What's TCD like as a university? :)

0000879k

Title says it all :P

Just sum up what you think about it, and your experience with it.. please?

Tragedy

Pretentious. Not bad, but pretentious is the word that instantly springs to mind.

Jammyc

If you'd like proper answers, you'll have to be more specific:
Do you mean with regard to academics? societies? sports clubs? facilities?

0000879k

I mean like atmosphere, the people, the place etc, not the courses

Tears in Rain

Atmosphere's pretty good, the social life is very much oriented around clubs and societies so join a few and see what you like. The central location's great for going out, since you can just chill outside the pav and have a few cans then hit a club if you want to.

I wouldn't call the atmosphere pretentious, there are definitely pretentious people but they generally stick to their pretentious cliques and you can ignore them. Personally I don't mind them, but then I get labelled pretentious a fair bit myself so w/e.

On the whole the atmosphere is pretty fun loving and there's generally something to do any given day, but some of the courses in Trinity are pretty demanding, and that's going to affect your social life a bit. For instance, I'm doing TP and I'm probably going to be a proper social pariah next year.

It's lovely. It's a quiet place in the centre of Dublin, lots of things to do. Social life can be entirely determined by yourself (i.e. there's something for everyone). Lovely buildings, academic feeling to the place.

The Arts end, I feel, has a slightly different feel to the Science end, but I'd say that's because Arts courses tend to have less hours and more reading.

The pretentious people are entirely avoidable.

Tragedy

true-or-false wrote: »

The pretentious people are entirely avoidable.

IME, sadly not. 100% of 30 BESS students I asked (JF, I was mentoring) stated that they picked Trinity first and course second. That's incredibly pretentious!

Likewise in first year, a bunch of lecturers pointed out that students were lucky to be in Trinity and that Trinity was special. I think that was even in our Introductory lecture.

Unregistered.

Tragedy wrote: »

IME, sadly not. 100% of 30 BESS students I asked (JF, I was mentoring) stated that they picked Trinity first and course second. That's incredibly pretentious!

Great sample for your poll there.

Tragedy

Unregistered. wrote: »

Great sample for your poll there.

It wasn't a poll and it wasn't a sample, nor did I phrase my post in such a way as to construe it as being so.

Great premise for a post there.

Unregistered.

Tragedy wrote: »

...nor did I phrase my post in such a way as to construe it as being so.

You didn't need to! It was exactly a poll. But that's aside, you're missing (ignoring) the point.

You asked 30 BESS students. There is going to be a huge amount of bias and the opinion of a minute number of students, who are all taking the same course, is not going to be representative of Trinity College. Your conclusion could be that first year BESS students are incredibly pretentious, not that Trinity, as a whole, is.

sadie06

This is a light hearted take on the 'is Trinity pretentious' issue. I was in Trinity quite a lot towards the end of my degree in NUIM, and came across the funniest graffiti in a toilet cubicle: It read: 'Is it wrong that I don't want to be with him just because he only goes to GMIT and has no future?'.

I am well aware that you can't generalise, but you would never read anything like that in NUIM. Even funnier were the 'you should have some fun, but he's obviously not marriage material' replies. I'm looking forward to the entertainment value of over hearing the pretentious minority in action!

Personally, I can't wait to start in Trinity in September. I've always loved the atmosphere, I love the library and I'm ready for a change.

Tragedy

Unregistered. wrote: »

You didn't need to! It was exactly a poll. But that's aside, you're missing (ignoring) the point.

You asked 30 BESS students. There is going to be a huge amount of bias and the opinion of a minute number of students, who are all taking the same course, is not going to be representative of Trinity College. Your conclusion could be that first year BESS students are incredibly pretentious, not that Trinity, as a whole, is.

I see, so if I ask two friends if they liked a movie and I post on boards that two of my friends didn't like a movie, the reality is is that I conducted a poll and my post is an attempt to show that no-one on earth likes that movie?

Tripe.

Original post:

Just sum up what you think about it, and your experience with it.. please?

My second post:

IME, sadly not.

You're also assuming that my opinion is solely founded on one incident involving 30 TCD students. Why? Who knows, it's an idiotic position for you to take but then that seems to be a trademark of your posts in this thread so far.

Do I need to explain what an example is to you, or are you going to stop pretending to be an idiot and actually take posts at face value? ****, I probably should explain what an example is to you.

an instance serving for illustration

There you go, I posted an instance serving for illustration of why I think pretentious is the defining word for TCD in my time there.

Kudos on serving as a perfect illustration for pretentious TCD'ers though, pretending to be more intelligent than you are.

Tragedy

Tragedy wrote: »

I see, so if I ask two friends if they liked a movie and I post on boards that two of my friends didn't like a movie, the reality is is that I conducted a poll and my post is an attempt to show that no-one on earth likes that movie?

Tripe.

Getting people's opinions on something is a poll. I hope I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth when I say that I don't think anyone meant to imply that your experience was purposely biased. It's just that generally BESS isn't a degree that students are particularly passionate about, rather, from what I've seen, the majority of BESS students just want to work hard for a few years and get a degree. Which is a perfectly worthwhile endeavour, but leaves a lot of room for choosing courses you think will have a good look on your CV when you're finished. So I'm not too surprised that they chose TCD first and the degree second.

I am passionate about my degree choice, but I too chose TCD first and course second - because TCD was closer to my home, I preferred the atmosphere to UCD or DCU (the other two colleges I was considering) and I used to spend time in TCD as a teenager so I knew my way around. So maybe even with your experience being slightly BESS biased, not all of them meant TCD for the sake of pretentiousness.

There you go, I posted an instance serving for illustration of why I think pretentious is the defining word for TCD in my time there.

It's unfortunate that your time in TCD was overshadowed by that, but for many other people, myself included, pretentiousness is nothing more than an occasional thing from a small amount of people who are entirely avoidable.

whendovescry

I think the fact that TCD is labelled as pretentious has led to some people being subliminally primed to look for concrete examples.

It staggers me to to think how anyone could imagine the several thousand undergrads in trinity being in anyway different from a similar size group from UCD, or Harvard or Sydney University, in terms of general behavior, interests and social practices

Anyone who believes otherwise needs to:

1) take a step back and look at the bigger picture
2) get out more

Jonathan

This got out of hand quickly.

Tragedy & Unregistered.: Take your disagreement elsewhere, preferably to PM.

ViveLaVie

I went to both UCC and TCD. BIG difference between the two colleges.

Some people think TCD has the BEST students in the country and the BEST teaching etc. I don't necessarily agree. The level of teaching I received in both colleges was fairly similar.

TCD does not feel like an Irish university. Little differences like naming each year (first years are called junior freshmen, second years senior freshmen, third years junior sophisters etc), naming each term (Michaelmas Term and Hilary Term) and Schols (which in fairness is a great idea) give the college an English vibe.

The social life in TCD isn't great IMO in comparison to other Irish unis. It has the WORST Rag Week I have ever seen (I've been to NUIM, NUIG, UL, UCC and CIT Rag Weeks). When I asked people why it was so badly organised, they said only the country universities bother with RW... Ditto for Freshers' Week.

Trinity Ball is epic in fairness but that's about it. Now to be fair I didn't join clubs or socs but nor did I do so in UCC and yet my social life down there was far far superior and I didn't know anyone in Cork when I first started there either.

TCD is very academic in nature and there DEFINITELY are a LOT of pretentious people there who think they're better than students in other unis. I have heard TCD heads say that they have better degrees than students in other colleges who have the exact same qualifications. I have heard TCD heads say they're just plain better than students in other colleges.

Yeah they can be avoided. However, it is HARDER to avoid them as there are more of them.

If I had the choice to go back I'm not sure if I'd pick TCD again. I am not a nerdy person and so I found it a bit harder to find like-minded friends in TCD. I enjoy going out, having fun, drinking, meeting people etc. Most of my classmates enjoy reading and quiet nights in. Some of them genuinely like studying which I detest. For someone like that TCD is a wonderful college. For someone more like me... maybe reconsider.

NSNO

ViveLaVie wrote: »

I went to both UCC and TCD. BIG difference between the two colleges.

Some people think TCD has the BEST students in the country and the BEST teaching etc. I don't necessarily agree. The level of teaching I received in both colleges was fairly similar.

TCD does not feel like an Irish university. Little differences like naming each year (first years are called junior freshmen, second years senior freshmen, third years junior sophisters etc), naming each term (Michaelmas Term and Hilary Term) and Schols (which in fairness is a great idea) give the college an English vibe.

The social life in TCD isn't great IMO in comparison to other Irish unis. It has the WORST Rag Week I have ever seen (I've been to NUIM, NUIG, UL, UCC and CIT Rag Weeks). When I asked people why it was so badly organised, they said only the country universities bother with RW... Ditto for Freshers' Week.

Trinity Ball is epic in fairness but that's about it. Now to be fair I didn't join clubs or socs but nor did I do so in UCC and yet my social life down there was far far superior and I didn't know anyone in Cork when I first started there either.

TCD is very academic in nature and there DEFINITELY are a LOT of pretentious people there who think they're better than students in other unis. I have heard TCD heads say that they have better degrees than students in other colleges who have the exact same qualifications. I have heard TCD heads say they're just plain better than students in other colleges.

Yeah they can be avoided. However, it is HARDER to avoid them as there are more of them.

If I had the choice to go back I'm not sure if I'd pick TCD again. I am not a nerdy person and so I found it a bit harder to find like-minded friends in TCD. I enjoy going out, having fun, drinking, meeting people etc. Most of my classmates enjoy reading and quiet nights in. Some of them genuinely like studying which I detest. For someone like that TCD is a wonderful college. For someone more like me... maybe reconsider.

Commenting on the social life in Trinity without joining any clubs or socs is more than a little misleading.

Trinity's social life - perhaps more than any other college in Ireland - is heavily based in societies and clubs. I got involved in 2 in my first year and I had 2-3 events to attend nearly every week. And there are societies for everything with a ton of active, enthusiastic members and plenty of events. There is far too much great stuff (From debates, plays and comedy nights to good old-fashioned piss-ups and parties) on in a given week for anybody to go to. Haven't even mentioned the awesome range of ssports clubs but that's more because I've just eaten a take-away and more than hate myself for not going to the gym more last year . Anywho, Trinity's active societies and clubs are one of its strongest selling points and are a great way to meet new friends who like the same stuff you do.


To the OP, Trinity is a great university to go to. The campus is beautiful, not too big and you are right in the centre of the city which really can't be underestimated. As mentioned above the social life is fantastic if you get involved in wider college life, not just your course/year. The people are great too, a complete breath of fresh air from where I came from myself. There's a great, open/liberal, fun-loving atmosphere and a real pro-learning/intellectual culture that you may not have had if you are coming from a big state school like I did.

Some courses can be pretty demanding but feck it if you won't go out on the tear regularly anyway. Work hard, play hard. (Unless studying for schols in which case: Work hard, hate yourself )

Tragedy

true-or-false wrote: »

Getting people's opinions on something is a poll. I hope I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth when I say that I don't think anyone meant to imply that your experience was purposely biased. It's just that generally BESS isn't a degree that students are particularly passionate about, rather, from what I've seen, the majority of BESS students just want to work hard for a few years and get a degree. Which is a perfectly worthwhile endeavour, but leaves a lot of room for choosing courses you think will have a good look on your CV when you're finished. So I'm not too surprised that they chose TCD first and the degree second.

Again, you're ignoring the fact that this thread is about people's individual experiences in TCD. Obviously I'm not claiming that everyone in TCD is pretentious, or that it is a fact that TCD as a college is pretentious. I never portrayed my post as anything other than my experience, so there is no reason to start a large discussion over statistical sampling involved in my asking 30 BESS students on if they picked TCD or BESS first. I made it quite clear in my post that it was a small group of JF BESS students, so I don't understand why people keep posting replies as if I had hidden this fact and misrepresented my 'poll' as to being statistically significant and representative.

Also, a poll has significant connotations, just like a survey does. While one can claim asking any group of people a question constitutes a poll (or a survey), in reality and in the vast, vast majority of people's minds it just constitutes a question.

It's unfortunate that your time in TCD was overshadowed by that, but for many other people, myself included, pretentiousness is nothing more than an occasional thing from a small amount of people who are entirely avoidable.

Huh? I never said it was overshadowed. Or a particularly negative thing. The thread asked for people to sum up their experiences of it, and for me the defining characteristic so far is a quiet prevalent attitude of pretentiousness. Not it's city centre location and vibrant atmosphere, it's quality of teaching, the facilities, socs&clubs.

@Whendovescry, you're kind of missing the point. People are pretentious about Trinity, not people in Trinity are pretentious.

ViveLaVie

NSNO wrote: »

Commenting on the social life in Trinity without joining any clubs or socs is more than a little misleading.

Trinity's social life - perhaps more than any other college in Ireland - is heavily based in societies and clubs. I got involved in 2 in my first year and I had 2-3 events to attend nearly every week. And there are societies for everything with a ton of active, enthusiastic members and plenty of events. There is far too much great stuff (From debates, plays and comedy nights to good old-fashioned piss-ups and parties) on in a given week for anybody to go to. Haven't even mentioned the awesome range of ssports clubs but that's more because I've just eaten a take-away and more than hate myself for not going to the gym more last year . Anywho, Trinity's active societies and clubs are one of its strongest selling points and are a great way to meet new friends who like the same stuff you do.

To be fair, I don't think it's misleading as I clearly said that I didn't join any clubs or socs. I also didn't join any in UCC but my social life was better, classmates and housemates were more up for going out than their TCD counterparts. Yeah I obviously put myself at a disadvantage, but that disadvantage proved to be less of a hindrance in another college that has a more vibrant social life in my experience.

I also mentioned Rag Week and Freshers' Week and the fact that they're not celebrated in the same way that they are in other colleges (I listed the ones I've been at) is an indication of the overall lack of interest in socialising in TCD in comparison with other colleges IMO.

I agree that there is a good intellectual vibe around the place and it is a stunning campus. Reading back over my post I think it comes across a bit more negative than I meant it originally, but I stand by what I said regarding the social life.

Dublin in general lacks the student community social aspect found in other colleges IMO.

It is a great college in other ways and I did meet some lovely people but I think for people like myself a college like UCC might be a better choice. For people who aren't as concerned about the social aspect to college then TCD is great.

Lisandro

true-or-false wrote: »

.The Arts end, I feel, has a slightly different feel to the Science end, but I'd say that's because Arts courses tend to have less hours and more reading.

I'd say it's a very different feel. Due to the lack of good places to eat down by the Hamilton, I end up passing by the Arts Block every day on the way to lunch. It's like going through a different university. People Hang out there much more, especially on the couches, whereas people at the Hamilton tend to be in constant transit between lectures and when they do sit down and relax, they're normally in rooms off the main corridor (such as the Mathsoc Room, which is contained in the school of mathematics). People at the Hamilton tend to wear what's comfortable (or something that's different), the Arts end is generally much more fashionable. The Hamilton is the basis of my academic life, but I go towards the other end of the college for social life, so you can say I enjoy the best of both worlds.

Tragedy wrote: »

stated that they picked Trinity first and course second. That's incredibly pretentious...a bunch of lecturers pointed out that students were lucky to be in Trinity and that Trinity was special.

I wouldn't necessarily call that pretentious, Trinity does excel in certain areas, I wouldn't consider it arrogant to think that or act on it when choosing what to put down on the CAO form.

whendovescry wrote: »

It staggers me to to think how anyone could imagine the several thousand undergrads in trinity being in anyway different from a similar size group from UCD, or Harvard or Sydney University, in terms of general behavior, interests and social practices

Although I don't buy into the idea that specifically Trinity students are pretentious, is it really that implausible to suppose that undergrads from different demographics at different universities in different countries with different cultures might be in some way, well, different?

whendovescry

wrote:

Although I don't buy into the idea that specifically Trinity students are pretentious, is it really that implausible to suppose that undergrads from different demographics at different universities in different countries with different cultures might be in some way, well, different?

Of course there are differences between different demographics/cultures, but for university students in first world countries, there aren't much.

For example, excluding environmental occurrences, Are there any behavioral traits displayed by TCD students that aren't found in the aforemetioned demographics, and vice versa?

Lisandro

whendovescry wrote: »

Of course there are differences between different demographics/cultures, but for university students in first world countries, there aren't much.

For example, excluding environmental occurrences, Are there any behavioral traits displayed by TCD students that aren't found in the aforemetioned demographics, and vice versa?

Well, probably. Without assuming what these differences are (because that would require observations beyond a few anecdotes), I would suggest that student life in Harvard is different from student life in Trinity. For one, American culture across the board is quite different from Irish culture, so one might expect to see differences in, for example, their social lives (fraternities are quite common over in America, they have quite a bad reputation over here), drinking culture, philosophies on personal liberty and whatever other parameters you want to consider. From my experience, in debating, I find that Americans have a completely different speaking and argumentation style to people from Ireland/Britain.

Universities are at their cores similar, I accept, but across a spectrum, differences, however subtle, exist.

whendovescry

Lisandro wrote: »

Well, probably. Without assuming what these differences are (because that would require observations beyond a few anecdotes), I would suggest that student life in Harvard is different from student life in Trinity. For one, American culture across the board is quite different from Irish culture, so one might expect to see differences in, for example, their social lives (fraternities are quite common over in America, they have quite a bad reputation over here), drinking culture, philosophies on personal liberty and whatever other parameters you want to consider. From my experience, in debating, I find that Americans have a completely different speaking and argumentation style to people from Ireland/Britain.

Universities are at their cores similar, I accept, but across a spectrum, differences, however subtle, exist.

+1 on the argumentation style of Americans, and i find that they generally better informed than their Irish counterparts.

My friend goes to the university of California, Berkeley and when I went over to visit him he took me to a frat party.

I had preconceptions about Americans being 'softer' than the Irish when It comes to drinking culture, but my eyes were certainly opened that night; just as bad if not worse! They also have very liberal attitudes regarding sex, drugs same/sex marriages, just as Irish students do.

Regarding philosophies of personal liberty, while I agree that it affects their outlook and initiative, I don't think it is that well pronounced to be discernible.

I could go on but my takeaway from that trip was that there is very little difference between a 20 year old college student from the states and one from Ireland. They are more than likely to have parents that went to college, hail from a middle-class socio-economic background, listen to the same music, watch the same movies and generally occupy their minds with the same things.

The main difference I found was that American students work harder, but that is most likely arising from the remnants of the American dream ideology.

Lisandro

whendovescry wrote: »

+1 on the argumentation style of Americans, and i find that they generally better informed than their Irish counterparts.

My friend goes to the university of California, Berkeley and when I went over to visit him he took me to a frat party.

I had preconceptions about Americans being 'softer' than the Irish when It comes to drinking culture, but my eyes were certainly opened that night; just as bad if not worse! They also have very liberal attitudes regarding sex, drugs same/sex marriages, just as Irish students do.

Regarding philosophies of personal liberty, while I agree that it affects their outlook and initiative, I don't think it is that well pronounced to be discernible.

I could go on but my takeaway from that trip was that there is very little difference between a 20 year old college student from the states and one from Ireland. They are more than likely to have parents that went to college, hail from a middle-class socio-economic background, listen to the same music, watch the same movies and generally occupy their minds with the same things.

The main difference I found was that American students work harder, but that is most likely arising from the remnants of the American dream ideology.

Actually, I thought it was the American debaters who were bad, their policy debating competitions are based largely around word-vomit, they're adjudicated based on "evidence cards" (which is very much in keeping with the tendency in American debaters to think that one side is objectively right/wrong and can be determined with facts and statistics). Debating in Ireland/Britain is more based around principles, its more discerning in terms of what arguments are relevant, but it does suffer from appealing too much to intuition (though this is more of a flaw on the Irish rather than the English circuit).

End of digression. American drinking culture is interesting, especially considering that many people over here think that only we and the British are bad drinkers. Liberal views on drugs/sex etc., they're similar from what I gather. Things like freedom of speech and gun ownership are defended much more, Americans generally value their constitution much more than we do, often to the point that something being in the constitution is considered an argument for it. I think Irish university students generally identify themselves as liberal but have some conservative tendencies that places them closer to centre than in America. I think the controversy that arises in (broadly liberal) debating circles whenever fascist politicians are invited to speak to some extent reflects this.

Tears in Rain

Lisandro wrote: »

Americans generally value their constitution much more than we do, often to the point that something being in the constitution is considered an argument for it.

Well I suppose this is understandable, their constitution after all, was created by a bunch of enlightened freethinkers who were years ahead of their time, and is, notwithstanding the amendments, a fairly minimalist affair.

Ours on the other hand, is a bloated and flawed document, created with the grim specter of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid breathing down the authors' necks at all times.

whendovescry

Lisandro wrote: »

Actually, I thought it was the American debaters who were bad, their policy debating competitions are based largely around word-vomit, they're adjudicated based on "evidence cards" (which is very much in keeping with the tendency in American debaters to think that one side is objectively right/wrong and can be determined with facts and statistics). Debating in Ireland/Britain is more based around principles, its more discerning in terms of what arguments are relevant, but it does suffer from appealing too much to intuition (though this is more of a flaw on the Irish rather than the English circuit).

End of digression. American drinking culture is interesting, especially considering that many people over here think that only we and the British are bad drinkers. Liberal views on drugs/sex etc., they're similar from what I gather. Things like freedom of speech and gun ownership are defended much more, Americans generally value their constitution much more than we do, often to the point that something being in the constitution is considered an argument for it. I think Irish university students generally identify themselves as liberal but have some conservative tendencies that places them closer to centre than in America. I think the controversy that arises in (broadly liberal) debating circles whenever fascist politicians are invited to speak to some extent reflects this.

To second Tears in rain (big fan of that movie btw!) I would certainly value the American constitution as a wonderfully prescient and masterfully crafted document.

I hesitate saying prescient but then again I don't think you can blame Jefferson et al for not foreseeing where arms technology would be today. Providing for your family and defending one's property were a priority during the 18th century, whereas every gun manufactured today is done so with the sole purpose of killing another human being
.
I don't think most level-headed Americans are big into defending gun laws at this stage, and see it as a somewhat archaic addition to an otherwise modern constitution.

I think that law is in the process of dying a slow, spluttering death. The last bastion of resistance are the bible belt, park-your-SUV-on-the-front-lawn-rednecks who make up a disconcertingly large proportion of the population.

I agree that most Irish students are leftist, at least the ones that can think for themselves. The conservative cohort that you mention have been unadulteratedly brainwashed by their ultraconservative parents and wouldn't recognize a new thought if it slapped them in the face!




I've just realized that we have tread very far from the beaten path

Lawliet

It's threads like this that make me really sorry I never read this forum before getting into Trinity. I'd love to be able to appreciate this stuff as an outsider.
"I wanted to find out what the atmosphere was like, but they kept getting into pointless arguments over whether or not they're pretentious, and then they started discussing American values, political leanings and the constitution.
On second thoughts lets not go to Trinity, it is a silly place."

0000879k

Lawliet wrote: »

It's threads like this that make me really sorry I never read this forum before getting into Trinity. I'd love to be able to appreciate this stuff as an outsider.
"I wanted to find out what the atmosphere was like, but they kept getting into pointless arguments over whether or not they're pretentious, and then they started discussing American values, political leanings and the constitution.
On second thoughts lets not go to Trinity, it is a silly place."

In fairness if the students are bickering over silly things, it doesn't sound too pleasant.

Tears in Rain

Lawliet wrote: »

"I wanted to find out what the atmosphere was like, but they kept getting into pointless arguments over whether or not they're pretentious, and then they started discussing American values, political leanings and the constitution.
On second thoughts lets not go to Trinity, it is a silly place."

lol'd

0000879k wrote: »

In fairness if the students are bickering over silly things, it doesn't sound too pleasant.

Honestly, that's just a case of the forums having a load of bickering trolls, and they're not really representative of the 15,000 or so strong student body.

andrew

ViveLaVie wrote: »

I went to both UCC and TCD. BIG difference between the two colleges.

Some people think TCD has the BEST students in the country and the BEST teaching etc. I don't necessarily agree. The level of teaching I received in both colleges was fairly similar.

TCD does not feel like an Irish university. Little differences like naming each year (first years are called junior freshmen, second years senior freshmen, third years junior sophisters etc), naming each term (Michaelmas Term and Hilary Term) and Schols (which in fairness is a great idea) give the college an English vibe.

The social life in TCD isn't great IMO in comparison to other Irish unis. It has the WORST Rag Week I have ever seen (I've been to NUIM, NUIG, UL, UCC and CIT Rag Weeks). When I asked people why it was so badly organised, they said only the country universities bother with RW... Ditto for Freshers' Week.

Trinity Ball is epic in fairness but that's about it. Now to be fair I didn't join clubs or socs but nor did I do so in UCC and yet my social life down there was far far superior and I didn't know anyone in Cork when I first started there either.

TCD is very academic in nature and there DEFINITELY are a LOT of pretentious people there who think they're better than students in other unis. I have heard TCD heads say that they have better degrees than students in other colleges who have the exact same qualifications. I have heard TCD heads say they're just plain better than students in other colleges.

Yeah they can be avoided. However, it is HARDER to avoid them as there are more of them.

If I had the choice to go back I'm not sure if I'd pick TCD again. I am not a nerdy person and so I found it a bit harder to find like-minded friends in TCD. I enjoy going out, having fun, drinking, meeting people etc. Most of my classmates enjoy reading and quiet nights in. Some of them genuinely like studying which I detest. For someone like that TCD is a wonderful college. For someone more like me... maybe reconsider.

Given, as you say, that Trinity is more academic and 'nerdy,' with people who like to study, I think its to be expected that people in Trinity will feel that their degrees are better than those from other universities.

I think there's a difference between being pretentious, and recognizing that Trinity is the best college (by many objective measures) in the country. The people who are pretentious dicks I think are in the minority, but at the same time people are (rightly) proud that they're studying in a very good university, having worked their asses off in school In order to get in.

tehjimmeh

ViveLaVie wrote: »

Some of them genuinely like studying which I detest.

What's the point of going to university if you don't enjoy studying the course you chose?