Arts Degree

andrew369

Hey, I am in 6th year and am thinking of taking a the joint honours degree with maybe English, Philosophy and Psychology, computer science maybe too (if I feel like doing anything practical ). Just wondering how people felt about Arts at Maynooth. I am slightly stuck between NUIM and UCD and will be going to the open days for both, but would be great for some input from students. Thanks a lot.

JayEnnis

I've friends doing Arts in UCD in their final year at the moment, from what I've heard its pretty much the same. Saying that, UCD is a bigger college and its a lot harder to make friends. Plus you have to deal with all the D4's I spent a lot of time in UCD last year and I would prefer NUIM over it any day.

Idjit

andrew369 wrote: »

Hey, I am in 6th year and am thinking of taking a the joint honours degree with maybe English, Philosophy and Psychology, computer science maybe too (if I feel like doing anything practical ). Just wondering how people felt about Arts at Maynooth. I am slightly stuck between NUIM and UCD and will be going to the open days for both, but would be great for some input from students. Thanks a lot.

I'm doing Arts currently and as long as you make the right subject choices for you, it's a wonderful place to be, very friendly and mixed and the classes I'm doing are interesting. Lecturers are often witty and kind too. My only experience with UCD was a few years back when I went there for a one-day convention...maybe it was my little Maynoothian heart but I found it too big and the people there were in cliques where as in Maynooth everyone seems to just mix.
On a more serious note though, I'd recommend doing that computer science rather than philosophy if you are thinking career-wise down the line.

Columbia

I picked exactly those three subjects. I liked psychology most but had no aptitude for it unfortunately, so I was stuck with English (which I liked and went on to do postgraduate research in) and philosophy in 2nd year.

Looking back, I wish I hadn't done philosophy. It seems interesting because it's a non-school subject, but I found it incredibly boring and tiresome once the novelty wore off. The best thing about philosophy was some of the characters I met in the class, really interesting people.

Personally speaking, I'd swerve philosophy, the department(s) give it the big sell, saying employers want people with advanced lateral thinking etc., but it's just not true in my experience. Of the 5 people I still talk to from philosophy, only I'm employed (one of the others is doing a PhD), and I had to go overseas for it. Go for something with practical value.

Novella

I agree with the above course. I hate Philosophy, but the other two subjects are great. Obviously it does depend on your interests so maybe you'd love Philosophy but I'd be wary of it. You hear people saying a lot that it's an easy subject choice and it really is not.

andrew369

Thanks for the comments I was at the open day today and am definitely second guessing the philosophy now, seemed interesting but don't see how it could stretch over 3 years. The computer science nearly bored me to tears aswell. English and Psychology seem great though, guess I will just have to shop around in the first few weeks to pick a third subject for certain.

kt18

I did English in Maynooth and I was not overly impressed by the degree. There are some wonderful lecturers, but mostly they could not care about you or your degree. Do not go down the Philosophy route-you will, trust me, want subjects that will offer employment to you once you have finished!

Seren_

Actually, I found the English lecturers opposite to how you describe them kt18. Any of the lecturers I was in contact with (i.e. most of them as I'm one of those annoying people that actually goes to their office hours/incessantly talks during seminars) really wanted the students to do well and were very helpful. Of course, everyone measures these things differently I suppose.

mickstupp

andrew369 wrote: »

Hey, I am in 6th year and am thinking of taking a the joint honours degree with maybe English, Philosophy and Psychology, computer science maybe too (if I feel like doing anything practical ). Just wondering how people felt about Arts at Maynooth. I am slightly stuck between NUIM and UCD and will be going to the open days for both, but would be great for some input from students. Thanks a lot.

As you can see from the posts so far, people disagree. Two of my 1st year subjects were English and Philosophy and I despised English, liked Philosophy. But basing your subjects on other people's opinions is not the best way to go. People disagree because everyone's different. What does it for me (Greek and Roman stuff) won't necessarily interest you in the least, nor the other way round.

I wouldn't touch Psychology personally but you've an interest so go for it. You've to be careful though. If you're doing it through Arts and you don't get into (I think?) the top 30 in the class, you'll be stuck with your other two subjects for the rest of the degree. So make sure you like them. At the beginning of the year you'll have a bunch of weeks where you can check out a few different subjects before making your final decision. I checked out 6 different subjects before deciding on the three I wanted.

As for practicality... obviously Philosophy is not a secondary teaching subject as it is in some other countries. But that doesn't make it impractical. Granted I can only speak from experience, and things may have changed, but I used to work in various IT companies and was involved in hiring people for a couple of different technical projects. We used to hire people with degrees in History, Physics, English, Sociology, and Computer Science, all sorts of different degrees... all for jobs that you might think require a Computer Science degree. They all teach you different things, but there are some core transferrable skills that you'll get from most subjects, especially those that require you to write essays or reports.

I believe it's far more important to pick subjects you're interested in, rather than subjects you think will get you an immediate job. When you like the subject a lot, you'll naturally put in more effort and it won't seem like work. You'll do far better in the things you're interested in, than the subjects you're only doing because you think you should. As a result you learn far more about the practicalities, how to research, how to put together a really good essay/report/presentation... all because you're striving to do your best in the subject you love. You're not just trying to do the least possible to pass. There a lot of people in the working world who do the least amount possible to avoid being fired. They're not the type of person you want on your team or in your company.

Again, the world has changed in the last five years, but in the companies I worked in, a bunch of 1st class honours in English, History, Philosophy, any of those Arts subjects, was worth far more than the average 2.2 in Computer Science, even if it was for an engineering position. When you see good marks, the first impression you get is one of commitment and a willingness to work hard. You can rely on that person to try and find out the answers for themselves, rather than looking to have the answers handed to them.

On that note... some places ask for transcripts. I certainly always did. Those show your marks all the way from first year onwards. We would often prefer people who got a 2.1, 2.1, 2.1 over the course of their degree, than someone who got a Pass, 2.2, 1st. Even though the second person's degree is rated a 1st, the person with the 2.1 has clearly been working consistently over time. They're reliable. The guy with the 1st obviously didn't bother themselves to work in first year, probably not second year either. Many projects in large companies can last a year, three years, even longer. My sister's been on one single project for 8 years at this point. Employers want to see that you can work hard all the time, not just when it comes down to the wire. Consistency and reliability are key, as is the ability to learn independently, to find out your own answers.

My point is, you're a lot more likely to work hard all the time when you're studying subjects you have an interest in, subjects that you love. So experiment. You can register for any three in the Arts group, but sit in another two or three subjects, you never know what you might fall in love with.

All that though... ultimately just my opinion, and I don't work in IT anymore.