Subject choices.. Help needed!!

Carolanne..

I am a mature student starting in NUI in sept and am just trying to decide on my subjects but would really appreciate some feedback in the matter.
I am pretty much set on Geography, History and Archaeology but need advice on the last one. I feel the last subject would be something that is pretty easy going but interesting but wont have any feelings towards it when it comes to dropping it in 2nd year, thus giving me the choice between the 3 ones I am more then likely definetly doing(if that makes sense) Its keeping me up at night thinking about it and its wrecking my head , but I am super excited about starting in september! Thanks

jefreywithonef

The first week or so is just introductory lectures so you'll be able to attend a few different subjects and see what each entails and involves. You can chop and change what subjects you're doing up until the second week if I remember correctly, giving you plenty of time to choose.

spinandscribble

I wouldn't do a subject just because you think it'll be easier to quit, i'd do one i found interesting so that studying and turning up to lectures would be easier.
i know when i did my BA I loved all my subjects but felt "right" picking the ones i did because by the end of first year i knew. My other two tutors from the subjects i didn't carry on were surprised i didn't choose their depts actually so it must have been clear i was enjoying the subjects.

psychology/classics/ philosophy would be my suggestions but only because I thought they were great you are already planning archaeology so i can't suggest that!

Carolanne..

I know I might find that the subject I choose might end up as one I keep one but its highly unlikely as I am pretty set on History and Geog, but I know to be open-minded, I was looking at classics but I think it clashes with Geog so it cant be done
I have kind of whittled it down to psycology ( which I can't even spell) and philosophy which I think would be really interesting

Thanks for the help appreciate it!

Carolanne..

Or maybe Italian, I dunno why though...

qwytre

Carolanne.. wrote: »

Or maybe Italian, I dunno why though...

I'd be weary of doing a language unless you really want to. Its not something you can just cram for, its needs a lot of practice.

Ticktactoe

qwytre wrote: »

I'd be weary of doing a language unless you really want to. Its not something you can just cram for, its needs a lot of practice.

Very true. You need to study and practice a language over the duration of the academic year.

WesternNight

The one subject I went back to college to study I won't be taking into second year this year. If first year taught me anything, it was not to decide things before you actually experience them. For me, some of my subject choices were based on my interests, and others were based on expanding my knowledge of things I knew nothing about (ie Economics).

Parts of the course I thought I'd hate, I actually found very interesting. Parts I thought for sure that I'd love were actually really badly taught etc.

Good luck with whatever you do choose

lebowski11

Sociology and Politics and Celtic Studies are both good subjects to accompany History and Archeology. I'm not going to say their both easy to pass, but like everything else, if you apply yourself to them you should do fine. But generally speaking you should probably stick to what you feel your going to be most interested in after experiencing the introductory lectures at the start of the year. Best of luck.

Lockstep

I chose an easy subject in 1st year and wish I hadn't. I did archaeology and it was easy for me but I really should have picked something I still found interesting but would never have a chance to do again (economics in my case)

Soc/Pol is always a good subject. I was set on doing classics but once I went to one lecture, I realised how different it was from what I was expecting and so did archaeology instead.

Psychology and legal science are very competitive (as only a minority get to continue onto second year) so I'd avoid these. Not a good atmosphere.

Carolanne..

I'm not looking for an easy option but being interested in something generally makes it more enjoyable, I know once at Uni level that nothing comes to easily and wouldnt take any subject for granted. I originally thought of english as an option but talking to people that have done it has completely changed my mind on it

I would have absolutley no interest in economics and legal science , I know that. I don't think Italian is really a possiblity ,or any language - cause i dont have the chance to go abroad for a year(my daughter will be in school).Plus I am a linguistic reject.

What is Soc and Pol? ( I know what the words mean..but what does it entail) and is Philosophy all why are we her why stuff?
Thanks for the replies!

WesternNight

Carolanne.. wrote: »

What is Soc and Pol? ( I know what the words mean..but what does it entail)

Basically what it says on the tin. Politics and Sociology.

Stuff covered included:

Political Ideologies
Political Parties in Ireland
Irish Parliament and how it works

Crime and Deviance
Gender Roles and Sexuality
Religion

The politics and sociology sides are dealt with separately but are sometimes intertwined.

Carolanne..

It doesn't sound like my cup of tea to be honest, but I'll go to the lectures to see what the deal is. Thanks

Eoghanacht

I'm also starting in September as a mature student and have narrowed my subject choices down to Archaeology, Geography, Celtic Civilization Studies and am just mulling over the fourth subject, whatever it shall be I've decided not to do a language as I think I'd be only digging a hole for myself and as someone who left school at age fifteen without Junior or Leaving certs I'll already have enough to do, improving my learning/studying skills and such.

Lockstep

In that case, do things you enjoy.
History in NUIG is fantastic, I'm really glad I decided to study it.

CLassics might suit you, my friend does it and loves it, although it was never my cup of tea. Best bet is just to go to introductory lectures and see what the story is, I'm really glad I did this as I was able to reject subjects I would otherwise have done.

WiseMona

I started back to college at NUIG last September (2009) and had my subject choices nailed down MONTHS before my first day.

THEN I attended the introductory lectures and changed the plan completely. I sooooo wanted to study Geography but the lecturers/tutors were not my cup of tea at all and I have have no regrets at all.

I very much chose subjects that I am passionate about and did very well for a first year (old fart).

You can chop and change your mind almost until the end of October. I would go to all the lectures you can - even after you make up your mind.

Once you choose your subjects - attend ALL lectures.

AND although I selected two languages - they are difficult and are time-suckers. Language classes (including labs) can eat up to 7 hours a week per language and if you are a beginner then you need to do as many hours at home too.

Best of luck with first year and all your choices. It is AWESOME and I can't wait to get back in September to 2nd year!

moonandstars

Im starting Arts as a mature student too..I think subject choice is different for everybody..but the other posters have a point..go to the lectures and get a feel for different subjects.
I have already picked history and psychology..after that who knows!!
I was thinking of English too as I loved it in school and used to write poetry a fair bit but I heard that there is a LOAD of reading involved!
Can someone tell me more about english??:)

Carolanne..

ye i know I was the same with english, friend is doin it its really heavy on poems, plays and shakespeare which i cant stand so i opted out! im think psych now myself best of luck we might cross paths at some stage , are u really nervous too??

moonandstars

Im nervous but excited too.. its gunna be cool! i love poems and shakes but i need to check out the lectures first to see... im sure we will cross paths def.. wher are u from?

Carolanne..

ya me too just got a letter to my home house today about all the stuff weve to go to before starting so it made it all a bit more realistic! , my sisters just finshed her leaving cert and shes not bothered at all lol
Im from south galway but living in the city have to move out newcastle way cause i got my daughter into the NUIG creche and wont be driving for another 6 months what about u?

moonandstars

I'm living in town, near Domnick street so it's handy enough, from Loughrea.
Have to start filling up the frant form..I know I won't get it but they say to fill it out anyway. Do u know are fees covered for BTEA? Have you applied for the BTEA?

Carolanne..

ah cool ya I used to live on Fr griffin road last year was handy out but she just got bigger and wanted to play out side more..so moved to renmore
Ive applied for both, if your entitled to BTEA ( I think its something like 6 months or that equivalent in days on Social welfare) your entitled to keep all yer benefits(rent allowance etc) and you apply for the grant to get your fees and registration paid for by the council
otherwise you get the grant but u lose yer rent allowance. I think the btea is the better option (in my case anyways) because my rent allowance would add up to quite alot more in the long run then getting the maintenance grant and you get the 500 at the start for books and stuff, plus you could be months waiting for it too. plus when summer comes around your still on the same thing so theres no hassle changing or being completely skint if you cant get a job

moonandstars

I agree totally..Meant to go up to the council today will have to wait till Monday..

Ilusa

I don't know if it's any help but I'll just try and tell you what the four subs were like and what I thought of them

1. English: hmmm not what I expected, I'm very into the creative side of English and I found the course here had less creativity than the LC. The idea is to come up with unique creative analyzes of texts, but there is zero creation of your own works ect. (not a flaw but I wish it had a creative dimension to it).

Workload: There is a lot of reading which is manageable if you do it when you're meant to. There were 2 essays per semester which make up a third of your marks, so it's virtually the same as other subjects writing wise.

2. IT: It found this really easy, but one third of the class failed at Christmas. They take a role at classes which counts a bit towards your final score. On a side ntoe you don't need any sort of advanced maths skills for IT i'd say that's the biggest misconception of all time. add,multiply,divide,subtract that's about it. but when you're asked to make a program though it's like a word puzzle almost like the ones kids have in their primary school maths books, like Mary is John's sister's friends and if her friend and is a year younger than Mary and John is 3 years older than Mary how old is john's friend who is a year older than John. Like that but less confusing so basically it's logic not maths.

Workload: You have one little programming thing to do every week, but this doesn't start until about a few weeks in and starts of very very basic. I actually only changed to this sub about 3-4 weeks in so I was so relieved that they hadn't done much :P. Other than programming they run through lessons on different Microsoft programs like word, PowerPoint, excel and then they give you a few weeks to do different projects on them which were kind of fun mostly and definitely not hard, and everything you needed was explained well in class. They had a few labs a week which is basically time in the computer suite where you can work on your projects, and computer programs and they have tutors walking around which will help you with anything, most of them were extremely nice!

3. Philosophy: Extremely interesting! It started with Ancient philosophy which I thought I'd love but didn't really but it was interesting! I'd have liked it if they'd covered less philosophers and done them in greater depth. The best part of the course by far for me was the modules of semester 2 which was all modern philosophy, and mainly about ethics: like food ethics, capital punishment,euthanasia, abortion, war, genetic engineering, experimentation, animal rights ect. Great for anyone who loves debates, or enjoys any of those topics. I think there were 2 essays only for the whole year, and 2 exams but there is quiet a bit of reading to do.

4.Psychology:
Wow it covers so much, but I thought 90% of it was really interesting! Like you have modules on personality psychology, the psychology of love/hate/attraction, and there was a whole section on how groups influence our behavior and how people in them can become fanatical. There;s also a science element to it which is just a bit of biology mainly. I found the science hard until I sat down and just learned the stuff then it was a breeze, like the material wasn't difficult it's just the lec seemed to think everyone had don LC biology which I hadn't and a lot of people were in that boat too but it's nothing to be worried about.

There's a section on research methods in both semesters which honestly I found dull, but I know how necessary it is so looking back I'm glad I did them since I'm keeping psy up. Thankfully there was no exam in this just a lab report in each semester, which only touches on a little of what you do in class!

There are also another 2 essays to do for the main modules, so again that's just one per semester(so 4 per year in total for PSY).

So basically english is great is you love reading and not creating, IT is good if you don't hate computers and go to class, Philosophy is a slow starter both turned into the most interesting thing I studied, and Psychology the most consistent of the subs for me, not an easy workload but rewarding!

I actually ended up taking just pure Psychology from next year on, which I had never planned on doing at the start of the year!

laoise09

Go to as many introductory lectures as you can. i was a mature student myself and i thought i knew what subjects i was going to take until i got to nuig - i totally changed my mind in the first couple of weeks. try as many as you can, you'd be surprised what subjects/lecturers will grab your imagination.

Carolanne..

Ilusa wrote: »

I don't know if it's any help but I'll just try and tell you what the four subs were like and what I thought of them

1. English: hmmm not what I expected, I'm very into the creative side of English and I found the course here had less creativity than the LC. The idea is to come up with unique creative analyzes of texts, but there is zero creation of your own works ect. (not a flaw but I wish it had a creative dimension to it).

Workload: There is a lot of reading which is manageable if you do it when you're meant to. There were 2 essays per semester which make up a third of your marks, so it's virtually the same as other subjects writing wise.

2. IT: It found this really easy, but one third of the class failed at Christmas. They take a role at classes which counts a bit towards your final score. On a side ntoe you don't need any sort of advanced maths skills for IT i'd say that's the biggest misconception of all time. add,multiply,divide,subtract that's about it. but when you're asked to make a program though it's like a word puzzle almost like the ones kids have in their primary school maths books, like Mary is John's sister's friends and if her friend and is a year younger than Mary and John is 3 years older than Mary how old is john's friend who is a year older than John. Like that but less confusing so basically it's logic not maths.

Workload: You have one little programming thing to do every week, but this doesn't start until about a few weeks in and starts of very very basic. I actually only changed to this sub about 3-4 weeks in so I was so relieved that they hadn't done much :P. Other than programming they run through lessons on different Microsoft programs like word, PowerPoint, excel and then they give you a few weeks to do different projects on them which were kind of fun mostly and definitely not hard, and everything you needed was explained well in class. They had a few labs a week which is basically time in the computer suite where you can work on your projects, and computer programs and they have tutors walking around which will help you with anything, most of them were extremely nice!

3. Philosophy: Extremely interesting! It started with Ancient philosophy which I thought I'd love but didn't really but it was interesting! I'd have liked it if they'd covered less philosophers and done them in greater depth. The best part of the course by far for me was the modules of semester 2 which was all modern philosophy, and mainly about ethics: like food ethics, capital punishment,euthanasia, abortion, war, genetic engineering, experimentation, animal rights ect. Great for anyone who loves debates, or enjoys any of those topics. I think there were 2 essays only for the whole year, and 2 exams but there is quiet a bit of reading to do.

4.Psychology:
Wow it covers so much, but I thought 90% of it was really interesting! Like you have modules on personality psychology, the psychology of love/hate/attraction, and there was a whole section on how groups influence our behavior and how people in them can become fanatical. There;s also a science element to it which is just a bit of biology mainly. I found the science hard until I sat down and just learned the stuff then it was a breeze, like the material wasn't difficult it's just the lec seemed to think everyone had don LC biology which I hadn't and a lot of people were in that boat too but it's nothing to be worried about.

There's a section on research methods in both semesters which honestly I found dull, but I know how necessary it is so looking back I'm glad I did them since I'm keeping psy up. Thankfully there was no exam in this just a lab report in each semester, which only touches on a little of what you do in class!

There are also another 2 essays to do for the main modules, so again that's just one per semester(so 4 per year in total for PSY).

So basically english is great is you love reading and not creating, IT is good if you don't hate computers and go to class, Philosophy is a slow starter both turned into the most interesting thing I studied, and Psychology the most consistent of the subs for me, not an easy workload but rewarding!

I actually ended up taking just pure Psychology from next year on, which I had never planned on doing at the start of the year!

thats a brilliant help thanks a million, ya ive kinda narrowed it down to eithe psych or philosophy now so it really helped!

moonandstars

Thinkin of sociology and eek politics...along with History and psychology..
May do English too..as I hav always loved it..the poetry and sonnets..if there is too much reading I can give it up I suppose.

tkeane

Is english really that orientated on poets and Shakespeare? I don't mind Shakespeare that much but not too fussed about poetry. I prefer novels. I was intending on doing Creative Writing but missed out by 5 points.

I am doing french anyways because I love the language and I am possibly thinking about doing another one as well. Any thoughts?

The other two? I am not too sure, possibly classics and am completely confused about the other one ( in case I don't do another language)

moonandstars

tkeane wrote: »

Is english really that orientated on poets and Shakespeare? I don't mind Shakespeare that much but not too fussed about poetry. I prefer novels. I was intending on doing Creative Writing but missed out by 5 points.

I am doing french anyways because I love the language and I am possibly thinking about doing another one as well. Any thoughts?

The other two? I am not too sure, possibly classics and am completely confused about the other one ( in case I don't do another language)

Hey carolanne..were you there today? long day but kinda interesting
Im not sure if its too orientated on shakes but im kinda just presumin!
i was gonna pick creative writing too and now....im kinda sorry i didnt pick it!!!!!! aagggghhhh
Anyway im stuck with arts so... a girl i met today mentioned classics and that might interest me..but if i will do history classics and english and psyc....that ALOT ALOT of reading!!!!

Carolanne..

yep i was
it was interesting apart from that cindy one christ i thought i was gona fall asleep lol, i went outside to have a smoke and realised i was on a fire escape and had to sit down while people ploughed over me was mortofied.. (selective fear of heights)
i felt like such a loner rambling around at lunch , any more ideas on subject choices, whats yer name btw if u dont mind me asking

Ms January

Im defo doing English soc and pol and philosophy


Anyone any info on IT