Is the german of Law & German so hard?

Heffo

I've heard stories of people dropping out of college because of its difficulty and the literary nature of it.

What is it really like though? I think I want to study it.

Sisu

Heffo wrote:

I've heard stories of people dropping out of college because of its difficulty and the literary nature of it.

What is it really like though? I think I want to study it.

I'd be a little surprised at that. Firstly, a couple of people might switch from law and languages to law, but very few would leave college. Secondly, I thought law and German covered more German law than literature - I wouldn't have thought it'd be very literary. If you're interested, perhaps you should see this thread about law and languages.

Heffo

OK, thanks.

young nastyman

Law and German students don't do literature unlike their artsy counterparts so you don't need to worry bout that.

In first year anyway you have one hour of German law, the other 6 or so devoted to language classes, oral, German area studies and textual analysis.

It's not too hard...just a bit of a step up from LC standard. I doubt anyone would drop out because of it. It's very manageable and the German department is fantastic...really helpful and really involved with students.

If you've any specific questions...

Heffo

OK so... what are the chances I can get a transfer into it?

young nastyman

I don't know your situation but i take it you're a 6th year and your question is if you pick pure law, what are the chances of switching to L & G?

If so, your chances will depend on whether anyone drops out of the class. there are 10 places and normally, one or two in each year will either drop out or switch to pure law.

In my year, 2 left the class near the beginning. They advertised to everyone in the law class that there were spaces in L & G to see if anyone wanted to switch but there were no takers.

However, n Law and French, 4 left the class near the beginning and as far as i know 3 of the spaces were filled.

You can even change to Law and Language after spending a year doing pure law. there's a guy from the law class changing to Law and German this year. All he has to do is to do the repeat version the German exams we did in May as a kind of an entrance test.

Short answer - depends on the year and if there are dropouts, you should be able to transfer.

Sisu

Heffo wrote:

OK so... what are the chances I can get a transfer into it?

Why are you asking about transfering rather than applying? Are you in leaving cert or already in college?

By the way, you can only transfer into a different course in first year if you have enough points for the one you want to move to. This year, law and German is lower points than law, so if you were in law, you would have enough points for law and German, but that isn't necessarily usually the case. As young nastyman says, you're also depending on there being a free place in what you want to move to, so you can't ever count on being able to transfer course.

Heffo

Actually, I'm starting at Trinity in two weeks, studying BESS.

I have enough points for Law & German. And for pure Law for that matter.

At this point I'm desperate to get into Law & German.

Please somebody, drop out!

Sisu

Heffo wrote:

Actually, I'm starting at Trinity in two weeks, studying BESS.

I have enough points for Law & German. And for pure Law for that matter.

At this point I'm desperate to get into Law & German.

Please somebody, drop out!

Ok, since you have the points you would meet the minimum requirements to transfer course, but you are totally dependent on there being a place free. If there is a place, the Law School would get to decide on your application. Are you interested in pure law as well as law and German? If you didn't like law, you wouldn't like law and German. It's more likely you could switch to law, because it's a bigger class. Plus, maybe if you were in law, you could switch to law and German in second year - but all this depends a lot on circumstances, and there's no way you should count on something so uncertain. From your point of view, you should discuss the possibility of changing course with your tutor as soon as you find out who that is (that's the person who'll have to put in your application for you and they know all the rules). Maybe you should also try to contact the relevant people in the Law School to let them know you're interested and see if they can answer some questions for you. If you want to switch from BESS to law you should do it as early as possible as you'll be missing stuff and maybe even attend law classes from the start if it looks like you'll be able to move.

Stating the obvious though: you should apply through your tutor to transfer if that's what you want, because otherwise, even if the whole class dropped out, they wouldn't know to offer the place to you.

Johnee

Dont think its necessarily too hard. More some people find it very dull. Or discover that it restricts their options quite a bit if they want to qualify as lawyers. The people who transfer tend to be those who really wanted to do Law but added it in thinking it would be a bit of extra language work.

Heffo

Believe me, I know what I'm getting into!

Heffo

Louis Brennan is my tutor.

young nastyman

Even if there are no places free in L & G, you might be able to attend the classes for the first few days to get a taster. That's what happened last year. There were no places free during the first week but someone from pure law sat in for the first day. Her official entry to the class was dependant on someone else dropping out, but at least she got to see what twas like.

The year before me, someone from Buisness and German transferred to Law and German during the first few weeks. So, in the last two years anyone who satisfied the requirements was able to transfer. I wouldn't say there's a pattern there...but definately a likelihood that you will be able to transfer eventually.

My advice to you would be apply for a course transfer ASAP. Say Law and German 1st, and if there's no availability, say pure law. If you think you want to study L & G instead of BESS, then why not Law if L & G is full? There will most likely be dropouts from Law in the first few weeks considering the size of the class.