Are you happy with what you're studying?

Grindylow

So yeah, over the past while I've noticed a lot of people complaining about what they're studying in college and how they dislike it and stuff, so I said I'd start a thread to see what people think of what they're doing at the moment..

Are you happy with what you're studying?
If you had the choice.. Would you start something else?

As for the people like me who haven't started college yet, what do ye want to do? Sorry if something like this has been done before, it just seems appropriate for here seen as most people posting in here are either in college or else in the senior cycle of secondary school.

Well as for me, I'm in 6th year and I really don't have a clue what I want to do, I know I'd like to do something Business related, so I've Business in UL as the first choice on my CAO. Hopefully I'll be happy with it anyway!

Wolfe Tone

Im studying Law in DCU, Im satisfied with it, its quite difficult and monotonous rather than challenging which is annoying. Only thing I would change it for would be history, and seen as I dont want to be a teacher and would like to be a barrister thats kinda pointless

Asphyxia

I like what I am studying but It's not what I want to do in the future.. I am hoping to start a three year long course in September that will full qualify me in beauty therapy from there I want to open my own salon so a business course might be the next step after it. I have it all planned out in my head I just need for it to happen

Slow Show

I'm still in school and to be quite honest, I have no idea what I want to do after school anymore, it changes every so often. I used to think I wanted to do medicine, but I think that was just a passing thing that quite a lot of people get but I just don't think that's for me.

I think I'd love to do History in college though, but the career prospects don't look particularly amazing if teaching isn't your calling (and I don't think it's mine). I'd like to do English too if I didn't love it so much to not want to ruin it by studying it in such detail.

But anyways, there's lots of stuff I still might be interested in that I just need to research more and go to open days and that sorta thing - Law, Psychology, check out History and English anyway and maybe even something Science-y for the look. It's a bit odd that I'm planning on doing two sciences for the Leaving Cert yet I don't really see myself doing anything like that after school.

Well that was a nice ramble. Tl;dr, I'm not sure but I'm sure when I decide it'll be something I like and it'll be great. Well, I hope so anyway.

Grindylow

Slow Show wrote: »

I'm still in school and to be quite honest, I have no idea what I want to do after school anymore, it changes every so often. I used to think I wanted to do medicine, but I think that was just a passing thing that quite a lot of people get but I just don't think that's for me.

I think I'd love to do History in college though, but the career prospects don't look particularly amazing if teaching isn't your calling (and I don't think it's mine). I'd like to do English too if I didn't love it so much to not want to ruin it by studying it in such detail.

But anyways, there's lots of stuff I still might be interested in that I just need to research more and go to open days and that sorta thing - Law, Psychology, check out History and English anyway and maybe even something Science-y for the look. It's a bit odd that I'm planning on doing two sciences for the Leaving Cert yet I don't really see myself doing anything like that after school.

Well that was a nice ramble. Tl;dr, I'm not sure but I'm sure when I decide it'll be something I like and it'll be great. Well, I hope so anyway.

Ah yeah I know what you mean too! I went through a stage of wanting to study Occupational Therapy but I realised it's just not for me.. I'm still not even sure if Business is for me, but I have until July to fully decide anyway. I know the opportunity to drop out won't be available to me (Couldn't afford the fees) so like whatever I pick I'll have to stick it out anyway.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Im studying Law in DCU, Im satisfied with it, its quite difficult and monotonous rather than challenging which is annoying. Only thing I would change it for would be history, and seen as I dont want to be a teacher and would like to be a barrister thats kinda pointless

My question is how'd such a good username go untaken until March of last year :eek::eek:

Wolfe Tone

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

My question is how'd such a good username go untaken until March of last year :eek::eek:

I only got this username last month! Had a different one before

bythewoods

I'm sure most of you know I do Medicine in Trinity.

I've contemplated dropping out quite a few times. I even reapplied through the CAO last year to do something else, but didn't accept my offer.

I'm horribly fickle. I go through cycles of thinking I'd like to do Engineering, Art or English. Or possibly Philosophy, Politics and a whole range of other Arts-y things. I even started up a portfolio a while back. But the Art idea is definitely gone again, I'm keeping it as a hobby only.
I also wonder if I did the right thing coming to Trinity, and that perhaps I'd have been better off staying in UCD. But I'm sure I'd have wished I'd dropped out if I hadn't. Trinity is wonderful, although of course if asked where I'm in college I usually say "Dublin" and hope that I'm not asked to specify where exactly. Wanker stereotype cringe.

I definitely do like Medicine. I do. It's wonderfully interesting, and I'm a big people person so the clinical aspect of it is perfect for me. I've gotten some really nice compliments from patients and Doctors alike, and from past jobs as a care-assistant I know I'm definitely cut out for it.
I was very "meh" about it last year, but now I'm much more interested in it and that's motivating me to study, and driving my grades up. Which is nice positive feedback to study more and so forth.

My issue is really that I feel it's very closed off. I mean, in Arts subjects you go to college and get a mind-broadening experience. You learn to think for yourself, see a broader picture of the world, and so on. In Engineering or Maths, there's the glorious figuring out side of things.
In Medicine, it's moreso about learning reams of information, rote-learning to an extent, at least in 1st/2nd year, all the while aiming towards a very fixed job/ service. It's also very intense, so unless you're really quite dedicated to it, your grades will suffer. Night before cramming doesn't work, in my experience at least.
Also, the money incentive doesn't wash with me at all, as it does with a lot of people. I couldn't honestly care less about it, but it's something that's always brought up. Doing Medicine "for the money" would kill me. I don't understand how people could struggle through college with that as their motivation tbh. I mean, paying off my student loan is going to be sa-weeeeet, as is paying for my own car insurance etc, and not having to bum off my parents for everything. Lovely. But I don't care if I never own a mansion and a sports car.

At this point I know I'm going to stick with it, although I do plan to take a year out at the end of next year to do an Intercalated Masters (if my grades will allow me to), possibly in Bioengineering. I hate to sound ungrateful, or as though I hate my course, because I don't! I'm glad I chose it, I'm glad I stuck with it, and I think it's definitely a good fit for me.

It's hard to know when you're choosing your career path what's for you I guess. I was 16 filling out my first CAO, and I never even allowed myself to consider doing something like English, thinking it was too Artsy and for people who wanted to go into teaching or something. I wonder if I was back in school now, with my current mindset, where would I end up?

Woah massive rant.
TLDR: There's more to life than study, unless you do Medicine. Then it's all about studying. And there's more to me than study, so obviously we've a bit of a conflict of interests. Sigh.

TrustedApple

Will I was doing BIS in Cork IT and hated every min of it I was getting over 90% in all the tests I was doing and getting over 20% more in tests then the class

But it was so boring all it was. Was doing MS excel on Monday's then programming and management and maths and that was it it was like doing 2nd lv school business but full time and if I missed a class I was not missing anything

But I like business that's the thing but when the guy you have for business tec has know idea what a HDMI cable is you wonder how must of the class know more then him

Also the people in class some where who do you put it dick.s to me because I dressed up every day for college And keep on saying you speak very posh which I do not. I just didn't mix well with the class bar 2 or 3 lads who are sound out. Then givein out to me for not drinking it just gos on

But if my interview gos well for multimedia I will be doing that next year but I have still no idea what I like to do

Sorry lads for the spelling I will fix them when I get home

I like to get into TV or something with music really but I think multimedia is my best bet to do something like that and still have programing to fall back on

Fad

I enjoy CS immensely, I'll probably like it a lot more when what we're studying becomes a bit more theoretical.practical (A bit less arbitrary, we're learning data structures that have no simple real world application atm, have to do a lot of maths this year that is essentially useless to CS as well).

I dunno, I enjoy programming, despite not being very good at it, I enjoy maths, despite being kinda awful at it, and I can see myself being involved in CS in some form later on in life, but at the moment, I have a new course crisis every other week.

I continually regret not doing arts/biology/engineering (Especially electronic Eng)/whatever the fúck, and I want to drop out a lot, but I dunno, I suppose if I really want to, there's probably a route I could get into one of them in some way (Evening BA/MSc in Bioinformatics/going back and doing a few modules in electronics after my degree and doing an MSc in Computer Engineering).

Meh, I'm happy in college, I write for the paper a bit, so I get to do the whole writing thing I missed a lot when I was in first year.

I suppose computer science is a good degree to have, and will open a lot of doors to me in later years (Provided I get at least a 2.1), but I'll always doubt it a bit.

Arcade Panda

I was really unhappy in college last year so I dropped out of my coarse, did a portfolio and now I'm in first year of art college.

I love it!:)

I have to say though sometimes I do worry about the whole job thing when I graduate... and also the standard in my college is pretty high. It's pretty unnerving sometimes. You basically get judged on your talent everyday which is really **** and although I was best in my year at art in secondary school, I'm by no means best in my year now! My ego did take a bashing. Which maybe wasn't such a bad thing....

Also, in first year, we don't get the glorious gift that are repeats.

You fail. You leave.

Other then that I love it. To the very marrow of my bones. It's just a wonderful environment to be in and it something I've always had a passionate interest in. Fingers crossed I get a job out of it!:pac:

degausserxo

I did Irish and German in Trinity a coupla years ago for a few months, ended up dropping out for a number of reasons. It was never my first choice, as I'd always wanted to do veterinary medicine, so I never saw dropping out as a bad thing, more of a chance to actually go and do what I wanna do. Hopefully going back to school to do the LC again this September.

cheesefiend

I'm doing Psychology and I love it. It's so interesting and not too hard. There are two modules unrelated to Psychology that I have to do this year which I find really boring and so don't work for them at all. It kind of puts a dampner on the whole thing but aside from that the course is great. I'm already obsessed with looking up masters and I haven't even got first year over with. If anyone wants to know more about doing Psychology just give me a PM and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Wolfe Tone

cheesefiend wrote: »

I'm doing Psychology and I love it. It's so interesting and not too hard. There are two modules unrelated to Psychology that I have to do this year which I find really boring and so don't work for them at all. It kind of puts a dampner on the whole thing but aside from that the course is great. I'm already obsessed with looking up masters and I haven't even got first year over with. If anyone wants to know more about doing Psychology just give me a PM and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

I say that was serious points

cheesefiend

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

I say that was serious points

It wasn't at all. I'm doing it in IADT so it was 400. It's still level 8 and PSI accredited so it's worth the same as any of the courses with higher points. The difference is that it's Applied Psychology so in first year we do an ICT module and a Multimedia module. Then in second year the course is split into two strands. One is an applied where you do more computer modules and the other is a practical strand which is just the same as other courses. The other difference is that we have a Cyberpsychology module which as far as I know other courses don't have. It's such an interesting module, probably my favourite. You probably weren't looking for that much information but there ye go

EuropeanSon

I'm studying Mathematics in Trinity, and I love it. I'm very fond of the programming side of it especially so far, though there isn't going to be a great deal more of that after this year (there's none in 2nd year AFAIK).

jumpguy

I'm in LC at the moment.

I think deciding my career path at 17 is a bit of a ballbuster tbh. I was pretty sure for the last like...year and a half I wanted to do medicine. But now I'm not so much sure do I just want the challenge of getting into medicine (I'm weird like that, you see), or do I genuinely want to be a doctor etc. I'm always swaying one way or another now, "WILL I DO IT?!" "NO" "YES". I'd really LOVE to take a year out and get some work to just think it through and gain so more life experience (as well as money so I won't be completely dependent on my parents...for first year at least), but if I get medicine I can't defer it (there's also the matter of getting said job).

I'd like to do something quite broad, but general science degrees have fairly ":-/" job prospects and I'd have to do a postgrad to really get into something. That costs money. Money isn't plentiful anymore. I really want a good job on graduation, not to be on the dole for ages looking. I'm not too keen on emigrating on graduation either, but if I have to, I will.

Then again, medicine IS quite broad. If I don't wanna be a GP or whatever, I can be a consultant (through years of grovelling and hard-work, sure) or I can work in labs, although that's far less cool. As long as I'm happy. I could even be a medical entrepreneur, inventing shít, which is always what I've kinda wanted to do. Or I could find inspiration on the course. I dunno.

If I don't get medicine, I doubt I'll repeat unless I've made an absolute balls of the LC. If I do get medicine, I'll take it. I don't think anybody knows exactly what they'd like to do at 17/18, but fúckit, I can only pick one path, for better or for worse. I'll see how it goes.

(Wait, this thread is about study? Oh right...biology, chemistry, physics, maths, English, German = cool, Irish = WHYYYY?! )

flyswatter

Doing Computing/Software Development.

Not really happy with what I'm studying , no.

There will more than likely be a job at the end of it and that's really the only reason I'm sticking with it.

The thought of working in this field really doesn't appeal to me and my patience is running out fast.

Wolfe Tone

cheesefiend wrote: »

It wasn't at all. I'm doing it in IADT so it was 400. It's still level 8 and PSI accredited so it's worth the same as any of the courses with higher points. The difference is that it's Applied Psychology so in first year we do an ICT module and a Multimedia module. Then in second year the course is split into two strands. One is an applied where you do more computer modules and the other is a practical strand which is just the same as other courses. The other difference is that we have a Cyberpsychology module which as far as I know other courses don't have. It's such an interesting module, probably my favourite. You probably weren't looking for that much information but there ye go

That sounds cool all right

Paul.M92

I'm doing the LC this year and I had Commerce in NUI down on my CAO. But now I want to do nursing which I will have to go through a PLC course for as I don't have the right subjects and once I qualify I will spend a few years at it and then move on to medicine...

phasers

Did a year of media studies, didn't like the course, there was way too much theory and pretty much no practical. I figured that second year would be better, but then they stuck me in a major I didn't want so I dropped out.

I don't really have a direction for the future, I'm hoping I can go do media in a different college within the next year or two where you actually get to film things and get work experience.

Either that or teaching, which I've always been weirdly drawn to even though I don't like kids that much. They always seem to like me and I love explaining stuff to people. since there's no work in either field it's sort of a toss-up :pac:

In summation: DON'T DO COMMUNICATION STUDIES IN DCU

almostnever

I do Law in Trinity and I absolutely fúcking adore it.

Something I've noticed though: there are always going to be things about it I don't like. It's so strange to specialise to such an extent, especially after being " a good all rounder" in school. I miss science and English and my languages and stuff. I also dislike a lot of the people in my course and how horribly competitive it is.

But I do love it. I really do. I find it extremely interesting, stimulating and challenging. I wanna be a barrister and/or a lecturer and it's totally possible. I love how many options I have, how many different things I can do with it. I kinda sorta have a mentor in the form of a PhD student and he went through a lot of the same problems that I have since I started, I guess. So he gives me tips and stuff and helps me through the tougher times a bit. Like....the thing about college is that you go (well, I personally went...) from constantly getting 90%+ in exams to feeling really silly and incompetent most of the time and it can be a hard adjustment to make. Plus I miss English and French and chemistry and as a hopeless flake and the most indecisive person in the whole world ever, whenever I have a slightly bad day I always think I should have done science/Irish/pharmacy/insert random course here. I make this sound like I hate my course when I really don't, I actually love it. But especially for those of you who aren't in college yet, it's important to know that it's okay to feel overwhelmed by it all or to feel like you made the wrong decision every once in a while.

I can't ever actually see myself doing anything different. I love Law. I love legal writing and mooting and court visits (except the criminal courts, but I'm a strange torts and constitutional girl at heart!) and I am so unbelievably happy and lucky to be where I am now.

Wolfe Tone

almostnever wrote: »

I do Law in Trinity and I absolutely fúcking adore it.

Something I've noticed though: there are always going to be things about it I don't like. It's so strange to specialise to such an extent, especially after being " a good all rounder" in school. I miss science and English and my languages and stuff. I also dislike a lot of the people in my course and how horribly competitive it is.

But I do love it. I really do. I find it extremely interesting, stimulating and challenging. I wanna be a barrister and/or a lecturer and it's totally possible. I love how many options I have, how many different things I can do with it. I kinda sorta have a mentor in the form of a PhD student and he went through a lot of the same problems that I have since I started, I guess. So he gives me tips and stuff and helps me through the tougher times a bit. Like....the thing about college is that you go (well, I personally went...) from constantly getting 90%+ in exams to feeling really silly and incompetent most of the time and it can be a hard adjustment to make. Plus I miss English and French and chemistry and as a hopeless flake and the most indecisive person in the whole world ever, whenever I have a slightly bad day I always think I should have done science/Irish/pharmacy/insert random course here. I make this sound like I hate my course when I really don't, I actually love it. But especially for those of you who aren't in college yet, it's important to know that it's okay to feel overwhelmed by it all or to feel like you made the wrong decision every once in a while.

I can't ever actually see myself doing anything different. I love Law. I love legal writing and mooting and court visits (except the criminal courts, but I'm a strange torts and constitutional girl at heart!) and I am so unbelievably happy and lucky to be where I am now.

Thats cool, do you not find reading cases and the like very monotonous? Westlaw is the bane of my life

jubella

I did a year of Arts in UCD (Maths & French) and absolutely hated it for a number of reasons. I ended up failing French and decided not to repeat but to drop out.
So I took a year out, and now I'm in Maynooth studying business & accounting, and I absolutely looooove it I'm kicking myself that I didn't do that course in the first place, because I always had accountancy in the back of my mind.
There's really no point studying something that you don't enjoy, because I definitely didn't put in as much effort as I should have first time round!

almostnever

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Thats cool, do you not find reading cases and the like very monotonous? Westlaw is the bane of my life

It depends. I tend to only read the actual cases if they're really important/leading or intrinsically interesting or funny. Any of Henchy J's judgments are just amazing, that guy. Some of them make me want to cry though, have you ever actually tried to read Crotty!? Ugh. Six attempts later and I still haven't gotten through it. Generally speaking though I don't find them overly monotonous. And I love articles, don't have a problem with them at all.

Carl Sagan

I'm doing Science. More specifically Chemistry, Biology and Geography. I love it but I've no idea how well I'm doing, but can tell I need a lot of study. Have only showed up for a few Geography lectures so I'm not really sure how well that'll go

Wolfe Tone

almostnever wrote: »

It depends. I tend to only read the actual cases if they're really important/leading or intrinsically interesting or funny. Any of Henchy J's judgments are just amazing, that guy. Some of them make me want to cry though, have you ever actually tried to read Crotty!? Ugh. Six attempts later and I still haven't gotten through it. Generally speaking though I don't find them overly monotonous. And I love articles, don't have a problem with them at all.

I wish I could get my hands on the printed editions of articles and cases, DCU library sucks. I find it hard to read off the PC screen.


The last case I read was R. v. Brown [1993] 2 All ER 75(the one with the gay lads cutting each other), thats scared me for a while, some messed up cases out there. Are you first or second year?

almostnever

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

I wish I could get my hands on the printed editions of articles and cases, DCU library sucks. I find it hard to read off the PC screen.


The last case I read was R. v. Brown [1993] 2 All ER 75(the one with the gay lads cutting each other), thats scared me for a while, some messed up cases out there. Are you first or second year?

Same here actually, I much prefer having the hard copies than reading off a screen but the Trinity library can be crap for them too. Especially when you find a journal after half an hour of searching and the relevant article is torn out...soul destroying stuff.

Ahhh, I can't read criminal cases. I read R v Stone and Dobbinson and cried my eyes out (and had two nightmares as a result), so yeah, way too overemotional for them. And then there are the cases that destroy your faith in humanity... so when it comes to criminal I get the facts from a book, find the relevant law and will attempt to scrape the pass and be done with it. I'm in first year, you?

Nemanja91

Currently studying Construction management and pretty happy with it, If I am not happy with my career and can apply to study to become a solicitor or barrister through my course although I can see myself working in construction industry for my life. I plan on moving to Australia, US or Canada when I finish though.

jefreywithonef

Not quite. I'm in the stereotypical Arts situation, doing a degree without really knowing what to do afterwards. That wouldn't be so bad if I enjoyed the subjects and what they entail but I'm mostly indifferent to it all. Too late to change course, not that I haven't spent almost a year deliberating over doing just that, but then again I haven't a clue what else to do. Bad buzz.

**Timbuk2**

Doing Actuarial Science in UCD and love it! I'm only in first year, so hopefully my opinions don't change - I hear that it increases in difficulty significantly from 2nd year onwards.

I really love all the subjects I'm doing - Maths, Stats, Accounting, Programming and Economics (not too taken with the economics modules, but the rest is great - especially stats).

I've always been insecure (or something?) about not being good enough to do it. This wasn't helped at all by literally scraping my way (pointwise) into the course. Having got the minimum points for the course, I felt I would be the worst of the whole group (there's 40 of us!).

I don't think that's actually the case though - it can be daunting sitting in a maths tutorial and seeing people working out complex problems that I haven't figured out how to start yet, but I'm keeping up with the workflow (I probably have to work harder than people with more natural ability), and was extremely happy with my exam results at Christmas!

SarahBeep!

Doing Science Education in UL, love the course, love my modules, love my lecturers.


But right now Teaching Practice is making me miserable :(:(

coffeelover

In 5th year at the moment and don't know what I want to do .. Every so often I change my mind.. Somedays I think I'd love primary teaching but the odds of getting a job after are slim and I dunno if I have the confidence for it .. Wouldn't mind doing music through arts either or psychology. I like business too so maybe business studies in UL. God help me this time next year when I have to decide :rolleyes:

At school I love music .. Like the rest of my subjects except english and maths

illiop

Anybody who reads my "ARGH"s could see I pretty much hate my course. I'm doing Spanish with ancient history and archaeology (TSM) in Trinity but I'm currently on erasmus in Spain.

I actually enjoy Spanish and am fascinated by language and the concept of language but I'm actually not very good at it. I sometimes think I would have enjoyed something like lingustics. Also there is far too much literature for my liking. Also, however much fun erasmus is, it was probably a bad idea; college is harder (what with it being in Spanish and all) and none of my friends are actual Spanish speakers so my language it's really improving either.

I hate ancient history and archeaology with a burning passion. I was quite interested in both these subjects before studying them but I find them almost soul destroyingly boring. Some of the theoretical/philosophical stuff can be quite interesting ("What is history?" "Is archaeology a science or a humanity?" etc.) from time to time but it's all a bit waffle-y really.

If I could change I would but I already did 5 months of a course before dropping out of it and I'm in my 2nd year so it's not really an option.

Also, I never really worry about what I'm going to do after college. The plan at the moment is to do a TEFL and teach English all round the world. My degree itself is fairly worthless in terms of a relation to any sort of career but the idea of a career scares me slightly...I'd much rather just have a job. :rolleyes:


I am really anti this notion that one should have to go from school to college (or even go to college at all). Take a year out, work, travel, volunteer. If anything I wish I'd not gone back to college at all. Or at least not till I could fund myself so I didn't have to feel like I constantly owe it to my parents to do well.

Aoibheann

I did a year of Medicine, was really unhappy for the entire year (although I'll never be 100% sure how much of that was me disliking the course, and how much was my mental well-being at the time), dropped out because I wasn't enjoying it enough. I felt there were other courses that I'd enjoy at least as much, if not more, and I think that with Medicine you need to know that it's the course for you. With that said, I know that pretty much every med student has gone through some form of huge doubts about their course - so who knows!

Anyway, I took a year out and worked for the full year. I started Theoretical Physics in 2009 in Trinity and am in second year now. I'm now a Maths student (transferring into either Maths or Physics from TP is very, very common!) because I felt that it would make me a better theoretical physicist than the TP course (strange but true!) and that it would also open up a lot of other options for me. It's amazing, I can go into so many things from this course. Teaching is the obvious, finance (and there's so many areas in that - actuarial maths, quants, trading, etc), pure mathematics research and theoretical physics research - not to mention all the careers that like it as a "general" degree.

It seems like I'm talking a lot about career options here.. Frankly, I don't really care what I earn or what I'm doing once I'm happy. Studying Maths (weirdly enough) makes me happy, and that's a damn sight more important than the paragraph above. I wasn't happy studying med, but I love my course now, and the fact that I don't have a set life-plan now.

EuropeanSon wrote: »

I'm studying Mathematics in Trinity, and I love it. I'm very fond of the programming side of it especially so far, though there isn't going to be a great deal more of that after this year (there's none in 2nd year AFAIK).

You can do a lot of CS modules in the Sophister years so don't worry about that. There's a lot of very cool courses you can take!

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

The last case I read was R. v. Brown

Ah! The case where giving consent doesn't count for much.. Good times.. Fish-hooks and candlewax if I remember the story correctly. Ew. >_<

Grindylow

illiop wrote: »

Anybody who reads my "ARGH"s could see I pretty much hate my course. I'm doing Spanish with ancient history and archaeology (TSM) in Trinity but I'm currently on erasmus in Spain.

I never even knew you went to Trinity! Is the TSM program three or four years long? If it's only three, you've only got another two left in it.

But yeah to make my own post more broad (I kinda rushed it at the end of the opening..).

I'm hoping to do Business in UL (It seems fairly achievable, so hopefully.) and I don't really know what specific area I'd like to go in to. I love marketing, like I adore it, everyone in my family just presumes I'm going to go into it because my personality is suited to it. It's really the area I'm most interested in right now, along with Human Relations (But with the current economy, jobs are extremely scarce in both!). I had B.I.S number one on my CAO but I decided specifying into such a rigid area of Business straight off from first year would just be a bad idea. I know some people see Business courses as just an alternative to Arts, but to be fair the Business course in UL is one of the best in the country. Especially with the Co-Op, it makes it easier to find a potential job for when you've finished the course.

So yeah, on that note what do you all think of your colleges? I've only been to WIT, UCC and UL, and UL was by far the most impressive. The campus is just wow!

Wolfe Tone

Ah! The case where giving consent doesn't count for much.. Good times.. Fish-hooks and candlewax if I remember the story correctly. Ew. >_<

Thats the one.... *shudder*

Pygmalion

I'm doing Computer Applications in DCU for those who don't know >.>, which is essentially Computer Science, but with a bit more emphasis on practical stuff than the traditional CS courses (but still quite a lot of theory, especially after 1st year, so take that into account).

Yes I do enjoy it, a lot, although I seem to be one of the only few people not complaining constantly about it and who doesn't hate all the theoretical stuff (could do with a bit more tbh).
I wouldn't recommend Computer Applications/Science based on my experience though, most people who choose it end up finding that they hate it, we seem to have lost about 50% of the class so far (more or less depending on who you ask).

If anyone thinks they might be interested I'd recommend they learn a small bit of programming and a bit of theory before they put it down, not to get a head-start on the course so much (no point, they start from the basics anyway), but to see if they find it doable and that it doesn't bore/infuriate them.
That's probably advice that could be applied to all subjects tbf, but it's a subject which a lot of people have literally zero experience with by the time they put it down on the CAO, so you can't decide whether or not it seems interesting based on what you've done in school, you have to go and make the effort in your own time.

Also keep in mind that IT/Computer Skills and Computer Science are not nearly the same thing, being able to find your way around Windows XP and install Microsoft Office means nothing about your ability to write programs or understand how to implement a binary search tree >.>.
Probably sounds obvious when put like that, but I can't overstress the amount of people who put it on the CAO form (and get in, it's fairly low points) despite having no clue at all what it even means.

Pigwidgeon

Well, I doubt it's a secret to anyone here that I hated college. I did a year and a half of arts in UCD, Sociology and Psychology. I enjoyed parts of psychology but hated sociology, which seeing as it was my major wasn't the best. I did well in first year, I had gotten good grades.

Then second year came, I was really hoping things would be better. I hadn't gotten to know anyone in my course in first year, as I'm quite shy and there was 500 people in all of my lectures. Then by second year, everyone had already made friends, my other friends from school in UCD had their own college friends, so I was constantly by myself. With arts, that's a lot of time spent sitting around for 3-4 hour gaps between lectures. It began making me pretty depressed, I was incredibly lonely, hated what I was doing and hated UCD. I think there was a month where I didn't go to lectures.

I had a long hard think about things over christmas holidays and decided enough was enough, I couldn't do it any more. I talked to my parents about everything, about how down it was getting me, how even if I finished, I'd be starting something else from scratch. I told them, that even if they wouldn't help me money wise I was still dropping out. They took it a lot better than I thought, they weren't surprised to be honest. They agreed to pay my tuition fees when I go back next year, as long as I support myself.

So I'm going back next year to do culinary arts. I'm so excited to do it, I can't wait to be finally be doing something I like. It's going to be tough, I'm saving every penny I earn at the moment and it can get quite boring with most of my friends in college. But I don't regret anything. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. That course had me in a bad place, it was never what I wanted to do, it was my 5th choice on my CAO so it wasn't remotely what I wanted to do. Only 7 months left

Namlub

I'm procrastinating on the whole deciding-my-future business because I really don't know what I want to do anymore. There are loads of courses I'd think I'd like to do, but nothing I know I would which is kind of a problem. This time last year I thought I definitely wanted to do law but now I'm not so sure because I don't know what job I want, and other than that I'm more interested in more arts-y courses like English, Art History and languages. Thinking about it now I'd love to French, but I'm afraid my French isn't good enough. There's a European Studies course in TCD that I'd love, but I'm ridiculously indecisive so I don't know...
And then there's the whole question of where to go. I don't want to rule it out completely but I really hate the idea of going to UCC purely because I'd have to live at home and that's the last thing I want. But then my sister, bender that she is, told me that I wouldn't fit in in Trinity (she doesn't go there) and UCD arts, if I decide on an arts course, looks terrifying. So yeah, this post will have confused everyone including myself.

TLDR I can't make a decision and I'm going to end up working as a window cleaner.

unknown13

I am doing Social Science at the moment. It was no secret here anyway that it wasn't my first choice on my CAO. I wanted Law badly but as one poster who posts here told me in the Lair in the Nocturnal forum, the day I accepted the CAO to do Social Science; "Everything happens for a reason".

With my course I am able to pick three subjects and pick my favourite two to continue onto further study. I do Politics with my course and I have always had a strong interest in Politics. Politics is something I very much like. The other two subjects I do Sociology and Policy are alright. Don't particularly like sociology. I don't like this semester of my course but it is more everyone does the same thing and then we specialise next year, which I am very much looking forward to doing. I was also able to sample a bit of Law last semester and to be honest I wasn't that fond of it. I was counting down the Tuesdays left for the module to finish. I did do pretty well in the exam though, which was nice.

My favourite part of college though is the people. I put myself in the position where I got myself involved in various societies and I love doing that kind of stuff. I am meeting new people on a very regular basis. I also know the vast majority of my course aswell.

I still think about what would happen if I got Law. I even contemplated going back to repeat the LC but now I am pretty happy. If I want to Law, I can still do it as a Postgraduate. Noel; I would say this to you: There is alot more to college than the course, if you get yourself involved. You will most likely enjoy college and probably have no regrets when you leave college.

Wolfe Tone

I would advise everyone if it is possible dont commute from home, go live on campus or nearby. I live with my grandfather near DCU, but I would love to live with a group of students.

jubella

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

I would advise everyone if it is possible dont commute from home, go live on campus or nearby. I live with my grandfather near DCU, but I would love to live with a group of students.

Agreed. I live too close to my college to justify spending so much money on moving out right now, but most of my friends in college live with other students on or near campus and they are having the time of their life! It's a hell of a lot easier to make friends that way too.
I'm hoping to save up enough money this year to be able to move out for college next year. I think it's something everyone should do for at least a little while when they're in college.

Wolfe Tone

jubella wrote: »

Agreed. I live too close to my college to justify spending so much money on moving out right now, but most of my friends in college live with other students on or near campus and they are having the time of their life! It's a hell of a lot easier to make friends that way too.
I'm hoping to save up enough money this year to be able to move out for college next year. I think it's something everyone should do for at least a little while when they're in college.

My Grandads house is at most a 90 second walk so I cant really.... lads get your own place even if its just to have somewhere to bring the ladies back to!

Bottleopener

jumpguy wrote: »

I'm in LC at the moment.

I think deciding my career path at 17 is a bit of a ballbuster tbh.

Man, this is so true for me right now :P, I'm completely unsure as to what I want to do next year. My problem is I genuinely like every subject I'm doing in school, and well, they are pretty wide ranging. I guess I'll just have to eventually make a decision and if I like the course I like it, and if I don't I don't.

Aoibheann wrote: »

Anyway, I took a year out and worked for the full year. I started Theoretical Physics in 2009 in Trinity and am in second year now. I'm now a Maths student (transferring into either Maths or Physics from TP is very, very common!) because I felt that it would make me a better theoretical physicist than the TP course (strange but true!) and that it would also open up a lot of other options for me. It's amazing, I can go into so many things from this course. Teaching is the obvious, finance (and there's so many areas in that - actuarial maths, quants, trading, etc), pure mathematics research and theoretical physics research - not to mention all the careers that like it as a "general" degree.

It seems like I'm talking a lot about career options here.. Frankly, I don't really care what I earn or what I'm doing once I'm happy. Studying Maths (weirdly enough) makes me happy, and that's a damn sight more important than the paragraph above. I wasn't happy studying med, but I love my course now, and the fact that I don't have a set life-plan now.
>_<

Thanks a lot for this! I have TP down on my CAO right now, and it's reassuring to hear the possible pathways which come from it (ie. the opportunity to change to maths). It may well change come July, but right now it's number 1 on my CAO, the Open Day stuff relating to it was quite cool - and seemed genuinely interesting.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I'm doing Arts in NUIG English and History to be precise. I like it, I sometimes wonder about what the feck I'll do with it next year though.

Aoibheann

Bottleopener wrote: »

Thanks a lot for this! I have TP down on my CAO right now, and it's reassuring to hear the possible pathways which come from it (ie. the opportunity to change to maths). It may well change come July, but right now it's number 1 on my CAO, the Open Day stuff relating to it was quite cool - and seemed genuinely interesting.

No problem! I decided to put TP first on my CAO as I was interested in both maths and physics, and I knew there would be opportunities to transfer either way should I so wish later on, whereas if I'd started out in pure Maths, or in Physics through Science, it would have been a lot more difficult to get into TP. It did turn out that I enjoyed maths more, but I'm totally happy with my decision. If you have any questions about the course, feel free to PM me and I can tell you plenty about it at this point!

Aoifey!

Im sort of happy. I went with Early Childhood Studies over Psychology, and whilst I like the course Im in, I cant helo but feel Id rather Psychology. My favourite classes are Psychology and Sociology. I wanted to do a PLC in Childcare to see if I really wanted to do it but when I got offered a Level 8 I was sort of pressured into thinking going for a PLC over Level 8 would be ridiculous even though it was what I really and truly wanted to do.

I just keep thinking "What if..." but I cant afford to change course now, and if I did somehow manage to get the money, I'm terrified Ill end up hating it and then it would be a massive waste of time and money that I don't have.

But then again, I love the friends Ive made in this course so i guess it's not so bad. I do like the course, just don't know if it's quite me or not.

/rant

EDIT: Forgot to say, I'm in WIT!

SarcasticFairy

I do Law in UCD, and... mostly I love it. I think.

Not gonna pretend it's not boring at times, it is. Some areas of law are very, very dull. Others I've found very dull in class, but then wished I'd actually spent a bit of time on them as I'm frantically trying to cram it all in the night before the exam (because let's face it, if I didn't read for tutorials, I'm not gonna read it when I'm not doing the module >_>). For the most part though, it's extremely interesting.

I particularly like that we operate a system of precedent. Despite the fact that I have read one and a half cases in my two years in UCD (The one about David Norris wanting to get the ride, and one about snails in ginger ale), I like people's stories, and it makes it really easy to see the reasoning behind decisions. I learn well that way, and it just generally makes things more interesting I took a module with almost no cases (I had over 200 cases to learn for a single 5 credit module last year so having none was very odd) and it really made me realise that I love my cases. Not gonna read them though. They're like freaking novels. There isn't enough time in the world. But I like hearing case facts! Stories make me happy.

To echo almostnever though, it is pretty competitive, and seems to attract a lot of a certain kind of people who I just can't deal with. There are good, good people too, but generally there's a little too much sneaky, competitive, social-climbing-y **** and those are the people who make us all seem like soulless cúnts. We're not, swearz!

Despite all the things I do like about it, I probably won't end up doing anything law-related once I'm done though. There are certain subjects you have to take to be able to go to the bar/join the Law Society (essentially, become a barrister/solicitor) and I'm taking everything I need to qualify for things, to keep my options open (because frankly, doing a law degree without doing the necessary subjects is a bit retarded) but I'd much prefer to write for a living. This is probably a better way of going about it than a journalism degree anyway (though really, I'm not even sure I wanna be a journalist) and I couldn't really see myself doing any other degree! I love Law, and there really isn't anything else I can think of that I'd want to put on a theoretical CAO form.

almostnever wrote: »

I can't ever actually see myself doing anything different. I love Law. I love legal writing and mooting and court visits (except the criminal courts, but I'm a strange torts and constitutional girl at heart!) and I am so unbelievably happy and lucky to be where I am now.

You're not strange! Torts is heartbreaking (Nervous Shock and Medical Negligence made me so very angry ) but so, so interesting. Can be dealing without the entire first half of the constitution, but Constitutional Rights is awesome! I'm taking ECHR Rights this semester and I love it (you gotta do it if you ever wanna practice in the UK, so you should probably take it at some point anyway, but it's similar to Cons Rights, only bigger, and with stranger case names (woo, that'll be fun come exam time. DIE CASE NAMES DIE)). Do you do Criminal in first year? I don't find it half as interesting as most people think it will be (we do all of criminal in second year!)....

unknown13 wrote: »

My favourite part of college though is the people. I put myself in the position where I got myself involved in various societies and I love doing that kind of stuff. I am meeting new people on a very regular basis. I also know the vast majority of my course aswell.

Noel; I would say this to you: There is alot more to college than the course, if you get yourself involved. You will most likely enjoy college and probably have no regrets when you leave college.

Firstly, you my dear chose the wrong half of constitutional! :P Also, to any future UCDers wishing to sample Law, choose a McDermott module. Ask MavisDavis, I'm almost certain she'll back me up . They are . So much .

Secondly, I agree with the whole point about college being more than the course. Last year I didn't get involved in anything because I was still finding my feet in the first semester and then just didn't know how in the second. At the start of this year I got involved in a million things, to the point where it got ridiculous and I had no time to like, breathe. I've stopped doing so many things now and I'm left with stuff I really, really love. I'm part of the Welfare Crew, through which I've met awesome, awesome people, and it generally makes me happy; I write for the paper every week, and I'm on the comedy soc committee (which, tbh, mostly constitutes turning up to things and laughing. It's not particularly challenging :P). I enjoy college so much more this year, and there are days when they only reason I turn up to college is extra-curricular stuff. Making friends outside your own faculty is pretty nice too Sending emails to say I wanted to be involved in stuff was probably the best decision I've made about college, ever.

ALL THE WORDS. To summarise; I love Law, for the mostpart, but will probably be done with it after college. Also, everybody sign up for stuff and actually do get involved. It will make college a billion times better

Davidius

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

I would advise everyone if it is possible dont commute from home, go live on campus or nearby. I live with my grandfather near DCU, but I would love to live with a group of students.

If you have the opportunity to live closer to college then you should. Personally I'd probably find living with other students grating but dammit I'd love not having to waste so much time sitting on or waiting for a bus that doesn't show up half the time. Plus if you live close enough you don't have to spend long breaks wandering around aimlessly like I do, you can go play vidja games or go back to bed (I'd imagine).

Though if my parents lived closer to college and I somehow had the means to afford living elsewhere, I'd definitely choose staying at home because it's free and I'm a leech.

On topic: I'm fairly happy with what I'm studying (maths) despite my aversion to work. I do find statistics to be fairly boring however. Might expand upon this later but I'm doing statistics right now.

Grindylow

I knew that most people from C&H studied in Dublin, but I didn't expect this many. Do any of you study anywhere except Dublin?

Also @Sarcastic Fairy, great post! took me ages to read it, so it must have took you a lot of time to write it!