Schols Schols Schols, information and venting thread.

theowen

mercury127 wrote: »

Could someone post the link to the accommodation applicaiton form? I've been searching the trinity site to no avail

https://accommodation.tcd.ie/StudentBookings/

Kez1

Could any of you new Medicine scholars give me any advice or tips about sitting schols (for first time) next year?

Like how much work did you put in? Did you wait til after christmas exams or start when you got the topic? What the exam itself is like etc...

Congrats to all of the students that got schols this year!!

ride-the-spiral

How much do you get if you don't take the accommodation?

blubloblu

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

How much do you get if you don't take the accommodation?

Half the standard rate for rooms, in 2006 this worked out to €2068.76

Ambrotos

P Funkateer wrote: »

I got it! Been a mental two days. Just a quick question about applying for rooms for those who know - do we just fill in the application by putting new scholar into the supporting statement section?

I was elected as a scholar this year as well, and I just made an account with the accommodation office website this week (having never applied for TCD accommodation before). When I was recognised from my CAO number, "Scholar" was there as part of my details. I assume that means that we've been made known to the accommodation office and we can just leave the statement blank?

Well, that's what I've ended up doing, regardless.

CJC86

languagenerd wrote: »

Nope, the real reason is we're all (not-so-)secretly jealous as f*ck... :P

I should mention that I'm actually a scholar myself, and have been around for 6 years as one. I was actually referring to college authorities who really get annoyed by scholars who lose sight of what a privilege it is to get schols and parade around like they deserve everything to be handed to them. It is an unfortunate side to scholars which we really should be careful to avoid, as the scholarship itself is the most unbelievably generous undergraduate scholarship around.

I may have stated my point poorly before, but that sort of behaviour gives us all a bad name.

Sir Ophiuchus

Ambrotos wrote: »

I was elected as a scholar this year as well, and I just made an account with the accommodation office website this week (having never applied for TCD accommodation before). When I was recognised from my CAO number, "Scholar" was there as part of my details. I assume that means that we've been made known to the accommodation office and we can just leave the statement blank?

Well, that's what I've ended up doing, regardless.

I tend to fill out the section anyway. They make an effort to match people up to some degree, and also if you have specific comments you'd like to make* then the supporting statement is a good place to mention them.

*Like "I know a lot of residents tend not to prefer Goldsmith as a location, but if it's not inconvenient I'd actively prefer to be there."

theowen

What's "guest night" commons? It's this wednesday, starts at a different time=confused.

PurpleFistMixer

theowen wrote: »

What's "guest night" commons? It's this wednesday, starts at a different time=confused.

The fellows bring guests (not scholars, though I guess you can bring guests whenever you want if you just buy them a commons ticket). In practice it means commons takes a bit longer because the fellows spend more time talking.

Important note: the time it says it starts is the time it starts, ie when the doors close. The first time I encountered guest commons I missed it, thinking they meant 7.15 when they said 7, because I am very smart.

Kwekubo

theowen wrote: »

What's "guest night" commons? It's this wednesday, starts at a different time=confused.

What it says on the tin - certain people are invited from outside College (presumably to encourage them to give money...)

theowen

That makes sense...thanks!:D. I was hoping it was a night where new scholars got to bring their friends for free...optimistic thinking:p

Jack Sheehan

Hey, filled out the accommodation form but it didn't say scholar next to my name. Do I need to email someone to connect the dots?

Fringe

Probably not. The only people who apply at this time are new scholars.

user1

Thinking of doing schools next year. How long do you have to prepare for them? in other words how long before they start do you get the unseen papers?

EuropeanSon

user1 wrote: »

Thinking of doing schools next year. How long do you have to prepare for them? in other words how long before they start do you get the unseen papers?

It might be helpful if you specify what course you are doing, as "unseen papers" aren't something that occur in every course.

user1

I meant seen papers. Im doing nursing studies. The exams are usually around 9th january, so I was wondering how long you have to study between getting the seen papers and the actual exam.

Oh, you mean prescribed reading? Every course is different but we got given ours in October/November, I imagine that'd be the same for most courses.

Feu

i believe User1 is referring to exam papers/questions that you see ahead of time.

Depending on the course you may be given the exam ahead of time, so it is more like a traditional essy then an exam. 2 oout of my 4 were seen papers, Iirc i got them about a month ahead of time. But it will depend on your department.

Can you contact someone in the year ahead of you and ask them?

Haha oh, I wasn't aware there was such a procedure in some courses, all my questions were unseen! Tbh if you have any specific questions about schol papers for your course you'd be best off emailing your course coordinator or someone similar, failing that someone in one of the years ahead of you might know.

Ineedaflash

Gonna try my hand at Schols next year. Would anyone who has taken Schols - regardless of the outcome - recommend starting to crack into prep. some stage during the Summer months?

Thanks.

EuropeanSon

Ineedaflash wrote: »

Gonna try my hand at Schols next year. Would anyone who has taken Schols - regardless of the outcome - recommend starting to crack into prep. some stage during the Summer months?

Thanks.

I got it this year, and attempted to do that last summer, but got absolutely nothing of use done. In my course (mathematics) it was very difficult for me to learn the material without having been to lectures and taken notes. If you are maths/tp, I'd say the benefits are negligible. I can't say anything with regard to other courses though.

Ineedaflash

Great - thanks for your advice. I'm definitely not doing any sort of mathematical course, that's for sure (Arts block, through and through) so maybe it would no harm to polish up on what we've covered this year.

Also, would you regard JF end-of-year results as any kind of precursor or indicator as to whether or not it's 'worth your while' to take Schols?

It depends what your schol exams are like I guess. If you're going into SF you probably won't have covered most of the material on the exams, and trying to learn it yourself beforehand would be difficult, and unnecessary imo. Some courses have JF material on the papers, and in any case it's no harm to brush up on it.

However, I certainly didn't study for schols over the summer, and if I were you I'd enjoy the break while you can because October-January is exhausting with the amount of study to be done for schols. I still haven't completely recovered from it- absolutely dying for my summer break!

You know best if your JF results are an indicator of your chances, as results are the sum of the work you put in as well as aptitude. But no one is going to tell you that you have to get a first in JF to bother considering. It's still worthwhile sitting them even if you don't think you have a chance of getting them as it'll get you studying earlier in the year!

Ineedaflash

Thanks so much for your advice, Piratequeen.

languagenerd

Ineedaflash wrote: »

Great - thanks for your advice. I'm definitely not doing any sort of mathematical course, that's for sure (Arts block, through and through) so maybe it would no harm to polish up on what we've covered this year.

Also, would you regard JF end-of-year results as any kind of precursor or indicator as to whether or not it's 'worth your while' to take Schols?

Depends on your course. I'm TSM, and most of my papers were JF-related, but my friend does Pharmacy and hers were all SF only (IIRC). I planned to study it over the summer, but it didn't really happen (except for my general language course in France).

The Schols exams are completely different to the JF ones (or, at least, in my depts they were marked in a totally different way). Obviously, if you get high marks this year, it would be a good idea to consider it. But I wouldn't rule it out if you got lower marks either - you say you're in an Arts course, so you'll know as well as I do that half the time it depends on luck as to what way the questions are phrased on the day!

ride-the-spiral

EuropeanSon wrote: »

I got it this year, and attempted to do that last summer, but got absolutely nothing of use done. In my course (mathematics) it was very difficult for me to learn the material without having been to lectures and taken notes. If you are maths/tp, I'd say the benefits are negligible. I can't say anything with regard to other courses though.

I was thinking that myself. Some people in TP are planning to study over summer but I find I learn stuff much quicker in lectures. Is there anything you would recommend? I imagine making sure I understand something like linear algebra thoroughly would be beneficial.

EuropeanSon

Ineedaflash wrote: »

Great - thanks for your advice. I'm definitely not doing any sort of mathematical course, that's for sure (Arts block, through and through) so maybe it would no harm to polish up on what we've covered this year.

Also, would you regard JF end-of-year results as any kind of precursor or indicator as to whether or not it's 'worth your while' to take Schols?

Again, it depends. Broadly, I'd assume there is a relation, as if you are doing really well you clearly have an aptitude. However, it's definitely not exact. The guy who got the second highest mark in the college this year (85%) in schols got a 2:1 in first year, and there were around 20 firsts in his course last year, only 3 of whom got schols. He is in theoretical physics.
For an arts course, I think you could probably benefit by getting a headstart on your reading material, if you know what it is. There tends to be a mountain of it.

EuropeanSon

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

EuropeanSon wrote: »

I got it this year, and attempted to do that last summer, but got absolutely nothing of use done. In my course (mathematics) it was very difficult for me to learn the material without having been to lectures and taken notes. If you are maths/tp, I'd say the benefits are negligible. I can't say anything with regard to other courses though.

I was thinking that myself. Some people in TP are planning to study over summer but I find I learn stuff much quicker in lectures. Is there anything you would recommend? I imagine making sure I understand something like linear algebra thoroughly would be beneficial.

If you are a TP, I wouldn't say there is much you could do over the summer. Your exams will be on 1) Simms' course and complex analysis, 2) Mechanics and Equations of maths physics, and 3) physics. Only the 3rd paper includes JF stuff, so I suppose you could make sure you know your JF physics well. I don't think there is much you could do for 1 and 2. It doesn't ever require more than a basic working knowledge of Linear Algebra (in mechanics, and Simms), nothing particularly fancy. Knowing how to change coord systems for matrices is as tough as it gets.

Ambrotos

Ineedaflash wrote: »

Gonna try my hand at Schols next year. Would anyone who has taken Schols - regardless of the outcome - recommend starting to crack into prep. some stage during the Summer months?

Thanks.

I wouldn't be too worried about summer revision. I had the same aspirations myself, but they fell away pretty quickly. If you can muster the will to revise topics from your first year (if they're examined, of course) then that'd be more useful than trying to establish an anticipatory understanding of what you're gonna do in second year. I mean, it can't hurt, but it's not gonna be vital either, as other people have indicated.

Ineedaflash wrote: »

Also, would you regard JF end-of-year results as any kind of precursor or indicator as to whether or not it's 'worth your while' to take Schols?

A precursor? Absolutely not. Just because you get a first in your summer exams does not, itself, mean that you're gonna get schols. Conversely, justs because you don't get a first in your summer exams doesn't mean you're not gonna get schols. An indicator? In some loose sense, yes. They may certainly be indicative of your strengths and weaknesses, and that really helps. You'll know from your results roughly where you stand, and you'll be able to tell better then. My faculty tends to recommend that anyone who got a I or II:1 in their first year summer exams should at the very least consider doing the scholarship exams.

Meantime, focus on the annual exams in front of you right now and worry about analysing the results/schols/etc afterwards!

Ineedaflash

Everyone is so helpful here.

Thanks!