BESS vs Commerce International

capraysun

Currently filling out my CAO form, and was wondering what would put BESS above Commerce International in UCD? Im stuck between the two so decided to ask here. Im very interested in sociology and anything to do with people in business, quite good at maths but not particularly interested in it, and i love languages. I want to do a good degree that would give me a wide range of paths to pursue. Any opinions from students or past students, or anyone who could help me decide, would be greatly appreciated

andrew

Have you considered a TSM in which you combine business/sociology with a language?

Raspberry Fileds

BESS hasn't a great rep (as you probably know), but I actually think it's a terrific course. The list of options is incredibly wide and there are very few restrictions. This is the handbook. As well as from the core subjects of business, economics, politics and sociology, students can select from philosophy (three of the first and second year modules), from law (the three third year commercial modules), and can also select a language with an option for Erasmus in third year. (I don't know how strictly it's enforced, but the two first and second year law modules are prerequisites for the sophister law modules, and those taking a language in first year can't take the law module.) There is a very wide variety of Broad Curriculum modules too. The prerequisites for those doing a joint honors are pretty restrictive, though.

Having said that, I imagine Commerce International is definitely preferable if you want to learn a language. I don't know how many contact hours there are for the language modules, but they only account for a sixth of credits. Whereas there's a lot of competition for Erasmus placements in BESS, I guess that would be less the case in CI where it's probably mandatory.

Because BESS shares its lectures with several other degrees, ten of your twelve hours of lectures would be in the 400-seat Edmund Burke Theatre and that could be daunting when it comes to socialising. I suppose UCD may be similar.

Good luck