Bsc Finance in UCC!

english4490

hi, just thinking about doing fiance next year in ucc.
just wondering from current or past students, what its like, is it very mathematical, long hours etc..
i'm doing economics for the leaving and love that so would that be a help??

thanks!!

Mallox

ya i also saw that course at the open day but im not sure bout it ... is it mainly theory , figures or wat ???

marus aureilous

doing 1st finance 12 hour week before tutorials come in one hour friday at the moment which means good thursday nights. ah in some accounting classes but more economics based with statistics too overall not to hard except for business finance good course nice points for it too and may drop with the whole reccession and all
hope i offered some worthwhile advice!

english4490

thanks thats great!! what you hoping to do after you graduate???

CantGetNoSleep

english4490 wrote: »

thanks thats great!! what you hoping to do after you graduate???

Go on the dole

d_tobin1

Hey lads,

Glad ot hear you're thinking bout Finance. Just graduated myself, I'll try to give you the lowdown.

As far as workload goes its not that hard. Mainly economics with a bit of accountancy thrown in too. The economics is fairly basic to begin with and is very gradually toughened over the years. Theres a good bit of maths associated with the economics but nothing that will push you to hard aslong as you go to lectures and tutorials (note tutorials are far more important than lecutres - its where the lecturers get the exam questions from).

As far as what you do afterwards forget your ideas of joining investment banking and all that nonsense no-one ends up there. You'll prob hear that its where people end up but thats a half truth. In my class of 60, 30ish ended up joining an accounting firm i.e. big 4 etc, round 15 joined other companies in an accounting role for them, bout 5 joined the banks i.e. aib, boi etc, while the rest are doing post grad work.

The truth is none of the investment banks recruit atall from Ireland. If its where you want to work go to a big 'name' college like cambridge etc, its more expensive but they recruit from these because they know them. Don't listen to people who tell you they know someone who joined jp or some other company straight from Ireland coz it was a back office role and thats only going to be accounting.

Neway bit of advice do an internship, any internship it'll get you a job guaranteed.

Mail me if you have ne questions.

jj99

You can DEFINITELY get into investment bank from UCC, had many friends who were offered positions. 80% of the graduates they hire have done a summer internship with them...do that and you will almost be guaranteed a job offer.

Opics

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I'm just wondering is ECDL done in BSc Finance? Brother considering doing it but wants to know is there any point in doing the ECDL outside of UCC?

pbowenroe

Bumping again for more information about the course from current finance students if possible.

Legwinski

Opics wrote: »

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I'm just wondering is ECDL done in BSc Finance? Brother considering doing it but wants to know is there any point in doing the ECDL outside of UCC?

You don't do it in Finance. They have to do it/have it done in Commerce though.

Cillerz

Hey there. Second Year Finance student here.

Opics wrote: »

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I'm just wondering is ECDL done in BSc Finance? Brother considering doing it but wants to know is there any point in doing the ECDL outside of UCC?

You don't do ECDL in Finance. In one module, you have tutorials in Excel which you learn a good bit. ECDL training is free for UCC students. To do the exams it costs money, but it is subsidised.

pbowenroe wrote: »

Bumping again for more information about the course from current finance students if possible.

If you have done accounting and honours maths before then you are at quite an advantage for a while (only in the way you don't have to catch up as the course progresses). Everything is started from basics but in first year, accounting (ie Financial Reporting) gets fairly tough fairly fast. Economics is all manageable.
As for jobs at the end: the placement gives you something great for your CV. Investment banks do come here: I went to a few in September over in London and they are encouraging more and more students to apply. Met all UCC Finance graduates in Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs and some were in very high positions.
As for hours, like 11 or so a week excluding tutorials. In second year, we've around the same (but Friday's off and one 11am and the rest are later!)
There is difficult content, but if you tip away at it it's all grand.
If you wanna ask me more questions I'm happy to help. Was fairly lost myself doing the CAO back in the day.
Basically, if you like economics, accounting, have a general interest in the financial markets (as in, if I say "financial markets", you'll say "Ooooooh..") and you are maths-y (not than much writing in the course, everything is maths though) then it's for you..

pbowenroe

Cillerz wrote: »

Hey there. Second Year Finance student here.

You don't do ECDL in Finance. In one module, you have tutorials in Excel which you learn a good bit. ECDL training is free for UCC students. To do the exams it costs money, but it is subsidised.



If you have done accounting and honours maths before then you are at quite an advantage for a while (only in the way you don't have to catch up as the course progresses). Everything is started from basics but in first year, accounting (ie Financial Reporting) gets fairly tough fairly fast. Economics is all manageable.
As for jobs at the end: the placement gives you something great for your CV. Investment banks do come here: I went to a few in September over in London and they are encouraging more and more students to apply. Met all UCC Finance graduates in Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs and some were in very high positions.
As for hours, like 11 or so a week excluding tutorials. In second year, we've around the same (but Friday's off and one 11am and the rest are later!)
There is difficult content, but if you tip away at it it's all grand.
If you wanna ask me more questions I'm happy to help. Was fairly lost myself doing the CAO back in the day.
Basically, if you like economics, accounting, have a general interest in the financial markets (as in, if I say "financial markets", you'll say "Ooooooh..") and you are maths-y (not than much writing in the course, everything is maths though) then it's for you..

Thanks for replying, it was helpful. I definitely have begun to take an interest in the financial markets which is why I am considering the course. Can you tell me a bit more about the maths side of it? I got a B3 in ordinary maths; do you think I would struggle?

Cillerz

pbowenroe wrote: »

Thanks for replying, it was helpful. I definitely have begun to take an interest in the financial markets which is why I am considering the course. Can you tell me a bit more about the maths side of it? I got a B3 in ordinary maths; do you think I would struggle?

Well 1/3 of the economics modules is called "Quantitative Techniques for Economic Analysis" which gets you up to the Leaving Cert maths standard. Business Finance would definitely challenge you most. It's all about formula's.
In fairness, if you put the work in you should be grand. Two of my friends from first year were weak at maths and didn't put the work in and both are now repeating first year..

pbowenroe

O.K. Thanks again.