why is dcu so dull?

hefty · 24-03-2005 01:21PM

the reason why dcu is soooo softcore these days is geeks like you people. i mean, the ca building is where our problems are originating from. and as far as going to dcu events, i'v gone to a few, they'v all been ****, but at least before this year they werent a complete rip off, 20 to go to spirit to see electric six, yeah right, we're students. they got paid 20 grand for that. if the student union werent such a pack of useless pricks who only care about putting down on their cv that they were in the su they would have spent that money on cheaper entry/drink instead of a band with one, maybe two good songs that anyone has heard!
and in case you people say "oh, your calling us geeks, but look at you posting **** on the message board" - well i got kicked out of res by rentokil and have nothing to do for an hour :mad:

CuLT · 24-03-2005 05:16PM

the reason why dcu is soooo softcore these days is geeks like you people. i mean, the ca building is where our problems are originating from. and as far as going to dcu events, i'v gone to a few, they'v all been ****, but at least before this year they werent a complete rip off, 20 to go to spirit to see electric six, yeah right, we're students. they got paid 20 grand for that. if the student union werent such a pack of useless pricks who only care about putting down on their cv that they were in the su they would have spent that money on cheaper entry/drink instead of a band with one, maybe two good songs that anyone has heard!

mmm, because the lethargy of computing students is the reason for DCUs problems?
I'm sure you and your jazzy course-mates are the life and soul of DCU and are just overpowered by the muscle-bound yobs of CA at every turn.

It's a shame there are people like you in the college, otherwise we might actually get something constructive done.

and in case you people say "oh, your calling us geeks, but look at you posting **** on the message board" - well i got kicked out of res by rentokil and have nothing to do for an hour :mad:

Excuses, excuses...

hefty · 24-03-2005 07:12PM

first of all i didn't say dcu being full of geeks is the only problem, i've got friends who do ca and they're sound, but some of the people up there... well, they should stick to their lan parties

Crucifix · 24-03-2005 08:33PM

hefty wrote:

first of all i didn't say dcu being full of geeks is the only problem, i've got friends who do ca and they're sound, but some of the people up there... well, they should stick to their lan parties

So....you're saying less people should go to DCU events?

Gavin · 25-03-2005 01:49PM

I don't think he knows what he's saying. Complaining that people are 'nerds' & 'geeks' etc. doesn't particularly achieve anything.

Part of the point of University hefty, is that you get to know and accept people that are different from you.. Don't particularly have to like them, but you have a bit of respect for em.

I reckon that the SU need to target the incoming first years. Get them involved before they have a chance to listen to the cynics and become apathetic ! Although, I have misgivings about the quality of the SU candidates running this year. Mind you, I'm not going to do anything about it, so there's not much point in me complaining either !

Gav

Dublin's Finest · 25-03-2005 10:06PM

We're all overworked. That's the problem.It's almost as if everyone feels that they can't spare the time toi have fun in DCU.

It's my third year here now and it's always had a weird atmosphere. On a Friday for example...you're half expecting to see a tumble weed go by.

Zem · 25-03-2005 10:32PM

i'm a first year and agree in some respect it goes a 2 weeks without much work and then the rest of the semester under pressure trying to get the work done, so yeah it does get in the way of going out now and then but i dunno if that covers it

humbleCounty · 26-03-2005 09:37AM

you work in every college though, so thats hardly it

Dublin's Finest · 26-03-2005 01:49PM

i know you work in every college, it's just that in DCU there's some kind of invisible work ethic hammered into us from first year.

By week 7 the library is chaotic.

Zem · 26-03-2005 04:52PM

hey humble country i know that i wasnt saying other ways sorry if i wasnt clear. Im just gona see how next year turns out.

humbleCounty · 27-03-2005 12:44PM

I was expecting a lot more craic in DCU, a lot of my friends did their undergrad here and loved it, so i was expecting a bit more gonzo, and i'm a little disappointed.

But that could be down to the fact that im doing a taught masters, we're only in it for the year, and there are people of all different ages and backgrounds, so it's not like youre heading into a 4 year course, which is your "college experience", where naturally you will make a lot more effort to go out, make friends, etc

i dunno, but yeah, it is kinda dull

I think another big problem is the bar actually, it closes pretty early, and isnt cheap at all, so most people are going to end up going into town to a nite club, so why not go boozing in there before hand too?

MrPinK · 27-03-2005 06:18PM

humbleCounty wrote:

so why not go boozing in there before hand too?

For pre-town boozing you always do it as cheaply as you can, which means a trip to the off-licence and then res.

humbleCounty · 28-03-2005 04:19PM

aye i wasnt saying to go into town to drink before a nite club, i was pointing out that there is no reason to go to the DCU bar

by comparison in Trinity the bars sell cans, so you can go there for a good laugh/atmosphere before going out (possibly after boozing in some ones house), and its plenty cheap, whereas DCU has no equivalent

HgR · 28-03-2005 05:20PM

After reading this thread i'm going to change my CAO form, im in 6th year btw

i have dcu courses at 5 and 6 , and theyll be gone on the change of mind day (1st may)

i dont want to go to a college where people are apathetic and the place is a "degree factory" - that sounds awful

My CAO: http://k.1asphost.com/johndoyle/snap1.jpg

I know things have been said about UCD as well but that will stay my 1 and 2 because its close to home and I think its the best for what i want to do.

thanks for being so honest about your college, the people you meet at open days only try to sell it and you dont get to truth. you may have saved me from making a big mistake

gl

Bottle_of_Smoke · 28-03-2005 05:28PM

I walked through DCU the other day, just full of absolute squares(sorry Ro: ) didnt see one weirdo at all. Shocking altogether.

UCD is better, and I live really far away, people on my course who live close to the place are havin a much better time.

Jonny Arson · 28-03-2005 10:42PM

HgR wrote:

After reading this thread i'm going to change my CAO form, im in 6th year btw

i have dcu courses at 5 and 6 , and theyll be gone on the change of mind day (1st may)

i dont want to go to a college where people are apathetic and the place is a "degree factory" - that sounds awful

My CAO: http://k.1asphost.com/johndoyle/snap1.jpg

I know things have been said about UCD as well but that will stay my 1 and 2 because its close to home and I think its the best for what i want to do.

thanks for being so honest about your college, the people you meet at open days only try to sell it and you dont get to truth. you may have saved me from making a big mistake

gl

Even though its your decision at the end of the day as to what course you decide to do I strongly believe the your reason should be the course that suits you best. Yes other factors such as the college itself, where you live, who you know going there, homesickness are extremely important but i still believe the course is paramount. I go to UCD and I personally have hated my 1st year there and I don't want to go back there for next year but I do realise that i have a course that I worked damn hard to get. My course is generally OK (Arts with about 14 hours a week) but I'm not happy out there due to the vast size of the place and lonliness. Be careful with your choice and best of luck with your final decision.

Partygirl · 29-03-2005 11:46AM

OH MY GOD you're all such a pack of MOANERS!! :eek:

How about getting off your collective backsides, stopping posting on a frickin message board and going to find yourselves a social life!??!

I'm a first year in DCU at the mo', and it's bloody brilliant!!

You're social life is what you make of it and if all you're gonna do is complain that's a pretty bad start. I haven't had a dull moment since I arrived, and that's quite a while ago now!! I'm one of those computer 'geeks' hefty is trying to land with the blame for the lacking social life, and sorry but that just couldn't be further from the truth!! The Shag Ball in early December was a fine example, I'd say 90% of students who attended were from computer courses!! I know us first years were out in style!! Our class has 100+ and we got nearly 80 together for a big Christmas bash joined with nursing!! In fact, before the exams loomed in January, I'd say we managed one night out a week. Of course there are groups of people who get along and 'hang around' together, but no one is excluded and as a class we get on exceptionally well, especially considering the size. We've spent many an afternoon lounging around the couches in either the Bar, restaurant or Library canteen; and i'm talking about maybe twenty people, not four or five. There isn't a single person from my secondary school out here so the whole "clinging to people you already know" theory doesn't sit either. I haven't seen the library since registration and no, i'm not failing miserably!! Get involved and make what you want to of your 'college experience.' There's PLENTY out there for anyone who wants to enjoy it.

I would of thought that third level was the last place people expected to be 'spoon fed' a social life.

Scarinae · 29-03-2005 05:04PM

Partygirl wrote:

OH MY GOD you're all such a pack of MOANERS!!.....I would of thought that third level was the last place people expected to be 'spoon fed' a social life.

Wow, someone with sense! Well said!!

thefuturehead · 31-03-2005 11:29AM

for the love of god...

moaning about the social life here doesn't mean we're all nerds who never go out...i mean i am a nerd who never goes out, but that's a different matter.

it's just a criticism that dcu can seem particularly dead (socially) at times. the options for entertainment can lack imagination...or can fail to take account of various factors like cost, interest level of students etc.

of course dcu has its moments, and to be honest i'm glad the place isn't a total haven for boozehounds.

Flex · 12-04-2005 10:53AM

I went to join the gym there the other day and man what a load of ****. The best part of the gym with the squat wracks and stuff ya can see through the windows while comin in through the back entrance are pretty much off limits to dcu students. The other part of the gym that we're allowed in contains nothing but some machine weights, no squat wracks, no bench presses and a handful of dumbells. When i asked a bout using the part of the gym with the good equiptment i was told thats for "elite athletes" only, ie.rugby players in the AIB league or eircom league players.Basically, no dcu students. DCU is such a bull**** college its unreal.Greedy shower of **** just out to make money,**** the students. No wonder they want 6 or 12 months payment up front, coz after the first time ya go there youll never go again. **** DCU

zynaps · 14-04-2005 12:40AM

I gotta say some of you guys seem to be caught in some self-fulfilling prophecy syndrome.

By assuming the night is going to be crap and thus not going, you're going to a) take for granted afterwards that it probably was crap and b) cause it to be more crap by withholding your sparkling personality and individuality (etc) from the event.

That said, I think there are some factors that contribute to the feeling of alienation on campus:

The old bar does tend to have a stale or unfriendly vibe about it - perhaps due to the fact that some of the bar staff seem to have a lousy attitude (at least, half the time when I make eye contact with them, they look pissed off or something).
The fact that Spar, the canteen and... well, whatever other useful non-academic services one might avail of in DCU there are close and vanish by the time you've probably just finished your classes, so the only thing to do is go drinking (at 6pm), play pool, hang around in labs, sit in the Henry Grattan chewing on a Moro - maybe in the dark (I've often done this... quite peaceful actually), or go home.
Yes, DCU do like to rip students off. I left my Student ID card at home for an exam last year, was told it'd be ok and I just had to go sign something at the Registry.
They then told me I had to go to the finance office (super-bureacracy here too) and pay a 20 euro "ID audit" fine or something.

Which is pretty scabby. Imagine my surprise and dissatisfaction when I went to pay the fine and saw a sign up saying "replacement IDs: 10 euro".
So it costs twice as much to leave your ID at home once as it does to simply lose it entirely and have it replaced?
Let's not even go into how quasi-legal, arbitrary and oppressive the Res situation is.

So anyway. There are factors that can engender this feeling of loneliness and disconnection between the student populace, but the people with the most power to combat this is ourselves.
Yes, people are cliquey and you get little subgroups in the class that hang around together and ignore everyone else. That's okay, you don't need them anyway; there are loads and loads of students out there that aren't like that.

When I'm not overworked (like at the moment - 3 assignments due this week, an exam on Monday (the lecturer in that subject is responsible for 2 of this week's assignments) and another assignment due Friday week), I tend to settle for playing pool for a couple of hours in the Old Bar.
I don't really like the place, but I like my friends, and I enjoy having a few games of pool under the influence of alcohol.

I think the best thing to do is to find something you enjoy and just go and do it, rather than assuming everything that happens will be antisocial and a waste of time.

End of spiel!

zynaps

zynaps · 14-04-2005 12:47AM

Flex wrote:

When i asked a bout using the part of the gym with the good equiptment i was told thats for "elite athletes" only, ie.rugby players in the AIB league or eircom league players.Basically, no dcu students.

Yeah, that's absolutely lame. I knew the new sports centre would be dodgy - paying up front is ridiculous, and they completely ignored the requests from the SU.

People always seem to assume privately-run services are going to be better and fairer than having it run by DCU (or the government, or whoever runs said operation), but they're often proven wrong. Certainly in this case.

There's not a chance I'd sign up for the new sports centre, unless I had the discipline to come at least 3 times a week... and even with the old (ie: good) system, I was lucky to make it every couple of months :P

You should demand that either they allow ALL members (since everyone paid for their membership and deserve proper service) equal access to ALL equipment, or they return your membership fee in full. And take it to the SU and above if necessary

zynaps

the jew · 29-04-2005 12:08PM

hefty wrote:

first of all i didn't say dcu being full of geeks is the only problem, i've got friends who do ca and they're sound, but some of the people up there... well, they should stick to their lan parties

correct me if im wrong hefty but didnt you tell me that your looking forward to having a lan party?

also heftys right some of the ****ers doing ca are just absolutely hardcore geeks, hell me and hefty are geeks but we know our boundries.

jimme · 11-05-2005 09:18PM

To anyone upset at joining the gym to find it is **** I say, why didn't you simply avail of tour of the gym that they are more than happy to give any potential customer. The gym will now feel they are making a success of things as people are joining meaning it will be longer before they have to make any kind of reform.

slippery_sid · 17-05-2005 07:32PM

Don't mean to spout the obvious but college life is what you make it. i hear what you're saying and you're right, there is no atmosphere in DCU, the bar is crap, the canteen's a rip off, security are a holes and as for res....But I've been at DCU 4 yrs now. I think there was more life about the place in 1st year (maybe it was just me being out of home) but this has been lost over the years.

As a class we all get on really well, we aren't one of these classses where you wouldn't talk to the person sitting beside you let alone not know their name. If you look at life as college and then social you're going about it the wrong way. look at the whole thing as social, try and make even the most mundane things a laugh and you're bound to have fun.

It's not where you go it's who you're there with

Crania · 25-08-2007 01:45AM

Hi, I was just looking through the DCU Archive and I seen this thread. Considering the fact that this is now two years old, are things different now or is it still 'dull'? I said I'd resurrect the thread to see if the place has improved in the last 2 years. Hopefull things have changed......for the better!!

Just going into 6th Year now and I'm considering all my options, help would be appreciated, thanks!

DemocAnarchis · 25-08-2007 02:21AM

DCU definately isnt dull, but like any college, its what you make of it. Many of the above mentioned issues are still prevalent; DCU's fondness for squeezing as much money as possible out of the student population, and the campus res situation. Dont let it discourage you thought, its a great college.

cocoa · 25-08-2007 11:00AM

I'm only starting in DCU this september (so obviously don't take anything I say as concrete fact) but it seems brilliant so far. I've already met most of the juggling society and some of the frisbee club. I met them on my own and they were really welcoming and sound so I know straightaway I'll have some cool people to hang out with on campus.

My secondary school is about a mile down the road from UCD so it does act as a bit of a feeder school but I wanted to break out of that. I'm going to DCU, apart from my new found friends in the ultimate club and jugglesoc, I don't know anyone there and I'm really looking forward to meeting new people. (this isn't the only reason i chose DCU, I do prefer the degree there but that's another story...)

about people complaining about people who are cliquey and not willing to meet new people, it takes two! It takes an effort to go out looking to meet new people and when given the choice between that effort or going out with an already secure group of friends, unless you're really hyper or something, the latter is so much easier. So even if someone does happen to be sitting in a group of friends, that group being a clique is your own perception. Go over, say hello to the goup, join in the chat and the craic, the worst that can happen is things get awkward and then you can just leave for a group of sounder people. Just because a group of people doesn't kidnap you and insist you have some fun with them doesn't mean it is closed!

</rant>

damn, can't wait to move to DCU in three weeks...

ShotgunPaddy · 25-08-2007 10:21PM

Amz wrote:

There's no atmosphere in DCU, that's the problem. I don't think there's no real comradeship in the place, everyone seems to be out for him or herself. I’m not sure why it is exactly, but I’ve been here three years and still don’t feel comfortable in the place, I don’t feel like I belong here. I play sport am in societies and am involved on committees etc.

DCU is notorious for the lack of atmosphere/spirit. Perhaps because it just feels like a degree factory and the pressure is so immense that people rarely have time to do anything other than study and maybe play their sports etc. there’s very little opportunity to socialise outside of that.

Granted the degree holders from DCU are some of the most sought after/respected in the country, but DCU really doesn’t give you the all round education that most people expect from third level.

The ents. have been below par when compared to other colleges The SU isn’t as easily accessible to everyone as it should be. Students aren’t encouraged to get involved in student affairs/student politics. Perhaps this is just in certain faculties, but I know in Sports Science we are very much cut off from such things. It seems like Student’s Union is the domain of other faculties.

There is no atmosphere in the Old bar, it's not somewhere I would choose to spend an evening drinking.

It's very difficult to create a buzz or atmosphere in DCU, many people just aren't bothered getting stuck in and getting their hands dirty to create a bit of a spirit in the place.

It's a pity really ...

Graduated in 88. Sounds like nothing's changed!

rugbug86 · 26-08-2007 09:56AM

college is what you make of it

i'm involved in various clubs/socs/the su and i'm never bored. if you go into it with the attitude of "this place is sh1t, i'm not going to like it" well then you wont. approach college life with an open mind and see how much more you'll enjoy it.

i'm on intra at the minute and cannot wait to get back to college cos I miss the fun. and i know i'm not alone in that. and I will miss DCU so much when i'm gone. i dont find it dull at all.

why is dcu so dull?

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