Dcu Actuary course

trying hard

Hi,

I'm new to this so hopefully I'm doing it right. Has anyone joined actuarial maths course in DCU after getting leaving cert rechecks.

Hopefully my son will get five extra points but wondering if it's hard to catch up after being 3 weeks behind?.Are exams in 1st year semester exams or just end of year exams.

Also does he lose out on accommodation on campus?If anyone has done this course in last 3 or four years or has recently completed 1st year I would love any advice.

Thanks.

Konata

trying hard wrote: »

Hi,

I'm new to this so hopefully I'm doing it right. Has anyone joined actuarial maths course in DCU after getting leaving cert rechecks.

Hopefully my son will get five extra points but wondering if it's hard to catch up after being 3 weeks behind?.Are exams in 1st year semester exams or just end of year exams.

Also does he lose out on accommodation on campus?If anyone has done this course in last 3 or four years or has recently completed 1st year I would love any advice.

Thanks.

Hi trying hard,

I've made you a new thread in the forum as the other thread you posted in is a bit old.

I haven't done the actuarial course myself so I can't offer any information particular to that but I will give you some general DCU information. First of all, it's not guaranteed that your son will be offered a place to start this year if his points go up. If the college doesn't have any spare space to place him in the course in October, his place will be deferred to start in September 2016. I know that doesn't directly answer your question but it's something to just be aware of the possibility of.

Courses in university move at a much faster pace than classes in secondary school do. That said, missing 3 weeks of the first semester of first year will not be too terribly difficult to catch up on as long as a little bit of effort is put in. If you son does get a place in October he will need to speak to his course head and lecturers to catch up on whatever he missed - in university, a topic you cover in even your first week could appear on an exam. Lecturers do not generally spend time going over topics either (like in secondary school) so it is a student's responsibility to research and learn the topic themselves whenever they miss a class.

There are exams every semester for every year in DCU. The first semester exams are in January, while the second semester exams are in May.

There is not enough on campus accommodation to cater for all first year students in DCU so it is unlikely your son will get a room, even if he gets a place in the university. Are you on a waiting list for campus accommodation? I'm not actually sure if they will even put you on a list if you're not a student at this point but it could be worth a shot ringing DCU to ask. If that's a no-go then he will have to find some off-campus accommodation.

AKeenan348

trying hard wrote: »

Hi,

I'm new to this so hopefully I'm doing it right. Has anyone joined actuarial maths course in DCU after getting leaving cert rechecks.

Hopefully my son will get five extra points but wondering if it's hard to catch up after being 3 weeks behind?.Are exams in 1st year semester exams or just end of year exams.

Also does he lose out on accommodation on campus?If anyone has done this course in last 3 or four years or has recently completed 1st year I would love any advice.

Thanks.

Hiya,

I just looked up your sons course on the website. He'll need a minimum points score of 535, so the higher above that, the better. As all courses for L.C. Students are competition-based, the more points he has above the threshold, the better. You also have to keep in mind, that students that have already accepted their course, decide to transfer to another course. Therefore, opening up spaces for students in that course. All colleges like to have as many spaces available on all courses to be filled as much as possible. So, he a good chance of being accepted this way. You should read up on the course and also get your son to check on the modules and the exam papers. You and him will know what to expect. A lot of had work on a tough course. There's a great site called qualifax dot ie. (Can't post actual links). There's links to the course page on the DCU website, and for fees on that, as well as subjects he'll be studying. There's also another course to consider. A very similar course called Common Entry into Actuarial, Financial and Apllicable Mathematics. But the points for the course is only 480. And the student chooses a stream of Actuarial Mathematics in the course. It'd be definitely to your sons benefit to phone DCU registry about either course, and if he got above 535 points, he's definitely in with a great chance of getting either one. Phone DCU ASAP, to get advice on all of the above. Then they'll put him where they think he'll make a good fit and also where there's a place going.

On terms of accommodation, I don't think he'll get on campus accommodation. If he's coming from the country, he's in with a small chance of getting college off-campus accommodation. Chances increase, if students already offered campus accommodation withdraw. But I personally think he'll be looking for student digs. Good places to look for, would be Glasnevin, Phibsborough, Drumcondra, Santry. All really close to the college. But you'd know it through the cost. Pricey areas, unfortunately. Get in touch with the services for accommodation at DCU. The college has it in place to assist students, as its one of the biggest reasons students withdraw from college, if they have problems.
Hope everything goes ok for your son.

Konata

AKeenan, the OP's son has already applied to the CAO this year, has missed his course by 5 points and is hoping to get it after his papers are rechecked in October. Most of your advice isnt applicable as all the OPs son needs is the cut off points for the course and he will get the place this year (or possibly a defferal as I mentioned above). He cannot be accepted into any other course this year as the CAO applications can't be changed at this point. The collegr will noy be able to place him in a course tgat he has jot applied for and does not have the points for - thats not how the CAO sustem works unfortunately! Your advice is applicable if op's son doesn't get the course in October and chooses to reapply next year but again they must have the course on their CAO form to stabd a chance of getting in. I know you mean well but it may confuse the OP to read incorrect info about applying to other courses this year.

AKeenan348

Konata wrote: »

AKeenan, the OP's son has already applied to the CAO this year, has missed his course by 5 points and is hoping to get it after his papers are rechecked in October. Most of your advice isnt applicable as all the OPs son needs is the cut off points for the course and he will get the place this year (or possibly a defferal as I mentioned above). He cannot be accepted into any other course this year as the CAO applications can't be changed at this point. The collegr will noy be able to place him in a course tgat he has jot applied for and does not have the points for - thats not how the CAO sustem works unfortunately! Your advice is applicable if op's son doesn't get the course in October and chooses to reapply next year but again they must have the course on their CAO form to stabd a chance of getting in. I know you mean well but it may confuse the OP to read incorrect info about applying to other courses this year.

how do you know that he hasn't applied for the other course? If he did, then my advice is still right.

trying hard

hi,

Thanks for the replies.I was hoping someone would have gone, on to this course after doing rechecks.
The general advice from people seems to be,if he gets the 5 points to defer.

Just wondering if the 1st week would be an introductory week to college etc, orientation and so he would possibly not miss too much.
If anyone knows anyone who has done this course I'd love to hear from them.
.

Konata

trying hard wrote: »

hi,

Thanks for the replies.I was hoping someone would have gone, on to this course after doing rechecks.
The general advice from people seems to be,if he gets the 5 points to defer.

Just wondering if the 1st week would be an introductory week to college etc, orientation and so he would possibly not miss too much.
If anyone knows anyone who has done this course I'd love to hear from them.
.

Orientation takes place the week before lectures begin. Once the actual semester starts it'll be straight into it although the very first lecture of any module would generally be an introduction to that specific module.

I haven't advises you on whether to defer or not as no one can know for sure what the beat choice is in that case apart from you and your son - I was just saying that you might not have a choice even if he does get upgraded and so you should be prepared for all eventualities. Best of luck with it all anyway

AKeenan348 wrote: »

how do you know that he hasn't applied for the other course? If he did, then my advice is still right.

If he had applied for other courses he would already have been offered them since he is only 5 points off the cut off from Actuarial Maths. Your advice makes it sound like contacting the university will allow him to get put into a course which isn't true. The university cannot do anything, you must either have already been offered a course by the CAO in the first two rounds or else be offered a course in the third round after the rechecks have been done.