Marino vs St Pats (Primary Teaching B. Ed)

hitchcock

I'm veering towards Marino at the moment, but I have until the 1st of July to decide. I like the whole campus set-up and the emphasis of Irish in the college, and I've also also secured my accommodation at Marino. However, I have heard great things about St Pats and it has a larger student body than Marino. I was just wondering which college other prospective B. Eds have chosen, and why

BrownBear11

Sorry, I've only just seen this now

I'm in much the same position as yourself with regards to choosing between the two colleges. I've Marino first choice atm, but that could well change to Pats before July 1st :P I do like them both but I like Marino just that little bit more

I'd agree with you about the accommodation, Marino's seems to be a million times better. The Pats accommodation is grand too tbf, but it's a bit basic. Marino's is a lot nicer from what I saw when I was at the open days though. Marino, in general seemed very nice when I was up. The emphasis on Irish in Marino is a massive benefit too, I think

There's actually very little to separate the two. :P Even location-wise they're only a mile apart. The course content's very similar too now that all B.Ed courses are standardised. They're both internationally recognised as well. It used to be the case that only the Marino course was international but now that they're both 4 years they're both international degrees, so that's one less thing to think about I suppose :P

The timetables are pretty similar too from I know from talking to people doing the courses this year. They're both 28 hours a week from what I know. So pretty much 9-5 everyday with one half day a week

You probably know this already but Marino's affiliated with Trinity and Pats is affiliated with DCU. Marino B. Eds have their lectures in Trinity every Monday, I think. Marino students are free to use Trinity facilities (like libraries or whatever) and then the same goes for Pats students with DCU facilities. It's only a small detail, but still :P

I think the only major difference is the size. Marino has 110 in the year for the B. Ed course and Pats has 400+ which is a massive difference! This is what kinda swung it for me. Like I'd by far and a way prefer to be in a smaller year than a bigger one. With over 400 students in the year in Pats (plus all the BA students) I always thought I'd be a bit anonymous. I'd prefer Marino's everybody-knows-everybody way, but that's just me :P Size is the major difference between the two though

Be glad we have our choices narrowed down so much at this stage, at least we're this far on with the decision :P

hitchcock

BrownBear11 wrote: »

Sorry, I've only just seen this now

I'm in much the same position as yourself with regards to choosing between the two colleges. I've Marino first choice atm, but that could well change to Pats before July 1st :P I do like them both but I like Marino just that little bit more

I'd agree with you about the accommodation, Marino's seems to be a million times better. The Pats accommodation is grand too tbf, but it's a bit basic. Marino's is a lot nicer from what I saw when I was at the open days though. Marino, in general seemed very nice when I was up. The emphasis on Irish in Marino is a massive benefit too, I think

There's actually very little to separate the two. :P Even location-wise they're only a mile apart. The course content's very similar too now that all B.Ed courses are standardised. They're both internationally recognised as well. It used to be the case that only the Marino course was international but now that they're both 4 years they're both international degrees, so that's one less thing to think about I suppose :P

The timetables are pretty similar too from I know from talking to people doing the courses this year. They're both 28 hours a week from what I know. So pretty much 9-5 everyday with one half day a week

You probably know this already but Marino's affiliated with Trinity and Pats is affiliated with DCU. Marino B. Eds have their lectures in Trinity every Monday, I think. Marino students are free to use Trinity facilities (like libraries or whatever) and then the same goes for Pats students with DCU facilities. It's only a small detail, but still :P

I think the only major difference is the size. Marino has 110 in the year for the B. Ed course and Pats has 400+ which is a massive difference! This is what kinda swung it for me. Like I'd by far and a way prefer to be in a smaller year than a bigger one. With over 400 students in the year in Pats (plus all the BA students) I always thought I'd be a bit anonymous. I'd prefer Marino's everybody-knows-everybody way, but that's just me :P Size is the major difference between the two though

Be glad we have our choices narrowed down so much at this stage, at least we're this far on with the decision :P

Yeah I agree with you! The Marino accommodation is like "student-standard" whereas the pats ones don't even have en-suites! Also, I totally agree that the emphasis on Irish in Marino will be of great benefit to us in terms of being able to work in the gaelscoileanna. Also, I agree with you in terms of the size of the colleges, I would much prefer the small numbers in Marino, to really bond with the other students. I think I'll be sticking with Marino as number one then haha, thank you! Good luck in the rest of your exams and I hope to see you in September

BrownBear11

hitchcock wrote: »

Yeah I agree with you! The Marino accommodation is like "student-standard" whereas the pats ones don't even have en-suites! Also, I totally agree that the emphasis on Irish in Marino will be of great benefit to us in terms of being able to work in the gaelscoileanna. Also, I agree with you in terms of the size of the colleges, I would much prefer the small numbers in Marino, to really bond with the other students. I think I'll be sticking with Marino as number one then haha, thank you! Good luck in the rest of your exams and I hope to see you in September

Thank you! You too!

petronius

Marino has a lot going for it as has St. Pats
the fact it is a small college suits many people, although many prefer a bigger cohort
For me Marinos TCD link and its focus on Gaelige is a big plus and it is a nice campus.
I think the DCU link for St. Pats, and Mater Dei and All Hallows is very good, but maybe if DCU had an entrance on griffith ave. it would be helpful.
I was at a conference some time ago in MIE and was really impressed with the facilities

Who knows what the future holds with talk of merging Marino and CICE.

doogybag

BrownBear11 wrote: »

Thank you! You too!

anyone think the points will go down in these colleges?