MSc Computer Science (Conversion)

SmashingPilot

Just wondering did anyone else apply for this? I received an email today offering me a place.

Will I be seeing any of you boardsies in September?

JayC5

Hey Smashing,

Yeah I also applied for this course but have yet to hear anything, I thought offers are not sent out until two weeks after application closure date tho...?


J

Yashir0

SmashingPilot wrote: »

Just wondering did anyone else apply for this? I received an email today offering me a place.

Will I be seeing any of you boardsies in September?

I got accepted to the MSc Computer Science by Negotiated Learning. We may have same modules...I guess

DRose1

Got offered a place on Friday. Looking forward to it.

The new gym opening couldn't be happening at a better time as well - I think its only €100 for a years membership as a student and considering the facilities, that is a steal

IPA is in a great location in many ways as well; literally get off the dart and its a minutes walk away.

SmashingPilot

DRose1 wrote: »

Got offered a place on Friday. Looking forward to it.

The new gym opening couldn't be happening at a better time as well - I think its only €100 for a years membership as a student and considering the facilities, that is a steal

IPA is in a great location in many ways as well; literally get off the dart and its a minutes walk away.

Great, well done. See you there.

I'm so excited about the new gym and swimming pool as well. Only finished my undergrad at Christmas and thought I'd missed out on the new student centre.

sheep2bull

hey guys, just got offered a place their this morning:D, really looking forward to it. Anyone any idea of the start date in september?

OneOfThem Stumbled

Just offered a place.

murtron

Just accepted an offer, does anyone know the start date yet?

bennyineire

I got offered a place last week and I accepted, looking forward to it, can anyone tell me where the IPA is

garywilko

anyone know the start date? and does it start in the IPA?

wheres the trigger

Hi guys, I accepted my place, really looking forward to it.

garywilko, haven't heard yet about this year, but according to the website last year it started on September 12th and the first module was Internet Technologies and Multimedia, which is taught in the IPA. I don't think online registration is open yet, but I have been able to log in to my ucdconnect account.

I need to find a place to live in Dublin, preferably close to the college, anyone else in a similar situation? I'm moving up from Cork. Wouldn't mind living with people in the same course.

Out of interest, what sort of background does everyone come from? I did philosophy for my undergrad, have done some programming in python, and have been generally tinkering with computers for years.

edit: bennyineire, the IPA is on Landsdowne Road, apparently it's very close to the DART station

garywilko

Cheers for that. I did business as my undergrad. Really looking forward to it. I'd say its gonna be quite intense seeing as they have to cover so much in the fifteen months. Anyone know someone who has done the course or is currently doing it?

Better Call Saul_BB

Got accepted a few weeks back and also really looking forward to it.

I was told that the start date would be the 3rd of September in the IPA; so it would seem to be following a similar timetable to last year.

The IPA is right beside the Lansdowne dart station, which makes it very convenient for most people; only issue is that it is not particularly easy to get to UCD directly from it. I think I am right in saying that getting the dart back into tara station and then the bus out to UCD is the best way to do it - not ideal.

Does anyone know if the IPA offers much in the way of parking?

thedice

Hi everyone! I'll hopefully be an incoming student from the Leaving cert this year. Just wondering what are ye're views of the BSc Computer science in UCD. I cant wait to get started!

Better Call Saul_BB

thedice wrote: »

Hi everyone! I'll hopefully be an incoming student from the Leaving cert this year. Just wondering what are ye're views of the BSc Computer science in UCD. I cant wait to get started!

Wrong thread. This is for the Msc in Computer Science (conversion).

wheres the trigger

Better Call Saul_BB wrote: »

Does anyone know if the IPA offers much in the way of parking?

It says on their website that they have limited disc parking, and arriving by car is not recommended.

At least the IPA and UCD modules are taught in separate blocks, so it won't be necessary to travel from one location to the other between classes. I think I'm going to opt for living close to UCD, so I can avail of the gym, library and other facilities.

Better Call Saul_BB

Makes sense. I will be traveling from Drogheda. Not an ideal commute, but having done it for 2 years in my undergraduate, it is something I will get used to again.

I was thinking of driving up and parking in one of the dart stations before the City Center; then just get the dart out to Lansdowne which should only take 5-10 minutes which is not bad.

I think starting in the IPA will be good in the sense that it will be a fairly small building so the class should be able to get to know each other a lot quicker - If we started in UCD, we may have been grouped into a big lecture hall which is not ideal when starting out.

I was planning on using the new gym in Ucd a lot, but it may prove somewhat awkward to get out to UCD from Lansdowne most days. I will definitely be using it most days when we have lectures on the Belfield campus though.

OneOfThem Stumbled

Location: http://www.ipa.ie/pdf/IPAMap.pdf

I'm assuming we start on the 10th ...

Anybody know em... what the fees are? :pac:

thedice

sorry, i didnt see the "M" in MSc

wheres the trigger

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Anybody know em... what the fees are? :pac:

No official word yet, but according to this list;
http://www.ucd.ie/registry/adminservices/fees/2012/index.html

€2,750 if you're from the EU, or €11,400 otherwise.

bennyineire

I hope its the 10th as I will be at the Electric Picnic, I'll be commuting from Tullamore by train. Gonna be a bit akward getting to the IPA from Hueston, anyone know how to do it, I'm thinking bus to Westmorland and walking the rest.
P.S. I'm from a Civil Eng. backround

thegift06

Dunno what to do with myself. I have a dissertation due in on 26th of September and there is no way ill have it finished by the 10th, nevermind the 3rd as Better Call Saul_BB has said earlier

:mad:

OneOfThem Stumbled

Orientation week starts on the 3rd (principally for new undergrads).

Term starts on the 10th. I suppose you could miss some of the first week if you had to.

Good luck with the dissertation


Anybody else finding difficulties logging into SIS?

Raphael

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Orientation week starts on the 3rd (principally for new undergrads).

Term starts on the 10th. I suppose you could miss some of the first week if you had to.

Good luck with the dissertation


Anybody else finding difficulties logging into SIS?

Just a note, that's not a guarantee the Conversion doesn't start on the 3rd. A friend of mine did it the year before last, and the course pays almost no attention to the general academic calendar, so it may just start properly on the 3rd.

Edit: Looking at the sample timetable http://www.csi.ucd.ie/files/Sample%20Timetable.doc, startdate in 2011 was the 12th, which was the term start date, so it will probably be the 10th. Worth a look at that document if you haven't seen it already, though, it'll give you an idea of my point about ignoring the academic calendar. Don't much plan holidays for a while...

Better Call Saul_BB

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Orientation week starts on the 3rd (principally for new undergrads).

Term starts on the 10th. I suppose you could miss some of the first week if you had to.

Good luck with the dissertation


Anybody else finding difficulties logging into SIS?

Yea, I can log into the SIS web but cant do much with it.

I can't book a start time, pick my modules or access this years timetable. (although I am not sure if those first two things will be relevant to us anyway).

Laika1986

Offered a place a couple of weeks ago I can't believe how many boardsies are doing it! So there's no official start date as of yet? I'm pretty sure we wont be picking our modules until next year.HTML,CSS and C until christmas i think

Better Call Saul_BB

We must arrange a boards meetup and have a pint or two on our first day or two in the IPA.

2 Hell and Back

I rang to double check the start date,

We are starting on the 3rd September.

Lady on the phone said there may be an induction/welcoming thing on in the IPA at 4pm on Thursday 30th August..not for definite yet.

Better Call Saul_BB

Would be nice if we could get our timetable soon...

Better Call Saul_BB

Found this timetable on the SIS web. If it is accurate, it looks like Programming and Databases will be our first two modules and we will be on the Belfield UCD campus as apposed to the IPA in Lansdowne for the first semester...

Tuesday and Wednesdays look intensive, but always nice to have Fridays off...

Anonomuss

Hey guys, I'm also going to be starting this course in September. I come from a Law background so I've my fingers crossed that I won't be miles behind you all.

I just saw that the following was added to the Msc Computer Science Conversion page:

"Important Dates

M.Sc(conv) Welcome & Induction Session for new 2012 students, Thursday
August 30th 4pm,at IPA, Landsdowne Rd, Dublin 4.

Course timetable will be given at this session.

Course Commencement: 9 a.m Monday September 3rd 2012 at IPA."

So it appears that we'll be starting on the third.

Also @Bennyineire, I'm going to be travelling from Kildare, and taking the luas from Heuston to George's Dock (Mayor's Square is closer, but George's Dock is the last stop on the City Centre train fare), crossing the Beckett bridge and going from there on foot. It's about a 5-10 20-25 minute walk from George's Dock.

2 Hell and Back

Anonomuss wrote: »

Also @Bennyineire, I'm going to be travelling from Kildare, and taking the luas from Heuston to George's Dock (Mayor's Square is closer, but George's Dock is the last stop on the City Centre train fare), crossing the Beckett bridge and going from there on foot. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from George's Dock.

Id give yourself 25minutes walk. You would have to be running to do it in 5 - 10minutes.

Anonomuss

Whoops. Yeah you're right there. 5-10 minutes was way too optimistic thinking. I was thinking of Shelbourne road, and even 10 minutes would have to have been a good day. 25 minutes makes sense, especially since I've never been to the place.

2 Hell and Back

Anonomuss wrote: »

Whoops. Yeah you're right there. 5-10 minutes was way too optimistic thinking. I was thinking of Shelbourne road, and even 10 minutes would have to have been a good day. 25 minutes makes sense, especially since I've never been to the place.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=George%27s+Dock&daddr=institute+of+public+adminstration+dublin&hl=en&ll=53.341738,-6.239204&spn=0.027416,0.084543&sll=53.341875,-6.241025&sspn=0.027416,0.084543&geocode=FZkMLgMdkqug_w%3BFffOLQMdYfCg_ynvbnkswg5nSDFEVno8BkrvtQ&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&t=m&z=14

google maps says 32mins but it probably allows for slow walkers

Maybe you could use the dublin bikes scheme to quicken the journey a bit?

Anonomuss

Yeah, I don't think it would take that long.

I've been messing around with the map distance/time measurements. Heuston to Trinity is a similar distance (approximately, Google maps reckons its 35 minutes) and I did it regularly in 20-25 minutes. And on a less regular basis I walked from Heuston to the far end of St John Rogerson's Quay, in slightly less than 40 mins, which google says should take 50.

So given that margin or error, about 25 minutes would seem a reasonable amount of time. I haven't allowed for traffic lights and traffic though.


5-10 minutes. What was I thinking. /facepalm
Its certainly not boding well for me that I wasn't able to figure this out offhand.
I'm really not that terrible, honest!

EDIT: Yeah, it might be an idea alright. Although I'm somewhat wary of biking around dublin, due to the dangers of inner city driving, which couldn rarely be described as considerate.

EDIT 2: Actually, taking the 145 from Heuston to Haddington Road, and then on to the IPA is likely to be quicker. It only needs a 10 minute walk.
The 145 leaves every 10 minutes from Heuston, so that could well be the better option.
Also, the 145 should work to and from belfield also.


Sorry, I'll stop cluttering the thread with transport stuff now.

murtron

Anyone else going EP this year? Looks like I'll be missing day 1 anyway, wasn't expecting such an early start!

bennyineire

Thanks for all the info as regards walking to the IPA, just registered, I haven't got any info on when we start and orientation, where did you guys get this info
P.S. I'm going to E.P. on the Sunday so I'm gonna be a sick boy on Monday

Laika1986

Got this email this morning:

Dear Student,

Your start time for Registration is Monday 27 August 2012 at 04:30PM.

Regards,

UCD Registry

What do they mean by start time?

Also as regards timetables and all that im pretty sure we will be split into two different groups for the first couple of months. Group 1 will be in 9-1 and group 2 will be in 2-6 or something like that. A friend of mine who completed it last year told me this is how it worked for him.

murtron

The time at which you can register to modules via SIS web. In our case, all the modules have been preselected for the first year so don't think it's relevant.

You just need to fill out your personal information, upload a photo and pay fees if you haven't done that yet.

At least that's my understanding of it as a past student of UCD.

Anonomuss

bennyineire wrote: »

I haven't got any info on when we start and orientation, where did you guys get this info

I got what I posted above here. Other than that I haven't had any other info in that regard. The info 2 Hell and Back called, and seemed to get the same info.

Better Call Saul_BB

Laika1986 wrote: »

Got this email this morning:

Dear Student,

Your start time for Registration is Monday 27 August 2012 at 04:30PM.

Regards,

UCD Registry

What do they mean by start time?

Also as regards timetables and all that im pretty sure we will be split into two different groups for the first couple of months. Group 1 will be in 9-1 and group 2 will be in 2-6 or something like that. A friend of mine who completed it last year told me this is how it worked for him.

I am fairly sure its 9.30am to 12.30pm and 2pm - 5pm.

We will spend the first six weeks in the IPA from what I have been told.

In regard to the fees, I have so far paid the €500 deposit and my remaining balance on the SIS web is €2250. I was thinking of paying €1125 in September and the rest in January. However, considering our course is actually three semesters, I think we may get away with paying €750 in September, €750 in January and the remaining €750 sometime next summer....

OneOfThem Stumbled

Anybody any ideas the best way to get between IPA and Belfield?

Totally surprised how early the course is starting I have to say!

Better Call Saul_BB

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Anybody any ideas the best way to get between IPA and Belfield?

Good question. Was planning on joining the gym, but I may just wait until we start the next semester in Belfield.

Never a big fan of studying/doing work in the library on campus (I did my undergraduate degree in UCD), so I doubt I will need to be spending much time out there for the first few months if the IPA has decent enough facilities.

On a related note, is anybody buying a new laptop specifically for this course? I have a relatively decent one already buts its a 15 inch and not exactly ideal to be carrying around all day. I was looking into getting a new Ultrabook but imo you would be much better served waiting until Windows 8 comes out at the end of October before going that route.

I am hoping there is a decent computer room in the IPA which will suffice for course work and then I have my computer/laptop at home to do any additional required work.

OneOfThem Stumbled

Just looking at my registration there...

No IPA...

murtron

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Just looking at my registration there...

No IPA...

I think SIS web only shows modules actually offered by UCD so we won't see the IPA stuff on there

OneOfThem Stumbled

murtron wrote: »

I think SIS web only shows modules actually offered by UCD so we won't see the IPA stuff on there

Yeh, you can actually see it on your ucd connect google calendar if you go to December, March and April. :pac:

bennyineire

I got an email this morning stating thus

"We would like to invite you to our Welcome and Induction Evening here in the Institute on Thursday, 30th August at 4.00 p.m. which will allow you to meet and have a chat with the various members of staff and fellow students whom you will be dealing with during your course.

The first Module here in the Institute is on Internet Technologies and will commence on Monday 3rd September, 2012. Depending on which group you have been assigned to, Group A classes will be held from 9.30 a.m.-12.30 p.m. and Group B classes will be held from 1.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m. You should be here 15 minutes prior to commencement of class, for registration."

I hope I'm in group A, anyway see you all soon, I'm Brendan by the way

thegift06

Anyone looking for a free pdf version of the book here you go: The Essential Guide to CSS & HTML Web Design (Essentials). Its handy if you have a tablet

Laika1986

Can anyone tell me is thursday's induction mandatory? Not sure if I'll be able to make it. Also in group A, name is Podge

2 Hell and Back

Laika1986 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me is thursday's induction mandatory? Not sure if I'll be able to make it. Also in group A, name is Podge

Its not mandatory... its just a meet and greet, say hello type of thing.

Over 100 people listed for the course

OneOfThem Stumbled

Anyone mind telling me the email address from which the invitation was sent? I'm pretty certain I didn't get one; and it's annoying to be left off a mailing list. :pac: