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B Soc Sc Computational Social Science

  • 30-09-2019 1:15pm
    #1
    Imhof Tank
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,123 ✭✭✭


    Hi UCD people

    Graduate from the 80s myself and now looking at CAO courses with my leaving cert year daughter who is very keen on UCD for sports related reasons.

    This course has an interesting write up in the college prospectus with focus on careers in big data analysis etc.

    Would love any feedback from current students, I see there is a class size of 500 for instance which seems massive? There is also a requirement for a H4 in leaving cert maths or you must pass "Level 0” UCD mathematics module in semester 1- how does that work, what if you don't pass it are you out after 1 semester? What would the "Level 0" standard equate to in LC terms?

    Edi to add- can anyone confirm the approximate total weekly lecture/ tutorial time in year 1 and beyond, haven't been able to find this detail online.


Comments

  • #2
    mikhail
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,862 ✭✭✭mikhail


    Not my area, so all this comes with a big asterisk of uncertainty.

    I presume they mean the maths module Linear Algebra I (MST10030), because the only other core mathematical module is statistics. That sort of matrix algebra should be manageable for anyone with the LC maths requirement.

    There are usually 2 shots at passing a module in a year. Fail twice, and you have to carry it (i.e. it becomes one of your modules the next year). It sounds like they've made it a prerequisite module for all of 2nd year, so if it were failed twice, you'd have to retake it the next year but couldn't take any 2nd year modules yet - a bit like being held back, but at least you wouldn't have to take anything you passed again. My guess is they've found that people who can't pass it struggle in the course overall, and it acts as a bit of a filter - if a student is struggling with it, maybe the course isn't for them. (That might sound harsh, but that sort of thing can really be a kindness to a student who is a bad fit to the course.)

    Humanities modules are often massive in first year but rapidly prune down. I think that's mostly people taking broader mix of electives in first year, but there are also people dropping out or changing direction if they don't like it. I wouldn't be surprised if their 2nd year is much smaller. Do check though, as I'm not at all sure.


  • #3
    caviardreams
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,734 ✭✭✭caviardreams


    Imhof Tank wrote: »

    Edi to add- can anyone confirm the approximate total weekly lecture/ tutorial time in year 1 and beyond, haven't been able to find this detail online.

    In first year anyway, lectures are probably 12 hours or so a week, and then tutorials on top of that. Some subjects may have a tutorial hour every week, but others may be less e.g. a few per semester, or maybe none in some subjects. Probably best to go to the open day / evening and ask the teaching staff and curren students

    500 is probably the first year intake for the social sciences programme as a whole (I may be wrong though) and then it will filter down smaller in later years as students choose a specific pathway / subject combinations


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