MSISS???

stekill

hey,
i will studying MSISS in October. Is it as hard as it is made out to be? im a little nervous going into the course and i am afraid i will not be able to cope. i love economics,business and computers,but i am not so good with statistics and probability. can any student give me a low down of the course and its content!

Groinshot

Engineers last year shared 3 modules with MSISS, maths 1 and 2, and Computers. Maths one was ALL Calculus, differentiation and integration, but you'll manage that no problem if you're okay with it, it's only a slight build on leaving cert maths. maths 2 is continuing calculus to a point, and then linear algebra, so matrices I think was all we did there, can't REALLY remember. computers was progamming, C++, and if you're good with computers you'll whizz hrough the year, if you're not, you'll struggle. Get the book, Go to the lectures, you'll know within a week or two how you'll fare out at the end of the year. That's all I know about it, sorry

stekill

an aside question....many girls in the class?

Groinshot

In engineering- No, not many, but not sure about MSISS, Think there was a good few, maybe 10 or 12 out of the 26 that did it.

sternn

Im in 4th year msiss...and it a bit tough, not too bad though. The statistics classes are probably the hardest part. The workload is not huge in the first year or two. You will have approx 20 hours a week. Not to scare you though...out of 42 of the 1st years in MSISS this year...only 8 passed. If you have any other questions, just ask!

Dante

Well, I'm fairly sure that MSISS had the highest JF failure rate this year in the college, something like 80%? In saying that, if you put in a bit of work at home you'll be fine...that's where most fell down. I shared 4 modules with MSISS last year, Maths, Statistics, Intro to Organisation and Management and Intro to Programming.

Maths is fairly straight forward, its split into two parts, the first is with Hugh Gibbons which, tbh is a load of waffle all about boolean algebra and logic...most people ended up skipping it because he spends most his time talking shíte. You are marked on two assignments which I'm nearly positive he doesn't correct. The second term is with Murial Huggard, this is straight forward enough, you mainly do matrices and integration - pretty much leaving cert honours stuff. She gives two in-class tests each worth 5% of your final grade. I did ordinary maths since junior cert and found it fine just to put it in perspective.

Statistics is done first term with Mary Sharpe. Throughout the term, a majority of people didn't know what she was talking about during lectures because she explained things way to fast and as a result, ended up skipping most the lectures. Once you sit down and study it yourself though, its quite easy. 20% of your grade is marked on lab work which is quite stupid considering there were no helpers who knew anything about statistics during the labs and the labs themselves had little relevance to the final exam.

Introduction to programming is the hardest of the four, mainly because its all completely new (assuming you have never programmed before). 69 out of 100 people failed the module (incluing myself) AFAIK, mainly because we let it get over our heads and put no work in after lectures. I would definitely advise you to put in a fair bit of work at home with java because its very manageable, all it needs is work and practice. In programming, you have a weekly tutorial where you do your coursework worth 20% and a weekly lab where you basically practice what you should have learned the previous week. Again, I'd advise you to put in a bit of effort in labs because it saves a lot of effort later on in the year and the postgrades are actually very helpful.

The last module I shared was Organisation and Management, which again is pretty straight forward. You do two 2500 word assignments - one each term - which both count towards your final grade, along with 10% you get for attending the weekly seminars. The rest is marked on a final exam which again isn't too difficult and is fairly predictable.
Basically, for all these modules, if you put in a bit of work every week you'll do grand, especially with java and stats. This is all from my point of view, some people may have found it a lot easier, but I'm a lazy wanker so...
gl with it anyways, hoped this helped.

EDIT: And yes, there are loads of birds in the course. At a complete guess, I'd say it was close to 50:50 in first year last year, although I'm open to correction on that.

sternn

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

EDIT: And yes, there are loads of birds in the course. At a complete guess, I'd say it was close to 50:50 in first year last year, although I'm open to correction on that.

Yes its about 50:50 id say through all years.

stekill

thanks very much guys...im a little nervous with the high failure rates...i can always drop to BESS???

C.D.

I did Engineering with Management which shares between 30-50% of classes with MSISS (maths, stats, some programming classes and management classes) and 40-80% of classes with the BAI (general engineering degree).

Back in my day, the MSISS maths courses were just the BAI maths classes.

The MSISS subjects (the stats, programming and management) were taken by the Statistics department and were considered to be much easier than our engineering subjects and we got by with much less work.

That said, a lot of people go into the programming classes (both MSISS and BAI) with an attitude of "I'm not computer person/I hate computers", don't do the required work and really struggle with it. Just make sure you get the basics right (If statements etc.), a solid foundation will stand to you.

I would say, if you are good at maths (LC Honours maths etc), the MSISS maths and statistics courses will be fine, the standard in the MSISS only classes is not that high. The same for programming. If you are a more business orientated type, you might find it more challenging.

OP I don't know who is making it out to be very hard, my experience was that it was quite easy compared to the other courses down the science/engineering end of college. All my friends in MSISS went out 2/3 nights a week all year for 4 years and nearly half the class finished their finals with 1:1's, with only one or two people getting less than 2:1's.

stekill

right....i hope it doesnt come down to this,but if needs be,can you change to a different course within trinity assuming u meet the previous CAO requirements?

Groinshot

stekill wrote: »

right....i hope it doesnt come down to this,but if needs be,can you change to a different course within trinity assuming u meet the previous CAO requirements?

Yes.

Groinshot

stekill wrote: »

right....i hope it doesnt come down to this,but if needs be,can you change to a different course within trinity assuming u meet the previous CAO requirements?

Yes. There's loads of threads with taht on here, can't think of any offhand, but if you meet the points, transfer within a set time, and there's space, it's fine. If not, there's always next year You seem to be thinking of that already though, Don't be put off by what people say about it. Every course is tough...

Ruined_Silver

Hey, I just finished first year Msiss. So I thought I'd give my two cents on it.

I want to start by saying the course is ridiculously hard to pass, 86% failed this year.

Nearly everyone failed java (computer programming), and engineering maths.
Myself included.

There's a LOAD of maths in the course, so if you don't like, (and by like,
I mean love) maths/statistics, you're probably gonna struggle to pass at the end of the year.

The ratio of girls to lads was about 50:50.

Business is easy enough to pass.
Same with Economics, as long as you go to the lectures in both, the tutorials, you hand up assignments, study for mid term economics test, etc.

Software apps is easy aswell (as long as you go to every lab and actually hand in stuff).

Management Science was pretty easy.. we had decent lecturers (Arthur Hughes was great). [It's about solving business problems with maths & probability and stuff].

Stats was ****ing horrible! Terrible lecturer (Mary Sharp), labs were even worse, the teaching assistants didn't know anything about statistics, they were computer science post grads or something.

Maths was okay for the first term, but for the second term we had three 9O'clock lectures every week (which may not sound bad, after secondary school, but in college it's a struggle to wake up for). As a result, I personally only went to about 4 lectures over the entire second term. And the same was true for the majority of the class. Maths was all about calculus, matrices, and stuff.

Programming... where to start! It sounds cool enough when your starting off, the lectures/labs are easy, but then out of no where everything just steps up a gear, which left pretty much everyone in Msiss completely lost. So we basically all failed (86%!!! [we got an A in failing! ha]).

Yeah, so.. That's all I've got to say really.

If your not really into Maths/probability/statistics/calculus/computer languages then MSISS is quite possible the wrong course for you.

There is Business and Economics lectures once a week, but if your really into business and Ec, and you hate maths, etc. Then you should probably see if you can transfer into BESS or something after a week or two of trying it out.

The people in the course are what make it bearable, every year forms a pretty close knit group, you'll make some really good friends and all that. Great craic on nights out, etc.

I probably sound pretty pessimistic about the whole thing, but I would've liked for someone to tell me all this before I started.

So I guess me and the rest of the senior freshmen class will see all you first-y's during Fresher's Week! ..If any of us pass our repeats that is..

Ruined_Silver

Groinshot wrote: »

Every course is tough...

Especially Msiss

Dante

Ruined_Silver wrote: »

Especially Msiss

I take it you'll be joining me on Tuesday at 9.30???

S. Goodspeed

Points for MSISS got up as high as 545 back in the day and the course was tailored accordingly. Presuming they haven't dumbed it down since to match the lower entry points then it's only natural that the majority will struggle. That being said anyone with a B in leving certain maths should be strong enough to get through the 4 years. It's important to stay on top of stats in first year because it's the foundation of a lot that follows. If you do that you'll be fine.

stekill

im pretty much pooing myself right now..do you have to do every single module or can you pick and choose areas where you are strongest!

sternn

Don't be worrying too much! With a little bit of work, you should be fine. The course has stayed at the same standard, they have not dumbed it down. They increased the numbers on the course from 24 to 40 just last year. As a result, the points dropped (as demand for the course never increased) which resulted in people with below 400 points getting on the course.

I am not saying if you have below 400 points its going to be hard, but you may just need to work a bit harder than people with 500+ to grasp an understanding of some of the material.

In fairness though, this year they did Java I believe, and to a very high standard. When I did 1st year (3 years ago), we did C++ with the engineers. That was not bad at all. They may change the language you will be studying this year.

One thing which really helps to get you through the year is the society....the management science society. There are many social events organised throughout the year. Being part of MSISS, I believe it is one of the most sociable societies out there.

Also, all the modules are set for you. The only thing you can choose in 1st / 2nd year is an extra language module (most of which happen in the evening time). I tried to do spanish...but 7-9 on a monday evening was just not the best, so I left it after a couple of months. In 3rd and 4th year you get to choose one module, in addition to your 6 or 7 modules you do. The choices are not great for this though!

stekill

right i got 510 with a B2 in maths,we'll see,still very paranoid

Groinshot

S. Goodspeed wrote: »

Points for MSISS got up as high as 545 back in the day and the course was tailored accordingly.

So because the course was in demand, they made it harder?
BS

stekill wrote: »

right i got 510 with a B2 in maths,we'll see,still very paranoid

The engineering maths isn't hard if you're bothered at all. I missed about one of those lectures a week and breezed the exam. there's lunchtime tutorials once a week, and during the summer like. the C++ programming is easy enough, but java is tough anyway... can't talk for everythign else.
Give it a go, see how you get on is all I'd say.


And as for all courses are tough, especially MSISS?

I know that more people failed engineering than failed msiss this year... To be honest, I never saw any of you guys in our maths lectures, (or the programming ones if I bothered showing up) so that wouldn't have helped.
if you keep on top of things OP, it'll be fine, like everything really. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it!

Mountain_Surfer

Groinshot wrote: »

So because the course was in demand, they made it harder?
BS

No, the course has always been hard. The difficulty of a course doenst really determine the amount of points required to be accepted into that course. What does determine the points is supply of places and the demand for those places.

The reason that MSISS is/was so low this and last year is because Computer Science is not filling it's quota (because they are part of the same school, SCSS - School of Computer Science and Statistics, the amount of students on one course affects the amount of students on the other). Demand and Supply.

Back in the IT boom MSISS points were really high (as high as 550, as far as I can remember) and they were only accepting the best of the best students. The reason for this, demand for the course was huge. As a result of the points being high, one would assume the level of intelligence was also high, the standard of the course (subject difficulty) was also high. When demand started to fall, as sternn said earlier, the subject difficulty never really came down.

Kind of getting bored and watching the hurling so that brings this post to a close

C.D.

Groinshot wrote: »

The engineering maths isn't hard if you're bothered at all. I missed about one of those lectures a week and breezed the exam. there's lunchtime tutorials once a week, and during the summer like. the C++ programming is easy enough, but java is tough anyway... can't talk for everythign else.
Give it a go, see how you get on is all I'd say.

And as for all courses are tough, especially MSISS?

I know that more people failed engineering than failed msiss this year... To be honest, I never saw any of you guys in our maths lectures, (or the programming ones if I bothered showing up) so that wouldn't have helped.
if you keep on top of things OP, it'll be fine, like everything really. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it!

I'm with Groinshot on this one, I don't think MSISS is a hard course. I think a lot of Business orientated people don't realise the maths involved and go in unpreapred. I think the MSISS class is just not as committed in the early years as other classes. I remember going to MSISS lectures where less than 15% of the MSISS class would turn on a regular basis- they were always and I mean always skipping lectures as they went out so often.

OP, if you are OK at maths and put work in it is fine. The Engineering maths is fairly handy and all the Engineers do well (I went to less than 5 lectures a term and still got a first in both maths subjects in 2nd year). There are too few good statistics lecturers, but Mary Sharp teaches straight from the notes/course material so if you work through that you will be fine.

C.D.

OP, I should also say it has quite possibly the highest employment rate of any course in college. It has consistently been over 90% even during these tough times. Everyone I can think of who graduated in the last 3 or so years from MSISS is in gainful employment, compared to ~25% for the scientists, engineers etc. and <15% for the Arts grads I know.

Groinshot

Mountain_Surfer wrote: »

No, the course has always been hard. The difficulty of a course doenst really determine the amount of points required to be accepted into that course. What does determine the points is supply of places and the demand for those places.

I know that, I probably should have said BULL**** instead of BS after my first line, I was tlaking about the gob****e above me posting.

trolol

I am going to summarise the MSISS mentality by placing these two lines beside each other.

Ruined_Silver wrote: »

I want to start by saying the course is ridiculously hard to pass, 86% failed this year.

Ruined_Silver wrote: »

Maths was okay for the first term, but for the second term we had three 9O'clock lectures every week (which may not sound bad, after secondary school, but in college it's a struggle to wake up for). As a result, I personally only went to about 4 lectures over the entire second term. And the same was true for the majority of the class.

dpmurray

I graduated from MSISS a few years ago and just wanted to add to this post.

When i started the course the points were about 540 consistently for about 3 years. Before that the points had steadily increased from low 400s. The course always was, and judging by the comments, still is a pretty demanding course. You to need a good grounding in math, but you still need to put the work in each year or, as people are finding out, you will fail the year. Just to point out a lot of technical courses (tech engineering ) and surprisingly high failure rates.

Just because the points are now lower than previous years doesn't mean the college is going to reduce the standard of the course, so the fail rate is increasing. You need to do your research on any course before you apply. That said if you do your research MSISS is a good course - albeit a bit too broad on the business end.

On the comments about the failure rate in programming - most (normal) people find programming in college difficult to get the hang of initially - the result being most give up on it, do not work and fail the subject. If you work at it - like anything else - from the start and make the effort I'd be very surprised if you fail it come the end of the year.

As another poster said, the first 2 years are light on weekly hours - but unless you want to fail - you're gonna have to put some work in to pass. I'm not saying to hit the library every day - just keep on top of course work.

The final 2 years were, while i was there, pretty tough with a lot of project work - especially in groups. You'll also have a big final year project in your 4th year.

So, as a person who's been through it, the course is well worth the work and would give you decent job prospects once you finish.

Hope this is of some help.

spoonbadger

MSISS first year is not a very difficult course. Simply turning up to most lectures on a consistant basis and staring forward vacantly is more than enough to pass first year.

n fairness though, this year they did Java I believe, and to a very high standard.

Maths was okay for the first term, but for the second term we had three 9O'clock lectures every week (which may not sound bad, after secondary school, but in college it's a struggle to wake up for). As a result, I personally only went to about 4 lectures over the entire second term. And the same was true for the majority of the class. Maths was all about calculus, matrices, and stuff.

Programming... where to start! It sounds cool enough when your starting off, the lectures/labs are easy, but then out of no where everything just steps up a gear, which left pretty much everyone in Msiss completely lost. So we basically all failed (86%!!! [we got an A in failing! ha]).

The programming course in first year is pretty piss easy. It's completely entry level java, the lecturer will spend 2 full weeks just explaining pre-school level concepts to you, through the use of colourful teaching aids and metaphors with cars and toys. I guessing the "second gear" was when they started teaching you programming. If you cant pass this module, you should reconsider 3rd level education.

Another course takes this same module, and from the same starting point as MSISS. In that course, 90% of the course passed. If you go in with some silly idea that "oh! programming is hard! gonna fail, why try" then yes.... You'll fail.

Maths is the same. The first semester is new, the second semester is pass level integration and some extended matrices. 9 o clock lectures. How unfortunate. Go to lectures, at least occasionally, and it's not difficult.

stekill

cheers fellas, seems like turning up and working hard is the key..thats never been a problem with me so i hope all turns out well.:)

C.D.

trolol wrote: »

I am going to summarise the MSISS mentality by placing these two lines beside each other.

Sums up my experience very well, bearing in mind I took 60-70 ECTS credits of courses with MSISS over the course of my degree (that's about 25% per year on average). OP, just don't be sucked into the MSISS culture of non attendance, doing no work and then complaining it is too hard when you fail. Put the work in and from the sound of it, you'll excel.

sternn

C.D. wrote: »

...... and from the sound of it, you'll excel.

I like it, in typical MSISS fashion!

DevL

I was an MSISS fresher in 2006, finished final year MSISS in May of this year and am due to graduate in November. I think dpmurray summed up the course experience quite well but I would like to add that the OP should not be discouraged by any negative comments on this thread. There were 24 in my class in JF and 20 are set to graduate this November (83%) which is pretty good.

I didn't think the first two years were light on weekly hours, in JF and SF I had around 25-35 scheduled weekly hours. JS and SS had far less lecture hours but more hours overall as more work was required in project work (group and solo). Some lectures are more useful than others but I don't think poor lecture attendance is an MSISS mentality. Over the last 4 years I shared courses with Engineering, BESS and MEMS and MSISS non-attendance was nothing exceptional compared to other course's lectures e.g. in an engineering maths class of 150+, attendance of around 20 people in the morning was pretty regular.

sternn wrote:

I like it, in typical MSISS fashion!

Dave, for shame

luigii

So MSISS sat the programming supp today. How many of you guys think you'll be about in second year?

C.D.

sternn wrote: »

I like it, in typical MSISS fashion!

Ha oh dear! Solver will be your best friend

bola

What kind of jobs specifically do MSISS grads get into?. Can they easily find jobs around the world? + What's the average salary of a graduate with an MSISS degree.

It would probably be unseen for one to compare an MSISS degree with an Actuarial science degree but I'm stuck between the 2. Which is the best option? apart from the monetary side of things

Groinshot

bola wrote: »

What kind of jobs specifically do MSISS grads get into?. Can they easily find jobs around the world? + What's the average salary of a graduate with an MSISS degree.

It would probably be unseen for one to compare an MSISS degree with an Actuarial science degree but I'm stuck between the 2. Which is the best option? apart from the monetary side of things

http://www.tcd.ie/Statistics/students/studentsmsiss.shtml

Google is your friend.

bola

Thanks Groinshot(Very creative:D). I have looked over and over again at this website. It's got quite a bit of information but it has not been updated since 2007 and times have changed since then which is the reason i question it's accuracy. I have read up on managaement consultants in the States who seem to really enjoy the job. They seem to either have an MBA or a Business related degree, something which i think MSISS provides and possibly even more. The question is would having this degree enable one to setup a career as a Management consultant with a firm or would one end up working in one office jobs like the guys listed at the TCD MSISS website. Like i said the site hasn't been updated since 2007 so it's hard to determine would one be able to work as a Management consultant with an MSISS degree.

bola

read back over the site again. just confirmed one could be a management consultant with the degree although none of the previous students that are profiled on the site work as one. Thanks again Groin

DevL

MSISS graduates are very strong candidates for management consulting and technology consulting. The degree has a focus on stats, IS and computer science as well as general business concepts. This mix of skills has proven to be desirable to employers for a variety of rolls, especially mgmt & tech consultancy and as such the course and society has benefited from ties with employers such as Accenture and Deloitte in recent years. You might ask yourself if you think consultancy positions will be available when you anticipate you might graduate from MSISS.

bola

Thanks DevL. What do you think would influence the decline in the number of management consultancy jobs?. In my opinion as long as companies continue to exist and startup's continue 2 try to match up with the larger companies, management consultancy might still be a huge job industry. But in yourr opinion, why would the jobs in this industry reduce?

DevL

Bola, I wouldn't say the jobs in the industry are definitely going to decline over the next 4-5 years but the job market is very uncertain at the moment. I have heard instances of companies deferring or reducing numbers of consultancy grads in recent times. Whilst this will probably bounce back over the next few years, it is something I would be aware of when choosing a degree. Your other mentioned option (A&F), affords you exemptions for the actuarial exams which are a great stepping stone to becoming an actuary.

bola

Thanks 4 d post DevL. You are probably right. It would possibly be quite easy and a lot more secure jobwise to go with the A & F option. it also seems that switching to management consultancy from it might be easier. What drew me to the MSISS @ trinity initally were the Computer Science and project works undertaken but maybe the A&F is the most suitable. I would continue to give it some thought. Thanks again

higgz

Sorry to bring up an old thread.

I'm a LC student and I'm thinking of putting MSISS as no.1 on a change of mind before the CAO deadline at the end of the month.

I know a lot about the course already but I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who has just finished their first year and who did their first exams there over the last few weeks?

Just wanting to know how you got on and what your impressions are after your first year.

I also want to know what the drop-out rate was for the year and was anyone successful in changing courses, like a move to BESS.

Also how's the gender balance holding up?

Call Me Lia

higgz wrote: »

Sorry to bring up an old thread.

I'm a LC student and I'm thinking of putting MSISS as no.1 on a change of mind before the CAO deadline at the end of the month.
I know a lot about the course already but I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who has just finished their first year and who did their first exams there over the last few weeks?
Just wanting to know how you got on and what your impressions are after your first year. I also want to know what the drop-out rate was for the year and was anyone successful in changing courses, like a move to BESS.
Also how's the gender balance holding up?

looks like I'm not the only one checking out old threads ! After having researched my cao through boards for next year during the past few months, I finally made an account for this. I've seen some of your comments higgs and I agree with everything you say in relation to courses and jobs, so I'm curious as to what you put down as your number one already, if you don't mind me asking... I'm considering this course aswell, though I'm only starting 6th year in September. Good luck with your leaving cert! And when you get in, you have to tell the rest of us how it's going

higgz

Call Me Lia wrote: »

looks like I'm not the only one checking out old threads ! After having researched my cao through boards for next year during the past few months, I finally made an account for this. I've seen some of your comments higgs and I agree with everything you say in relation to courses and jobs, so I'm curious as to what you put down as your number one already, if you don't mind me asking... I'm considering this course aswell, though I'm only starting 6th year in September. Good luck with your leaving cert! And when you get in, you have to tell the rest of us how it's going

I have BESS down as no.1 now. Economics and Politics would be big interests of mine plus I get to keep up French.

But coming out of a course of 200+ probably means getting a job could be difficult.

MSISS also studies Economics during the course with the other classes focussed on business, maths, statistics and computer science. Way more employable in this day and age. I can always study French in the evenings.

I'm also quite interested in these subject areas so I'll probably put MSISS as my no.1 before the end of the month.

Call Me Lia

higgz wrote: »

I have BESS down as no.1 now. Economics and Politics would be big interests of mine plus I get to keep up French.

But coming out of a course of 200+ probably means getting a job could be difficult.

MSISS also studies Economics during the course with the other classes focussed on business, maths, statistics and computer science. Way more employable in this day and age. I can always study French in the evenings.

I'm also quite interested in these subject areas so I'll probably put MSISS as my no.1 before the end of the month.

Ya, I think msiss offers more career options really for when you finish the course. Also I'd say you could get in investment banking with it as well. I don't think it's the amount of people doing bess that is it's weakness. In my opinion(and i'm open for correction here) it's the course content. Not enough maths, or computer science modules which are vital for a lot of employment nowadays. Bess is more artsy in my opinion, while msiss is more mathsy :L . Do you have economics and finance in
ucd down somewhere? that also sounds great . I think I'll put maths and econmics in trinity as well. I'm hoping to become a trader or investment banker. There's potential to earn sooo much money there I think. Anyway tell me how you get on

higgz

Call Me Lia wrote: »

Ya, I think msiss offers more career options really for when you finish the course. Also I'd say you could get in investment banking with it as well. I don't think it's the amount of people doing bess that is it's weakness. In my opinion(and i'm open for correction here) it's the course content. Not enough maths, or computer science modules which are vital for a lot of employment nowadays. Bess is more artsy in my opinion, while msiss is more mathsy :L . Do you have economics and finance in
ucd down somewhere? that also sounds great . I think I'll put maths and econmics in trinity as well. I'm hoping to become a trader or investment banker. There's potential to earn sooo much money there I think. Anyway tell me how you get on

BESS has a mathsy side if you take certain modules in the later years but even then it's nothing compared to other courses. One of the reasons I've moved away from BESS is that the Maths module in 1st year includes those who got even a C3 in OL maths. Since I do HL it'd be better to do MSISS where I can keep my maths skills on the up.

It's amazing how important maths skills are now for getting certain jobs. As you've mentioned investment banking, it's one career where they'll take a MSISS graduate over a BESS graduate any day!

I'd have to take 2 busses to get to UCD, it's not anywhere on my CAO

Economics and Maths would be great but doing PURE maths is supposed to be HELL. Now, that's the impression I get. I'm more of an average HL maths student so I'll be doing MSISS since it's not very heavy on the maths side.

Pure Maths requires B3 or higher, MSISS C3 or higher.

+1 on being a trader or investment banker, I've been exploring that too. MSISS is certainly a step towards it, especially with the computer skills you learn.

Mancho

higgz wrote: »

Sorry to bring up an old thread.

I'm a LC student and I'm thinking of putting MSISS as no.1 on a change of mind before the CAO deadline at the end of the month.

I know a lot about the course already but I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who has just finished their first year and who did their first exams there over the last few weeks?

Just wanting to know how you got on and what your impressions are after your first year.

I also want to know what the drop-out rate was for the year and was anyone successful in changing courses, like a move to BESS.

Also how's the gender balance holding up?

Just finished first first year myself so I'l try answer a few of your questions for ya.

Overall I am really happy I'm doing this course . It's not always the most exciting but it's interesting to get a variety of different modules eg: maths with the engineers, business and economics with bess, programing with computer science. Parts I enjoyed the most were probably business and programing. An interest in maths and business would help.

Drop out rate... I actually don't know anyone who has dropped out. There are a good few people who don't show up to alot of lectures but I think everyone showed up for the exams. Just about the exams... not easy. Programing is the problem for most people. More than half have failed this year. There are repeats in august do. If you are gonna work from day 1 on anything it's this. You can't cram for it!! But with everything, if you put in the work in you should be fine.

I remember a guy transferred to bess within the first month. I'm pretty sure as long as you have enough points and ask for the transfer before a certain date theres no problem transfering.

There are easily more guys then girls. I'd say about in or around 1/3 girls.

Finally the best thing about the course are the people. Everyone is really sound. I remember back to last September being so nervous but everyone was really friendly and I have made some great friends!
Theres also an international mystery tour, pub crawls and other stuff thats great craic:).

Well I hope some of that helps. Any other questions feel free to ask.
Goodluck in the rest of your exams anyway!!

higgz

Mancho wrote: »

Just finished first first year myself so I'l try answer a few of your questions for ya.

Overall I am really happy I'm doing this course . It's not always the most exciting but it's interesting to get a variety of different modules eg: maths with the engineers, business and economics with bess, programing with computer science. Parts I enjoyed the most were probably business and programing. An interest in maths and business would help.

Drop out rate... I actually don't know anyone who has dropped out. There are a good few people who don't show up to alot of lectures but I think everyone showed up for the exams. Just about the exams... not easy. Programing is the problem for most people. More than half have failed this year. There are repeats in august do. If you are gonna work from day 1 on anything it's this. You can't cram for it!! But with everything, if you put in the work in you should be fine.

I remember a guy transferred to bess within the first month. I'm pretty sure as long as you have enough points and ask for the transfer before a certain date theres no problem transfering.

There are easily more guys then girls. I'd say about in or around 1/3 girls.

Finally the best thing about the course are the people. Everyone is really sound. I remember back to last September being so nervous but everyone was really friendly and I have made some great friends!
Theres also an international mystery tour, pub crawls and other stuff thats great craic:).

Well I hope some of that helps. Any other questions feel free to ask.
Goodluck in the rest of your exams anyway!!

I've heard about badly attended lectures. Sure if I just attend everything I should be fine. Thanks for the reply.

shadowmoses

Transfers to BESS are very easy for the first year/ year and a half. Dunno who Mancho is but he's right, the International Mystery Tour is the key! I just finished 3rd year. Workload gets pretty intense in 3rd year, I don't really know any of my friends who had as much work as I had from November - April. There were many all night sessions that were just necessary to pull things together towards the end of the project. 20 of us watched Rory McIlroys incredible collapse in the LG12 computer room at about half four in the morning in April. We were rewarded at the end of the year though when we only had 5 exams and some other courses had 9-11

As for whoever was asking about Inv Banking, LDev finished MSISS and year ago and did a masters in finance, he's now going to JPMorgan (i think..) to be an investment bank analyst (just made up that position, it's something like that though). The course provides plenty of opportunity to move somewhere into that industry. There are module choices in 3rd and 4th year that could help you decide whether that's for you.

As for year one and two, you can bumble through them via repeats and things no bother, the broadness of the course in the early years does make it difficult to cover everything though since things don't overlap. But it's defo doable on the first go if you're into it.

In my year there are about 9 girls would of 30. All dazzling.

higgz

Got accepted in to MSISS today, can't wait to start.

I have to say I'm surprised at the points again this year. The decline has stopped but it only rose by 5 to 385. It could drop even further in the second round. Compare that to other Tech courses like Business and Computing and Computer Science which saw huge increases in Trinity. No one really seems to know about MSISS. Their loss I guess

ED E

B&C dont require HL maths which is taking a hit in 2nd level so its drawing from a growing pool while that for CS and MSISS is shrinking.

I'd agree though that its a relatively unknown course while most of the big universities have a CS degree.

Enjoy it.