Can anyone suggest useful degrees in today's Irish economy?

romakarol

Hi all, I'm still clueless as to what to do when I leave sixth year . I don't fancy IT or accounting. Bookmakers are also big from what I was reading, could anyone suggest a degree if I wanted to go down that route?

I am predicting roughly 500-545 points. I do english/maths/irish+biology/history/religion/geography+spanish (all higher). Am a fluent Russian speaker so will apply to sit that exam, hopefully for an a2-a1.

Don't fancy:
-programming
-accounting/maths related work (the exceptions are probability or statistics related mathematics)
-very long courses without employment guarantees
-irish language

Do:
-Speak english and russian fluently, romanian to a lesser extent and do spanish
-travel a good bit
-(am) male

So can anyone so much as fire out a few courses respected courses (ideally those I can do comfortably living in blanchardstown) so I can research and pick one I'd like. Ideal job dreams include good pay low (physical) work and promotion possibilities.

IncognitoX

Actuarial and Financial Studies in UCD or Actuarial Maths in DCU, perhaps?

romakarol

I dropped that idea since I realised I have almost no interest in sport which might not make me the ideal gambling canditate, but I googled the course anyway. I then realized that actuarial maths also applies to insurance and banking which I had never though of before. Thanks a lot for the suggestion incognito that's definitely something I'll research!

I asked around what friends are doing, and the mixed law/politics economy course also sounds interesting. I didn't do economics in school though so I don't fancy my chances at a triple degree! But law on its own, or combined with politics sounds interesting.

One thing is that you some pretty solid grades for higher maths in most universities for actuarial courses. Are the extra points for higher level maths taken into account for this?

friso59

If you like statistics there's lots of job opportunities. I know people working in banks, mobile phone companies, pharma, health, insurance, paddy power and education to name a few and it's all low physical work UCD has loads of courses that offer stats. You could do it through science and I think you can do it through arts too.

sheesh

you like languages and travel and you are a native english speaker so I would go with languages and business studies, languages and law,

there is no such thing as a guaranteed job unless you can guarantee an impressive grade in your final degree. if you intend to do it and travel I would suggest trinity. I know nothing about their degrees or the quality of their graduates but the name of the college is well known.

LETS GET NAKED

Some sort of international business perhaps given you speak Russian. If you like travelling you could do some kind of geography, oil companies etc. An engineering degree is incredibly versatile.

romakarol

1.*correction: I don't like traveling , at least not particularly. I just find myself doing it a lot for reasons beyond my control .

2. can I just re-iterate the question I posted above regarding the bonus points for maths?

3. engineering looks interesting I'll have a peek. Points looks steep though.

LETS GET NAKED

romakarol wrote: »

One thing is that you some pretty solid grades for higher maths in most universities for actuarial courses. Are the extra points for higher level maths taken into account for this?

Yeah. The points are as they are. Nothing changes just because higher maths is required for matriculation. If it says 560, it's 560 including bonus points for Maths.

IncognitoX

You'd want to have a decent aptitude for Maths though and you need a minimum of a B1 for UCD or a B3 for DCU.

sheesh

Have you thought about insurance companies ?

Commerce, business administration lead directly into a job there.

romakarol

With the extra points taken into account, I'm very confident of getting a b3 or more. I heard though that a very intelligent lad who got a1 in his lc maths found the course extremely hard but I don't think I'll let that put me off till I visit an open day/research more.

Commerce, engineering and businees administration or on my checklist for research thanks suggesting.

randylonghorn

romakarol wrote: »

With the extra points taken into account, I'm very confident of getting a b3 or more. I heard though that a very intelligent lad who got a1 in his lc maths found the course extremely hard but I don't think I'll let that put me off till I visit an open day/research more.

Commerce, engineering and businees administration or on my checklist for research thanks suggesting.

Let's be clear: the bonus points for maths are included in the overall points you need for the course: e.g. if it's 560, that's 560 including the bonus points.

However, if there is a specific minimum requirement for the course of say B1 in Higher Level Maths, you must get a B1; that doesn't mean a lower grade raised to a B1 by including the bonus points.

hfallada

OP Paddy Power want business graduates and anyone else who has a strong maths background eg actuarial maths(DCU do it and the graduates pretty much all get jobs). TCD have business and russian, but AFAIK its for non-native speakers only. But you might be apply to go to Eramus to Russia to ensure you have business Russian. Its totally difference being able to speak conversational Russian and being able to describe what GDP and the effects of inflation in Russian are.

TBH if you do any half decent course that has good employment opportunities and you get a decent degree in eg 2.1, you will get a job. But you need to do it in a good university. Most employers only want graduates from the best universities eg TCD, UCD and UCC(its true). There is a huge difference in a DIT business degree and a TCD/UCD degree.

OP BESS in TCD is a good opinion. You can pick Business, Sociology, Political science and Economics, as part of your degree. Economics is probably one of the best degrees you can do as its so flexible. Its also the degree that has the highest earning potential in the US. Economists can be found in every major company and it has excellent employment opportunities in Ireland and abroad.

The most important thing is, that if you want to earn a **** load of money pick UCD or TCD,as they are known abroad the most and the most respected colleges in the eyes of American MNCs. They have excellent links to most major employers in Ireland. Eg you walk into TCD art block and there is a few companies every week trying to get TCD graduates.