Commerce.. is it worth it?

shanelad95

hi lads, im interested in studying commerce next year in galway and want to know what the course is like. Is it hard to get employment with this degree? and has anyone done the year abroad or work placement?

any help would be greatly appreciated

cool4cats17

Hey Conan,

Just finished Commerce last year 2009-2012.

Overall its a great grounding and comprehensive course that gives you an opportunity to try out subjects from all commerce disciplines before you start specialising in one. In the first 2 years you will have subjects from Accounting, Marketing, MIS, Economics, HR and maybe even Law or a language.

I went in thinking I was gonna be an Accountant but after a year and a half there was no chance in it, I just liked other subjects more and decided to do the Marketing stream in third year.

Academically if you have any background going into this course i.e. Leaving cert Accounting, Business or Economics you have a nice advantage but even if you know nothing it starts off from a level playing field. Overall its not extremely difficult, there are hard subjects and a lot of group assignements and continuous assessments etc, and if you haven't been keeping up with the material during the semester, the study weeks can be stressful but its more than managable.
First semester, second year was the hardest semester by far, so watch out for the assignments and Managerial Economics there

I believe you should pick your college course based on a few things, one of the most important is like you say, how likely will you get a job? Well with commerce it gives you an excellent opportunity to get into many industries, speaking from experience, I know a lot of people that did commerce and got straight into jobs, others do an extra year and a Masters.

But I can't tell you the number of people that did the likes of Arts and even Scienece that can't get jobs and even a lot of them had to do degrees in business (commerce 1 year add on to Arts degreee) to have any chance. Its grand picking a course on subjects you like such as Geography or Biology but honestly there are little jobs here.
Marketing, Accounting and IT is the way forward with all these MNC companies coming into Ireland, these are the workers they are looking for and where the jobs are.

Year Abroad - I also know many people that did this and they said it was a fantastic experience, you get to go to some real cool places and learn a lot but is't not for everyone.

I'm currently finishing my Masters in Marketing Practice in NUI Galway. This course is something you should look at if you re going down the marketing route, it gives you vital industry work experience that all companies hiring want from graduates, this lasts for 42 weeks (I have 4 left ) and you come back to college for a couple of weeks for workshops and assignments.

To sum up, if your unsure about what to do you won't honestly go to far wrong with commerce, it has one of the lowest drop out rates compared to science and arts etc. and imo has the most job opportunities.

I picked Commerce in Galway to literally be in Galway, its a fantastic place to go to college so that's a total bonus

Good luck with it whatever you decide mate

shanelad95

Thanks a million! Definitely wasnt expecting such a detailed response :P do you mind me asking if that work experience was part of the commerce degree or the masters?

yesman2000

Great post Cool Cat; a very detailed account of the course.

One thing i'd have to disagree with you on his where you suggest job prospects should be one of the major considerations when choosing your course. Unfortunately I had to learn this the hard way, and it may sound like a cliche, but go with an area you're genuinely interested in. Whether your interests lie in science, business or arts just go with it, don't try and predict where the jobs are, don't go for 'safe' career paths, don't go after the money. Follow your interests.

cool4cats17

conan955 wrote: »

Thanks a million! Definitely wasnt expecting such a detailed response :P do you mind me asking if that work experience was part of the commerce degree or the masters?

The placement was part of the Masters, there's no real placement on the normal three year B.Comm

cool4cats17

yesman2000 wrote: »

Great post Cool Cat; a very detailed account of the course.

One thing i'd have to disagree with you on his where you suggest job prospects should be one of the major considerations when choosing your course. Unfortunately I had to learn this the hard, and it may should like a cliche, but go with an area you're genuinely interested in. Whether your interests lie in science, business or arts just go with it, don't try and predict where the jobs are, don't go for 'safe' career paths, don't go after the money. Follow your interests.

To be honest your dead right. That was my thinking initially, become Accountant, get money = Happy, not quite.

Found out early enough thankfully that I definitely didn't want to be an accountant, its more important to love what you do, money isn't a motivating factor for me any more.

Like I said im just finishing a practical Masters and have been working most of the year and had the opportunity to stay on with my host company, but I don't like it enough to do so. I have always loved health and fitness and helping others realise the importance of these so I have now enrolled in the NCEF to do a Cert in exercise and health fitness, bit of a career turn but I feel with the commerce background, year experience and Masters and now with this qualification I hope to be running a gym or leisure centre in the next few years.

So yes doing what you love is the most important thing because money is only a factor for so long then becomes less relevant, however you also need to be realistic, hate to keep bad mouthing Arts but seen too my of my friends take arts with subjects they liked in secondary school only to realise when it was too late that it lead to virtually no career prospects in Ireland.

Try and get a good balance of what you like and what will set u up in life, jobs in the likes of Marketing, IT and Accounting are increasing exponentially and this is not going to change unless the big companies stop locating in Ireland, so commerce I feel is a great course to ground you and provide you with the best opportunities presently, and if you don't like it, its only 3 years, the time flies by so quick and after you have your degree you could always do a postgrad course in something more suited.

yesman2000

cool4cats17 wrote: »

To be honest your dead right. That was my thinking initially, become Accountant, get money = Happy, not quite.

Found out early enough thankfully that I definitely didn't want to be an accountant, its more important to love what you do, money isn't a motivating factor for me any more.

Like I said im just finishing a practical Masters and have been working most of the year and had the opportunity to stay on with my host company, but I don't like it enough to do so. I have always loved health and fitness and helping others realise the importance of these so I have now enrolled in the NCEF to do a Cert in exercise and health fitness, bit of a career turn but I feel with the commerce background, year experience and Masters and now with this qualification I hope to be running a gym or leisure centre in the next few years.

So yes doing what you love is the most important thing because money is only a factor for so long then becomes less relevant, however you also need to be realistic, hate to keep bad mouthing Arts but seen too my of my friends take arts with subjects they liked in secondary school only to realise when it was too late that it lead to virtually no career prospects in Ireland.

Try and get a good balance of what you like and what will set u up in life, jobs in the likes of Marketing, IT and Accounting are increasing exponentially and this is not going to change unless the big companies stop locating in Ireland, so commerce I feel is a great course to ground you and provide you with the best opportunities presently, and if you don't like it, its only 3 years, the time flies by so quick and after you have your degree you could always do a postgrad course in something more suited.

Great to see someone not being afraid to pursue something they genuinely like doing everyday. Best of luck with it, it sure does take a lot of courage to do something like that. I'm sure your degree with be of plenty of relevance.

I've also seen people doing arts for the sheer sake of it. Probably just want to be able to say they go (went) to University without have a deep interest in any of their subjects. Arts, with the low points and it's perceived easiness, will always attract a certain demographic.