Trinity or UCD for Economics?

cfhvai

Hi guys, Im in the middle of filling out my CAO here and im really on the fence on which college I should go to. Its boiled down to Economics in UCD (465 points) or TSM Economics with Sociology (490 points). Would anyone be able to tell me which is the better choice? Which college would you consider better overall? Will the TSM course leave me any less qualified than the single degree course?

Thanks in advance

Bears and Vodka

If you want to do TSM Economics and Sociology, consider doing BESS instead. You could find out that you don't like sociology (or even economics), and doing a BESS degree will still keep Business or Politics choices open. If you do like Econ and Sociology, you can still do a joint honours Economics Sociology degree in BESS. It's going to be pretty much the same as TSM after 1st year (in 1st year, you will do some biz, politics, econ, sociology and another module of your choosing). The points for BESS are hovering around 500 points, so kind of the same as what you are looking for.

As you can imagine studying two subjects in university simultaneously is going to limit how much of each you are going to learn. Of course, doing a single honours in Economics (you can do this in BESS after 2nd year if you so wish) will teach you more Econ than doing Economics and Sociology together. But whether that's a bad thing or not, depends on what your aims and aspirations are. You created a similar thread in the UCD forum, where you also mentioned that you are not great at maths. In that case, you may want to do joint honours degree, because that way you can avoid the more mathematical economics modules if you really want. There is maths involved in economics, but it's not the hardest thing in the world.

Quality of teaching is probably similar between the two. TCD has the advantage of being in the city centre with more stuff to do and more places to have lunch I guess. If you live in Dublin, consider commuting costs/time to both colleges too. TCD Econ also allows you to get involved in extra-curricular things related to economics such as the Student Economic Review, or the Trinity Economic Forum, or even the Trinity Student Managed Fund if you are into the financial side of things. Not sure what UCD has in that regard.

cfhvai

Thanks very much for the reply, ill definitely look into the BESS course!

About the maths,the honours lc was too hard for me but Id say Im capable of an A2 in pass. Would you reckon the maths in a college Economics course would be too hard for me?

Bears and Vodka

cfhvai wrote: »

Thanks very much for the reply, ill definitely look into the BESS course!

About the maths,the honours lc was too hard for me but Id say Im capable of an A2 in pass. Would you reckon the maths in a college Economics course would be too hard for me?

I did OL for the Leaving Cert (out of laziness more than anything though), and I got an A1 in it. I found the maths alright, not too difficult. Most people do pretty well in exams. But you will learn above and beyond what's required for Higher Level Maths. You will learn some calculus, linear (matrix) algebra, and some statistics.

andrew

Bears and Vodka wrote: »

I did OL for the Leaving Cert (out of laziness more than anything though), and I got an A1 in it. I found the maths alright, not too difficult. Most people do pretty well in exams. But you will learn above and beyond what's required for Higher Level Maths. You will learn some calculus, linear (matrix) algebra, and some statistics.

FWIW OP, same here. The maths should be grand.

cfhvai

i suppose as long as the difficulty level isnt any higher than higher level maths i should be grand. thanks again lads

andrew

cfhvai wrote: »

i suppose as long as the difficulty level isnt any higher than higher level maths i should be grand. thanks again lads

It does get harder than honours maths, at which point you'll find yourself questioning why you ever had to drop down because it's not so bad.

ganon

The Trinity Economics department has a great reputation. This isn't something that'll really affect your learning or anything in the first couple of years, but could be important if you end up applying for Master's etc.

Louisew97

I do the maths its fine! a few further topics but mainly its differentiation. IF you attend lectures tutorials and do your homework youll get on as fine as everybody else. 2 of my friends didnt do A level maths aka havnt looked at maths since they were 15/16. Id also definitely recommend doing bess as a broad base. (Also if you do economics as tsm you also do the same maths module).
(Im doing Business&Spanish)

Grolschevik

Is it still a three-year BA in UCD? The TCD is four. Just another thing to consider.