Springboard courses. Free college courses sponsored by the Irish Government

py · 08-07-2020 06:24PM

This is it wrote: »

On another note, I was offered, and have accepted, my preferred course. Looking forward to September now

Do you mind sharing which college? I'm interested to see where each college are with the process.

retalivity · 08-07-2020 10:08PM

The wife was offered a place on one of her choices as well. But its a bums-on-seats college & level 6 IT course so probably a lot less stringent on selection!

retalivity · 09-07-2020 06:33AM

Oh yeah, I was not being that dismissive, she is starting at the bottom and is full intending on taking a place.
She had applied for 2 places - both private colleges, one with a bit more 'rep' than the other. I found it funny that one is asking for a lot of documentation, letters, possible interview etc. while the other had a lot less requests.

RunRoryRun · 09-07-2020 09:35AM

GirlatdRockShow wrote: »

I have applied for two different course and each have requested past exams transcripts, which is fine. But I have spent the past week trying to get onto my past college (dit/tud) to get electronic version of these, I have rang 4 different numbers and emailed 4 different emailed, as well as filling out an online form and no reply, I'm not in the city either so I can't call into them. Has anyone else had trouble getting transcripts from their college?

I filled out the form on the DIT / TUD website for transcripts - got them about 3-4 working days later by email.

py · 09-07-2020 09:40AM

py wrote: »

I've applied to DCU and AIT. Yet to hear anything back from either of them.

Have had request for more documentation from DCU and TUD (applied after posting the above). AIT applications are still in pending state.

Still no official declines or offers at this stage from DCU, TUD or AIT.

red face dave · 09-07-2020 10:21AM

py wrote: »

Have had request for more documentation from DCU and TUD (applied after posting the above). AIT applications are still in pending state.

Still no official declines or offers at this stage from DCU, TUD or AIT.

Got an offer yesterday from Sligo but similar to you had a request from DCU for more info but no offer yet

CBear1993 · 09-07-2020 10:39AM

Got an offer from IT Sligo but they are looking me to accept by 13th July, very soon. I would rather hear back from my other choices so I will probably have to cancel this unfortunately.

BonnieSituation · 09-07-2020 10:56AM

Looks like I'll be tripped up by the stupid "9 out of 12 month" stipulation for a Hdip in Maynooth.

All because they're starting the course in September rather than say October or January like some of the others.

Very frustrating.

CBear1993 · 09-07-2020 10:58AM

What's that stipulation Bonnie?

BonnieSituation · 09-07-2020 10:59AM

CBear1993 wrote: »

Got an offer from IT Sligo but they are looking me to accept by 13th July, very soon. I would rather hear back from my other choices so I will probably have to cancel this unfortunately.

I have that scenario in play with GMIT now. Need to respond by 11th. Not sure what I'll do.

BonnieSituation · 09-07-2020 11:01AM

CBear1993 wrote: »

What's that stipulation Bonnie?

You need to be on an eligible payment for 9 months of the previous 12 BEFORE the course starts.

So I've been on JA since January 1st, so my 9 months doesn't finish til September 30th. Course starts on September 7th.

CBear1993 · 09-07-2020 11:01AM

Yeah they only accepted my offer last Friday 3rd and want an acceptance 10 days later... that's just it I suppose with the demand. Won't be in a position to accept that fast on my future so I'll let someone else take it!

09-07-2020 11:04AM

CBear1993 wrote: »

Yeah they only accepted my offer last Friday 3rd and want an acceptance 10 days later... that's just it I suppose with the demand. Won't be in a position to accept that fast on my future so I'll let someone else take it!

I'm in a similar situation and I contacted Sligo IT and asked them to extend the acceptance date. They said that shouldn't be an issue.

BonnieSituation · 09-07-2020 11:05AM

tolow wrote: »

I'm in a similar situation and I contacted Sligo IT and asked them to extend the acceptance date. They said that shouldn't be an issue.

Cheers for that. I'll email your man in GMIT now.

AryaStark · 09-07-2020 11:14AM

FFVII wrote: »

If you don't have a level 6, can you do a level 7?

I did a higher diploma in Web Technologies which is level 8. I had finished my leaving cert 10 years before and didn't go to college. I was accepted onto the course because I have enough industry experience. I then progressed to a level 9 Postgraduate Diploma in Cloud Computing... I loved it and enjoyed getting to a level 9 in two years.

Skidfingers · 09-07-2020 11:25AM

The chance of being offered a place on a course seems high?

Away With The Fairies · 09-07-2020 11:44AM

I applied for a course and getting the covid payment. Does anyone know if I might have to pay for a course if I take up work soon?

ballybro · 09-07-2020 12:27PM

I applied for a level 8 course in NUIG and have been asked to provide a personal statement (500 words max ) .
This makes me wonder have they been oversubscribed .Im already working in the industry of the course and have a level 7 qualification so its definately a relevant course for me .Just wondering what i need to mention in this statement .

BonnieSituation · 09-07-2020 12:41PM

ballybro wrote: »

I applied for a level 8 course in NUIG and have been asked to provide a personal statement (500 words max ) .
This makes me wonder have they been oversubscribed .Im already working in the industry of the course and have a level 7 qualification so its definately a relevant course for me .Just wondering what i need to mention in this statement .

Treat the statement like a cover letter for a job and sell yourself and why the course is for you.

It's pretty standard issue for post grads to have to do this.

They want to make sure that those doing the courses are the ones that should be doing them. The big issue with free things is you have lots of people applying for everything and anything so this is a good way to weed them out.

taytobreath · 09-07-2020 05:23PM

When some of you were asked for exam transcripts, is that the written exam you done at the time of the exam?

I always thought those transcripts were strictly private, I remember when I wanted to view one of mine a member of staff had to be in the class with me and i was not allowed to write on it or even barely touch it.

RunRoryRun · 09-07-2020 05:25PM

taytobreath wrote: »

When some of you were asked for exam transcripts, is that the written exam you done at the time of the exam?

I always thought those transcripts were strictly private, I remember when I wanted to view one of mine a member of staff had to be in the class with me and i was not allowed to write on it or even barely touch it.

No, different to this! It’s a list of all subjects / exams taken during your time in college with your grade listed for each (and your overall award).

taytobreath · 09-07-2020 05:27PM

RunRoryRun wrote: »

No, different to this! It’s a list of all subjects / exams taken during your time in college with your grade listed for each (and your overall award).

ahhh thank you.

SpannerMonkey · 09-07-2020 06:08PM

GirlatdRockShow wrote: »

Thanks all for your replies. I have my scroll alright so I might chance that, its just the request was very specific about past exam transcripts. I will also try the log in, although I may have trouble remembering my details as it was so long ago now! Yes totally understandable that there is no one answering phones and that email is a bit slow at the moment due to current restrictions, just a little worried as springboard provider said have it back in 7 days.

My wife applied for her transcripts from TUD, it took them a week to come back to her and she was told they cant find them online and there is nobody in the college to access them. Dont know what happens now. Not great though

BonnieSituation · 09-07-2020 07:31PM

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

My wife applied for her transcripts from TUD, it took them a week to come back to her and she was told they cant find them online and there is nobody in the college to access them. Dont know what happens now. Not great though

Does she know her results?

They can assess her on that assumption and then get confirmation afterwards.

I submitted screenshots of mine. And should they need the official ones I will get them on foot of an acceptance. No point delaying to be told know.

---

Is anyone else getting emails asking to upload stuff etc that you have already submitted?

It's driving my internal admin-nazi insane. I'm ex-public sector. I don't mess with life administration.

Vetch · 09-07-2020 08:36PM

ballybro wrote: »

I applied for a level 8 course in NUIG and have been asked to provide a personal statement (500 words max ) .
This makes me wonder have they been oversubscribed .Im already working in the industry of the course and have a level 7 qualification so its definately a relevant course for me .Just wondering what i need to mention in this statement .

I got the same from NUIG and agree with another poster that the request for a personal statement is probably to weed out people. That said, I don't think the requirements for some NUIG courses were set up properly first day as it allowed me to apply for at least one without supplying any kind of supporting documents (like identification). I got an email afterwards looking for this as well.

cefh17 · 09-07-2020 10:05PM

Vetch wrote: »

I got the same from NUIG and agree with another poster that the request for a personal statement is probably to weed out people. That said, I don't think the requirements for some NUIG courses were set up properly first day as it allowed me to apply for at least one without supplying any kind of supporting documents (like identification). I got an email afterwards looking for this as well.

Same here, no section for personal statement for an NUIG course. The deadline for mine is 30th July and the admin person indicated they won't let people know if they've been accepted until after that. In two minds whether to look at other courses as a back up but it might be too late now

BonnieSituation · 10-07-2020 03:10AM

cefh17 wrote: »

Same here, no section for personal statement for an NUIG course. The deadline for mine is 30th July and the admin person indicated they won't let people know if they've been accepted until after that. In two minds whether to look at other courses as a back up but it might be too late now

Always look at other courses as back up. Always.

oleras · 10-07-2020 04:47AM

BonnieSituation wrote: »

You need to be on an eligible payment for 9 months of the previous 12 BEFORE the course starts.

So I've been on JA since January 1st, so my 9 months doesn't finish til September 30th. Course starts on September 7th.

How does this work for someone not entitled to any social welfare, eg still living at home with parents ?

Son finished college just now and no jobs out there atm, wondering if he could apply for these to keep him busy/upskill?

Mickeroo · 10-07-2020 08:52AM

Vetch wrote: »

I got the same from NUIG and agree with another poster that the request for a personal statement is probably to weed out people. That said, I don't think the requirements for some NUIG courses were set up properly first day as it allowed me to apply for at least one without supplying any kind of supporting documents (like identification). I got an email afterwards looking for this as well.

I applied to an NUIG course too and the personal statement was there in application uploads. I didn't apply until last weekend so maybe it wasn't there before hand.

Vetch · 10-07-2020 09:58AM

Mickeroo wrote: »

I applied to an NUIG course too and the personal statement was there in application uploads. I didn't apply until last weekend so maybe it wasn't there before hand.

I looked at a few courses and think the documents upload facility might have been there for some. Unsure though as I was looking around at different colleges. For the particular course I applied for, the email I got from NUIG said the system hadn't been working properly but was fixed.

Springboard courses. Free college courses sponsored by the Irish Government

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