Is it worth studying abroad

Comrade C

Hi, Im aiming for doing Science in Trinity but amnt sure if id be better studying it abroad. Im in TY now (I know its a bit early to be considering), so by the time im out of school we myt be out of the major of the recession. Also consideration of finances and overall effort in relation to benefit wud be appreciated:D! Thanks

djcervi

Well it depends on what you think. You say that you are aiming for Trinity (Good choice btw ), so would you feel that you would be missing the ideal course for yourself, should you study abroad? That said you could easily find something just as good (if not better) than Trinity. In 6th year there is the jobs and careers fair where you can chat to people from other universities in the UK, and a rep who deals with prospective students studying in France.

Obviously perhaps the main reason you want to study abroad is for life experience, as many do. Maybe you might want to learn a new language. In that case maybe an erasmus/socrates year would be suitable. It's only a year, and you could have the best of both worlds. From what I understand (I'm open to correction) that a huge part of Irish university life is the socialising aspects. There are loads of societies and clubs that cater for almost everything, and you can make great friends from them. In other countries there is less of an emphasis on this. Although i'd say you could find university sport teams, etc. I know in France that all college students go home at the weekend. Also their system is more impersonal than our one.

You've plenty of time to think this over, so get some information on wherever you'd like to Study. Also maybe contact TCD science dept for list of their exchanges with other universities. Although be prepared to go on Erasmus in 2nd year, as after 2nd yr all the work you do counts towards your degree. That's different in comparison to other universities (Europe, I know of) that all your work over your degree course counts towards your finall degree mark.

Found you info. good luck. http://www.tcd.ie/Biochemistry/courses/socrates.php

Comrade C

Thanks vry much, ur gr8 help!:D Well the thing is I was born in the north, but iv lived in Ireland for like 15 yrs! So wat i cud do is get a british passport and head ova to england or edinbura (Terrible spelling i kno:P) and wondering wud place like UCL, Oxford and Cambridge be awfully dry areas socially?

brilliantboy

Comrade C wrote: »

Thanks vry much, ur gr8 help!:D Well the thing is I was born in the north, but iv lived in Ireland for like 15 yrs! So wat i cud do is get a british passport and head ova to england or edinbura (Terrible spelling i kno:P) and wondering wud place like UCL, Oxford and Cambridge be awfully dry areas socially?

You don't need a British passport to study in the UK, or anywhere else in the EEC for that matter.

I don't know about UCL, but Oxford and Cambridge have something like 10,000 undergraduates each,
all of whom are required to live in said towns, so I'd imagine they'd be pretty OK socially.

Colleges like these are really selective though, and get tons of applications,
so you'd want to be hitting the books hard next year. Good luck.

djcervi

Also British citizenship does not specially guarantee you any UK maintenance grants. The maintenance grants are judged more on UK residency than citizenship. I'm sure you can get some form of an EU grant, if you look around. I'm just saying so in case that was what you meant by getting a British passport.

pow wow

Comrade C wrote: »

Thanks vry much, ur gr8 help!:D Well the thing is I was born in the north, but iv lived in Ireland for like 15 yrs! So wat i cud do is get a british passport and head ova to england or edinbura (Terrible spelling i kno:P) and wondering wud place like UCL, Oxford and Cambridge be awfully dry areas socially?

Less txt spk plz. You're not limited to x amount of characters on a keyboard after all...

A few people I know went to UCL and Cambridge and although the social scene is a wee bit different there is lots of fun there if you look for it. Academically the latter two are tough going, though I guess if you want to go there you know that already!

Check out the Oxbridge forums on www.thestudentroom.co.uk - there's plenty of current students who post there regularly and if you have any questions about the social scene they're probably better placed to help than most boardsies.