TSM Question

Dropping No Eaves

I really don't have much of a clue with regards to college and such so please treat me delicately :P

My first choice was English Lit and Irish, never thinking I'd get it really, but now I've actually pulled out the points! However, I've been having doubts about Irish, and would actually prefer perhaps Sociology or Philosophy.

I was just curious what the situation was with regards changing part of the TSM... Is there any way around merely waiting the year out and re-applying?

Seannew1

Dropping No Eaves wrote: »

I really don't have much of a clue with regards to college and such so please treat me delicately :P

My first choice was English Lit and Irish, never thinking I'd get it really, but now I've actually pulled out the points! However, I've been having doubts about Irish, and would actually prefer perhaps Sociology or Philosophy.

I was just curious what the situation was with regards changing part of the TSM... Is there any way around merely waiting the year out and re-applying?

Yes, as far as I know, there's a change of mind with the TSM course office, usually the deadline is 4 weeks from start of term. That all depends on whether you have the valid points for both your options because points differ for different subject combinations. For more information, check out the TSM handbook on the website.

languagenerd

If you have the points and if there is space in the class you want to transfer into, yes, you can apply to swap in the first half of the term. Quite a few people in my class switched after Reading Week (week 7).

There are no guarantees though. I know one girl who wanted to switch but the class she wanted to transfer into was full so she deferred for the year (left college after a couple weeks, with a place reserved for her the following September). Also, bear in mind that you'll most likely miss the first few weeks of the course while your application is processed.

Good luck! (and congrats on your LC results )

Dropping No Eaves

I got in contact with Trinity! What a relief. Nice to have a backup I'm actually interested in should medicine fall through.

Thanks for the responses you guys

Dropping No Eaves

Hmm, sorry for the bump but I couldn't find a more relevant thread in which to ask...

I was considering taking up Spanish as a beginner and was just curious of the workload. Obviously it would require a good deal of work taking up any language from scratch, but are the Spanish Dept. helpful?

Also, it says you require a HC3 in any language aside from English. I assume this includes Irish?

Thanks.

languagenerd

Dropping No Eaves wrote: »

Hmm, sorry for the bump but I couldn't find a more relevant thread in which to ask...

I was considering taking up Spanish as a beginner and was just curious of the workload. Obviously it would require a good deal of work taking up any language from scratch, but are the Spanish Dept. helpful?

Also, it says you require a HC3 in any language aside from English. I assume this includes Irish?

Thanks.

Well I've just finished TSM Spanish (major), so I'm probably qualified to answer this I wasn't a beginner though, so I can't comment too much on how hard it is to take it up from scratch. It's probably very daunting because you have to sit the same exams as non-beginners at the end of the year - but only 3rd and 4th year count towards the degree mark, so you technically have 3 years to catch up fully.

In first year, beginners have about 9 hours a week of classes (two more than non-beginners - one extra language class and one extra literature class). Literature is taught through English: all the 1st year texts are available in translation (except some of the poetry, but believe me, the non-beginners don't understand that either :pac:) and you write your essays in English. Same goes for the Intro to Modern Spain module. The rest of your hours are language. You'd be in a language class with only beginners (the non-beginners have a separate group so you won't be trying to work at their level straight away!).

I think you do have to commit to it and make an effort to study it by yourself too: you'll have a lot of free time as a TSM student, so it's not impossible. The language facilities at TCD are pretty good: there are two computer rooms only for language students with some language-learning software on them, some TVs where you can watch Spanish news (I never used them , but they're there) and the CLCS office where you can borrow some Spanish books, DVDS and grammar stuff. Also, the library has a large Spanish section with beginner grammar books, novels and translations of novels. And obviously you can use websites and the Instituto Cervantes if you need to.

The Spanish department are great (not perfect by any means, but still very nice to deal with). They're laid back to a fault, meaning they sometimes seem very disorganised (we found that fairly amusing by 4th year though :pac:). But they do listen to their students: we complained on numerous occasions about various elements of the course and, more times than not, they took our opinions on board and made changes. I never had any problems communicating with them by email or in person and found them pretty accommodating most of the time. They're not overly strict and if you have to miss a class for whatever reason, they do send on notes or give you tips on how to catch up.

Again, I don't know how difficult it is to start from scratch. I do know that by mid-2nd year, I couldn't remember who was a beginner or not (but that's just my perspective as a non-beginner). I'd definitely recommend the department, as long as you've got a real interest in learning Spanish and putting in work on the side. Good luck

Dropping No Eaves

Thank you languagenerd, you've been extremely helpful!

tomissex

Just to add to languagenerd's lengthy post
There's a peer mentor program available for beginners. Basically you (and maybe 2-3 others) get paired with a 2nd year student and then you meet them regularly for language tips/advice etc. I was a mentor myself and only had one girl and it seemed to really help her.