BBL European or International

lemon_sherbert

Just wondering, has anyone here gone on the year to Europe or elsewhere with Business and Law? There are murmurings that we might have to sign up this year and I was wondering what it's like, how they choose applicants etc.

Less generally, has anyone really enjoyed/really hated/merely tolerated semesters abroad?

Thanks

spaczed

I just finished BBLS (as it then was :rolleyes:) European, and have to say that the year abroad was my best year of college. I went to Belgium and absolutely loved it, and being away from your home university, be it in Europe or elsewhere does you a different way of looking at things! Not to mention the Erasmus parties, the travel etc (the belgian beer...) Well, the whole lot of it actually, can't recommend it highly enough

I guess one thing to consider is that if you choose BBLS International it may make it a five year degree rather than 4 (if you have to take an extra year for the international option, rather than the integrated year of Erasmus).

If it is still the same, they choose the BBL European the year before BBL intl, so if you don't get it, you can apply for international the following year. The selection for the European was based around language ability (did you do ok in your leaving cert, did you ask to do the course the Law School offers) and your reasons for wanting it - they have an application form fo it. I guess it would follow grades somewhat too, but they aren't totally determinative. If I recall correctly, the Intl had an interview, which i guess is fairer, but the problem was that a lot of places went to BCL rather than BBL when the law fac did the interviews!

I guess other things to consider are language -i hadn't studied french since leaving cert and mainly picked it up out there, but if you hate foreign languages, you might prefer Intl. Also, there is some grant for erasmus (about a grand I think) whereas the Erasmus grant isn't there for international exchange outside the EU.

But overall, I would say go for it. it gave me some of the best experiences of my 4 years in UCD and most other people I know who went say similar.

Anyone else got any intl/erasmus experience?

lemon_sherbert

Thanks! I did German and Spanish for the leaving cert, I was a little disappointed you can't go to spain with the exchange, but maybe germany or austria, hmm...
Anyway, thanks a lot, food for thought

spaczed

yeah, I heard some class things about Austria expecially. 4 weeks on in Feb/March, perfect for skiiing apparently!

Munich ain't too bad though either!