Science (Undenominated)

BmxNoob

Hi all ,

I'm still trying to make a decision as to whether I'll choose Science Undenominated in NUIG , Mechanical engineering in GMIT ,or should I repeat .I dont know much about the Science course but I originally wanted to choose Computer science / IT so thats one of my interests.I've already asked would it be possible to transfer to CS/IT from Science in the first year but the answer was no .

So could I get some feedback on the Science Undenominated course ? Is it a good course ? Should I choose it ? Is it possible to transfer to any engineering subjects from the course ? I know you can do Computer science as one of the subjects in Science but it seems that the overall degree is called Computational science which is different and much less of a Computer degree to Computer science .

So every bit of feedback and advice would be helpful !
I have until monday to make the decision or my offers will automatically be declined

BmxNoob

Can anyone give any feedback on the course at all ?

jogdish

Hi,
I dont know anything about engineering but i doubt you could transfer from science into engineering.
From my experience undenom science is a fine degree and doing it instead of comp science/IT will not make a huge difference. Eg people who have astronomy degrees have ended up working in good IT companies. Basically if you do maths and computer subjects in first year and keep them in later years, youll be just as good as anyone else from IT. From my own experience people from science usually have better all round knowledge.

Perhaps contact the dept. talk to people who teach these things.

RolandIRL

Undenominated science is really broad in what you can do. What subjects were you thinking of doing if you did it? i've done physics, maths, applied maths (sometimes called maths physics) up to 2nd year if you want any info on those.

Also might be worth while emailing someone in the Faculty of Science offices to see if you'd be able to transfer into CS&IT (it's in the Faculty of Science as well i think) at the end of 1st year if your grades are good enough. I don't know if that's possible given that the subject content for first year for the two courses are probably too different to allow this.
Fire off an email to one of the Admin Assistants here - http://www.nuigalway.ie/science/faculty_office.html - and see what they say about transferring at the end of first year. they'll be able to help you or point you in the right direction

BmxNoob

Thanks for the advice ,Im just after emailing two of the people from the faculty of science so hopefully I'll get some advice from there .

Also ,what do you think of the idea of me doing a full level 8 degree in Undenominated science ,choosing maybe (Physics,chemistry,mathematics and computer science) as my subjects and then pursuing a post graduate degree in Computer science and IT afterwards ? Is this possible ? Would it be beneficial ?

jogdish

Seems like a good choice ( not sure what level 8 means ), my advice is the following - pick subjects you like and enjoy - doing crap just because thats "where the jobs are" is stupid. You have no idea about jobs in 4+ years and you will always excel at things you enjoy. You will have a far better idea after 1 year in university.
Good job on getting touch with the dept. dont be afriad to call on the phone either. Good luck

RolandIRL

It all depends on how mathematically minded you are. i think applied maths might be more beneficial than chemistry if you want to go into computers. in 2nd year undenom, you'll be able to take a module in Numerical Analysis, which is using computer programming to build mathematical models and do recursive calculations, i think. i'll ask one of my friends who did it and see what she said about it.

3rd year undenom, if you took physics to 2nd year, you'll be able to do a module in Computational Physics, which you'll do a bit of programming to solve physics problems. think it's the C language you write the programs in. if you do Computer Science in first/second years, this should be easy enough.

I was actually thinking of doing a postgrad in something computers myself, but haven't looked it up proper yet so don't have any info on that i'd say you'll be able to do one, possible in Computer Science or Computational Physics maybe.

now i can't tell you what to do, i'm afraid all the decision making is up to you:)

i attached the pdf for 2nd year science so you can see what modules you'll be able to do next year, and a bit of 3rd year as well. don't worry if this is all over your head. the lingo can be a bit confusing sometimes:)

any other questions just ask

BmxNoob

Thanks for that Roland ,I'll take a look at that pdf tommorow when I have some time .

The reason I was thinking of choosing chemistry over applied maths is because I did physics/chemistry joint subject for LC and got a B3 Honours .Also because I only did pass maths for the LC and got a B2 . So maths would'nt be my best subject but I'm able to manage it when I put the work in .

RolandIRL

the applied maths may be a bit difficult. you do need a fair grasp on calculus and integration especially. i'm not sure how it compares to the maths content in CS&IT (i know they do one module in it in 2nd year at least)

if you're not a fan of maths, you can drop it in 2nd year altogether, and concentrate on your other subjects. You don't need it for computer science. I know a few people who aren't that great at maths but are excellent at computer science.

the physics and chemistry in 1st year anyway is a bit different from the LC syllabus. the material goes a bit deeper than LC with a fair bit of new stuff as well.

BmxNoob

I see .Well I'll need to research the applied maths maybe a little more because I would'nt want to be struggling alot with it in first year if its only a little beneficial to my CS / IT studies .

My main question still is If I can do these subjects through science and do a post grad in CS / IT after ... Im just waiting on the reply from a few of the heads in NUI .

jogdish

Just a word about applied maths - in first second year its very "how is the car going given that blah blah.." and "find the period of a compound pendulum" Then in 3rd year there is a lot of modelling such as traffic flow/network management - really good stuff very useful in the "real world"

You dont have to have taken 2nd year to do the third year options ( as far as i remember ). Also at the start of each year there is a sort of "mini open day" to chat to staff about what course suits who and stuff.

BmxNoob

Ya that all sounds fairly interesting but the question for me is would I be able to manage the subject coming from a pass maths backround .Would I struggle ? And is it more beneficial than doing chemistry ?

jogdish

You will soon find out that maths in university is a worlds away from LC maths. You get to start afresh ( but at a far quicker pace ). My own opinion is, if your willing to put in the work, do your problem sheets, go to tutorials when needed and ask for help when you need it ( the amount of people that only ever ask days before an exam is amazing ) - then you will be fine. I wont lie you may find it hard - but remember you are not taking subjects just so you can get an easy pass in the year - you are taking subjects that will make you a better "insert what you want to be here". People who know maths and applied maths are always respected.
Bottom line, you may find it hard, but there is no shortage of help you just need to be smart enough to ask for help. You'll be fine.

BmxNoob

Thanks for that jogdish , I accepted my offer for Science today so hopefully it will work out and i'll enjoy the course .Thanks for all the advice !