Disappointed with open day

XxMCRxBabyxX

andrew wrote: »

What's the point of open days anyway? No open day could've affected my decision, because it's not based upon what the college looks like, or whether the 1 or 2 lecturers I spoke to (out of the 10-20 lecturers you'll have in total), were sound. How could it affect someone's decision that much?

Trinity's the best college in Ireland in terms of reputation, even if in practice it isn't; so it doesn't need to advertise too heavily. There's already huge demand for places, so what's the point?

It's about getting a feel for the place. If you're torn between a course in two colleges you're going to pick the one that you liked better and felt more comfortable in.

_Bella_

andrew wrote: »

What's the point of open days anyway? No open day could've affected my decision, because it's not based upon what the college looks like, or whether the 1 or 2 lecturers I spoke to (out of the 10-20 lecturers you'll have in total), were sound. How could it affect someone's decision that much?

Trinity's the best college in Ireland in terms of reputation, even if in practice it isn't; so it doesn't need to advertise too heavily. There's already huge demand for places, so what's the point?

Well I was disappointed as I am currently trying to decide whether to go to Trinity or UCD. I was leaning towards Trinity due to it's reputation and because the law department is very highly regarded, though doubtful because of the bad reports about the business department. I hoped that the open day would reassure my doubts and convince me I was making the right choice. However when I went the law lecturer was absolutely awful and really off-putting (e.g "commercial law is boring, why would anyone pursue a career in that"). The lecture I went to business studies was completely focused on BESS, even though there were three other talks scheduled on it. I feel that the open day definitely made me question my decision rather then help me decide, which I thought was what open days are intended to do.

andrew

_Bella_ wrote: »

Well I was disappointed as I am currently trying to decide whether to go to Trinity or UCD. I was leaning towards Trinity due to it's reputation and because the law department is very highly regarded, though doubtful because of the bad reports about the business department. I hoped that the open day would reassure my doubts and convince me I was making the right choice. However when I went the law lecturer was absolutely awful and really off-putting (e.g "commercial law is boring, why would anyone pursue a career in that").

I would've thought that a lecturer being honest was a good thing! Would you rather the lecturer said it was incredibly interesting, when it isn't? And it's only one lecturer too; hardly representative of the entire dept.

The lecture I went to business studies was completely focused on BESS, even though there were three other talks scheduled on it. I feel that the open day definitely made me question my decision rather then help me decide, which I thought was what open days are intended to do.

BESS is by far the biggest course for business students, so that's why they did that I suppose; they can't cater to every TSM student's choice.

In general I don't think that the kind of information you want actually exists. You can't know which place you'd prefer, unless you actually attend the college. There's an inherent amount of uncertainty; what would you expect the business department to say? (also What have you heard about the business dept?) And then, the problem is that you've nothing to compare anything you hear to. If you hear that X department is bad because of Y, then it might be a generic problem which all colleges tend to have, rather than being especially bad.

Good luck though, you'll rationalise to yourself that whatever choice you make was the best one for you, so it probably won't matter in the long run.

Groinshot

Jammyc wrote: »

I remember in first year, not knowing how to check if books were in, shelfmarks etc.

That was your own fault! You should have gone to your library tour in freshers week(or so i hear)
:P

cookiemonst3r

I did mean demonstrations rather than talks. SORRY!

languagenerd

Groinshot wrote: »

That was your own fault! You should have gone to your library tour in freshers week(or so i hear)
:P

Hahahahaha. The year I started, they led a group of us (TSM) to the Berkeley door, handed us a list of subjects and the floor their books were on and said "Ok, now, go see if you can find them!". And that was it.

It was April before I figured out shelfmarks...

Brian

Anita Blow wrote: »

As in Arts students looking down on science students...

Oh wow.

_Bella_

andrew wrote: »

I would've thought that a lecturer being honest was a good thing! Would you rather the lecturer said it was incredibly interesting, when it isn't? And it's only one lecturer too; hardly representative of the entire dept.

I realise this however I think it would have been more professional not to say anything. She came across as very immature, though I do understand she is only one lecturer in the department,

andrew wrote: »

BESS is by far the biggest course for business students, so that's why they did that I suppose; they can't cater to every TSM student's choice.

I do understand this, however it is a bit frustrating when you have gone to the talk specifically on business studies, rather than the 3 others on BESS

andrew wrote: »

In general I don't think that the kind of information you want actually exists. You can't know which place you'd prefer, unless you actually attend the college. There's an inherent amount of uncertainty; what would you expect the business department to say? (also What have you heard about the business dept?) And then, the problem is that you've nothing to compare anything you hear to. If you hear that X department is bad because of Y, then it might be a generic problem which all colleges tend to have, rather than being especially bad.

Good luck though, you'll rationalise to yourself that whatever choice you make was the best one for you, so it probably won't matter in the long run.

Well I have heard that the business department is very disorganised and that it is of a much poorer standard to Quinn in UCD.

claire h

I went to an open day in TCD maybe eight, nine years ago? (Did my undergrad and masters there.) I remember going to one good talk (an arts one - I think it was someone from the philosophy department? Very dramatic and eccentric) and then wandering around. I don't think it made a huge difference to me in terms of persuading or dissuading me whether or not I was going to stick Trinity down as my #1 on the CAO.

Many lecturers will have personal preferences and areas that they're interested in as well as areas that don't interest them. The majority of the time they'll be teaching the areas that interest them - it's not their job to treat all areas of the course equally unless they're delivering a freshman-level survey course that covers all areas. If personal preferences spill over into an introductory talk - that isn't something to worry about. Other concerns - like departments being disorganised - matter much more, and honestly, that's not something you're going to get from an open day, it's something you'll pick up from asking past and current students in those departments.

There are definitely departments within TCD which are better-organised than others - though I think for the most part, this is something that bothers students but doesn't necessarily impact upon how your degree is viewed by the outside world.

The level of personal attention is pretty good - you've got a tutor as well as designated people at each stage you can talk to. Depending on the course, there can be a pretty high level of small-group teaching, which I think makes a big difference in terms of getting people to write recommendations/references for you or going on to further study, as well as just learning more about the particular subject.

I wouldn't depend too much on what you get out of an open day, but it's definitely worth asking questions about particular departments here as well as any friends-of-friends and weigh up the pros and cons.