English through Arts?

karaokeman

I have about two weeks left to decide between Greek & Roman Civ and English as my third Arts subject to go along with Psychology and Sociology.

I was wondering what is English like in NUIM compared to the honours Leaving Cert course.

I know its a lot of reading, referencing and lacks creative writing but I'm ok with that as sourcing and writing essays about literature/poems/plays is what I practiced for 5th & 6th year and ended up with a B3 in the exam and an A in most of my class essays/other tests.

I know to try and read at least one text a week, which is fine too, more if I have any free time but one at minimum.

I've also heard word that it is much more difficult than higher level LC and students who did so well like myself can still fail end of year exams.

Also the timetable this year looks hectic, I would like to know if I can really benefit from all those hours of lectures.

Other than that what is everyone's experience of 3rd level English?

LeixlipRed

You don't have two weeks, you can go to as many different lectures as you want in the first few weeks. There's no rush to decide!

karaokeman

LeixlipRed wrote: »

You don't have two weeks, you can go to as many different lectures as you want in the first few weeks. There's no rush to decide!

Yeah I suppose, I just originally intended to have my mind made up in two weeks from now because I decided to change subjects at a later stage it can often be difficult to make up for lost time.

But I will see how it goes, I will be checking the Greek & Roman exam questions this week to see if the material and possible exam content would suit me. I've seen many of the English essays and they seem ok but I probably won't know until I start writing my own ones.

LeixlipRed

You seem to be basing your choices on extrinsic measures of success like exams and essays. Why don't you pick the subjects you enjoy the most? Look at the exam papers for topics of interest but don't look at them and say, "oh that question looks tough, I'm not doing that". You'll be much happier if you go for enjoyment and interest in my opinion.

mickstupp

karaokeman wrote: »

Yeah I suppose, I just originally intended to have my mind made up in two weeks from now because I decided to change subjects at a later stage it can often be difficult to make up for lost time.

Seriously, you can go to the lectures for both subjects for a few weeks after start of term. It's not a big deal, no lost time. You can change your mind (I think) up to three weeks after classes start. Just pick one during registration but go to both sets of classes. I went to classes for five different subjects for three weeks before making up my mind.

But like LeixlipRed said, if you pick based on enjoyment you'll be happier. And if you're enjoying it more you'll be more likely to put in the extra work because it won't feel like work, it won't be a slog. You can get a bunch of opinions on either side, English is great/rubbish etc. but that has nothing to do with you or your enjoyment of the thing. You won't know until you sit in the class for a while. What's more, how difficult you perceive the questions/essays to be doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how hard the lecturers mark. If you want to do well in any subject it'll take a lot of work, but in my opinion you'll likely do better if it's a subject you enjoy.

karaokeman wrote: »

I would like to know if I can really benefit from all those hours of lectures.

Everyone's different. Every exam I've been to I've seen people who've never stepped foot in class. Depends on how well you want to do, to a certain extent. If you go to classes you get the material explained and you hear what emphasis lectures are placing on certain aspects. There were some lecturers where we knew every single thing on the exam purely because of the emphasis she put on things, yet not a single explicit hint was given. On the other hand you might do great even if you skip a load. How much do you care about just passing vs. doing your best? It's first year, experiment, the marks won't count towards your degree.

Seren_

There is a good bit of difference between English at university compared to it for the LC. In the Leaving Cert, you're told to give your own views on the texts, using quotes/examples to back you up. However, in university you don't tend to use your own views. Well you do kind of, but you have to find secondary material (journal articles, books) which has the same view as you, and then use that as well as references to the texts to back up your point.

There's also much less focus on the author and their importance to the text compared to LC English. Studying English at university basically involves learning how to read texts in many different ways (i.e. from a Marxist/feminist/postmodern/postcolonial perspective).

ciara88

I studied English in Maynooth as part of my undergrad and I did find a big enough difference. It's focused on a lot of theory such as feminism, modernism, post-modernism etc. A lot of reading but its manageable.

karaokeman

Thanks to all of the replies people.

I actually want to pick English over Greek & Roman because English to me is more interesting. I am interested in different movements like feminism, post-modernism and so fort and would be delighted to read texts about it.

I also feel that since I want to go on to do direct route Psychology in 2nd year, English may compliment it as I will be able to look at characters in texts from a Psychological perspective and understand their life situations.

I've actually heard stories of people who dropped from A's in the Leaving Cert to F's in the college exams for English. Could this be because they focused so much on the creative writing aspect for the LC because I did less of that and more on Single Text/Comparative questions, so it may be an advantage to me in this sense.

Seren_

I wuldn't say focusing too much on creative writing at LC would really have much of an effect; tbf it's probably a lot down to just not being able to get used to how the subject is taught at college more than anything. Or else just not doing enough work.

If you're interested in psychology, you should look into psychoanalytic literary theory. It's mainly based on the theories of Freud and Lacan, but there's a good bit of psychology stuff in it.

plug_in_baby

Hi guys, sorry to just jump in like this, but how many hours a week are there for English lectures/tutorials for first year? I was dead-set on doing English (I'm going into first year Arts), but now looking at the timetable, can there really be (by my count anyways) 26 hours of lectures a week??

If that's really the case then there's no way i'd be able to do English, I wouldn't have any time to do my other subjects, because I know there's a lot of reading and research to be done in english outside of those lectures!!

Is there really that many hours or am I just misinterpreting it..?

LeixlipRed

English has so many students that the lectures are split up into different groups. So yes, you got it wrong :P

XxMCRxBabyxX

plug_in_baby wrote: »

Hi guys, sorry to just jump in like this, but how many hours a week are there for English lectures/tutorials for first year? I was dead-set on doing English (I'm going into first year Arts), but now looking at the timetable, can there really be (by my count anyways) 26 hours of lectures a week??

If that's really the case then there's no way i'd be able to do English, I wouldn't have any time to do my other subjects, because I know there's a lot of reading and research to be done in english outside of those lectures!!

Is there really that many hours or am I just misinterpreting it..?

You'll be either A or B in some lectures so only pick one of them when you're selecting modules for the timetable!

Can we just sticky this answer somewhere? it's been asked a lot...

plug_in_baby

Oh phew!! I was thinking it was a ridiculus amount:rolleyes:! Thanks guys for clearing that up for me:o!! So around how many hours do English student actually have then..?

Seren_

You'll have about 4 hours for English each semester, 2 for each module

plug_in_baby

Thanks so much for the info guys !! Looks like I'll be doing english after all!! Can't wait to start now !!

karaokeman

Hi all,

I'm almost sure about what English texts I need now. If I have missed out on any, feel free to add;

First Year English Volume One
First Year English Volume Two
Huckleberry Finn
The Dubliners
Wuthering Heights

I am sure there are a few more but at the moment that's all I remember. Also for poetry does it matter, I know Seamus Heaney will be one of the poets to come up this year after today's lecture. But would it be worthwhile to look at Wordsworth among others, as I've heard Wordsworth will be on this year too.