Undenominated science???

janedoe121

hey,
I've decided to do undenominated science next year but I'm still really struggling to decide between trinity and nuig....I really want to go to nuig as i love galway and really just want to get away (I'm from Kildare btw) and haven't gotten a great vibe off trinity in the past (and i would also have to live at home) but I'm afraid I'm making a very stupid mistake as I've heard trinity standard/placement oppertunities ect is meant to be very high. I haven't yet decided whether to go maths/ applied maths/ physics / chemistry or biology...I pretty much love them all...
I was wondering if anyone could offer advice about unden science in nuig? More specifically the chemistry and physics as I haven't really heard anything about these? What is the standard like and is there much oppertunity for work placement?
Any advice would be much appreciated....thanks

TheCosmicFrog

NUIG and living in the best student city in Ireland, or Trinity and living at home. Hmmm...

I think your decision is clear

yer man!

I don't know very much about science in Trinity but I can say the undenominated course in NUIG is very good. I'm going into 3rd year in September and I love it. The college is great craic, with all the societies and clubs and general resources. A lot of people I have met have the general opinion that they had the most fun in Galway. The campus is very nice, (despite some building sites). Galway is a nice city and is very student orientated, you'd notice a big difference during summer compared to during the semester. I would highly recommend Nui Galway for undenominated science. most people will go on to do a post grad, which you could always do in trinity if you wanted to.

meeka

As far as an undergraduate degree goes, I don't think there are any major advantages to attending NUIG over Trinity, or vice versa.

In terms of placement opportunities, NUIG won't organise them for you. I think in some denominated degrees (biopharmaceutical chemistry is one, dunno of any others actually) and also engineering, they organise a "PEP" (professional experience placement I think it stands for) in 3rd year, but otherwise, it's up to yourself to organise placements. As far as I know, this is also the case in Trinity, though I could stand to correction on that one.

However, as far as I've seen, lecturers are happy to give suggestions and support, and write references for you should you need. I've just finished 3rd year physics; I got a research placement in dublin last summer, and will be going abroad this summer for another research placement. So, it seems that NUIG won't hold you back in that aspect, if that's what you're worried about. Also, now that I think of it, this year the science faculty were advertising funding for research projects within the college itself, for undergraduate students in the summer.

Just keep in mind that it is a bit difficult to secure any placement these days, so you'll have to work hard no matter where you go

Other than that, NUIG is grand, and if you prefer the atmosphere and the city then I'd say go for it. If you have any specific questions about physics in NUIG I'd be happy to help.

janedoe121

hmm thanks that actually helps a lot......think I'm going to go for galway tbh!!!

._.

NUIG offers way more potential science degrees than Trinity.. All the good ones are separate courses in TCD.
At this stage, I'm convinced you'd end up with a better job/degree from UCD or NUIG.

Joolet

I don't know anything about NUIG science but I can give you a bit of perspective on Trinity:
If I were you I'd make the decision based on what subjects you want to do in Science as each college differs in the way you chose them.

I don't know anything about how Galway does it, In Trinity when you go in in first year you basically must chose whether you want to go down the Biology/Chemistry route or the Chemistry/Physics route. Then there's a whole other host of options with geography geology etc... You can check it out here anyways: http://www.tcd.ie/Science/undergraduate/jf/
Think somebody mentioned above about a lot of the options being individual courses in Trinity, presume they mean like Human Genetics or Medicinal Chemistry, well for first and most of second year all those courses are in the same modules as the undenominated sciencers and so long as you have the right modules you can transfer into them at any time.
Trinity is also a great college, there always loads going on and being in the city centre is an absolute gift! The Science class is really big (300+) but there are 4 class reps and there's generally loads of class trips/nights out organised and so you get to know a huge number of people in your course really well and end up doing lots of stuff as a class.

Whatever you decide to do enjoy college next year- it's a brilliant experience!