year. I would DEFINATELY put one of these down as your first choice if you are interested in Law.

yourmother

Thanks for the replies! Have the CAO filled out and I currently have Law & Irish in UCC down first. Still trying to make my mind up, I'm really caught between UCC and UCD. I'm from Mayo so the fact that I'll know noone in Cork is putting me off a bit, but I prefer the campus etc way more than UCD plus I really enjoyed the talks at the open day! Hard decision to make but thanks for the input everyone!:D

Mario007

randomuser77 wrote: »

I largely agree with CantGetNoSleep on this. I would however, emphasise the importance of joining a club or society for reasons other than improving your chances at getting a placement. You'll have so much time on your hands that you'll be inclined to waste it on something less productive, and will probably regret the wasted time. At least that was my experience for the first half of my first year which I spent watching reruns of Scrubs. I then got more involved in both the Law Society and the Philosophical Society and haven't looked back.

Just one other thing ...



That's not quite true anymore as BCL International and Clinical (which I'm currently on myself) are both accepted through the CAO since last year. I would DEFINATELY put one of these down as your first choice if you are interested in Law.

both of these points are very true. joining clubs and societies is quite an advantage of the law course as you have a lot of time on your hands. i personally have only 10 hours of lectures in first year with 2 hours of tutorials every week.
and in ucc there are so many clubs and societies that you are bound to pick one that best suits your needs. be it the traditional debating in law soc, philosoph, ir soc or any political society or just playing computer games in netsoc etc.
I'm doing international and i have to say that i think it is a great choice to make. there are around 8 different colleges to which you can go to in your 3rd year, including places such as Temple University in Philadephia, China, Prague or St Louis. The points are a bit high for international but if you're putting down Law and Irish i think you are facing a similiar challenge there

yourmother wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! Have the CAO filled out and I currently have Law & Irish in UCC down first. Still trying to make my mind up, I'm really caught between UCC and UCD. I'm from Mayo so the fact that I'll know noone in Cork is putting me off a bit, but I prefer the campus etc way more than UCD plus I really enjoyed the talks at the open day! Hard decision to make but thanks for the input everyone!:D

Thats where joining societies and clubs comes in. i got to know so many people in different societies when i came to UCC that I am better friends with them now than with the people that I knew from before.