Civil Engineering

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Anyone got any info on what the course is like in first year? eg. whats the timetable like and how difficult is the maths

breadmonkey

Here's your timetable for semester 1

http://www.ucd.ie/engineer/timetable0708/civil1s1.html

The maths isn't that difficult. The intro stuff will seem like a load of gobbldygook but you'll see that you don't really need to bother with it that much to do well.

Gow and Lewis are really excellent lecturers imo; they have comprehensive notes, problem sheets etc all made fully available to download and they always make fair exams.

The course has changed a fair bit since I started but it's still very doable imo. The physics is easier than Leaving Cert physics, the Mechanics is really easy Leaving Cert applied maths. The Chemistry is toughish, only because the department are hardasses but you do a lot of continuos assessment which is good come exam time (I think we had done 40% already). Computer graphics is very straight forward but I didn't like the manual stuff at all. If you have done technical graphics then you'll be laughing but most people were starting from scratch etc etc etc

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cheers breadmonkey

Red Alert

I did Elec. I'm not sure how much is still done in common, but to be honest if you've done ok in school so far you'll not find it too taxing. Like above - Gow and Lewis are great, just try keep up with what they're doing, the stuff is easy and they don't trip you up in exams. Chemistry department are another story - they use about two to three lecturers, and I always thought the labs were a bit regimented. They're very strict about marking and handup dates and stuff like that. Physics are ok - the course is a bit of a step-up from leaving cert physics. Labs are grand and shouldn't take you too long.

Pythia

breadmonkey wrote:

Gow and Lewis are really excellent lecturers imo; they have comprehensive notes, problem sheets etc all made fully available to download and they always make fair exams.

gubbie

Basicly its simple, if not a little boring. But just go to your classes cos you meet so many engineers that way that you probably wouldn't have the chance to later on when ye all get split up

Your Man

Im starting it this year and am/was looking forward to it until a few people told me 1)if i didnt do physics im screwed
2)Its one of the few courses you cant actually go out a couple of nights a week in 1st year due to the workload,
Any truth in this?

breadmonkey

Your Man wrote:

Im starting it this year and am/was looking forward to it until a few people told me 1)if i didnt do physics im screwed
2)Its one of the few courses you cant actually go out a couple of nights a week in 1st year due to the workload,
Any truth in this?

You can easily go out a few nights a week if you want. The chemistry is much much harder than the physics imo.