Need advice on University - any input welcome

p1akuw47h5r3it

froosh69 wrote: »

yyoltaly agree...im from dub15 and i love ucd. you get used to the journey and learn to enjoy it...ive made great friends and couldnt recommend it hghly enough

Alrite thanks for the advice.

CoachBoone

Dan, your post reads like you want to go to UCC. So go to UCC.

p1akuw47h5r3it

CoachBoone wrote: »

Dan, your post reads like you want to go to UCC. So go to UCC.

Yeah, honestly, when I wrote that I did but I've changed my mind (again...bout the 4th and 100th since october time today). See, I know what course I wanna do and UCD and UCC are the only places I can do it so its just trying to way up the pros and cons of both.

passive

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

I'm sorta whitehall/drumcondra so jus down road from you.

Is it really only a 40min cycle??

going there, yes. Possibly less once I stop switching routes randomly and go on a nice day on my shiny new racer .. It gets a bit hilly on the last part of my journey back, so more like 50 then. But yeah, give it a try some day. It's basically cycling to town x2, and not relying on buses has made it faster door-door and cheaper.

Though there are issues with changing clothes etc when you arrive... But they're managable!

Pride Fighter

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

Science and want to end up with a degree in microbiology.

Trinity has a great Science faculty. It has past pupils like nobel laureate E.T.S. Walton. I know he is dead but Trinity is good for Science.
Between UCD and UCC I'd say they are on par for Science.

Sir Humphrey

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

Obviously I've my own mates at the mo but none are goin UCD bar 1... my fear is that others will jus drift away as they'll be wit mates frm their colledge...

Two observations on this one: this does not square with the idea of going to UCC so if 'mates' is a consideration then it is a major argument against UCC as you will be out of Dublin for so much of the time. Yes, you will travel home regularly at first but will get very tired of that and you will lose touch.

The second thing I'd say is just a follow-on from the first - it is a fact of life, quite unimaginable for you right now but a fact of life nonetheless, that once you leave school you 'mates' will go their way and you'll go yours. It is inevitable that in four years time your college friends will be your main buddies and you will only occasionally see your schoolmates.

The day I walked out the school gates for the last time, if someone had told me I would not see some of my schoolfriends again I would have been amazed but that's how it turned out. Admittedly it was at a time when mobile phones and internet were not ubiquitous but even so at 17 you think things will never change. Friendships are formed at that age by intersecting circumstances and common experiences and it will be no different when you are all at different colleges and meeting new 'mates'. School is very much a moment in time so don't let this influence you too much.

Sir Humphrey

dyl10 wrote: »

Travel time IS a big deal for a lot of people.
I've got two 1 hour lectures on a Friday, there is no way in hell I'd spend 3 hours traveling for 2 hours of lectures.

Duvet day for me, thank you :pac:

Consider everything when picking your college, you're not just there for the course

But it is illogical to consider the value on lectures only with reference to the travel time involved. It is easy to find excuses to not go to lectures without talking about travel time at all.

paulanthony

If you are living near Drumcondra you could probably get the 11 bus to UCD I'm guesssing? That wouldn't be a bad commute if you don't have to change buses. As you may be able to travel at times outside of rush-hour some days the commute might be shortened those days.

In the end just choose whichever you think you really want to go to and the commute / accommodation / money etc will probably work out over time.

dyl10

Sir Humphrey wrote: »

But it is illogical to consider the value on lectures only with reference to the travel time involved. It is easy to find excuses to not go to lectures without talking about travel time at all.

There's a difference between making up excuses to try and justify not going to lectures to yourself, and having an actual obstacle that makes going to college awkward(e.g. 3 hours of travel time per day)

People do worse commutes but I think you'd really have to want to be there, to stick with it

p1akuw47h5r3it

paulanthony wrote: »

If you are living near Drumcondra you could probably get the 11 bus to UCD I'm guesssing? That wouldn't be a bad commute if you don't have to change buses. As you may be able to travel at times outside of rush-hour some days the commute might be shortened those days.

In the end just choose whichever you think you really want to go to and the commute / accommodation / money etc will probably work out over time.

No I'd get the no.3 and not have to change buses or I could get the 16/41 into town and have to change buses. I'm sorta at the other end of drumcondra.

Sir Humphrey

dyl10 wrote: »

There's a difference between making up excuses to try and justify not going to lectures to yourself, and having an actual obstacle that makes going to college awkward(e.g. 3 hours of travel time per day)

People do worse commutes but I think you'd really have to want to be there, to stick with it

But the commute 'obstacle' is the same whether there are five hours of lectures or one hour - that's exactly my point. You either want to go or you don't and the point you raised about short days is neither here nor there.

p3-fitz

right time for a reply from someone who can relate. I live on southside but spend a hour and a half everyday to get in to UCD and its worth it. I made lots of mates , ucd has a un rivalled social life , only 17 but have applied for my full test so will be able to drive out soon . WHY make everything so much harder on yourself by moving cause of a commute , with the aid of a i-pod de journey flies by . You go to college to get a degree so pick the college which gives u the best degree . simple as

p1akuw47h5r3it

p3-fitz wrote: »

right time for a reply from someone who can relate. I live on southside but spend a hour and a half everyday to get in to UCD and its worth it. I made lots of mates , ucd has a un rivalled social life , only 17 but have applied for my full test so will be able to drive out soon . WHY make everything so much harder on yourself by moving cause of a commute , with the aid of a i-pod de journey flies by . You go to college to get a degree so pick the college which gives u the best degree . simple as

Alrite thanks... Did you know anyone goin in?

passive

Jose Mango Veal wrote: »

Alrite thanks... Did you know anyone goin in?

that's not that relevant. I knew people and had a girlfriend going in, wasn't that involved socially in first year as a result. 2nd year-now I got pretty heavily involved, I'm now on the committee of a society and, while I still see them occasionally, the friends I brought with me aren't the cornerstone of my ucd friends, or why I enjoy the place.

p3-fitz

i knew 4 people two from my old class in school who i knew i would never talk to in there ha and two i knew to see kinda . But when i got there i knew lots more then i originally anticipated , you will be suprised the amount of complete random people u know there . For example i ended up running into a guy i knew purely because he was on the same bus to the airport as me two weeks before college started. You meet lots of people through classes and especially nights out so dont worry if you dont know many going to UCD

dyl10

Sir Humphrey wrote: »

But the commute 'obstacle' is the same whether there are five hours of lectures or one hour - that's exactly my point. You either want to go or you don't and the point you raised about short days is neither here nor there.

Of course the content of the day versus what it takes to get there is a factor.
To me, three hours of my time travelling is not worth one hour of a lecture where I may or may not learn something.
On the other hand if I have 6 hours of lectures, the travel time is worth while.

How you can't understand the concept that dfiferent people have different criteria for trading off "wasted" time travelling and time spent learning in lectures is beyond me.

:rolleyes:

Sir Humphrey

dyl10 wrote: »

Of course the content of the day versus what it takes to get there is a factor.
To me, three hours of my time travelling is not worth one hour of a lecture where I may or may not learn something.
On the other hand if I have 6 hours of lectures, the travel time is worth while.

How you can't understand the concept that dfiferent people have different criteria for trading off "wasted" time travelling and time spent learning in lectures is beyond me.

:rolleyes:

I do understand the concept that different people have different criteria for trading off "wasted" time. But that is not to say that these criteria are of equal value or make any sense.

All I am saying is that yours is irrational. It is an example of bad decision making to miss lectures because the commute time happens to be longer.

What you are essentially saying is that the two individual lectures would be more valuable if there was a third one on the same day which is illogical. And the time is not "wasted" if the only opportunity cost is doing nothing which is what you suggest with your duvet day.

There are many days one would not attend college if all formal activity in the college on those days had to be greater than 3 hours. In fact, depending on the timetable, a student might not be able to justify turning up at all.

dyl10

Sir Humphrey wrote: »

I do understand the concept that different people have different criteria for trading off "wasted" time. But that is not to say that these criteria are of equal value or make any sense.

All I am saying is that yours is irrational. It is an example of bad decision making to miss lectures because the commute time happens to be longer.

What you are essentially saying is that the two individual lectures would be more valuable if there was a third one on the same day which is illogical. And the time is not "wasted" if the only opportunity cost is doing nothing which is what you suggest with your duvet day.

There are many days one would not attend college if all formal activity in the college on those days had to be greater than 3 hours. In fact, depending on the timetable, a student might not be able to justify turning up at all.

We're humans, not Vulcan's. I'd be suprised if the OP is supremely logical, I'd imagine he will be like a large bulk of the college going population when it comes to making the decisions on whether to skip lectures or not

Donald-Duck

dyl10 wrote: »

We're humans, not Vulcan's. I'd be suprised if the OP is supremely logical, I'd imagine he will be like a large bulk of the college going population when it comes to making the decisions on whether to skip lectures or not

I agree with your method, I don't spend 3 hours travelling for a **** 1 hour lecture. Now if it was an important lecture i probably would go in

starface

MagicMarker wrote: »

It usually takes posters more than 60 seconds to read and respond to posts. Patience is a virtue.

magicmarket your a bit of a pick in both your comments. How does it effect you it he posts another question so quickly!!.


I think the fact you live in dublin should make you lean towards U.C.C more cuz i did the commuting and my god its painful!!! even gettin home after nights out!! but i think if u feel you would rather U.C.D go for it... you'll be grand getting to know people in science if you are anyway out going... there is lot of class parties and stuff in first year!! but of course living away from home on campus is much better for getting to know people!

also someone mentioned a car!could be handy??

p1akuw47h5r3it

starface wrote: »

magicmarket your a bit of a pick in both your comments. How does it effect you it he posts another question so quickly!!.


I think the fact you live in dublin should make you lean towards U.C.C more cuz i did the commuting and my god its painful!!! even gettin home after nights out!! but i think if u feel you would rather U.C.D go for it... you'll be grand getting to know people in science if you are anyway out going... there is lot of class parties and stuff in first year!! but of course living away from home on campus is much better for getting to know people!

also someone mentioned a car!could be handy??

Ye see 1min I lean towards UCC, the next UCD cause adv and disadv balance eachother out.

At the mo I'm leaning towards UCD cause I could jus rent a place next year if I sort a job out. Also good few said that they commute and it takes a similar amount of time and still go out and sh1t so....

Thanks for the input

Donald-Duck

starface wrote: »

magicmarket your a bit of a pick in both your comments. How does it effect you it he posts another question so quickly!!.


I think the fact you live in dublin should make you lean towards U.C.C more cuz i did the commuting and my god its painful!!! even gettin home after nights out!! but i think if u feel you would rather U.C.D go for it... you'll be grand getting to know people in science if you are anyway out going... there is lot of class parties and stuff in first year!! but of course living away from home on campus is much better for getting to know people!

also someone mentioned a car!could be handy??

Hes correct about it. The person replied in his own post less than 60 seconds after he made it expecting a reply in that time.

AND it was the same question he asked so it wasn't another question.

starface

Donald-Duck wrote: »

Hes correct about it. The person replied in his own post less than 60 seconds after he made it expecting a reply in that time.

AND it was the same question he asked so it wasn't another question.

em im pretty sure it waas a mistake or else he thought he'd reiterate the fact that he was looking for advice. I don't really think he expected people to have replied in 60seconds. Seriously! I just think if was an unnecessary comment to make the o.p feel stupid. there was no need really!

Donald-Duck

starface wrote: »

em im pretty sure it waas a mistake or else he thought he'd reiterate the fact that he was looking for advice. I don't really think he expected people to have replied in 60seconds. Seriously! I just think if was an unnecessary comment to make the o.p feel stupid. there was no need really!

Or you could just look at the first 2 posts in this...

Dave!

tbh I'd try and figure out how financially viable it is to go to UCC. Will you be able to get a job? Might wanna have a look now! If you'll have to pay for rent, food and drink, and perhaps a train ticket to and from Dublin most weekends, then you'll need a job. If the folks are willing to bankroll you then fair enough, but how much are they willing to give you? It's not simply a case of doing "what you want" when you can't actually afford it!

Don't neglect the financial aspect, nasty though it may be.

My experience of UCD hasn't been great, but I figure you get out of it what you put in and I didn't put alot in!

Bubs101

Have you heard the way they speak down there?

rainbow kirby

Domo230 wrote: »

UCC is in cork

Decision should be obvious

Yes, he'd like to graduate without saying "langer" or "boi" every third word

Stepherunie

Okay first things first; I'm from Cork and don't say boi or langer but that's a trivial point.


OP there are a million reasons why you should choose UCD over UCC and UCC over UCD. We could debate them all day long. At the end of the day you know what course you want and that's great so that's the first major obstacle down.

Moving is a big step and you need to think about things clearly, would you be okay with moving so far from home and everyone you know? I moved to Dublin to go to UCD knowing 2 people in UCD, none of whom were in my course and only one of whom I actually got on with. But I'm the kind of person who's pretty independent so moving away wasn't a big deal to me and I could cope with the ups and downs of it.

Friends are not something you need to worry about all that much, you say you're worried about class sizes - both Science in UCC and UCD have large classes in first year because most people take a lot of cores together, it's just the nature of the beast, but you get split up for tutorials into smaller groups and it's a good way to get to know people in your course.

If there's one piece of advice I could give you, it's to go off somewhere where you can really think and do just that. Go through why you want to go to each place. You say that you're thinking of UCC because they do the course you want and you wouldn't have to commute. But are they the only reasons that it appeals? I know in my case I chose my course with 2 main criteria 1) to actually have a skill that would get me a job at the end of it and 2) to make sure I didn't go to UCC.

Now that's nothing negative about UCC, I think it's a great college, I just wanted a fresh start when I went to college and wanted to go somewhere where I didn't really know people so I could really become who I wanted to be without any preconceived notions as to who I was. I wanted to be able to develop a new circle of friends and just have a fresh start. It was the right thing for me to do and I've never once regretted my decision.

No one can make this decision for you, nor should they, you need to make the decision for yourself and be satisfied that it's the right one for you. Now that's not to say that whatever decision you make you won't have ****ty days where you won't question it (I know I had one particularly bad day when I cursed the very existence of UCD), but if you've really thought about it and weighed all the options then those days will be very much few and far between.

Make a list of pros and cons for both, it can help clarify things. Look at the finance issues around it. But don't forget to listen to your gut. Decisions made by your head or your heart are fine, but in my experience those that utilise both are the ones that bring you the greatest happiness.

That coming from a girl who chose a course to try and become a new person, only to realise she liked the person she was, she just needed to leave to realise it. And after 4 years in UCD, a few committee posts, 1 exec election, 1 sabbatical election and a lot of drunk times I have a great job, a great group of friends both in Dublin and back in Cork and the feeling that I did the right thing for me.

I left UCD for the last time not so long ago, and walking through the place it amazed me just how many amazing memories I have of the place, so many milestones in my life happened there, be they bad or good. Whichever path you choose, I just hope you have the college experience you want.

Sir Humphrey

dyl10 wrote: »

We're humans, not Vulcan's. I'd be suprised if the OP is supremely logical, I'd imagine he will be like a large bulk of the college going population when it comes to making the decisions on whether to skip lectures or not

But this is not an argument against the illogicality of what you are saying. You are positing the "everybody does it" argument, but the fact is that the majority of people make irrational decisions much of the time. All I am saying is that it is irrational decision to base the value of a lecture on the time spent getting there. It is of the same intrinsic value whether it is on next door or a hour and a half away.

If your argument was "I will stay in bed because I like staying in bed and as an activity it is of greater value to me than the alternatives" I would have no difficulty with that assuming it was true. But you are trying to do a trade-off between spending three hours on a bus - for zero opportunity cost that I can see - and a lecture, which makes no sense.

You are probably right that the OP will also think along your lines if he is already considering attending UCC with the phenomenal concomitant cost of taking accommodation in another city rather than staying at home and doing the same course all because of a three hour round bus-trip. But citing the OP merely highlights the irratioinality of it all rather than defending your argument.