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26-04-2006 7:26pmWhere can I get help on this, my problem is and i'm sure the other 3 jeff bessheads on this board are having the same problem - is a BBS or BA degree better?
And another problem is that I don't know whther I should keep on maths/stats and economic, maths is unbelievably easy this year but only cos of the lecturers (apart from signing into lectures so annoying, do they even check?)
Anyway help or advice or links to help/advice? Thanks!1
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I don't think there is a definite answer on whether a BBS or a BA is "better".
I think I'm going with the BBS myself.
Management 1
Management 2
Intermediate Economics
Mathematical and Statistical Methods
Then I'm going to do Introduction to Law despite the 5-7 slot on a Tuesday evening! The other 1, I'm not sure. No idea what the Economy, Enviornment, and Space course is like. Complete lack of information on it and also on the Non-Profit Organising which I'll prob do.
Poltics and Sociology were interesting but next years choices don't appeal to me. I think it was good to take the introduction courses but they're just not my cup of tea for a degree.0 -
Ye, i'm gonna do any subject but the ones u mentioned cos u'll be doing hem. Oly joking. Ye i was thinking of doing the geography one u mentioned and a random sociology one jut for the hell of it. But i don't know anything about the non profit organising one.
And also if i do just business like above i'll end up with a bbs and I have no idea if tht's better or worse than a BA0 -
Well it depends what you want. A BBS is a degree in Business Studies; a BA is a degree in another subject.
Personally, I have come to despise business and all its buzzwordy nonsense. The business school is, essentially, a glorified technical school which teaches you how to do a trade. If that's your thing, you're well set for that.
I could not stand another year of it, however. Thus myself, europerson and our third muskateer are all doing single honour economics. Europerson, being the mathematical whizz he is, is gearing towards a quantitive bent (hehe I love that phrase) of the subject; whereas I'll take a more general route.
If you're good at Maths and found Maths & Stats enjoyable this year you should contemplate keeping on economics at the very least. It is the most (read only) mathematical subject in the course and mathematical economists can demand significant salaries when they get out. Then again, so do Finance whores.
I'd suggest you keep your options open and do BU2510 (Operations + Marketing), BU2520 (Accounting, by a fancier name), EC2010 (Intermediate Economics), EC2020 (Economy of Ireland), EC2040 (Mathematical and Statistical Methods) and A.N. Other. Personally, I loved the Introduction to Law course, and found it quite easy. Others found the Geography hybrid thingy course fun too. Europerson loved Economics of Public Policy with our beloved Dr. Barrett (mentioned in great detail in another thread), but be warned, he will make you want to eat unemployed people.
It would probably be a mistake to place all your egg into one basket in SF, in case you discover that you hate the subject.
And like the cringe-worthy Junior Cert essay, "In conclusion", BBS = whore to the financial world; BA (economics) = quite well paid education.0 -
Cool thanks! when you say "whore to the financial world" do you mean not as well liked by employers?0
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Nein. I mean you'll be doing a business job, shaking hands and inventing words like shoppertainment and craptastic.0
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i'm sure the other 3 jeff bessheads on this board are having the same problem
That would require me to be a) a lot more motivated, and b) a lot better informed. I know I'm picking Business and Economics courses, and doing them in such a way that I can go with a joint honour if I can overcome my antipathy towards macroeconomics (my love for micro is keeping me in there for now). I know I want to do psychology on a broad curriculum. I know I want to keep up French. I'll work out the specifics somewhere around May 12th.BBS = whore to the financial world...I mean you'll be doing a business job, shaking hands and inventing words like shoppertainment and craptastic
That sounds pretty damn good to me. Actualise your business potential, max to the envelope, and such.0 -
To incoming SF people: do the two business and three economics subjects to keep your options open.
Incoming JS people: what subjects are you picking?0 -
Economic Analysis
Monetary and Welfare Economics
Industrial Economics
Economics of Less Developed Countries
Econometrics.
The bits in bold are heavier than the rest of the text.0 -
Angry Banana wrote:Economic Analysis
Monetary and Welfare Economics
Industrial Economics
Economics of Less Developed Countries
Econometrics.
The bits in bold are heavier than the rest of the text.
I'm doing (I think!):
Applied Finance
Financial and Management Accounting
Economic Analysis
Investment Analysis
Econometrics
[Opinions welcomed on above!:D ]
Why one worry is not doing Mathematical Economics, do you think this will rule out graduate courses seen as though you can't do Quants in 4th year?0 -
Bartronilic wrote:Where can I get help on this, my problem is and i'm sure the other 3 jeff bessheads on this board are having the same problem - is a BBS or BA degree better?
And another problem is that I don't know whther I should keep on maths/stats and economic, maths is unbelievably easy this year but only cos of the lecturers (apart from signing into lectures so annoying, do they even check?)
Anyway help or advice or links to help/advice? Thanks!
Do you know what you want to do when you are finished?
Keep up the maths and stats, its a requirement for lots of courses.
If I were you I wouldn't restrict myself to just a BBS yet. You, like many others, may grow to hate the waffly business subjects.0 -
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Black_Couch wrote:I don't think there is a definite answer on whether a BBS or a BA is "better".
I think I'm going with the BBS myself.
Management 1
Management 2
Intermediate Economics
Mathematical and Statistical Methods
Then I'm going to do Introduction to Law despite the 5-7 slot on a Tuesday evening! The other 1, I'm not sure. No idea what the Economy,
Enviornment, and Space course is like. Complete lack of information on it and also on the Non-Profit Organising which I'll prob do.
Do Economy of Ireland as well and your leave your options open. It's not too heavy a course.
P.s. if anyone would like me to go into detail on an SF course, ask and I'll do my best.0 -
To begin, I'd like to point ou that I had an absolutely perfect reply to this thread written, and, then, I accidentally closed the window I was working in, only to lose it all. Stupid right-click mouse button... So, here is its less than perfect sequel.Bartronilic wrote:Where can I get help on this, my problem is and i'm sure the other 3 jeff bessheads on this board are having the same problem - is a BBS or BA degree better?And another problem is that I don't know whther I should keep on maths/stats and economic, maths is unbelievably easy this year but only cos of the lecturers (apart from signing into lectures so annoying, do they even check?)Black_Couch wrote:The other 1, I'm not sure. No idea what the Economy, Enviornment, and Space course is like. Complete lack of information on it and also on the Non-Profit Organising which I'll prob do.Bartronilic wrote:Ye i was thinking of doing the geography one u mentioned and a random sociology one jut for the hell of it.Angry Banana wrote:Personally, I have come to despise business and all its buzzwordy nonsense. The business school is, essentially, a glorified technical school which teaches you how to do a trade. If that's your thing, you're well set for that.myself, europerson and our third muskateer are all doing single honour economics. Europerson, being the mathematical whizz he is, is gearing towards a quantitive bent (hehe I love that phrase) of the subject; whereas I'll take a more general route.
If you're good at Maths and found Maths & Stats enjoyable this year you should contemplate keeping on economics at the very least. It is the most (read only) mathematical subject in the course and mathematical economists can demand significant salaries when they get out. Then again, so do Finance whores.
As well as this, if you're contemplating postgraduate work in Economics, then a selection of mathematical courses is necessary. It is important to note too that a degree in Business probably won't get you into an Economics postgrad, while an Economics degree would easily get you onto an MBA programme (with scientists and engineers).
It's worth noting too that, in third year, Politics courses become rather Maths-based, with mathematical models to explain voter behaviour, etc.I'd suggest you keep your options open and do BU2510 (Operations + Marketing), BU2520 (Accounting, by a fancier name), EC2010 (Intermediate Economics), EC2020 (Economy of Ireland), EC2040 (Mathematical and Statistical Methods) and A.N. Other.Personally, I loved the Introduction to Law course, and found it quite easy.Europerson loved Economics of Public Policy with our beloved Dr. Barrett (mentioned in great detail in another thread), but be warned, he will make you want to eat unemployed people.Angry Banana wrote:I mean you'll be doing a business job, shaking hands and inventing words like shoppertainment and craptastic.shay_562 wrote:I know I'm picking Business and Economics courses, and doing them in such a way that I can go with a joint honour if I can overcome my antipathy towards macroeconomics (my love for micro is keeping me in there for now). I know I want to do psychology on a broad curriculum. I know I want to keep up French.I'll work out the specifics somewhere around May 12th.0 -
Right_Side wrote:Incoming JS people: what subjects are you picking?
- Economic Analysis
- Monetary and Welfare Economics
- Industrial Economics
- Mathematical Economics
- Econometrics
Angry Banana wrote:Economic Analysis
Monetary and Welfare Economics
Industrial Economics
Economics of Less Developed Countries
Econometrics.Right_Side wrote:I'm doing (I think!):
Applied Finance
Financial and Management Accounting
Economic Analysis
Investment Analysis
Econometrics
[Opinions welcomed on above! ]
Why one worry is not doing Mathematical Economics, do you think this will rule out graduate courses seen as though you can't do Quants in 4th year?P.s. if anyone would like me to go into detail on an SF course, ask and I'll do my best.0 -
europerson wrote:
This really depends on what you want. The BBS is, of course, a pure Business course, whereas the BA (Mod.) combines other subjects too, either collectively (with each other or with Business) or on their own. The BBS is really the one, for which to opt, if you're dying to get a job in Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs or Ernst and Young. It's also the course to do, if you're thinking of becoming a chartered accountant. Business and Economics is a popular combination, with substantial economies of scale between the subjects, notably in industrial organisation, market structure and company forms. Business and Sociology is usually chosen by people who want to do Buisness, but feel ethically challenged by that, so pick Sociology as well. Again, there are certain economies of scale in the social area of Business and certain industry theories. Business and Politics has no real cross-over, so I'd only recommend this, if you're really interested in Politics. Politics and Sociology is a course, to which I never gave any thought, so I'm not going to start now. Of course, there are also single honours courses in Economics (yay!), Sociology and Political Science.
well to be the last jf BESS person here to get my say in on course choices, the only combination which wasnt mentioned by europerson well aside from contemporary european intergration which sounds a bit like ES for peoeel who ended up in BESS, and i have no choice basically my six subjects are predefined so that at the end of 2nd year i can do single honours Economcis, single honours Politics or a joint honours, and im the only one not doing business which shocks me as it is already more than clear that business is a load of BS filled with buzz words and theories which have been proven not to work in reality. and its very anicdotal.0 -
Thanks for the feeback lads. Some good advice there. At the same time, as AB said, most here are bias, prefering Economics. I'm not too keen on the Economics in JF so I can't imagine I'm going to love it in SF or after that.
Its a good base to have and thats why I'm picking the Intermediate Economics in SF. The economy of Ireland - can anybody give me an outline of this course? I might take this instead of the non-profit. I do remember hearing somewhere that the Economics faculty/school? was better recognised than any of the other schools. Not that it would be the too much of an important factor.
The non-profit is on our choice forms, I'm thinking its a new course maybe?
So I doubt people have an idea of what this entails?
Wonder should I have done Commerce instead0 -
Awayindahils wrote:and its very anicdotal.
Its what makes it interesting.
I don't like the way its very theory based, would much prefer a more practical approach. Seems like there is a lot of reading but there really isn't.
I was a bit surprised at the lack of business, only one hour a week.0 -
Black_Couch wrote:Its what makes it interesting.
I don't like the way its very theory based, would much prefer a more practical approach. Seems like there is a lot of reading but there really isn't.
i know there wasnt a lot of reading but thats no reason to pick a subject. and also the ancidotal bit is so annoying so this guy went out onto wall street wearing a huala skirt cos he lost a bet and then they got some free advertising and a valuable lessen was learned. the end
as in what a load of bollax.0 -
Black_Couch wrote:The economy of Ireland - can anybody give me an outline of this course?
The first part of the course (with Dr. Newman) is basically an historical account of the Irish economy from about the seventeenth century to the present day. Thereafter, this section moves on to cover issues such as the government share in the economy, taxation, social partnership, equity, price stability, competiveness, and full employment of resources.
The second part of the course (with Prof. O'Hagan) examines the attainment of economic objectives and Ireland and the resultant policy problems surrounding them. Topics covered here include: population, employment and unemployment, economic growth, inequality, trade, the open economy, Irish markets and monopolies, competition policy, education, agriculture, food safety and rural development.
There is a term test at the end of both Michaelmas Term and Hilary Term. These are each worth 25% of your overall grade. The annual examination accounts for the remaining 50%. The exams aren't easy, both in terms of time and content.
The tutorials for the course are a bit boring, and the teaching assistants are woeful. I really don't know where they were found. There are two lectures and one tutorial a week. There are no tutorials in Trinity Term.I do remember hearing somewhere that the Economics faculty/school? was better recognised than any of the other schools.0 -
Thank you everyone especially eurperson. Still confused. I don't want a BBS cos i don't wanna be an accountant - yuk. I think i'll do a B.A in Biz/Eco so i can get on a h.dip. Ah i don't care what job i do as long as there's interaction with other people and good pay - apart from accountancy.0
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Regarding Economy of Ireland, I did it back in the day, but not way back in the day (2003/2004), when it was just Dr. Newman. Thought it was a very interesting course, it has something in it for everyone. It's an economics subject which can be quite descriptive, if you want it to be. Prof. O'Hagan is a fairly interesting person, and while I have never had him as a lecturer, I have heard great things about him. I think that possibly Professor O'Hagan will be teaching the whole course next year.
I did Economics and Politics, with a little law thrown in. While there have been some changes in the course, I would also agree with those who encourage taking the law option. Does anyone know if International Law is still available in 3rd year? I loved that course, by far the most interesting subject I've taken in my four years.
Regarding life after college, I would suggest that four years has a long enough discount rate. If you really don't like economics, don't do it because you think you'll get a better job using it for the rest of your life. Try and choose what interests you, with at most an eye on the subject choices for next year. For grad options in economics, Econometrics is definitely almost certainly required. I didn't take Maths (3rd year) or Quants (4th), but I believe I'd be ok for entry into most courses. (As in I know I'd be ok for any courses that I am aware of). Entry is not the same as surviving a course. For the more MSc rather than MA/MLit types of courses, I think that these courses would certainly stand to you. That said, why do something just because it will stand to you, even if you don't like it?
Select what you feel will interest you the most, and try and run with it. A good final result may well be the goal, but the best way to achieve this is to try and find the issues that you're passionate about (not bored senseless by).0 -
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gilroyb wrote:Regarding Economy of Ireland, I did it back in the day, but not way back in the day (2003/2004), when it was just Dr. Newman. Thought it was a very interesting course, it has something in it for everyone. It's an economics subject which can be quite descriptive, if you want it to be.Prof. O'Hagan is a fairly interesting person, and while I have never had him as a lecturer, I have heard great things about him. I think that possibly Professor O'Hagan will be teaching the whole course next year.Does anyone know if International Law is still available in 3rd year? I loved that course, by far the most interesting subject I've taken in my four years.Select what you feel will interest you the most, and try and run with it. A good final result may well be the goal, but the best way to achieve this is to try and find the issues that you're passionate about (not bored senseless by).0
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International Law and COmpany Law are both there in third year as far as I can see from the new course handbook.
So I think I'm going to scarifice either non-profit organising or introduction to law for the economy of Ireland. I want to keep my BBS option open with the four required courses for that. Seen as non-profit seems to be a new course I don't think I'll find much information on it here.
Thanks everybody for giving their opinions and help!0 -
Angry Banana wrote:Personally, I have come to despise business and all its buzzwordy nonsense.0
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shay_562 wrote:I know I'm picking Business and Economics courses, and doing them in such a way that I can go with a joint honour if I can overcome my antipathy towards macroeconomics (my love for micro is keeping me in there for now).
Seriously stick with it. I was in the exact same situation. after the micro secti
on I was sure I wanted to do economics then when I started Macro I absolutely hated it (Im sure Begg is actually a pseudynom(sp?) for satan:) ). Anyway I was almost all but done with the economics idea as macro is half the subject and if you hate it theres no point. eventually I decided to stick it out and it is one of the best decisions i ever made. I am now 100% sure I want to do economics (In sf many actually find macro better then micro:p ). I have also grown to absolutely hate business, Accountancy aint too bad but that bloody marketing course has been one of the worse experiences of my life. And ops management was just as bad, strategic service vison, service system design yadda yadda yadda (although the lecturer is pretty good for ops)
what I did in sf is I kept my options open for single honours economics, single hon business or a joint honor bus and ec and Id advise anyone to do this (unless you like sociology or pol sci). I dont think your really equipped to make a decision after jf bess so I wouldnt do anything to hasty, keep as many options open as possible.
As for my js choices:
1. Economic analysis
2. Econometrics
3. Applied finance
4. Investment analysis
5. Mathemathical economics
The only one im not 100% on is mathematical economics. Im worried it will be a very difficult subject and although I am good at maths and actually find it interesting and enjoy it(NERD!) I am by no means a whizz at it. Anyone wish to offer their thoughts on it?0 -
By God you like your maths!
I'm not as good at maths as I'd like, but I do quite enjoy it. As a single honour economics (FTW!) next year I have to do econometrics. I had a chat with Dr. Sommervillain the other day about it and asked how necessary Mathematical Economics was for postgrad. He said it was quite desirable. I explained that maths was not my forte. He asked in terms of grades how good was I. I said a high II.2 maybe. He said I was probably best to just stick with econometrics so and focus on that.
That said, I might really knuckle down and do mathematical economics and drop LDC's or industrial. Probably industral. But I like competition policy. Hmm. There's no way I'm going to do Quants in fourth year. FFS, even maths TSM students struggle with that one. Maybe econometrics will be enough to get me through to a postgrad. Hmm. Questions. But for now, my pressing concern is my hunger which must be addressed. To the Buttery I go.0 -
europerson wrote:The tutorials for the course are a bit boring, and the teaching assistants are woeful. I really don't know where they were found.0
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europerson wrote:I didn't know you had your mind made up! Why have you chosen Industrial?
The only concern is re: mathematical economics. I face a trade-off that is difficult to find a suitable equilibrium to in a rational sense. I can ditch (e.g.) LDC's which will give me a high grade and increase chances of postgrad for the course mathematical economics which will increase my chances of post grad ex ante but with a less result in that than in LDC's (almost certain) it might hinder me ex post. Mattie, how important is mathematical economics to postygrads? More important than a high grade in LDC's?0 -
I'm having second thoughts about Industrial Economics now. Maybe I ought to do Investment Analysis: it looks like fun. No, wait, I want to do Industrial: it looks like fun... Oh...
Right_Side and Babybing, what made you pick Investment Analysis?Angry Banana wrote:Kevin uses his DIT email address, so that explains a lot.0 -
europerson wrote:
Right_Side and Babybing, what made you pick Investment Analysis?
This is one course i am looking very forward to. It was a natural choice for me as I am very interested in financial markets and this is the area id like to work in after my degree. I wouldnt say it is the easiest course in the world as things like derivatives and technical analysis tend to be quite complex but if the area interests you at all im sure it will be a very rewarding and useful course. It also seems like a very practical course whcih i also like.0 -
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hi everyone,
hope everyone gets on good in their exams. I am a JF bess student and am nervous about mine. Was wondering has anyone any tips, not necessarily hints. Just wondering what are the main focuses. i am a studier but tend to cover too much, but not fully.
good luck.
pol,0
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