Anyone else counting down the days til they leave this sh*thole?

caridee2

Well officially half way through my final year in UCD and I can honestly say I can't WAIT to finish. Admittedly I never wanted to go there in the first place (I was 5 points of my first choice in the CAO but the less said about that the better), but I went in with an open mind-I wish I hadn't bothered. Bar the few great friends I've made from my class, UCD has nothing going for it.

It's supposed to be a university but Hugh Brady has turned it into a business,and not even a well-run business. From an admin point of view, they just don't have the resources to cope with the amount of students. From parking spaces to email capacity to Blackboard to implementing Horizons when they shouldn't have...when does this college ever do anything right?

There's no way I'd ever encourage anyone to go there, and there's no way I'm doing a Masters there either. In fairness, my lecturers are great but they're victims of the system as much as we students are. Anyone else in third year can appreciate how much we've been messed around, especially with Horizons. I'm fed up with being told "We know as much as you do" or "this is the first year of Horizons for us, too". It's ridiculous, you can't open the Observer or Tribune without reading of some other reason why we should hate the place-anyone see the article on the independent report published recently, talked about how demoralised students felt?

Obviously I can't speak for everyone and this is purely my own opinion; I know there are probably countless people who love the place, but not me. Disillusioned, ignored and downright pissed off; that pretty much sums up my feelings towards this hole. Role on May 08.

Any thoughts?

Lands Leaving

UCD = Hell. I made the brilliant move of staying on for a masters. Why oh why. The place has no soul, 99% of the people are d4 clones and its a massive administrative mess.

Case in point, I was told on Wednesday that all my essays (10,000 words total) were due next Monday. When in fact they're due two weeks from now. No one knows anything they should, nothing ever works, and I will start a fight with someone using a computer for bebo while I'm queueing to do an essay on of these days.

fatal

Lands Leaving wrote: »

UCD = Hell. I made the brilliant move of staying on for a masters. Why oh why. The place has no soul, 99% of the people are d4 clones and its a massive administrative mess.

Case in point, I was told on Wednesday that all my essays (10,000 words total) were due next Monday. When in fact they're due two weeks from now. No one knows anything they should, nothing ever works, and I will start a fight with someone using a computer for bebo while I'm queueing to do an essay on of these days.

That was one of the main reasons why I got a laptop.****ing idiots posting comments on the bebo profile of the person sitting next to them and giggling like ****ing assholes.................all while I had to type up three lab reports and a tutorial every week.

...and Hugh Brady,dont even get me started on that dick!!

p.s am i the only one in UCD that doesn't have a bebo?....why,oh why cant there be more like me

Lands Leaving

fatal wrote: »

p.s am i the only one in UCD that doesn't have a bebo?....why,oh why cant there be more like me

Don't have one either. That makes 2 of us. In total. Out of how many?

MuddyDog

wow....can't believe you feel ucd has no "soul"
ucd has been fantastic for meeting new people making new friends etc etc that i'll prob have for life and the social aspect and not forgetting the education of course is amazing i think. i would definately encourage anyone to come to ucd both for education and for the craic as it is top class for both IMO.

Riveta

Ah come on it's not that bad! It's just big, big and grey. That's not ucd's fault! i just close my eyes all day! stick in some headphones and put on summit cheerful. What's the point in hating the place?!

Lands Leaving

MuddyDog wrote: »

wow....can't believe you feel ucd has no "soul"
ucd has been fantastic for meeting new people making new friends etc etc that i'll prob have for life and the social aspect and not forgetting the education of course is amazing i think. i would definately encourage anyone to come to ucd both for education and for the craic as it is top class for both IMO.

I think it depends a lot on the course you do. try making friends with 500 d4heads in sociology. go on, try.

Le Rack

hahaha! I quit!!! I sucked at my course so I upped and left!

granted I'm going back next year, I quite like it there though, made some amazing friends from it...

MuddyDog

Lands Leaving wrote: »

I think it depends a lot on the course you do. try making friends with 500 d4heads in sociology. go on, try.

whats wrong with a bita d4 qware hot and once u get past the omg thing they're normal enough!

Lands Leaving

MuddyDog wrote: »

whats wrong with a bita d4 qware hot and once u get past the omg thing they're normal enough!

I have a low tolerance level I'm afraid! Just can't take that amount of abercrombie in one place!

Raphael

Lands Leaving wrote: »

I think it depends a lot on the course you do. try making friends with 500 d4heads in sociology. go on, try.

My best friends in college aren't from my course, they're from Gamesoc. I have good friends in my course, but they're not who I spend my free time with. Honestly I think societies are a much better way to make friends, for one thing you'll share more interests with people who have the same hobbies as you than with people who happen to be in the same degree course.

Oh, and I like UCD. Yes, it's huge and grey, but I like the huge, it makes it feel like it's own world, which might be bad, but it's good to feel like you could spend your time there. And on the grey front - meh. Colour is not, to me, an important factor in choice of educational institution.

Also, I think I'm unique in not hating El Presidente. Yes, he's made some fuck-ups, and yes he mightn't have always done what was best for the student. However what he has done is modernise UCD. My mother graduated from UCD ~25 years ago, and there was little to no difference between then and the year before Hugh Brady started. So, speaking as someone caught in the middle of the shit-storm that is the UCD modernising process, I'm honestly not seething with rage about it. Because this year, things went much better. Next year they'll get better again. By the time I'm out of UCD, I honestly believe the system will be working just fine, and be much better than it was before any of this started. And modernising the college is worth having the cluster-fuckery that's going on during it, to my eyes anyway.

Blut

I cant wait to be free of the extreme incompetence shown by the UCD administration in every department: the update of blackboard this year, the exams last year, cutting budgets in certain deparments leading to a drastic cut back in tutorial times this year while theres still plenty of money to do "rebranding", PARKING, just all of the general ineptness and bad planning wrecks my head.

Saying that...I love the social life in UCD. The student bar on the first / last days of term is one of the best places in the world. I love not being able to walk 500 yards without seeing someone I know. I love living a ten minute commute away. I love (some) of the themed events, make a nice change from weekend nights out. I love all the extra sleep and midweek drinking college allows me...

If they sorted out the administration problems I think most people would be happy with UCD, most people I know have no problem with its teaching quality and social life .

Vorsprung

As bad as some aspects of UCD are, we still have our health. I've more important things to be doing than counting down the days tbh!

stardust_dublin

I'm in my final year in UCD and i'd never say that i hate the place. I've always thought that its not the friendliest place in the world but it just feels like that to me because of the course i'm in. i think if your doing courses like commerce/nursing/engineering it's different cause classes are smaller and you see your friends more. Arts is different......but i am gonna miss the place. feel a bit of sorrow in my heart knowing that ill be finished here in 6 months time

stereoroid

Because I'm a mature student, I've started UCD this year expecting nothing on the social front, knowing that I'm surrounded by kiddies whose idea of a good time is drink, drugs, & crappy music. Few have done anything to make me question my cynicism, and the little social activity I've enjoyed has not been anything special. I doubt I'll join any societies next year, not unless I can see some tangible benefit from it.

What has disappointed me most is that lack of co-ordination on my course so far. I previously mentioned the Physics for Engineers course, which has been completely changed by the new lecturers for no apparent reason, and without reference to other courses: they were expecting us to know and use advanced calculus, in the 1st semester, that we (1Y Engineering) will be covering properly in a Maths course in the 2nd semester. It's the kind of Maths that you can't just pick up from a book, or learn from a few tutorial minutes - it needs good lectures, and it's apparently going to get them - but next year! :mad:

If the powers-that-be want UCD to improve its rankings as a world-class university- which I assume they do - that kind of inconsistency and thoughtlessness is not good enough. 1st Year lays the foundation for future years, but so far much of my time has been wasted on subjects irrelevant to my programme, or subjected to unnecessary stress that detracts from study. I have two courses in 2nd Semester that I could have done 1st Semester instead, that are much more useful than two of the six I did this semester.

seraphimvc

my guess...The OP must not doing his/her course in science aspect...:pi am 99% believe i am right.why?lots to say ,but i am pretty sure.

well,just say it simpler ,if OP went to Trinity(big school) or smaller college ,will there be no complaint?the school is small,sh!te,i wan a bigger school!etc etc...
you can never tell.even if OP change school for Master,you still cant tell,it's different stage already.so,i say,OP,go post this thread in all university board but change the school 's name ,see what's people comment.;)

i think this thread is completely meaningless.maybe mean something if moved to IP...:p

off topic:
and yes,for i am a 'half foreign' student:D i dont like the way of students going out/drinking all the time...all school events are about going out and drink!!(excpet some of them,you know what i mean)maybe there is another issue involve here:just different nation culture.so,it is kinda acceptable:)what i can say more?*this apply to all colleges in country....*

Chakar

I've had a good time in UCD over the last two and half years. UCD suits me as I wouldn't have liked to attend Trinity with the city centre etc as it'd have been too crowded for me. I like my space and just as an example yesterday with the Open Day, really annoyed me as I was constantly dodging and squeezing past people. When the next Open Day is taking place, I'm going to try and avoid UCD if possible.

The academic side of things has been successful as I have never handed in assignments late in my two and half years. As for the social side of things, I've enjoyed myself with nights out and socialising in general. I've been involved in societies and the Students' Union for the last two and half years. It's always great craic.

All in all I think Hugh Brady has done a great job with modularisation and semesterisation. It has definitely done away with the restrictive exam orientated environment and focused more on learning and research. This has enabled me to do better in exams with continuous assessment. I have had hassle with administration with regards to numerous c*cks up with my exam papers but never mind.

Four-Too

The place HAS no soul. The food is crappy and over priced. Ever eat in the "Main Restaurant". You get ***k all for E6, small plates, unhealthy student special, always chips. They don't give a ***k about the students. They should give a student a big feed of spuds and veg for E3 max!
Modularisation is ***ked too, it means you have to study all through the year! WTF?? Before you jus had a few assignments that were 20%, and the final exam was 80%.
Seriously though, they are all about research and money, they aren't treating students right.

panda100

bigjimthefirst wrote: »

As bad as some aspects of UCD are, we still have our health. !

Touch wood!You wouldnt want to get sick in UCD!

MuddyDog

Four-Too wrote: »

The place HAS no soul. The food is crappy and over priced. Ever eat in the "Main Restaurant". You get ***k all for E6, small plates, unhealthy student special, always chips. They don't give a ***k about the students. They should give a student a big feed of spuds and veg for E3 max!
Modularisation is ***ked too, it means you have to study all through the year! WTF?? Before you jus had a few assignments that were 20%, and the final exam was 80%.
Seriously though, they are all about research and money, they aren't treating students right.

restaurant food is dirt. student bar is realllly nice i think tho.

stolenwine

One thing that really grieves me is that they are spending so much money building this gate complex that has a shopping centre and a hotel etc.. when they should be pumping money into the library. It's really embarrassing to go to Trinity and walk around their library, the place is bloody spectacular.

I was watching an interview with Colm Tobin the other night and he said how much he loved spending time in ucd library when he was studying History and English, that was maybe true in the 70's not now!

*Sigh* Everytime I hate the place I secretly love it a little aswell.

MizzLolly

Hey!! I'm in second year but I know what you mean about the mess ups. I made a similar complaint on this a few weeks ago, got one reply from an obnoxious (beep!) for critisizing it!! So watch out!! :eek: But yup, I agree about the Admin thing... I hate to sound mean but do they know ANYTHING???? I spent THREE hours arguing with them after my registration got f****d up! Why the hell do they offer such 'great' courses to everyone if they can't take the numbers?? It's a joke!! You guys are aware we're being laughed at by other Universities???!!! The library is a total mess aswell, you're bang on!!

Yeah I met my good friends there too, it's great for meeting new people.. that's one good thing.

I don't really wana be in another college as I believe UCD could be great if some effort was put into it. Oh and whoever made that point about bebo in Daedalus. I actually do have a bebo account but I don't use it if I see there is a queue. I wanted to study for an exam yesterday, wasted almost 40mins in a queue while bebo and youtube filled the screens! :mad: So I agree with you there, but not ALL bebo account holders are selfish twats!!

Yup.. it's deffo over priced, ridiculous in fact! Even photocopies in SU place is a joke!! Tutorials don't always fit in with lectures. Assessments ALL come at once!!! Each department don't seem to have any communication with eachother. WHERE THE HELL ARE THE STUDENTS UNION???????????????

Surely they should be able to help when their fellow students are tearing their hair out and cracking under the pressure all because of a lack in communication between the different schools??!!! Sorry but as far as I've seen they are bloody useless. They're well able to go around shouting about politics, wars, abortion and erm... pornstars... etc... why the hell don't they try to help with the REAL problems we face EVERY day??!!!

Just to add, I don't regret coming to UCD. I think it has so much potential and of course there are some good things about it too. I worry about the direction it is taking at the moment however, I think it really needs to start improving. Especially on the Admin front. They are a total mess!!!!! Having said all that, we gotta stay loyal and just SHOUT til we get heard and get the place sorted. It really does have loads going for it..

Chakar

Perhaps in a perfect world.

remus808

MizzLolly wrote: »

WHERE THE HELL ARE THE STUDENTS UNION???????????????

Surely they should be able to help when their fellow students are tearing their hair out and cracking under the pressure all because of a lack in communication between the different schools??!!! Sorry but as far as I've seen they are bloody useless. They're well able to go around shouting about politics, wars, abortion, erm... pornstars... etc... why the hell don't they try to help with the REAL problems we face EVERY day??!!!

Just to stage a small defence of the SU.. While I do agree with you that it could maybe do better in making it's activities a bit more relevant and effective at times, your post is a gross exaggeration. IMO your post reveals a certain degree of ignorance about the Union (no offence)- your confusing the SU with society debates and activist groups which are in fact to do with it. Yes you will occasionaly see the SU involved in student activism, but generally it is on issues relevant to its members (grants protest, accomodation etc.).. Yes the SU will often support things like climate change groups etc, and it has an anti-war stance, but at the end of the day it's main focus is on the students. It's a shame that so many people mistrust the SU, theres alot of them who I know put their upmost effort into working for the benefit of students, and it is a veritable slap in the face when they come under unjust criticism. I also think your blaming the SU unfairly for issues outside it's control, it is an independant body, and therefore cannot tell UCD how to run their university, of course they do their best to lobby the college to run the place properly, at the end of the day if UCD want to run it into the ground the SU can't stop them. For example, the college has basically ignored any attempts at overturning the introduction of 50/50 degree weighting for Arts. There's only so much that can be done, and again you cannot blame the SU for random problems when they are doing their best..

lizzyvera

caridee2 wrote: »

Well officially half way through my final year in UCD and I can honestly say I can't WAIT to finish. Admittedly I never wanted to go there in the first place (I was 5 points of my first choice in the CAO but the less said about that the better), but I went in with an open mind-I wish I hadn't bothered. Bar the few great friends I've made from my class, UCD has nothing going for it.

It's supposed to be a university but Hugh Brady has turned it into a business,and not even a well-run business. From an admin point of view, they just don't have the resources to cope with the amount of students. From parking spaces to email capacity to Blackboard to implementing Horizons when they shouldn't have...when does this college ever do anything right?

There's no way I'd ever encourage anyone to go there, and there's no way I'm doing a Masters there either. In fairness, my lecturers are great but they're victims of the system as much as we students are. Anyone else in third year can appreciate how much we've been messed around, especially with Horizons. I'm fed up with being told "We know as much as you do" or "this is the first year of Horizons for us, too". It's ridiculous, you can't open the Observer or Tribune without reading of some other reason why we should hate the place-anyone see the article on the independent report published recently, talked about how demoralised students felt?

Obviously I can't speak for everyone and this is purely my own opinion; I know there are probably countless people who love the place, but not me. Disillusioned, ignored and downright pissed off; that pretty much sums up my feelings towards this hole. Role on May 08.

Any thoughts?

Maybe you didn't take part in enough extra curricular activities, socialise enough, work hard enough to get firsts and feel good about yourself or have a good attitude and genuine interest in your subject.
Most people I know who came and didn't like it were moans to begin with and didn't like school and don't like working full time either.

I have very few problems with the place. Blackboard was down one weekend but I'd be a terrible moan if I complained about that after all the staff do for us. it's better run than anywhere I've ever worked and I'm better treated.

there is so much wrong and id be here all day if i went into it but the worst thing about UCD is horizons without a doubt, what a waste of time, instead of getting a thorough education in the course u picked you waster ur time pricking around with stupid essays that u cud not giv a toss about in ur elective.If u are doing a difficult course as well electives takin away focus is the last thing u need, load of bollocks quite frankly

pretty*monster

Three and a half years ago I missed out on a place in trinity by five points. Despite numerous cock ups, administrative obstinance, computer driven insanity and a vision for higher education that I opposed enough to devote an entire term to protesting again, I still consider missing out on getting into Trinity as the luckiest near miss of my life.
UCD is far from perfect, but there is so much good in this university, there are so many passionate people here, staff and students. There are so many opportunities. There are so many people!

I have written for the paper, presented a radio show, run for election, auditioned unsuccessfully for three plays, hosted more coffee mornings than I'd care to remember, flirted with radical politics, ordered the the same drink in the Forum bar so many times that the girls knew it by heart, been completely enraged by L&H debates, sat behind a stand in the freshers tent three years in a row (it's only fun the first time), stayed in the library so long I feared I was becoming psychotic, tried to get to know first years every year to make them feel like they belong and pass down any wisdom I may have accidentally gained, stuck up a rain forest worth of posters, broken a lot of laws, carried a placard, made friends who I hope to stick by for the rest of my life, somehow managed to get an honours degree out of it all and I still haven't left.

Where the hell else could I have gotten up to so much in so little time?

Stepherunie

This is my fourth year in ucd, I've been a traditional student who's been thrown into a really weird semi modularised state, been shafted for placements, been told to try and sort out ridiculously hard to source vaccinations, had stake loads of work for courses where people sitting the exact same course have had to do about 1/3 of the work for the same marks and rowed with Martin Butler, shouted at lecturers and generally been meh.

I'm coming back next year for my masters, I could go to the UK to do it but wouldn't even consider it. Here I have made friends for life, I have my second family in UCD, some people that I have known for the past four years, I'm going to know for the rest of my life.

I've put a motion before council, lived on res, got so drunk i've shouted 'diet coke noice one', had mammoth political debates, run around the library like a lunatic, and done a few things I'm sure you're definitely not meant to. Had information I've never wanted repeated called out by my Head of School at a comedy debate and had a laugh.

I give out about UCD alot, I dislike a lot of the changes that have occurred since I started here but I've been working at the open days the past two days and when people asked me why I choose UCD, I told them the truth - it's an amazing college - I mean we have SO much here, great facilities, hundreds of societies and sports clubs, a really active students union and the opportunity to see some huge names in a campus of 22,000 students. I mean yes we're the biggest college in Ireland but we get people that Harvard get to speak.

To answer your question, yes i'm counting down my days in UCD, but not in the way the OP is, I'm doing it with some sadness, because I'm leaving a fantastic course and a fantastic class, I'm leaving lectures with some of the most enthusiastic and competant staff on the planet and the microcosome that is UCD where you feel like you're in the big bad world and all grown up, but you're really not.

Nothing holds you back but yourself. That's what being here has taught me.

MuddyDog

pretty*monster wrote: »

Three and a half years ago I missed out on a place in trinity by five points. Despite numerous cock ups, administrative obstinance, computer driven insanity and a vision for higher education that I opposed enough to devote an entire term to protesting again, I still consider missing out on getting into Trinity as the luckiest near miss of my life.
UCD is far from perfect, but there is so much good in this university, there are so many passionate people here, staff and students. There are so many opportunities. There are so many people!

I have written for the paper, presented a radio show, run for election, auditioned unsuccessfully for three plays, hosted more coffee mornings than I'd care to remember, flirted with radical politics, ordered the the same drink in the Forum bar so many times that the girls knew it by heart, been completely enraged by L&H debates, sat behind a stand in the freshers tent three years in a row (it's only fun the first time), stayed in the library so long I feared I was becoming psychotic, tried to get to know first years every year to make them feel like they belong and pass down any wisdom I may have accidentally gained, stuck up a rain forest worth of posters, broken a lot of laws, carried a placard, made friends who I hope to stick by for the rest of my life, somehow managed to get an honours degree out of it all and I still haven't left.

Where the hell else could I have gotten up to so much in so little time?

nice post.

ferdi

Stepherunie wrote: »

it's an amazing college - I mean we have SO much here, great facilities, hundreds of societies and sports clubs, a really active students union

eh....wha>?
this is my 5th year here (dont ask) and i have yet to come across any great facilities or a really active student union. i'm not jumping on the 'piss-all-over-ucd' bandwagon but i have totally to disagree.

Stepherunie

Well i study in a state of the art building, with state of the art digital facilities and brand new equipment that any college would envy.

And have you missed the vast postering for different events and campaigns.

What do you want an active union to do????

Like there's meetings about things, we have open forums for students to turn up and give there input for what they want there union to be active on and no one shows up.....