What's the story with Botany?

louiseber

I'm in my second year of TR071 (general science) and it's time to decide which course I'll specialise in for my final two years and ultimately what type of degree I'll graduate with. I'm curious to hear what the Botany course is like. I'm aware of the reputation surrounding it as a "dossers" course but I'd love to hear the truth from past students.

I know it's a small course so each student gets more personal attention which is good. How is the workload? I've had contact with some of the botany lecturers already and they've come across as a bit "eccentric" to be honest (I don't mean that in a derogatory way). What careers have past graduates gone into? Will I need to do a masters or a PhD afterwards to make myself employable? The TCD botany website claims that botany ranked third in top degree subjects for graduate starting salaries after medicine and dentistry, which I find hard to believe to be honest.

I know some posters will tell me to do what interests me but let's be honest - life doesn't work like that. I enjoy playing videogames but I can't get a degree in that. I'd be grateful for any insights.

The_Captain

It's pretty much environmental science but with plant microbiology taking the place of hydrology courses

It's not a dossers course, it's just pretty unpopular so people have this view that if you're doing botany it's only because you couldn't get into another course.

You could easily end up in a year with only four people in it, but botany and environmental science share about 80% of lectures anyway

challengemaster

Here's the article quoted

http://university.which.co.uk/advice/top-degree-subjects-for-graduate-starting-salaries

louiseber

The first thing that strikes me is that's a UK website, so the salary predictions may not ring through for Ireland. Secondly, I'm not sure there are even many opportunities for botany grads in Ireland. Finally, it says that a substantial number of botany grads go on to further study after graduation. After 4 years of university, I'm going to need to start earning money so won't have the luxury of continuing in academia. Is a botany undergrad degree basically useless on it's own?

The_Captain

Academic types seem to go for Botany. You don't have to go for a postgrad since you're going to finish with a TCD Science degree, but most people who do botany want to do a postgrad or further study.

louiseber

So is it that this forum has a very small readership or is there just no botany grads on it? Any other suggestions for places I could speak to past graduates?

gutenberg

I don't know how much this will help you, but a good friend of mine is a botany grad, and has just finished postgraduate medicine. She never had any interest in pursuing botany; she definitely fell into the category of 'couldn't get into another course', as she failed a couple of her second-year exams and so fell to the bottom of the preference list when moderatorships were allocated.

However, I think she enjoyed her two years of botany nonetheless. She always commented on how supportive and helpful the lecturers were, and she got tons of help with her final year project, for instance. Her classmates were definitely a mixed bunch, from the ones I met: unfortunately, quite a lot of them did seem to be the 'dossers' of botany legend, but there definitely a few who were serious about the subject itself. It was a small group and so they all got to know each other and the lecturers very well, and the staff even threw them a final-year party after results were finished. So I wouldn't worry about choosing it if you're interested in it; as my friend proves, you can go very far with a botany degree

The_Captain

What year did your friend graduate in?

gutenberg

I would prefer not to say; however it was quite a few years ago. We're both old and cranky now :P

The_Captain

Fair enough, just wondering if it was around my time

louiseber

Thanks for all responses so far. I even received a couple of PMs from grads who had "interesting" experiences of the course. For some reason people are hesitant to talk about it openly on a public forum but the PMs definitely provided food for thought.

ianblk

Hey, I'm not a graduate but I'm currently in final year botany so i thought I'd weigh in!
Tbh I must admit that the dosser in me is the main reason I ended up in this course, having failed a couple of second year exams. Botany wasn't my original intention but I've really grown to enjoy the course.

There's 20 in my class, maybe 6 or 7 of which would have had it as their first choice, and a fair few who would have had no intention of studying it if it wasn't for circumstance. The year ahead of us had had 5 in the class i think, so numbers can vary, but as others have said there's a lot of cross over with environmental and functional biology (I think that might have been discontinued this year?). We also do some ecology/ entomology with the zoology class so theres a good bit of variety, it's not just learning types of plants.

With regards to workload I guess it's standard enough for science, definitely manageable. Lab reports can be a bit messy at times but again standard enough for science. All modules are 50% continuous assessment and theres a couple field trips and modules that are 100% CA, meaning you will have pretty much passed everything when you're sitting exams in third year. They're pretty sound with getting you through compared with something like Chemistry which has a stupidly high fail rate in 3rd year.

For the final year project theres a good variety of botany and environmental things to choose from and I guess it depends on your supervisor how much assistance you get. One or two of the lecturers can be a tad eccentric but most are grand, and the field trip to Gran Canaria provides a good chance to get to know them, playing kings with 3 of our lecturers has to be a highlight haha.

I can't say much from a graduate/ job prospects point of view and I'm not sure if you'd be able to go straight into a botanical job without some postgrad work, someone else can shed some light I'm sure.

Overall id say if you're interested go for it! I've enjoyed it, although as a disclaimer I don't intend on pursuing botany any further, but I don't intend on follow the scientific path at all so thats nothing to do with botany really haha. Hope this has been of some use, let me know if you have any questions!

Lawliet

louiseber wrote: »

For some reason people are hesitant to talk about it openly on a public forum.

Not that surprising, small class sizes make it very easy to figure out who someone is and you never know who's lurking around here.