Life in DCU? Actuary course also

Darragh Harte

Hi. Im Darragh. im currently in 5th year and next year will be filling out my CAO application form to apply for the actuarial course in DCU.
I will try get the 510 point course but if i cannot i shall go for the 420 course
I am good at maths and Business(Not economics or accountancy in our school) and in honors in both
I would just like to know what life in DCU is like and is it easy to find apartments close to the campus?
And if anyone has an ideas on the actuary course itself or alt entries Please let me know
Thanks!
Darragh :cool:

tinkerbell

DCU life is great. It's much smaller than UCD and there's a more cosy feel about it. You can get on-campus accommodation (which I would totally recommend) or there's tons of options around DCU.

The actuarial course in DCU is really good and if you do well, there's great career prospects. You need to really love maths though and be maths-minded. The maths you do in the Leaving Cert are nothing compared to the maths you'll do in the actuarial course. The LC maths are so basic in comparison .... It's a very hard course so you have to be prepared to work your ass off otherwise you won't do well at all and you'll hate it. So if you have the dedication and ability to do it, then do. Otherwise, it's not for you.

When you say the 420 course, are you talking about common-entry? If you go that route, remember you'll be competing with other people in your class to get into actuarial the year after or whenever it is, so you will need to make sure you're top of your game in the first year or two. In my opinion, the first two years are the hardest, so I would recommend that you really try to get into the actuarial course first go, rather than going the common entry route. That is, if you are sure that it's the course you want.

jennyq

I'm a third year student this year and I posted my view on the course on another thread here

In addition to that, what the previous poster says is true to a certain extent with the Common Entry course - you are in competition with the others in the class for a place on the stream you want after second year but there are a decent number of places in the Actuarial stream for Common Entry students. This year there were about 25 Common Entry students going into third year and there were 10 places in Actuarial Maths. Plenty of people chose the other streams too so only a very small number (if any) didn't get their first choice of stream. Obviously it would vary year on year and if everyone decided they wanted one stream then competition would be tougher, but it's not something to be *too* worried about.

Darragh Harte

Thanks a million. This has bee a great help and that link you sent was brilliant. Cheers :cool:

daviekelly123

Daragh Im hoping to do this course 2! =]

jellybeans9

hey im starting first year next week jw if anyone else is doing this course:)