Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

TCD- Student POV/ hostile?/ favourite aspects!

  • 01-11-2017 2:25pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 18


    Hello there! I'm in 6th year and getting ready to fill in my cao. I hope to study arts-theatre in TCD and wanted to get a little insight into what it is like as college. I know there are already posts about this but they are from a couple years back and I kinda wanted a recent view!

    What are societies, social life like? Is it hard to make friends?

    I don't mean to offend anyone with this question but are TCD students not racist but hostile towards people of colour? I know this a strange and stupid question to ask and of course it doesn't represent everyone at TCD and I've heard that everyone is welcoming.
    Even though I was born here and have lived here my whole life, I'm afraid that if I hopefully get in I might be looked down on because of my skin colour. Even though it's something that has never happened to before I'm afraid that I may not fit in or I'll be the "odd" one out. Even looking at photos from some(not all) TCD events everyone is predominantly white and of course that isn't a representation of the college but it's just something I want to know

    Thanks soo much in advance!!


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Katnissk wrote: »
    Hello there! I'm in 6th year and getting ready to fill in my cao. I hope to study arts-theatre in TCD and wanted to get a little insight into what it is like as college. I know there are already posts about this but they are from a couple years back and I kinda wanted a recent view!

    What are societies, social life like? Is it hard to make friends?

    I don't mean to offend anyone with this question but are TCD students not racist but hostile towards people of colour? I know this a strange and stupid question to ask and of course it doesn't represent everyone at TCD and I've heard that everyone is welcoming.
    Even though I was born here and have lived here my whole life, I'm afraid that if I hopefully get in I might be looked down on because of my skin colour. Even though it's something that has never happened to before I'm afraid that I may not fit in or I'll be the "odd" one out. Even looking at photos from some(not all) TCD events everyone is predominantly white and of course that isn't a representation of the college but it's just something I want to know

    Thanks soo much in advance!!


    Hostile?

    Jeez that's a seriously loaded thread title.

    I would suggest you do a bit of research and not only restrict this to photographs etc

    For example See:
    https://www.tcd.ie/equality/themes/ethnicity-nationality/

    https://www.tcd.ie/equality/reports/annual-equality-monitoring-reports/index.php
    80% of new entrant students are White Irish7; 10% of another White ethnicity (plus 3
    Irish Travellers); and 10% of other ethnicities (including 5% Asian / Chinese and 2.2%
    Black / African). This is a greater representation of non-White new entrants than the irish universities’ average, which is 5%
    • No reliable data on staff ethnicity are available. Diversity Details8
    suggest that 70% of
    staff are White Irish, 24% of other White ethnicity and 6% of other ethnicities

    I think you will find most third level institution here are more or less representative of Ireland's ethnicity - so if you perceive this college as "predominantly white" ( your words) then the college is nominally representative of the ethnic mix of the country as a whole not just Dublin or an idealised world scenario.

    There was another loaded title on Boards recently - which was titled afair "Is Ireland Racist"

    I suspect such questions are loaded and only encourage division imo


  • Registered Users Posts: 127 ✭✭DeeAvery


    As a Trinity student, I'll be frank, I would say yes its mostly white but I'd say its pretty similar in regards of ethic diversity as the other Dublin universities. I'd even go as far to say, excluding historically black universities in the likes of the US, that most western universities would be predominantly white. Yes this is unfair but Universities are conglomerates that are trying to make as much money as possible after all and unless we start making college more accessible instead of less (eg. the recent hike in postgraduate fees) then its going to be a while before this changes.

    However though I know you're Irish and not an international student but Trinity has a massive amount of international students so people are all shapes and sizes. I could be wrong put I think the percentage is higher in TCD then some other institutions. TCD want the rich kid, non-eu fees after all, so people come here from all over the world. Trinity is full of Americans, there is nothing wrong with them, its just the cost difference for them to come here is huge. Also out of my six modules only two of my lecturers are Irish. I think some courses might be more diverse then others like Medicine, nursing, business etc. seem to more ethnically diverse. However then if you take Irish I'd say presumably that class would be predominantly white Irish students, though a friend of mine had a Russian Erasmus stunt in her Irish class.

    The TCD Global Room is open to all TCD students not just international ones, they do loads of events through out the year.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,232 ✭✭✭Bazinga_N


    Katnissk wrote: »
    What are societies, social life like? Is it hard to make friends?

    Societies are great! There’s loads to choose from. The social life is great too. You’ll make tons of friends easily especially during Freshers week and through societies too!
    I don't mean to offend anyone with this question but are TCD students not racist but hostile towards people of colour? I know this a strange and stupid question to ask and of course it doesn't represent everyone at TCD and I've heard that everyone is welcoming. !

    What the hell, no! Not at all true. Trinity is probably the most liberal and diverse place in the whole country. No one will question the colour of your skin and the place is full of international students who represent every shade of colour. Don’t be fooled by pictures and photos. One visit to the campus will show you there’s plenty of students of colour. Obviously white people will be the majority but that’s because the majority of people are Irish and we tend to be white. Not all white people are racist tho.


Advertisement