Returning to College to Study Maths

Bagheera

Hi. I'm hoping to get a bit of advice. It is quite a number of years since I did my LC and at the time I planned to go on to do a maths degree. However I was persuaded by my career guidance counsellor, parents and other relatives to pursue a profession as I was given the incorrect impression that all I could do with a maths degree was teach! Anyway I got an A1 in maths at the time but didn't go on to study it.

Fast forward almost 18 years and I'm extremely restless in my job. I really want to go back and study maths, the subject I was always so passionate about. I've looked in to part time courses and the only one that seems accessible to me is the higher cert in DIT. Can anyone tell me anything about this course and how difficult it is beyond higher level LC? I'm going to revise the LC course once I get my hands on the books. I'm also quite nervous at the prospect of studying maths again after such a long gap but the person I spoke to in DIT assured me it was like riding a bike. Anyone else been in a similar situation? Thanks for any help.

jeepers101

I did four years of that DIT course from '09 to '13 after doing the LC in '02. I finished with a Bsc. (Ordinary). I could have done another two years to get a Bsc. (Hons) but I was able to use what I had to get on to a Masters course in an engineering field.

The course itself is extremely doable. If you attend lectures and do the recommended amount of home study you will sail through it. There were a couple of people that barely even showed up to lectures and they still got by.

Overall the content is pretty good and there were a few very good lecturers (as well as a couple of bad ones but sure you get that in most places).

If you got an A1 in LC maths you won't have a problem with the course. Don't be too worried about trying to revise LC stuff before starting, they really take you by the hand at the beginning.

The course is also very economically accessible. I think it cost me around €4200 altogether for the four years, which is very cheap for an ordinary degree.

Let me know if you have any more questions and feel free to PM me if you want to see any of the notes from the course, I still have them all in good condition.

ray giraffe

You should look into the Open University - they would have a much higher standard than DIT, higher quality learning materials and you can do it at your own pace.

The DIT course would be way too easy for you if you got an A1 in Honours Maths 18 years ago.

Chickentown

ray giraffe wrote: »

You should look into the Open University - they would have a much higher standard than DIT, higher quality learning materials and you can do it at your own pace.

The DIT course would be way too easy for you if you got an A1 in Honours Maths 18 years ago.

Out of interest, is this because the difficulty of LC maths has dropped significantly in the last 18 years?

ray giraffe

Chickentown wrote: »

Out of interest, is this because the difficulty of LC maths has dropped significantly in the last 18 years?

Yes the standard has dropped significantly.

However if you get an A1, A2 or B1 in Honours Maths in any year I would say that course is probably too easy.

Bagheera

Thanks for the replies so far. I looked into the OU course a few months ago but it's pretty expensive especially as the exchange rate is so bad at the moment. I was thinking the higher cert combined with the fact I already hold a BSc might be a platform for entry into one of the UCD postgrad courses or possibly something else. Would it be considered a good enough qualification? By the way regardless of how much the standard may have dropped I am feeling very rusty after 18 years!