Question about science degrees in third level

Mr Rhode Island Red

Our guidance counselor asked us to do research into courses we'd be interested in studying in third level. I posted in a few of the college forums but got no response.

I like science and am currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics (and French) for the LC. But when I look at webpages for science courses for first year, it lists "Biology, Chemistry and Physics" as the modules, and according to prospectuses, first year generally involves bringing everyone up to speed in the three branches listed. After that students can branch off and specialise.

So, as somebody who will have already studied the 3 sciences for the leaving cert, will this mean a science degree will be a waste of time for me (in first year anyway). Would I be better off going into something more specific.

I like science and all but I think having to spend my first year of college redoing the LC Sciences Curriculum will render my brain to cotton wool.

Has anybody here been in a similar situation?

Troxck

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

Our guidance counselor asked us to do research into courses we'd be interested in studying in third level. I posted in a few of the college forums but got no response.

I like science and am currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics (and French) for the LC. But when I look at webpages for science courses for first year, it lists "Biology, Chemistry and Physics" as the modules, and according to prospectuses, first year generally involves bringing everyone up to speed in the three branches listed. After that students can branch off and specialise.

So, as somebody who will have already studied the 3 sciences for the leaving cert, will this mean a science degree will be a waste of time for me (in first year anyway). Would I be better off going into something more specific.

I like science and all but I think having to spend my first year of college redoing the LC Sciences Curriculum will render my brain to cotton wool.

Has anybody here been in a similar situation?

I'm currently a first year doing a Physics course so I might be able to help. I also only did Physics for LC for my Science subject.

You're right to an extent, but it's not a waste of time. They do replicate the LC Curriculum with things that would not have been covered at LC, along with learning it from new perspectives. Saying that, my Physics module can get boring at times and I never have to study to get the high grades. But that changes quickly for second year. You have to keep in mind that many in your course will find certain aspects tough. Such as essentially doing the LC Chem curriculum in 11 weeks without ever sitting inside a Chem class before college (was the story for me, never did it even at JC level).

What course(s) are you looking at?

Mr Rhode Island Red

Troxck wrote: »

I'm currently a first year doing a Physics course so I might be able to help. I also only did Physics for LC for my Science subject.

You're right to an extent, but it's not a waste of time. They do replicate the LC Curriculum with things that would not have been covered at LC, along with learning it from new perspectives. Saying that, my Physics module can get boring at times and I never have to study to get the high grades. But that changes quickly for second year. You have to keep in mind that many in your course will find certain aspects tough. Such as essentially doing the LC Chem curriculum in 11 weeks without ever sitting inside a Chem class before college (was the story for me, never did it even at JC level).

What course(s) are you looking at?

Science in UCD, Trinity and NUIG. Also Physics in NUIG.

Troxck

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

Science in UCD, Trinity and NUIG. Also Physics in NUIG.

Haha okay I'm in none of those colleges so I cannot comment, you'd be better off posting in their specific threads.

In first year Physics you generally cover the "basic" Physics module and then a more advanced Physics module. I do Applied Physics so my course over laps heavily with Engineering (I do an ECE module and the Engineering Maths module) but that's because my interest in Physics is on the industrial applications.

JK2015

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

Our guidance counselor asked us to do research into courses we'd be interested in studying in third level. I posted in a few of the college forums but got no response.

I like science and am currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics (and French) for the LC. But when I look at webpages for science courses for first year, it lists "Biology, Chemistry and Physics" as the modules, and according to prospectuses, first year generally involves bringing everyone up to speed in the three branches listed. After that students can branch off and specialise.

So, as somebody who will have already studied the 3 sciences for the leaving cert, will this mean a science degree will be a waste of time for me (in first year anyway). Would I be better off going into something more specific.

I like science and all but I think having to spend my first year of college redoing the LC Sciences Curriculum will render my brain to cotton wool.

Has anybody here been in a similar situation?

I was in the same position as you a few years ago and was concerned about spending the year being bored out of my mind. In UCD however, the 'Intro to X' modules are restricted to people who have not covered the subject in LC. So the majority of the material was new, or went beyond the scope of the LC course. If you go on to the UCD course pages you'll be able to see the specific content of each module.
http://https://sisweb.ucd.ie/usis/w_sm_web_inf_viewer_banner.show_major?p_term_code=201500&p_major_code=BLS1&p_website_mode=CONTINUING&p_crumb=%3CA%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fsisweb.ucd.ie%2Fusis%2Fw_sm_web_inf_viewer_banner.program_list%3Fp_list_type%3DUGPROGRAMMES%26p_website_mode%3DCONTINUING%26p_term_code%3D201500%22%3E%20Undergraduate%20Programmes%3C%2FA%3E%3CA%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fsisweb.ucd.ie%2Fusis%2Fw_sm_web_inf_viewer_banner.show_program%3Fp_term_code%3D201500%26p_programme%3DBHSCI001%26p_website_mode%3DCONTINUING%26p_crumb%3D%253CA%2520href%253D%2522https%253A%252F%252Fsisweb.ucd.ie%252Fusis%252Fw_sm_web_inf_viewer_banner.program_list%253Fp_list_type%253DUGPROGRAMMES%2526p_website_mode%253DCONTINUING%2526p_term_code%253D201500%2522%253E%2520Undergraduate%2520Programmes%253C%252FA%253E%22%3E%20Science%20(BHSCI001)%3C%2FA%3E