Trinity or NUIG???

Rainbow97

Hi all,

I'm trying to decide between studying in TCD or NUIG & I'm at a standstill.

I'm hoping you folks would share your wisdom below & what you would do in my situation.
I'm going to study arts - unfortunately people tend to agree that arts attracts more "snobbish types" than, say, sciences. By nature, I'm a bit sensitive as I was bullied in the past. Above all, I want to enjoy college and gain confidence. I've always loved learning and found taking exams a breeze, so basically I'm strong academically but the social side is what I need to improve on.

I've gotten the impression that NUIG, the Galway nightlife and NUIG societies are more welcoming/relaxed than Trinity. However I'm concerned that there actually mightn't be much difference between the two. I love the idea of going to Trinity and it's prestigious reputation; it would stand out a bit more on my CV.

But the downside of NUIG is that the course is about 200 points lower (I'm afraid that this will mean I won't click as well with my classmates, that there'll be a worse atmosphere in classes, that I'll feel like I held myself back from going to TCD for no good reason).

I'm from a country background and I'm an equal distance from Galway or Dublin. I know people in Galway already but nobody from my school plans to go to TCD. I'm torn between the academic excellence of Trinity, and the seemingly more comfortable NUIG. Please help!

newacc2015

The TCD arts classes are generally tiny which makes it easy to learn friends. I don't know NUIG, but if it is anything like NUIM you will be put into a lecture hall of 550+. All my friends who are social found NUIM impossible to make friends in due to the massive class sizes. That is not the case in TCD.

My two cents is any society in Galway hasn't got a patch on TCD ones. I have been to society events with all universities attending and TCD are generally the most chill and easy going.

Trinity is a university where very few people go home on a weekend. Generaly most other unis are a ghost town in Ireland as everyone goes home at the weekend. That is not the case in TCD. Dublin is so big that even if you don't go home on the weekend, there is plenty to do.

Honestly you will drop any "friends" within a week of going to college. I don't really know anyone who is still close friends with people from school in college. In college you make friends with people you actually like and have commom interests. Not just because you are stuck with them in school

Gallagher1

newacc2015 wrote: »

The TCD arts classes are generally tiny which makes it easy to learn friends. I don't know NUIG, but if it is anything like NUIM you will be put into a lecture hall of 550+. All my friends who are social found NUIM impossible to make friends in due to the massive class sizes. That is not the case in TCD.

My two cents is any society in Galway hasn't got a patch on TCD ones. I have been to society events with all universities attending and TCD are generally the most chill and easy going.

Trinity is a university where very few people go home on a weekend. Generaly most other unis are a ghost town in Ireland as everyone goes home at the weekend. That is not the case in TCD. Dublin is so big that even if you don't go home on the weekend, there is plenty to do.

Honestly you will drop any "friends" within a week of going to college. I don't really know anyone who is still close friends with people from school in college. In college you make friends with people you actually like and have commom interests. Not just because you are stuck with them in school

http://www.irishtimes.com/student-hub/four-bics-awards-each-for-dit-and-nui-galway-1.2617596

NUI Galway's Medical Society won Best Society in an Academic, Cultural and Social Field,

Really?

reason vs religion

Dunno what courses previous poster has experience of, but almost all arts / scoial science lectures in your first year will have at least fifty and as many as 400 people in them.

Society culture is very hard to compare, but Trinity almost certainly has the edge. That said, there is an awful lot of socs that do barely anything during the year and then splurge their grant on a sh!tty black tie event or AGM. But there are some excellent ones that do well-conceived weekly events. Wouldn't pay too much attention to society awards, if I were you - seen some very dubious winners in my time!

Grolschevik

There's no generic 'arts' course in Trinity. What specific subjects are you looking to do, and maybe we can advise better...

papu

Gallagher1 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/student-hub/four-bics-awards-each-for-dit-and-nui-galway-1.2617596
Really?

The Best Society (in a Cultural, Academic, or Social field) marking scheme
consists of a total of 200 marks. This is divided as follows:

Application form: consists of four sections (organisation and events, finance, publicity, and other) with multiple questions worth 90 marks.

Portfolio: a mandatory portfolio of supporting documents worth 10 marks.

Interview: an interview worth 90 marks

Discretionary marks
for overall impression worth 10 marks.

Sounds like a load of manure tbfh.

Societies go play their spiel in the Raddison for a day with 1 person from each college judging.. Doesn't really tell you much about peoples actual experiences within the society.

The Lost Sheep

newacc2015 wrote: »

The TCD arts classes are generally tiny which makes it easy to learn friends. I don't know NUIG, but if it is anything like NUIM you will be put into a lecture hall of 550+. All my friends who are social found NUIM impossible to make friends in due to the massive class sizes. That is not the case in TCD.

My two cents is any society in Galway hasn't got a patch on TCD ones. I have been to society events with all universities attending and TCD are generally the most chill and easy going.

Trinity is a university where very few people go home on a weekend. Generaly most other unis are a ghost town in Ireland as everyone goes home at the weekend. That is not the case in TCD. Dublin is so big that even if you don't go home on the weekend, there is plenty to do.

Honestly you will drop any "friends" within a week of going to college. I don't really know anyone who is still close friends with people from school in college. In college you make friends with people you actually like and have commom interests. Not just because you are stuck with them in school

You wouldn't be in a lecture hall with 500 but OP you may have some lectures in Galway depending on your subject choice that you will fill the OFlaherty theatre that has 350+ seats but that will only happen at start of year....
It will vary hugely between people in terms of making "friends" in big lecture classes...
Have you experience of societies anywhere other than Trinity to say that NUIG socs haven't a patch on Trinitys. Im involved in some socs in NUIG, Brother is involved in a few in DU

reason vs religion wrote: »

Dunno what courses previous poster has experience of, but almost all arts/scoial science lectures in your first year will have at least fifty and as many as 400 people in them.

Society culture is very hard to compare, but Trinity almost certainly has the edge. That said, there is an awful lot of socs that do barely anything during the year and then splurge their grant on a sh!tty black tie event or AGM. But there are some excellent ones that do well-conceived weekly events. Wouldn't pay too much attention to society awards, if I were you - seen some very dubious winners in my time!

Its the same/similar in most unis and I would disagree on Trinity having an edge in relation to societies because as you say its very hard to compare.

reason vs religion

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Its the same/similar in most unis and I would disagree on Trinity having an edge in relation to societies because as you say its very hard to compare.

You disagree because it's hard to compare?

My reasoning for saying Trinity has an edge is, 1) The Phil is unmatched in Ireland in terms of the calibre and regularity of guests it hosts, alongside its debating activities. There is a second debating society called the Hist which, as well as allowing for much tiresome inter-society rivalry, gives a vibrancy to debating in Trinity that I'd say doesn't exist elsewhere. Both societies hold ambitious social events too. The building the two societies share - the GMB - has a dedicated chamber, two very large socialising rooms with couches, and pool and snooker rooms, all over three stories, of which there is no equivalent in Galway. 2) There are other societies that are similarly impressive. LawSoc organises two or three glamorous evening balls annually, one of which is an excursion to some hired country house. Players, the dramatics society which has its own stage, is continually showing high-quality student productions. In truth, below these stand-out societies, most of the rest are fairly unexceptional and what you'd expect to find on any campus (ranging from the Physics society doing what you'd expect the physics society to do (few guest speakers, trip to observatory, etc) to totally inactive). 3) House 6 is a portion of the the building in the main square where there are society rooms, usually allocated to two or three societies each. While I think they are greatly underused, it is a luxury that isn't given to societies elsewhere.

As I said, it's hard to compare. And I'm sure there are societies in Galway that are superior to their Trinity equivalents and that in some respects the society culture in Galway is preferable. But, combined with the above, having brought UCD friends of mine along to Trinity events, I'm lead to believe that Trinity's society ecosystem is particularly good.

longford101

Galway is a lovely city but without a doubt TCD is more internationally recognised.

They are the pros vs cons.. Dublin can be nice but is getting worse for crime...