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history course

  • 27-07-2012 6:06pm
    #1
    endasmail
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭


    Does anyone know why the History degree is 4 years in Trinity and only 3 years in NUIM and UCD?
    Thanks


Comments

  • #2
    gutenberg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 984 ✭✭✭gutenberg


    You are eligible for a Master of Arts (MA) three years after you graduate with your Trinity BA, which I think is part of the reason for it being four years (though equally, Oxford and Cambridge offer them to their BAs after only a three year course...).

    Otherwise I think it is for historic reasons mainly. It is also the case that a lot (if not all?) of Scottish degrees, including BAs, are four years.

    I think the extra year is really good, as it gives you an extra year in which to take advanced specialist subjects.


  • #3
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    The extra year is great. Admittedly for those forced to scrimp and save their way through college the extra year is a significant deterrent, I would easily recommend it. When you hit your 70s and look back at the life you lived, are you going to regret not entering the full time workforce a year earlier? Of course not.


  • #4
    Siobhan6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 140 ✭✭Siobhan6


    Yeah i think it's because they count your fourth year as your masters year, so three years after you graduate you can buy your masters from Trinity without actually having to do it. That and it's not just the history course that is four years instead of three, i think it is the same for all arts courses at TCD


  • #5
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Siobhan6 wrote: »
    Yeah i think it's because they count your fourth year as your masters year, so three years after you graduate you can buy your masters from Trinity without actually having to do it. That and it's not just the history course that is four years instead of three, i think it is the same for all arts courses at TCD

    What?


  • #6
    Siobhan6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 140 ✭✭Siobhan6


    Denerick wrote: »
    What?

    Yeah, it's called a Trinity Masters or something, Cambridge does it too, and I think Oxford.


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  • #7
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Siobhan6 wrote: »
    Yeah, it's called a Trinity Masters or something, Cambridge does it too, and I think Oxford.

    What if I did a masters in UCD or something, would I have the equivilent qualification already from Trinity? Could you go straight into a PHD programme after waiting around for a couple of years after your degree?


  • #8
    Siobhan6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 140 ✭✭Siobhan6


    Denerick wrote: »
    What if I did a masters in UCD or something, would I have the equivilent qualification already from Trinity? Could you go straight into a PHD programme after waiting around for a couple of years after your degree?

    It's all in here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Oxbridge_and_Dublin)

    But yeah, pretty sure it's the same as getting a masters from UCD, only it's from Trinity.


  • #9
    gutenberg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 984 ✭✭✭gutenberg


    Denerick wrote: »
    What if I did a masters in UCD or something, would I have the equivilent qualification already from Trinity? Could you go straight into a PHD programme after waiting around for a couple of years after your degree?

    No, the Trinity/Oxbridge MA is not the equivalent of a taught/research Master's qualification: that's why Trinity awards MPhils for its Master's degrees, rather than MA. It is recognised as a degree earned by having a BA and then appropriate seniority, rather than as a distinct postgraduate qualification earned by undertaking a new course of study. It costs 637 euro from Trinity.

    And you know that you can go straight into a PhD from your BA in Ireland? I held an offer to do so while I was finishing my degree.


  • #10
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    gutenberg wrote: »
    And you know that you can go straight into a PhD from your BA in Ireland? I held an offer to do so while I was finishing my degree.

    I know that, but it would be quite unusual. Only for the creme de la creme, not for those of us who mere muse about the distant possibility of sometime, someday... :)


  • #11
    gutenberg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 984 ✭✭✭gutenberg


    Denerick wrote: »
    I know that, but it would be quite unusual. Only for the creme de la creme, not for those of us who mere muse about the distant possibility of sometime, someday... :)

    I politely disagree :) A few from my year (I can think of five off-hand) went straight from BA to PhD in Trinity this year (2011-2012), and, not to be disparaging, a couple of them are far from the creme de la creme! Interestingly, they are the ones struggling to get any funding. A master's is becoming more and more necessary I feel.


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  • #12
    endasmail
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,275 ✭✭✭endasmail


    right
    a bit confusing

    thanks for the replies
    basicially ,the extra year gets you a degree with a sort of bonus attached
    ?


  • #13
    gutenberg
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 984 ✭✭✭gutenberg


    endasmail wrote: »
    right
    a bit confusing

    thanks for the replies
    basicially ,the extra year gets you a degree with a sort of bonus attached
    ?

    Kinda. You don't automatically get the MA: you have to pay for it, and you're eligible for it three years after you graduate. If you never opt to be conferred with it then you never receive it, it isn't granted automatically. Basically, you become eligible for it.

    I don't think the extra year necessarily has much to do with it, because as discussed Oxbridge grant their students MAs after a three-year BA. I think the extra year is primarily for historic reasons, following the old liberal arts model.


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