Your degree...Good & Bad

KittyeeTrix · 22-04-2011 08:54PM #1

Just thought it might be an idea to start a thread based on what course we are doing in NUIG presently or have completed in the past. What were it's good points and the bad points if any:)
Are you happy with your course choice or sorry you ever started it??

Me:
3rd Science undenominated.

1st year was tough because of maths and physics. Thought I'd struggle with the chemistry but the tutorial session coming up to summer exams given by a young PhD student were bloody excellent. Biology was the worst in the sense that there was so much different topics going on at the same time with no overlap but all in all thoroughly enjoyed it.

2nd year was much better when I got to leave maths, phys and chem behind and focused on microbiology. The labs for Micro however i felt were way too rushed with too much emphasis on the lab write ups and very little attention given to proper lab procedure. To this day many of us now headed into 4th year would struggle with proper aseptic technique:eek:

3rd year was again busy with a lot of assignments going on and xmas exams were upon us before we had realised it. The worst part of this year was the fact that we had never had to do any lab based calculations at all for Micro and yet we were landed with a Sem 2 micro practical exam. Q.1 was compulsory (40% of the paper) and was all solutions based questions which was tough going tbh:(
I cannot understand why we have consistently been allowed to finish 3-4 hour labs in half the time when it would be much more beneficial to have maybe a half an hour at the end of each lab to attend to these type of calculations over the course of the year

Will be doing Micro for my final year and am well nervous about the lab work at the beginning of the year (and the mini thesis write up to be presented) and the intensity of the final exams but am quietly confident that I'll do okay if I just get the work going early.....fingers crossed..

Overall, happy with the subject choices I've made along the way:)

WallyGUFC · 22-04-2011 09:01PM

Me: Arts

.......

KittyeeTrix · 22-04-2011 09:06PM

WallyGUFC wrote: »

Me: Arts

.......

Cool, must google "......." to see what it stands for.

Damned internet speak:D

the keen edge · 22-04-2011 09:20PM

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Just thought it might be an idea to start a thread based on what course we are doing in NUIG presently or have completed in the past. What were it's good points and the bad points if any:)
Are you happy with your course choice or sorry you ever started it??

Will be doing Micro for my final year and am well nervous about the lab work at the beginning of the year (and the mini thesis write up to be presented) and the intensity of the final exams but am quietly confident that I'll do okay if I just get the work going early.....fingers crossed..

Overall, happy with the subject choices I've made along the way:)

I'am in 1st Marine Science and in the coming days I will basically have to choose which direction I would like my degree to go as 2nd year subject choices must be made.

With this in mind Fluffy, can you tell me which subject, in your opinion as someone studying Micro would be the most complimentary.

I have to choose from(and in order of my preference ), Earth and Ocean Science, Maths, Maths Science, Zoology or Botany.

And what you know of regarding careers in Microbiology and in particular Marine micro.

KittyeeTrix · 22-04-2011 09:31PM

the keen edge wrote: »

I'am in 1st Marine Science and in the coming days I will basically have to choose which direction I would like my degree to go as 2nd year subject choices must be made.

With this in mind Fluffy, can you tell me which subject, in your opinion as someone studying Micro would be the most complimentary.

I have to choose from(and in order of my preference ), Earth and Ocean Science, Maths, Maths Science, Zoology or Botany.

And what you know of regarding careers in Microbiology and in particular Marine micro.

I did the Intro to Marine Ecology as a half module befor Xmas and was in the class with 3rd yr Marine Science students. To be honest I'd imagine the maths and maths science would be last on the list. I will email one of the girls who is headed into 4th Marine Science and ask her what you've asked me and hopefully get back to ya tomorrow on it...:)

I had the full modules of botany and zoology for 2nd year. the botany was very easy but zoo was a lot harder to cover. Many of the class failed, the labs were very poor (boring really and no outings outside of the lab). I much preferred the Botany and it was fierce easy to get top marks in the assignments and labs. Try as i did i couldn't manage to get a 1st in Zoo (1% off, the stingy buggers:().

Croppy Bhoy · 22-04-2011 09:31PM

WallyGUFC wrote: »

Me: Arts

.......

This.

I don't go in nearly enough to pass fair judgement on the course, but I'm going to anyway because I'm that type of guy.

What can I say.. I resent having to piss my time away studying 2 gammy subjects I don't want to continue with. I resent how little effort lecturers appear to put in in terms of being too lazy to use Blackboard or taking months and months to mark small assignments. Although I appreciate that they have more on their plate than just one class of students, for the amount of money we have to pay we don't seem to get much for it (well apart form the degree itself).

RolandIRL · 22-04-2011 10:00PM

2nd Science Undenominated...doing Maths, Physics, and Maths Physics (all honours), (dropped chemistry from 1st year)

overall i'm enjoying the course. 1st year was a bit boring though, a lot of it was basically a recap of the LC with a bit extra added in, with the exception of maths. the analysis part of maths was very theoretical and not much working out problems, as opposed to algebra, which was learning about matrices and linear transformations etc. didn't like some of the lecturers, found that they couldn't really explain the material well
2nd year maths is a bit tougher, especially analysis. much more theoretical, which is a pain since you can't see how you're going to apply it. it's like maths for the sake of doing maths. algebra is very easy in comparision, very little theory and more working out problems.

physics is basically recapping what you've done before, except going into more depth each year. some new topics that i've not seen before like relativity which was interesting. labs are harder in 2nd year. there's a lot of work to do, and some of the fecking equipment is ancient :mad: spent ages trying to do a frequency experiment with a faulty signal generator, had to have it replaced after we were getting skewed results, after an hour had already gone by :mad: 2nd year labs are meant to be the worst of all the years, but most of the demonstrators are really nice and helpful. though i still think it's bad when you consider getting out before the 4 hours are up is good :pac:

maths physics is good. 2nd year is divided into two modules, methods and mechanics. the guy who teaches mechanics is brilliant, which is fierce handy since the material is difficult but notes are excellent. methods is grand. some of the stuff is a bit hard to wrap your hear around but with a few hours study, it's a lot easier.

overall i'm happy with science, though it's gonna be tough deciding which subjects i'm keeping on next year. think it's gonna be who's lecturing that'll decide it for me. some of the lecturers know their stuff but they find it difficult to convey it to you, especially the maths ones since you're coming across concepts you haven't seen before.

TheCosmicFrog · 22-04-2011 11:06PM

B.Sc. Information Technology - 2nd Year

Meh.

Once described to me as "maths, maths and more maths with some computers thrown in so nobody gets suspicious". While it's certainly true in some aspects, it's probably a bit of an unfair description. Far too much emphasis is placed on knowing mathematics. We're lumped into algebra, calculus and physics modules with science and engineering students, where about 80% of each module is completely irrelevant to Information Technology.

There isn't nearly enough programming covered in the first two years. There's only two lectures a week in 2nd Year, both of which are on the same day. There's also not enough computing fundamentals. What we get is the 2 straight hours one day a week, learning about hugely important (and genuinely exciting) aspects of computing, such as the inner workings of CPUs, memory, I/O devices, etc.

Most of us are left resentful at the proportion of our study spent studying maths and other sh1te which we didn't think we were signing up for. We came to learn and study about computers, software and hardware, not fourier series and confidence intervals.

2nd Year was much worse than 1st Year though. 1st Year was quite fun. And to be fair, I've been told 3rd and 4th Year are much better and far more applied. Subjects covered are things like AI, networks and application development.

Would I recommend the course? Probably. It's not the worst. But the quantity and spread of maths topics is frustrating. And 2nd Year is crap.

whiteman19 wrote: »

maths physics is good.

Die :pac:

Croppy Bhoy · 22-04-2011 11:12PM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

B.Sc. Information Technology

Far too much emphasis is placed on knowing mathematics. We're lumped into algebra, calculus and physics modules with science and engineering students, where about 80% of each module is completely irrelevant to Information Technology.

This is exactly why I didn't choose it (or I.T. if you will). I take a great interest in computers and if I have anything resembling a talent it's surely in that field, but I'm not great at maths (well in fairness I was alright I just haven't done it for years). I do appreciate the importance of logic and problem solving in programming but I feared (correctly so, from what you've said) I would get spanked about the place by the Maths modules. I'm fearing the ones that are part of IT 2nd Arts let alone the 'pure' IT course.

Respect to anyone who can cut it though, good luck with the rest of it.

WesternNight · 22-04-2011 11:17PM

2nd Arts.

1st year, 4 subjects - Spanish, Economics, Sociology & Politics and Psychology.

Spanish I enjoyed until the second semester when the teachers actively tried to dissuade students from taking it on into 2nd year because they were over-subscribed. Worked in my case.

Economics was tough going, especially microeconomics in the first semester. Lecturer wasn't plugged into the whole thing at all. Macroeconomics in second semester was vaguely interesting. I actually learned a decent amount in that one year.

Soc & Pol has been very mixed. Some very interesting modules and some very not interesting. Some very good lecturers and some not so good. Same with everything, I guess. The department in general could do with more active use of Blackboard when it comes to issuing results etc though.

Psychology has been the most interesting and worthwhile for me. Probably the most student-friendly/approachable staff (with the occasional exception) of all the departments I've had contact with. Research methods is something of a pain in the arse, but otherwise I've found the content really interesting. They're starting to incorporate more continuous assessment into the course now as well which I think is good.

Overall I'm happy with the course. The subject I dropped after first year weren't a waste of time by any means for me. It was a lot of work, but I learned a lot from both of them. People can bitch and moan about having to do two extra subjects they're not interested in, but that's no reason to expect the entire format of the course to be changed. There are modules in both of my degree subjects that I don't enjoy and that won't be relevant to my future professional life, but I wouldn't ever expect them to withdraw those modules because of it.

KittyeeTrix · 23-04-2011 12:42PM

the keen edge wrote: »

I'am in 1st Marine Science and in the coming days I will basically have to choose which direction I would like my degree to go as 2nd year subject choices must be made.

With this in mind Fluffy, can you tell me which subject, in your opinion as someone studying Micro would be the most complimentary.

I have to choose from(and in order of my preference ), Earth and Ocean Science, Maths, Maths Science, Zoology or Botany.

And what you know of regarding careers in Microbiology and in particular Marine micro.

PM sent......hope it helps a little:)

RolandIRL · 23-04-2011 12:59PM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Die :pac:

you don't realise how much i'd love to be doing the first semester Methods again :P Petri was way better, even if the material was harder...can't stand this semester

TheCosmicFrog · 23-04-2011 09:34PM

whiteman19 wrote: »

you don't realise how much i'd love to be doing the first semester Methods again

Die twice.

meeka · 23-04-2011 09:38PM

whiteman19 wrote: »

you don't realise how much i'd love to be doing the first semester Methods again :P Petri was way better, even if the material was harder...can't stand this semester

I thought the same thing last year, Petri was great. If you're taking 3rd year methods next year you'll have another fantastic lecturer, he's a French man called Michel, and was new this year. The material is grand, too!

RolandIRL · 23-04-2011 09:45PM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Die twice.

jaysus them IT people aren't too smart...y'know you can't die twice :P

meeka wrote: »

I thought the same thing last year, Petri was great. If you're taking 3rd year methods next year you'll have another fantastic lecturer, he's a French man called Michel, and was new this year. The material is grand, too!

lecturers change some years though...hope that i have Martin next year if i do decide to do maths physics.

meeka · 23-04-2011 09:59PM

I think Michel said that he was taking over the course from Martin Meere, he mentioned some things he'd be leaving out of the course next year so I presume ye will have him! He's
great though

never had martin meere myself

Oh - and staying on-topic... I'm just finishing 3rd year Physics with Medical Physics and I quite enjoy it. It's pretty much just a basic Physics degree with some medical physics modules, and also anatomy in 2nd year. No real complaints to be honest, except that this year we had a total of 5 reports to do as part of the medical physics modules, on top of the 4 reports that you have to submit as part of the labs. Awfully time-consuming coming up to exams...

LAVADUDE · 23-04-2011 10:09PM

whiteman19 wrote: »

IT people aren't too smart...y'know you can't die twice :P

You've obviously never played Call of Duty Black Ops. and are a noob to the concept of respawning

My own course
3RD COMMERCE
First Year: Easy, you're virtually told the exam paper coming up to the exam and they pass you even if you fail the repeats,
Tip: for any first year doing commerce look at the maths paper for the last 3 years, notice a pattern?

Second Year: By far the hardest year, with Managerial Economics & Management Accounting both having 50% fail rates (well it was when I did it). Second semester is easier than first

Third Year: You specialise, marketing and management are easy (a rabies infected monkey could do it), if you do taxation it is one of those exams where everything covered is examined.

The course also contains a number of "soft" subjects that require you to rant your way through.

RolandIRL · 23-04-2011 10:19PM

LAVADUDE wrote: »

You've obviously never played Call of Duty Black Ops. and are a noob to the concept of respawning

Black Ops...? you're right, i haven't played it...COD4 ftw:P and i'm no n00b to respawning...first game i played with that was UT99

/returns to being on topic

meeka wrote: »

I think Michel said that he was taking over the course from Martin Meere, he mentioned some things he'd be leaving out of the course next year so I presume ye will have him! He's
great though never had martin meere myself

martin's a legend, had him in first year as well. only hope michel is as good as him. still not sure what subjects i'm doing next year tbh.

Raging_Ninja · 24-04-2011 12:37AM

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

This is exactly why I didn't choose it (or I.T. if you will). I take a great interest in computers and if I have anything resembling a talent it's surely in that field, but I'm not great at maths (well in fairness I was alright I just haven't done it for years). I do appreciate the importance of logic and problem solving in programming but I feared (correctly so, from what you've said) I would get spanked about the place by the Maths modules. I'm fearing the ones that are part of IT 2nd Arts let alone the 'pure' IT course.

Respect to anyone who can cut it though, good luck with the rest of it.

BA IT doesn't involve maths, except for a fairly small bit in Systems Approach/Systems Theory in final year, which is optional but a fairly straightforward one nevertheless and I recommend it. SA involved creating models of outbreaks of disease and stuff using Vensim, which is fairly interesting.

In fairness, there is a fair bit of maths involved in higher-level computing, such as cryptography, and also in the design and creation of software/hardware.

mr_november · 24-04-2011 01:31AM

whiteman19 wrote: »

2nd year maths is a bit tougher, especially analysis. much more theoretical, which is a pain since you can't see how you're going to apply it. it's like maths for the sake of doing maths.

I second that! That module is absolute torture!:mad: But then I think the two lecturers we've this year do actually enjoy it just for the sake of it being maths.:eek::eek:

LAVADUDE · 24-04-2011 11:02PM

whiteman19 wrote: »

Black Ops...? you're right, i haven't played it...COD4 ftw:P and i'm no n00b to respawning...first game i played with that was UT99
.

I forget am I pwned or owned?

RolandIRL · 25-04-2011 12:39AM

LAVADUDE wrote: »

I forget am I pwned or owned?

depends on your age :P are you an angry 13-year old American who plays COD all day with loads of hacks? :pac:

mr_november wrote: »

I second that! That module is absolute torture!:mad: But then I think the two lecturers we've this year do actually enjoy it just for the sake of it being maths.:eek::eek:

Real analysis was brutal for me...complex analysis is easier imo. it's bit more application (doing out integrals/differentials) though i missed about a month of first semester due to illness so found it harder to catch up...no notes online really made that difficult

ValJester · 25-04-2011 02:14AM

Arts:
First Year: English-fairly good till Christmas, hated it after that.
History-was always going to keep it on, first year was beyond dull though.
Philosophy-liked it a lot more as it went on.
Soc & Pol-good, a bit too easy in places.

Second Year-History and Philosophy.
Got a 2:1 overall for the year, and enjoyed it a lot more.

Third Year
Best results yet, although fed up of NUIG

On the whole I'm happy with my decision.

Hunchback · 25-04-2011 02:33AM

i'll be a mature student in nuig come september and i'd be so grateful to hear from anybody who is studying business information systems, and what they think of it, whether they would recommend it or not, and how much of it is accounting/economics as opposed to computer related skills?

Croppy Bhoy · 25-04-2011 05:33PM

LAVADUDE wrote: »

3RD COMMERCE
First Year: Easy, you're virtually told the exam paper coming up to the exam and they pass you even if you fail the repeats,

lol what?

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

i'll be a mature student in nuig come september and i'd be so grateful to hear from anybody who is studying business information systems, and what they think of it, whether they would recommend it or not, and how much of it is accounting/economics as opposed to computer related skills?

I did BIS but failed because I just couldn't wrap my head around Accounting. I passed the other 5 modules but have always had a problem with applying myself to things I have no interest in

There was lots of group work, which is one of the single worst things about university, especially in 1st Year when there's a good chance you'll be tasked with carrying the intellectual dead weight of 2-3 retards.

Economics was an 'optional' module in first year, except for the fact that the course co-ordinators picked it for us, so not really optional at all :pac: there was only really 2 computer modules - Information Systems Technology which is basically computer theory (hardware and stuff) and Business Applications Development which was Visual Basic. In second year there are more computer related modules I think.

It's a good course, better than Commerce, and if you can tackle Accounting you'll probably enjoy it over all.

Hunchback · 25-04-2011 06:15PM

Thanks Croppy Bhoy, appreciate the info. The accounting does concern me somewhat, but hey, might aswell go for broke!!

LAVADUDE · 25-04-2011 07:09PM

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

There was lots of group work, which is one of the single worst things about university, especially in 1st Year when there's a good chance you'll be tasked with carrying the intellectual dead weight of 2-3 retards.

I'll disagree with your use of the words retards

but I can relate to this, generally commerce students expect answers to be in a book and if its not in the book they fall into a blind panic and run around screaming "what do I do, what do I do*, OK maybe your use of the word retard was justified

I'm doing regular commerce but I know BIS has one of the best set of lecturers in NUIG

*They don't do this but it's to illustarte a point

TheCosmicFrog · 26-04-2011 01:40AM

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

In fairness, there is a fair bit of maths involved in higher-level computing, such as cryptography, and also in the design and creation of software/hardware.

I'll give you cryptography, but that can be learned without first learning bloody fourier series. Quiet whiteman... :pac:

You can design software very easily without a strong backbone of mathematics. Some of the best programmers aren't good mathematicians, but are just very creative. I'm crap at maths, but programming is by far my favorite subject and one of my favorite hobbies. I think that's one of the main problems with the B.Sc. IT course; this overbearing idea that you need to know all the fundamentals of mathematics before attempting to understand how binary operations work.

The people who assembled the degree clearly know what they're doing. I'm not doubting that for a second. These specific maths modules were obviously chosen for a reason, but we have never once seen an application of any of them.

RolandIRL · 26-04-2011 01:46AM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I'll give you cryptography, but that can be learned without first learning bloody fourier series. Quiet whiteman... :pac:

whatever do you mean? >_>

(don't worry, i hated fourier series as well)

ZRelation · 26-04-2011 09:47AM

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I'll give you cryptography, but that can be learned without first learning bloody fourier series. Quiet whiteman... :pac:

You can design software very easily without a strong backbone of mathematics. Some of the best programmers aren't good mathematicians, but are just very creative. I'm crap at maths, but programming is by far my favorite subject and one of my favorite hobbies. I think that's one of the main problems with the B.Sc. IT course; this overbearing idea that you need to know all the fundamentals of mathematics before attempting to understand how binary operations work.

The people who assembled the degree clearly know what they're doing. I'm not doubting that for a second. These specific maths modules were obviously chosen for a reason, but we have never once seen an application of any of them.

You'd be amazed at the amount of maths that does crop up in programming sometimes though, especially anything involving graphics. Though you're right, lumping IT in with engineering maths is probably exposing ye to more maths than most will ever need...guess its just a matter of limited resources though.

4k · 26-04-2011 03:19PM

whiteman19 wrote: »

2nd year maths is a bit tougher, especially analysis. much more theoretical, which is a pain since you can't see how you're going to apply it. it's like maths for the sake of doing maths. algebra is very easy in comparision, very little theory and more working out problems.

I completely agree with this. It takes so much work to get your head around these concepts and then when/if you do, there doesn't seem to be a point. It's a little disencouraging. Trying to study now and i'm kind of jaded. I reckon I'll just figure out how to solve problems and not bother trying to get my head around EVERYTHING.
Algebra is much easier, but perhaps that's because the applications are clear to see.
I'm also studying Economics, which compared to maths is very easy. I do very little study, have a general interest in all areas of it and I get on good in the exams. It's all just quite logical when you know the very basics.

I wouldn't change my subject choices for the world. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. (well, perhaps lounging on a beach with a mojito or something)

Your degree...Good & Bad

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