UCD: To go or not to go?

derryo

Hi, I'm a leavin cert student and I'm considering going to UCD next year to do either commerce or Food & Agribusiness Mngt. I'm hearing lots of conflicting rumours about the place though, some people tell me its the best college around while others say its too big, impersonal and unfriendly. I'd appreciate any feedback on these comments. Also are end of term exams held before or after Christmas ?

Thanks,
derryo

princess-sprkle

the exams are before christmas.

honest opinion, don't go to ucd. its too big,impersonal and daunting, the admin is shocking, its hard to know what the story is with classes and that, the SU is a joke, modularisation is a joke...i could go on.

JimmNeutron

No matter what, you will hear a mix of opinions for every college. TBH i f*cking love UCD, but then again i am a first year and have yet to come up against the many problems that ive heard about from the older students here. Huge numbers did drop out already but thats natural for science courses, so im told. Your best bet would be to go and have a snoop around the college and if you like the atmosphere, and you like the sound of the course you're good to go. Hope that was of SOME assistance

dajaffa

Personally I love UCD, but I'm sure there's plenty who hate it too...

If you do go for Commerce it isn't too impersonal cause you're split into 6 groups for most classes so there's 50/60 in each class so you get to know your class quite well. The impersonal nature of the college is a big problem in arts cause the classes are so big.

Depends what you're into really, if you get involved in a club/society it's a great way to make friends.

cast_iron

Quite simply, UCD is what you make it. Sit and whinge about everything and you won't like it. Join Clubs/Societies and you'll have a great time.

Sports facilities are second to few - you get the opportunity to try your hand at everything from Tai Chi to shooting rifles.

Some people just are hell bent on pointing out the negatives of the college (it's not perfect), not realising that most other colleges can only dream of Belfield's facilities.

the evil lime

I'm half-way through commerce, and I love UCD. There are upsides and downsides to the scale of the place, I suppose.

I've never run across the downsides as commerce is based on small groups (42 in mine), and the lecturers tend to get to know you.

On the upside, there are loads of people, clubs and societies. This means that no matter what your interests are, you'll be able to find people who share them, and get to know those people.

This is particularly true of the small societies. I joined one last year, knowing nobody in it and made lots of friends.

I wouldn't want to go anywhere else. Everyone has a different story though, and you'll get different opinions from everyone.

EDIT: also, what cast_iron says above about the facilites is true, the scale means that they're corrispondingly larger.

Jonny Arson

derryo wrote:

its too big, impersonal and unfriendly.

You answered your own question there.

I've generally heard good feedback about Commerce though, well anyone who i've talked to who does it has liked it. I don't know much about Food & Agribusiness unfortunately.

You'll find 50% of people love UCD and 50% absolutely hate everything about it. I ****ing hate UCD and can't wait to get out of the place but I do realise how much enjoy the college comes down to circumstances like how many of your schoolmates will be going, if you live on campus and if you're in a small course with a good atmosphere etc. If the course is what you want to do then go for it.... just don't do Arts!!!

derryo wrote:

Also are end of term exams held before or after Christmas ?

Two sets of exams during the year. First set before Christmas and the second set in May.

Good luck with filling out that CAO form!

pretty*monster

First of all I have to say that I have in the last two and a half year found ucd to be a very friendly place. I've had the best time here and I've never regreted missing trinity by five CAO points.

However, I couldn't in good conscience advise anyone to come here at the present time. A lot of the staff are dissatisfied and the threat of industrial action is still hanging about the place. Modularisation has been rushed through, in the words of one departmen hear, 'without any forethought' and there are still a great many problems to be ironed out. In the long run I hope it will make ucd a better university but at the moment, why should you take the disruption to your degree? Student life is dying a slow and painful death due to, amoung other things, increased work loads, shorter opening hours in buliding such as the arts block where many events are held, and the related headache of getting room bookings. Most people I know spend at least half their time complaining about this or that aspect of the uniersity. Everyday there's a new rumour doing the rounds, eng degrees losing their acreditation, vet degrees failing to get American recognition, the dean of Arts being uncermoniously fired after 30 or so years on the job, contract staff being pushed around...

UCD just isn't the same place I entered in first year.

delta_bravo

I really think you would be better off talkin to your guidance counsellor. Everyone here either hates or loves the place. Regardless of where you go , college is only good if you make the effort for it to be good

rain on

Admin-wise it's a total hames at the moment but I'd guess that 2006-2007 will be the worst year for that... I think all the teething problems (an understatement, I know) have been hit by now, or will have been gone through by the end of the academic year, so hopefully it'll never be as bad again as it was this year.
Everything has changed so hugely since I was an undergrad that I'd be reluctant to make any recommendations based on my experiences, but I had no complaints..

Sangre

I think only 2 European Colleges have the vet accreditation.

Anyway, I loved UCD. Had a perfect sized year in law and the fact we were stuck in Roebuck meant a great way to meet people. You'll find nearly 80% of people who say UCD is impersonal are in Arts, I can't think of any other course that someone could only have lecuters with 200+ people. None of this applies to your courses.

Also, if you think admin blunders is exclusive to UCD you're wrong. TCD admins managed to turn a €10 mil profit into a €10mil deficit (roughly) this year. There is also shockingly bad organisation that I'd never seen the likes of in UCD.

Blush_01

YAY, we're not the worst! That IS a relief. :rolleyes:

Sprkle, there's a gradual move happening to move exams to before christmas in other universities too, for example UL will have their christmas exams before christmas next year too (not sure about anywhere else). To be honest, it's a better idea, you get an actual break then, plus you can get a head-start on the next semester, without having your entire christmas break ruined by intense pressure.

OP: You should be fine here, as other posters have said, you really do get out of it what you put in as an Undergrad. Besides, your class groups for both of the courses you mentioned should be small enough to allow you to make lots of friends. (It's the classes of 500/600 that really start to feel impersonal - only with certain lecturers though.)

Michael Collins

pretty*monster wrote:

...eng degrees losing their acreditation...

That rumour is most definately not true.

To add my opinion, I did engineering in UCD and really liked it. UCD is a big place, people are only going to give you their experience of a small part of it -- and whether that's good or bad often depends on their attitude. You have to be willing to put in the effort to a) go into your lectures, as that's where you'll meet people and b) drink!...well at least go out with your class anyway. Join a few societies IF you want...etc. OK I'm just giving general advice on college now and you asked about UCD so I'll stop here.

Bascially UCD is no worse than anywhere else -- and in terms of facilities it's one of the best, my experience of engineering was that the lecturers and courses were great, very professional.

If you know exactly what you want to do, that's 90% of the battle. It'll be a challenge at first but if you put in the effort, academically like, then other things often fit into place. Just try and enjoy it, these are the REAL best years of your life!

delta_bravo

this is thread of the day. wahey:D

seraphimvc

well,as a 1st yr student,cant say anything really.:p

why dont you have a trip to UCD,take a walk around ,talk to some people(student office stuffs,programme officers,etc.)?

UCD has the best study environment i have seen so far;)
it's a very beautiful college,i would say.and thats what i am really sure.;)

Stepherunie

Tbh it's my third year here and I love it.

I came to UCD mainly because it was the only place I could do UCD but also I wanted to go to a large University away from where I was from - I wanted to branch out and just get on and that's what I've done, had a ball of a time, as someone else said it's what you make of it.

I've made great friends with people who are not in the least connected with what i study, partied hard, got the chance to go on erasmus and generally had a blast.

I'm in a really small class - there's only 38 of us so that partly helps - it's like one big family and we've got all the faults of the family too but at the same time they're a great support network.


That isn't to say UCD doesn't have its faults - I mean I'm in a course that probably has one of the worst records for how it has dealt with students and things have been a mess for a while, in saying that it's all changing now and things have improved this year. I know this hasn't been the case for other courses but hey - i'll take what I get.

passive

Stepherunie: I came to UCD mainly because it was the only place I could do UCD

Teehee...

Stepherunie

passive wrote:

Teehee...

Ah let the blonde jokes commence....

Course even....