Your degree...Good & Bad

KittyeeTrix

Just thought it might be an idea to start a thread based on what course we are doing in NUIG presently or have completed in the past. What were it's good points and the bad points if any:)
Are you happy with your course choice or sorry you ever started it??

Me:
3rd Science undenominated.

1st year was tough because of maths and physics. Thought I'd struggle with the chemistry but the tutorial session coming up to summer exams given by a young PhD student were bloody excellent. Biology was the worst in the sense that there was so much different topics going on at the same time with no overlap but all in all thoroughly enjoyed it.

2nd year was much better when I got to leave maths, phys and chem behind and focused on microbiology. The labs for Micro however i felt were way too rushed with too much emphasis on the lab write ups and very little attention given to proper lab procedure. To this day many of us now headed into 4th year would struggle with proper aseptic technique:eek:

3rd year was again busy with a lot of assignments going on and xmas exams were upon us before we had realised it. The worst part of this year was the fact that we had never had to do any lab based calculations at all for Micro and yet we were landed with a Sem 2 micro practical exam. Q.1 was compulsory (40% of the paper) and was all solutions based questions which was tough going tbh:(
I cannot understand why we have consistently been allowed to finish 3-4 hour labs in half the time when it would be much more beneficial to have maybe a half an hour at the end of each lab to attend to these type of calculations over the course of the year

Will be doing Micro for my final year and am well nervous about the lab work at the beginning of the year (and the mini thesis write up to be presented) and the intensity of the final exams but am quietly confident that I'll do okay if I just get the work going early.....fingers crossed..

Overall, happy with the subject choices I've made along the way:)

WallyGUFC

Me: Arts

.......

KittyeeTrix

WallyGUFC wrote: »

Me: Arts

.......

Cool, must google "......." to see what it stands for.

Damned internet speak:D

the keen edge

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Just thought it might be an idea to start a thread based on what course we are doing in NUIG presently or have completed in the past. What were it's good points and the bad points if any:)
Are you happy with your course choice or sorry you ever started it??

Will be doing Micro for my final year and am well nervous about the lab work at the beginning of the year (and the mini thesis write up to be presented) and the intensity of the final exams but am quietly confident that I'll do okay if I just get the work going early.....fingers crossed..

Overall, happy with the subject choices I've made along the way:)

I'am in 1st Marine Science and in the coming days I will basically have to choose which direction I would like my degree to go as 2nd year subject choices must be made.

With this in mind Fluffy, can you tell me which subject, in your opinion as someone studying Micro would be the most complimentary.

I have to choose from(and in order of my preference ), Earth and Ocean Science, Maths, Maths Science, Zoology or Botany.

And what you know of regarding careers in Microbiology and in particular Marine micro.

KittyeeTrix

the keen edge wrote: »

I'am in 1st Marine Science and in the coming days I will basically have to choose which direction I would like my degree to go as 2nd year subject choices must be made.

With this in mind Fluffy, can you tell me which subject, in your opinion as someone studying Micro would be the most complimentary.

I have to choose from(and in order of my preference ), Earth and Ocean Science, Maths, Maths Science, Zoology or Botany.

And what you know of regarding careers in Microbiology and in particular Marine micro.

I did the Intro to Marine Ecology as a half module befor Xmas and was in the class with 3rd yr Marine Science students. To be honest I'd imagine the maths and maths science would be last on the list. I will email one of the girls who is headed into 4th Marine Science and ask her what you've asked me and hopefully get back to ya tomorrow on it...:)

I had the full modules of botany and zoology for 2nd year. the botany was very easy but zoo was a lot harder to cover. Many of the class failed, the labs were very poor (boring really and no outings outside of the lab). I much preferred the Botany and it was fierce easy to get top marks in the assignments and labs. Try as i did i couldn't manage to get a 1st in Zoo (1% off, the stingy buggers:().

Croppy Bhoy

WallyGUFC wrote: »

Me: Arts

.......

This.

I don't go in nearly enough to pass fair judgement on the course, but I'm going to anyway because I'm that type of guy.

What can I say.. I resent having to piss my time away studying 2 gammy subjects I don't want to continue with. I resent how little effort lecturers appear to put in in terms of being too lazy to use Blackboard or taking months and months to mark small assignments. Although I appreciate that they have more on their plate than just one class of students, for the amount of money we have to pay we don't seem to get much for it (well apart form the degree itself).

RolandIRL

2nd Science Undenominated...doing Maths, Physics, and Maths Physics (all honours), (dropped chemistry from 1st year)

overall i'm enjoying the course. 1st year was a bit boring though, a lot of it was basically a recap of the LC with a bit extra added in, with the exception of maths. the analysis part of maths was very theoretical and not much working out problems, as opposed to algebra, which was learning about matrices and linear transformations etc. didn't like some of the lecturers, found that they couldn't really explain the material well
2nd year maths is a bit tougher, especially analysis. much more theoretical, which is a pain since you can't see how you're going to apply it. it's like maths for the sake of doing maths. algebra is very easy in comparision, very little theory and more working out problems.

physics is basically recapping what you've done before, except going into more depth each year. some new topics that i've not seen before like relativity which was interesting. labs are harder in 2nd year. there's a lot of work to do, and some of the fecking equipment is ancient :mad: spent ages trying to do a frequency experiment with a faulty signal generator, had to have it replaced after we were getting skewed results, after an hour had already gone by :mad: 2nd year labs are meant to be the worst of all the years, but most of the demonstrators are really nice and helpful. though i still think it's bad when you consider getting out before the 4 hours are up is good :pac:

maths physics is good. 2nd year is divided into two modules, methods and mechanics. the guy who teaches mechanics is brilliant, which is fierce handy since the material is difficult but notes are excellent. methods is grand. some of the stuff is a bit hard to wrap your hear around but with a few hours study, it's a lot easier.

overall i'm happy with science, though it's gonna be tough deciding which subjects i'm keeping on next year. think it's gonna be who's lecturing that'll decide it for me. some of the lecturers know their stuff but they find it difficult to convey it to you, especially the maths ones since you're coming across concepts you haven't seen before.

TheCosmicFrog

B.Sc. Information Technology - 2nd Year

Meh.

Once described to me as "maths, maths and more maths with some computers thrown in so nobody gets suspicious". While it's certainly true in some aspects, it's probably a bit of an unfair description. Far too much emphasis is placed on knowing mathematics. We're lumped into algebra, calculus and physics modules with science and engineering students, where about 80% of each module is completely irrelevant to Information Technology.

There isn't nearly enough programming covered in the first two years. There's only two lectures a week in 2nd Year, both of which are on the same day. There's also not enough computing fundamentals. What we get is the 2 straight hours one day a week, learning about hugely important (and genuinely exciting) aspects of computing, such as the inner workings of CPUs, memory, I/O devices, etc.

Most of us are left resentful at the proportion of our study spent studying maths and other sh1te which we didn't think we were signing up for. We came to learn and study about computers, software and hardware, not fourier series and confidence intervals.

2nd Year was much worse than 1st Year though. 1st Year was quite fun. And to be fair, I've been told 3rd and 4th Year are much better and far more applied. Subjects covered are things like AI, networks and application development.

Would I recommend the course? Probably. It's not the worst. But the quantity and spread of maths topics is frustrating. And 2nd Year is crap.

whiteman19 wrote: »

maths physics is good.

Die :pac:

Croppy Bhoy

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

B.Sc. Information Technology

Far too much emphasis is placed on knowing mathematics. We're lumped into algebra, calculus and physics modules with science and engineering students, where about 80% of each module is completely irrelevant to Information Technology.

This is exactly why I didn't choose it (or I.T. if you will). I take a great interest in computers and if I have anything resembling a talent it's surely in that field, but I'm not great at maths (well in fairness I was alright I just haven't done it for years). I do appreciate the importance of logic and problem solving in programming but I feared (correctly so, from what you've said) I would get spanked about the place by the Maths modules. I'm fearing the ones that are part of IT 2nd Arts let alone the 'pure' IT course.

Respect to anyone who can cut it though, good luck with the rest of it.

WesternNight

2nd Arts.

1st year, 4 subjects - Spanish, Economics, Sociology & Politics and Psychology.

Spanish I enjoyed until the second semester when the teachers actively tried to dissuade students from taking it on into 2nd year because they were over-subscribed. Worked in my case.

Economics was tough going, especially microeconomics in the first semester. Lecturer wasn't plugged into the whole thing at all. Macroeconomics in second semester was vaguely interesting. I actually learned a decent amount in that one year.

Soc & Pol has been very mixed. Some very interesting modules and some very not interesting. Some very good lecturers and some not so good. Same with everything, I guess. The department in general could do with more active use of Blackboard when it comes to issuing results etc though.

Psychology has been the most interesting and worthwhile for me. Probably the most student-friendly/approachable staff (with the occasional exception) of all the departments I've had contact with. Research methods is something of a pain in the arse, but otherwise I've found the content really interesting. They're starting to incorporate more continuous assessment into the course now as well which I think is good.

Overall I'm happy with the course. The subject I dropped after first year weren't a waste of time by any means for me. It was a lot of work, but I learned a lot from both of them. People can bitch and moan about having to do two extra subjects they're not interested in, but that's no reason to expect the entire format of the course to be changed. There are modules in both of my degree subjects that I don't enjoy and that won't be relevant to my future professional life, but I wouldn't ever expect them to withdraw those modules because of it.

KittyeeTrix

the keen edge wrote: »

I'am in 1st Marine Science and in the coming days I will basically have to choose which direction I would like my degree to go as 2nd year subject choices must be made.

With this in mind Fluffy, can you tell me which subject, in your opinion as someone studying Micro would be the most complimentary.

I have to choose from(and in order of my preference ), Earth and Ocean Science, Maths, Maths Science, Zoology or Botany.

And what you know of regarding careers in Microbiology and in particular Marine micro.

PM sent......hope it helps a little:)

RolandIRL

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Die :pac:

you don't realise how much i'd love to be doing the first semester Methods again :P Petri was way better, even if the material was harder...can't stand this semester

TheCosmicFrog

whiteman19 wrote: »

you don't realise how much i'd love to be doing the first semester Methods again

Die twice.

meeka

whiteman19 wrote: »

you don't realise how much i'd love to be doing the first semester Methods again :P Petri was way better, even if the material was harder...can't stand this semester

I thought the same thing last year, Petri was great. If you're taking 3rd year methods next year you'll have another fantastic lecturer, he's a French man called Michel, and was new this year. The material is grand, too!

RolandIRL

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Die twice.

jaysus them IT people aren't too smart...y'know you can't die twice :P

meeka wrote: »

I thought the same thing last year, Petri was great. If you're taking 3rd year methods next year you'll have another fantastic lecturer, he's a French man called Michel, and was new this year. The material is grand, too!

lecturers change some years though...hope that i have Martin next year if i do decide to do maths physics.

meeka

I think Michel said that he was taking over the course from Martin Meere, he mentioned some things he'd be leaving out of the course next year so I presume ye will have him! He's
great though never had martin meere myself

Oh - and staying on-topic... I'm just finishing 3rd year Physics with Medical Physics and I quite enjoy it. It's pretty much just a basic Physics degree with some medical physics modules, and also anatomy in 2nd year. No real complaints to be honest, except that this year we had a total of 5 reports to do as part of the medical physics modules, on top of the 4 reports that you have to submit as part of the labs. Awfully time-consuming coming up to exams...

LAVADUDE

whiteman19 wrote: »

IT people aren't too smart...y'know you can't die twice :P

You've obviously never played Call of Duty Black Ops. and are a noob to the concept of respawning

My own course
3RD COMMERCE
First Year: Easy, you're virtually told the exam paper coming up to the exam and they pass you even if you fail the repeats,
Tip: for any first year doing commerce look at the maths paper for the last 3 years, notice a pattern?

Second Year: By far the hardest year, with Managerial Economics & Management Accounting both having 50% fail rates (well it was when I did it). Second semester is easier than first

Third Year: You specialise, marketing and management are easy (a rabies infected monkey could do it), if you do taxation it is one of those exams where everything covered is examined.

The course also contains a number of "soft" subjects that require you to rant your way through.

RolandIRL

LAVADUDE wrote: »

You've obviously never played Call of Duty Black Ops. and are a noob to the concept of respawning

Black Ops...? you're right, i haven't played it...COD4 ftw:P and i'm no n00b to respawning...first game i played with that was UT99


/returns to being on topic

meeka wrote: »

I think Michel said that he was taking over the course from Martin Meere, he mentioned some things he'd be leaving out of the course next year so I presume ye will have him! He's
great though never had martin meere myself

martin's a legend, had him in first year as well. only hope michel is as good as him. still not sure what subjects i'm doing next year tbh.

Raging_Ninja

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

This is exactly why I didn't choose it (or I.T. if you will). I take a great interest in computers and if I have anything resembling a talent it's surely in that field, but I'm not great at maths (well in fairness I was alright I just haven't done it for years). I do appreciate the importance of logic and problem solving in programming but I feared (correctly so, from what you've said) I would get spanked about the place by the Maths modules. I'm fearing the ones that are part of IT 2nd Arts let alone the 'pure' IT course.

Respect to anyone who can cut it though, good luck with the rest of it.

BA IT doesn't involve maths, except for a fairly small bit in Systems Approach/Systems Theory in final year, which is optional but a fairly straightforward one nevertheless and I recommend it. SA involved creating models of outbreaks of disease and stuff using Vensim, which is fairly interesting.

In fairness, there is a fair bit of maths involved in higher-level computing, such as cryptography, and also in the design and creation of software/hardware.

mr_november

whiteman19 wrote: »

2nd year maths is a bit tougher, especially analysis. much more theoretical, which is a pain since you can't see how you're going to apply it. it's like maths for the sake of doing maths.

I second that! That module is absolute torture!:mad: But then I think the two lecturers we've this year do actually enjoy it just for the sake of it being maths.:eek::eek:

LAVADUDE

whiteman19 wrote: »

Black Ops...? you're right, i haven't played it...COD4 ftw:P and i'm no n00b to respawning...first game i played with that was UT99
.

I forget am I pwned or owned?

RolandIRL

LAVADUDE wrote: »

I forget am I pwned or owned?

depends on your age :P are you an angry 13-year old American who plays COD all day with loads of hacks? :pac:

mr_november wrote: »

I second that! That module is absolute torture!:mad: But then I think the two lecturers we've this year do actually enjoy it just for the sake of it being maths.:eek::eek:

Real analysis was brutal for me...complex analysis is easier imo. it's bit more application (doing out integrals/differentials) though i missed about a month of first semester due to illness so found it harder to catch up...no notes online really made that difficult

ValJester

Arts:
First Year: English-fairly good till Christmas, hated it after that.
History-was always going to keep it on, first year was beyond dull though.
Philosophy-liked it a lot more as it went on.
Soc & Pol-good, a bit too easy in places.

Second Year-History and Philosophy.
Got a 2:1 overall for the year, and enjoyed it a lot more.

Third Year
Best results yet, although fed up of NUIG

On the whole I'm happy with my decision.

Hunchback

i'll be a mature student in nuig come september and i'd be so grateful to hear from anybody who is studying business information systems, and what they think of it, whether they would recommend it or not, and how much of it is accounting/economics as opposed to computer related skills?

Croppy Bhoy

LAVADUDE wrote: »

3RD COMMERCE
First Year: Easy, you're virtually told the exam paper coming up to the exam and they pass you even if you fail the repeats,

lol what?

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

i'll be a mature student in nuig come september and i'd be so grateful to hear from anybody who is studying business information systems, and what they think of it, whether they would recommend it or not, and how much of it is accounting/economics as opposed to computer related skills?

I did BIS but failed because I just couldn't wrap my head around Accounting. I passed the other 5 modules but have always had a problem with applying myself to things I have no interest in

There was lots of group work, which is one of the single worst things about university, especially in 1st Year when there's a good chance you'll be tasked with carrying the intellectual dead weight of 2-3 retards.

Economics was an 'optional' module in first year, except for the fact that the course co-ordinators picked it for us, so not really optional at all :pac: there was only really 2 computer modules - Information Systems Technology which is basically computer theory (hardware and stuff) and Business Applications Development which was Visual Basic. In second year there are more computer related modules I think.

It's a good course, better than Commerce, and if you can tackle Accounting you'll probably enjoy it over all.

Hunchback

Thanks Croppy Bhoy, appreciate the info. The accounting does concern me somewhat, but hey, might aswell go for broke!!

LAVADUDE

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

There was lots of group work, which is one of the single worst things about university, especially in 1st Year when there's a good chance you'll be tasked with carrying the intellectual dead weight of 2-3 retards.

I'll disagree with your use of the words retards but I can relate to this, generally commerce students expect answers to be in a book and if its not in the book they fall into a blind panic and run around screaming "what do I do, what do I do*, OK maybe your use of the word retard was justified

I'm doing regular commerce but I know BIS has one of the best set of lecturers in NUIG

*They don't do this but it's to illustarte a point

TheCosmicFrog

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

In fairness, there is a fair bit of maths involved in higher-level computing, such as cryptography, and also in the design and creation of software/hardware.

I'll give you cryptography, but that can be learned without first learning bloody fourier series. Quiet whiteman... :pac:

You can design software very easily without a strong backbone of mathematics. Some of the best programmers aren't good mathematicians, but are just very creative. I'm crap at maths, but programming is by far my favorite subject and one of my favorite hobbies. I think that's one of the main problems with the B.Sc. IT course; this overbearing idea that you need to know all the fundamentals of mathematics before attempting to understand how binary operations work.

The people who assembled the degree clearly know what they're doing. I'm not doubting that for a second. These specific maths modules were obviously chosen for a reason, but we have never once seen an application of any of them.

RolandIRL

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I'll give you cryptography, but that can be learned without first learning bloody fourier series. Quiet whiteman... :pac:

whatever do you mean? >_>

(don't worry, i hated fourier series as well)

ZRelation

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I'll give you cryptography, but that can be learned without first learning bloody fourier series. Quiet whiteman... :pac:

You can design software very easily without a strong backbone of mathematics. Some of the best programmers aren't good mathematicians, but are just very creative. I'm crap at maths, but programming is by far my favorite subject and one of my favorite hobbies. I think that's one of the main problems with the B.Sc. IT course; this overbearing idea that you need to know all the fundamentals of mathematics before attempting to understand how binary operations work.

The people who assembled the degree clearly know what they're doing. I'm not doubting that for a second. These specific maths modules were obviously chosen for a reason, but we have never once seen an application of any of them.

You'd be amazed at the amount of maths that does crop up in programming sometimes though, especially anything involving graphics. Though you're right, lumping IT in with engineering maths is probably exposing ye to more maths than most will ever need...guess its just a matter of limited resources though.

4k

whiteman19 wrote: »

2nd year maths is a bit tougher, especially analysis. much more theoretical, which is a pain since you can't see how you're going to apply it. it's like maths for the sake of doing maths. algebra is very easy in comparision, very little theory and more working out problems.

I completely agree with this. It takes so much work to get your head around these concepts and then when/if you do, there doesn't seem to be a point. It's a little disencouraging. Trying to study now and i'm kind of jaded. I reckon I'll just figure out how to solve problems and not bother trying to get my head around EVERYTHING.
Algebra is much easier, but perhaps that's because the applications are clear to see.
I'm also studying Economics, which compared to maths is very easy. I do very little study, have a general interest in all areas of it and I get on good in the exams. It's all just quite logical when you know the very basics.

I wouldn't change my subject choices for the world. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. (well, perhaps lounging on a beach with a mojito or something)

everdead.ie

Final year BSc. IT Course has changed a lot since I started but
First year was great coasted through the year with ease programming was especially easy.

Second year wasmuch tougher the amount of work I had to put in compared to first year was crazy but it was grand again programming and Software Engineering was great some tougher subjects though. Maths physics was tough. This year made a Chat client in Java Group project first group to ever complete the project.

Third year Software Engineering and programming was great made a Bookstore/shop inventory and till system in Java. Had one lecturer I couldn't understand which made his subject really hard and the software Engineering exam was tough. Went on a 6 month placement then which was fine.

Fourth year was tough everyone is burnt out and we haven't even started our exams we did individual projects I mad an IPhone app which was cool then a bunch of group projects which were tough but great for bumping up your grade before the exams.

All in all very happy with my course although FYP burnt everyone out.
Heading to New York in June for a year which should be good fortunately java and c are the same in every country

theintern

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

B.Sc. Information Technology - 2nd Year

Meh.

Once described to me as "maths, maths and more maths with some computers thrown in so nobody gets suspicious". While it's certainly true in some aspects, it's probably a bit of an unfair description. Far too much emphasis is placed on knowing mathematics. We're lumped into algebra, calculus and physics modules with science and engineering students, where about 80% of each module is completely irrelevant to Information Technology.

There isn't nearly enough programming covered in the first two years. There's only two lectures a week in 2nd Year, both of which are on the same day. There's also not enough computing fundamentals. What we get is the 2 straight hours one day a week, learning about hugely important (and genuinely exciting) aspects of computing, such as the inner workings of CPUs, memory, I/O devices, etc.

Most of us are left resentful at the proportion of our study spent studying maths and other sh1te which we didn't think we were signing up for. We came to learn and study about computers, software and hardware, not fourier series and confidence intervals.

2nd Year was much worse than 1st Year though. 1st Year was quite fun. And to be fair, I've been told 3rd and 4th Year are much better and far more applied. Subjects covered are things like AI, networks and application development.

Would I recommend the course? Probably. It's not the worst. But the quantity and spread of maths topics is frustrating. And 2nd Year is crap.



Die :pac:

The reason they have you doing loads of maths is because they're trying to train you to be a Computer Scientist instead of a code monkey. There's a difference between a programmer and a computer scientist, a level 7 course will teach you programming, level 8's usually try to teach computer science.

I have a friend interviewing at the moment for a job with a well known game company, and part of the interview process is a straight out maths exam (linear algebra).

The problem I think is, people don't see much of the application of some of the more complex pure maths until they either start working or do a graduate level course, which is frustrating as it seems as though the maths is useless until then.

The applicability of Maths Physics however, is certainly questionable.

At the end of the day though, you're the one who chose to do IT/CS instead of the much more awesome Computer Engineering..

B.Eng Electronic & Computer Engineering

Good:
Plenty of jobs to be had at the moment, practical work is good, projects are fun, vibe in the department is good. Most lecturers are helpful and understanding. New engineering building next year.

Bad:
Some tough courses mathematically. Long hours in 2nd year, heavy workload.

All in all, I'd recommend it. You learn the whole lot, from the silicon that makes chips all the way up to high level programming, learning circuit building, circuit design, electromagnetics, signals and communication, communication networks and operating systems on the way. Plus you get to build robots..

mr_november

whiteman19 wrote: »

Real analysis was brutal for me...complex analysis is easier imo. it's bit more application (doing out integrals/differentials) though i missed about a month of first semester due to illness so found it harder to catch up...no notes online really made that difficult

Yeah I thought complex analysis was easier as well...until i got 10% in that second midterm!! :o A lot of work to be done in the next week or so!!

Ar aon nós...

My course: Arts
1st yr: Gaeilge: Loved Irish for the Leaving Cert because I had a legend of a teacher. Found first year Gaeilge ridiculously boring though. Really didn't enjoy it. Sound lecturers but in first year when you're just one out of a class of over 300 you don't get to know them well in 1st year.

Maths (Honours): Enjoyed maths for the Leaving Cert even though I was never great at it. 3rd level is completely different though. Much more conceptual and which I probably didn't enjoy it as much. Once you get your head around dome of the ideas it's not too bad. What I found great was that you can get great results in Maths compared to other subjects, which can really bring up your year's average!!:D:D

History: Have to say, out of the four modules throughout the year I only really found one very interesting. The lecturer we had for the 18th century Ireland module was just excellent! (Not sure if I can name names) Best lecturer I've had in any subject so far i reckon! Other than him though, I found the rest a bit dull although not me not having much interest in what they were teaching probably influenced that!

Geography: Took Geography in first year having not done it since I got a C in the Junior Cert. Human geography was absolute torture. Didn't like the lecturers either tbh. Physical Geography I found fairly interesting though. Sounder lecturers as well.

After first year I kept on Maths and Gaeilge for my degree, as I had planned even before I started 1st year.

Maths (Honours): Was allowed to keep on honours maths so I did! Out of my modules, Real Analysis was tough, Discrete Maths was easy but boring, Probability was enjoyable:eek::D , Complex Analysis is tough enough, Statistics isn't as bad as I previously though it was, Linear Algebra is practical work mixed with some concepts. Some lecturers I found sound, aome interesting and others were eh, not so great.

Gaeilge: Very glad I kept Gaeilge on. I actually enjoy it this year! More of a class atmosphere this year with the smaller class. It's a tough subject though...big workload! One thing I don't like about Gaeilge is the structure or the course. We have 3 modules. One module Continuous Assesment and grammer etc. But the the other two modules are divided into three different submodules each. We have some of these submodules (one-third of module) being examined by 2000-2500 word essays which is fairly tough! (One essay we got was supposed to be 3000 words but we got it reduced!) On the whole though, the lecturers are sound, the tutors are dead on too. Definitely glad I kept up Gaeilge!!:D:D

That was an essay in itself!! Maybe I went into a bit too much detail but I'm sure as hell not goin back deleting stuff at his stage! :cool:

TheCosmicFrog

theintern wrote: »

The reason they have you doing loads of maths is because they're trying to train you to be a Computer Scientist instead of a code monkey. There's a difference between a programmer and a computer scientist, a level 7 course will teach you programming, level 8's usually try to teach computer science.

I have a friend interviewing at the moment for a job with a well known game company, and part of the interview process is a straight out maths exam (linear algebra).

The problem I think is, people don't see much of the application of some of the more complex pure maths until they either start working or do a graduate level course, which is frustrating as it seems as though the maths is useless until then.

All great points, thanks for sharing your insights!

At the end of the day though, you're the one who chose to do IT/CS instead of the much more awesome Computer Engineering..

Physics isn't really my cup of tea, which is effectively what a lot of Comp & Elec is. Same with maths.

...also I didn't get the points :P

RolandIRL

mr_november wrote: »

Yeah I thought complex analysis was easier as well...until i got 10% in that second midterm!! :o A lot of work to be done in the next week or so!!

i think everyone did bad in the second midterm...very few high marks that i could see. thought i did better but sure what can you do? i'd say it's going to be my hardest exam...(and no, cosmic frog, that spot's not reserved for maths physics :P)

MrSnuffleupagus

2nd Arts here

Doing I.T. and Economics. The former is going grand but I cannot stand the latter. Took economics as a result of a coin toss in first year (literally.) and it turned out I was good at it, decided to keep it on but it was only this year I realised I freaking hate the subject. Out of the 6 modules I took I (basically) avoided 4 of them, and of the two I found vaguely interesting I got 42% in one and the other is pretty irrelevant to the rest of my course

Thing is I'm not sure if I should drop out and start a different course or just stick it out for the final year. Thoughts?

Croppy Bhoy

MrSnuffleupagus wrote: »

2nd Arts here

Doing I.T. and Economics. The former is going grand but I cannot stand the latter. Took economics as a result of a coin toss in first year (literally.) and it turned out I was good at it, decided to keep it on but it was only this year I realised I freaking hate the subject. Out of the 6 modules I took I (basically) avoided 4 of them, and of the two I found vaguely interesting I got 42% in one and the other is pretty irrelevant to the rest of my course

Thing is I'm not sure if I should drop out and start a different course or just stick it out for the final year. Thoughts?

Info on 2nd Economics please! Do you get to choose your modules? What ones did/could you pick?

Raging_Ninja

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

Info on 2nd Economics please! Do you get to choose your modules? What ones did/could you pick?

You have two compulsory modules and one optional module in each semester.

The compulsories in first semester are microeconomics (builds on what you learned in first year) and quantitative methods in economics (maths - mainly quadratic equations and the like, fairly straightforward).

Second semester compulsories are Macroeconomics (not like first year, IS/LM models, a lot of other stuff like that, more difficult but still straightforward) and an econometrics-type module in which you perform statistical analyses and the likes using the program SPSS (a large chunk of the marks going for this is a project you do while in the course).

For first semester the optional I chose was Economics of the Welfare State which is kind of interesting. A fairly good chunk of the marks go for assignments (~40% or something). The exam can be difficult but do the work and you should be fine.

For the life of me I can't remember what I did in second semester.

Final year is where the action is at though. In second semester the three modules are optional.

4k

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

... and an econometrics-type module in which you perform statistical analyses and the likes using the program SPSS (a large chunk of the marks going for this is a project you do while in the course).

It's not Econometrics, it's basic stats, and the project was worth 8%.

Just sayin

Raging_Ninja

4k wrote: »

It's not Econometrics, it's basic stats, and the project was worth 8%.

Just sayin

I found out the name of the module, was Research Methods in Economics. We did regression analyses, tests for heteroscedasticity and the like, so it was basically econometrics. The project was something like 30-40%. However, that was last year, what they are doing this year may be different.

Croppy Bhoy

Jesus that sounds terrible boring.

I'm really interested in the socio-political side of economics, less so in the "what can we do to bleed the consumer dry of all money they have" side. Even less so in maths, which everything seems to boil down to.

Then again, my only other options for second year are Legal Science (which I think would be too much seeing as I don't really want to do anything with Law) or Philosophy (which I doubt would be very helpful as a degree).

4k

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

I found out the name of the module, was Research Methods in Economics. We did regression analyses, tests for heteroscedasticity and the like, so it was basically econometrics. The project was something like 30-40%. However, that was last year, what they are doing this year may be different.

oops sorry, i misread and thought you were in second year this year. I'm embarrassed now.

Raging_Ninja

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

Jesus that sounds terrible boring.

I'm really interested in the socio-political side of economics, less so in the "what can we do to bleed the consumer dry of all money they have" side. Even less so in maths, which everything seems to boil down to.

Its like any other subject really. Some of it is interesting, some of it isn't.

I found macroeconomics to be more interesting than micro in second year, with Terry McDonough's module being the best. In final year, you can do more of the stuff you seem to be into in second semester, such as Public Economics, Development Economics and History of Economic Thought.

4k wrote: »

oops sorry, i misread and thought you were in second year this year. I'm embarrassed now.

All good bro.

Badger2009

Civil Engineering:

Sorry no time to post any detail. Too many projects, tutorials, labs etc......


(Yes, I'm a former whinging engineering student!)