UCD SCIENCE OR TCD SCIENCE??

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

can some people honestly tell me which one is the better course in their opinion? im only doing one science subject in school, biology, but im definitely going down the science route..


any advice/experiences would be great and i will post this in the TCD forum too so as not to be biast! thanks..!

Raphael

Everyone posting here will, for the most part, have experience of UCD science, and not TCD science, and therefore in all likelihood tell you that UCD is better based on the reason they went in the first place.

In TCD, you will get the opposite effect.

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

Raphael wrote: »

Everyone posting here will, for the most part, have experience of UCD science, and not TCD science, and therefore in all likelihood tell you that UCD is better based on the reason they went in the first place.

In TCD, you will get the opposite effect.

yes thats why i posted in both forums to get the two sides of the story..

fillmore jive

Everyone is gonna give you the usual 'Ucd is better than trinity because' or 'Trinners for winners' etc. but at the end of the day a decent degree is a decent degree, especially in science.

That said, Ucd offers a much bigger selection of degrees in undenominated science, allowing you to specialize in more areas. i think there's around 25 degrees to pick from, whereas Trinity only has about 15? Not really too sure what the exact figures are, have a look.

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

yeah i kind of like the feel of ucd a bit more than trinity but at the end of the day a college is a college.. ill have to look into ucd a bit more

El Siglo

I'm finishing an arts degree at ucd so this is based on observation, the kind of handy thing about tcd science is that if you're on the fence so to speak with regards science i.e. you like climate change say more of a hard science but you also like to understand how people affect climate change more of a social science thing, then you could do a BA Natural Science in say Geology and Geography and in your 4th year specialise in one. That's an advantage of tcd, however ucd has a huge selection of subjects and you can do electives and all that jazz and doing science opens up a lot of doors, unbelievable how many careers and postgrads you can do with a science degree, ecology to economics! Also there is a new course, a 3 or 4 year BSc in Archaeology and Geology, which is pretty good, and there's that Climatology and Meteorology one, again lots of choice!

aequinoctium

if you decide on ucd then it doesnt really matter if you choose a denominated or undenominated degree as it is easy to change within them near the end of 1st and 2nd year (provided you have done the required courses)

however in tcd i think it can be harder to change from undemoninated to a denominated degree as they are taught separately with the demoninated entry degrees getting preference with course content etc.

there are good and bad sides to each system.

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

aequinoctium wrote: »

if you decide on ucd then it doesnt really matter if you choose a denominated or undenominated degree as it is easy to change within them near the end of 1st and 2nd year (provided you have done the required courses)

however in tcd i think it can be harder to change from undemoninated to a denominated degree as they are taught separately with the demoninated entry degrees getting preference with course content etc.

there are good and bad sides to each system.

yah im kinda into human biology an all is ucd any good for that in the science course? physiology?

froosh69

they've actually done away with physiology for some reason- just not enough interest...in my year,there are only 9 people doin it.

To be honest, if you only do biology, you will probably find first year pretty difficult because you will have to do modules in both chemistry and physics. These are beginner courses, but you'll have to work a bit harder than say someone who did biology and chemistry.

If you're not sure, just do a science omnibus- People say that its difficult to make friends in such a big course, but thats bull cos you'll be split up for practicals (alot of practicals!) and this is where friends are made...

I really enjoy my course and, as someone doing a human biology course, if you have any questions, just ask!

seraphimvc

highlight Raphael said and the info from the above all are quite accurate.in UCD,i'd say there is a lot more choice and flexibility than TCD,but abit more work tho i expect - we have 12subjects every year.

one thing i guess OP would be intrested to know is,our science degree grade is mainly depends on your final year result (or some % from 3rd year) - the new system we use here, while trinity's is starting to count from 2nd year(or 1st year) towards the final year degree grade.

we have big exams in the end of every semester(which make us extremely busy people) while Trinners have their big exams in one summer exam(they may have small ones after the 1st semester tho). (from this point you can tell abit of the exams' system,good bits and bad bits of UCD/TCD,go figure out yourself)

those were all i know when i was in LC,so i am open to any correction if i am outdated :P

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

they've actually done away with physiology for some reason- just not enough interest...in my year,there are only 9 people doin it.

have they? in the science omnibus?

To be honest, if you only do biology, you will probably find first year pretty difficult because you will have to do modules in both chemistry and physics. These are beginner courses, but you'll have to work a bit harder than say someone who did biology and chemistry.

yeh i know it will be hardbut im up for it!

If you're not sure, just do a science omnibus- People say that its difficult to make friends in such a big course, but thats bull cos you'll be split up for practicals (alot of practicals!) and this is where friends are made...

I really enjoy my course and, as someone doing a human biology course, if you have any questions, just ask!

yeah im thinking of doing the omnibus..
what course are you in??

highlight Raphael said and the info from the above all are quite accurate.in UCD,i'd say there is a lot more choice and flexibility than TCD,but abit more work tho i expect - we have 12subjects every year.

one thing i guess OP would be intrested to know is,our science degree grade is mainly depends on your final year result (or some % from 3rd year) - the new system we use here, while trinity's is starting to count from 2nd year(or 1st year) towards the final year degree grade.

we have big exams in the end of every semester(which make us extremely busy people) while Trinners have their big exams in one summer exam(they may have small ones after the 1st semester tho). (from this point you can tell abit of the exams' system,good bits and bad bits of UCD/TCD,go figure out yourself)

those were all i know when i was in LC,so i am open to any correction if i am outdated

cheers il take that into account


:cool:

clickclick

im just coming to the end of first year in omnibus science in UCD. so far its been great, and from what ive heard from others doing omnibus science in TCD, UCD has a bit of a broader experience. with horizons you can pick an option module which can be within or outside the schools of science. i got to do an elective class in neuroscience in semester one which was great.

theres a lot of continuous assessment throughout the modules which is a major plus coming up to exams when you know youve some marks towards a pass in the bag! but now TCD are switching to semesterisation next year which will be similar to UCD.

i had leaving cert chemistry and biology so those wernt too tough this year, but to be honest with you a lot of the class only had the one science, mainly bio or phyics and they seem to fairing well. everyone is in the exactly same boat despite a few having some previous experience in some areas.

afaik, physiology is still available through omnibus, when picking subjects what streams we wanted for next year it was on the list and was popular enough.

good luck with choosing and the LC!

alysonay

Hey there,

I went into science omnibus wanting to do physiology and having only done biology, so pretty much the same as yourself. 1st yr was quite hard with chemistry with no previous background in it but I got through it with alot of work. In second yr I took some physiology modules and some microbiology and in the end I much prefered micro and thats what im specialising in.

Thats a big advanage of omnibus science in ucd, you get a huge range in first year which opens up interests that you may not have thought you had.

If you have any questions just ask

Jammyc

So for next year does anybody know for certain if physiology will be available?

woop

physiology supposedly is still available, ring the programme office

we were told we were going to be the last year doing it but now that seems different

its not being cancelled due to lack of interest according to sources on high but more lack of teaching staff or resources or something.........I forget exactly why now I gave up physiology as part of my joint degree with pharm at christmas

as for physiology some of the options are tough to get into so it will depend on youre exams physiology is one of these, as is pharm and genetics I think

as for tcd vs ucd
its youre own choice, I personally am very happy in ucd
come get a student ambassador tour in ucd and specify that you want someone in science, they might be able to hook you up
then you can pick his/her brains

Sarn

Ultimately, whichever course you come out of, if you intend to stay in science you would really need to do an MSc or a PhD. Your initial degree is just a stepping stone into science.

Jammyc

Sorry to hijack the thread but are the Science lecturers in UCD enthusiastic about their subject? Id be entirely unenthused if they were.

Shazbot

Jammyc wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread but are the Science lecturers in UCD enthusiastic about their subject? Id be entirely unenthused if they were.

All lectures are enthusiastic about their field of interest. I would be disturbed if they weren't. Unfortunately alot of lectures are forced to give lectures in courses that aren't closely related to their field.

This can lead to some lecturers not known fully what they're talking about and struggle with any questions asked. It seems that they are just one step ahead of the student. Thankfully this doesn't happen often and is almost abolished when you reach 3rd year.

Then again, some lecturers are just bad at presenting and can fail to portray their subject well.

Don't let a lecturer put you off a certain subject. If you think you might be interested in it you'll find the subject good regardless of how well the lecturer presents it.

CoinOperated

Just saw this thread now sorry, but just a quick note on TCD v UCD science. I dont know if it makes any paractical difference but Trinity science students are awarded a Bachelor of Arts at the end versus a Bachelor of Science from UCD. I assume it makes no difference and it wouldnt be high on my list of deciding factors but personally I like the fact that the letters after my name reflect the long hours spent in labs

El Siglo

CoinOperated wrote: »

Just saw this thread now sorry, but just a quick note on TCD v UCD science. I dont know if it makes any paractical difference but Trinity science students are awarded a Bachelor of Arts at the end versus a Bachelor of Science from UCD. I assume it makes no difference and it wouldnt be high on my list of deciding factors but personally I like the fact that the letters after my name reflect the long hours spent in labs

It doesn't matter what letters you have regarding your undergrad, the only reason trinity awards a BA in science is because it's one of the 'ancient' universities (e.g. Oxbridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen) so when these ancient places started doing science back in the day, it was more like arts e.g. 'Natural Philosophy' is physics etc... so they awarded a BA until a new award was created reflecting a candidates work was created (BSc), however most of these ancient places kept on with the BA as it made no difference and awarding a BSc back in the old days was actually not that desirable! Letters don't reflect your long hours of work, that's what your transcripts and cv is for. Really it doesn't make a bit of difference, no relevance to whether you get a job or not. What matters is, in post-nominals, is MSc, PhD (DPhil) etc...

MinisterOfMagic

Im In An Ethical Pickle.
Media Arts In DIT? [I Love The Whole Writing Film Thing/Camera Work But Hate The Thought Of Keeping On German.]

Or Arts In UCD.
Geography.:P
Archaeology:rolleyes:
Film Studies.:pac:
Would Be My Choices. Can Somebody Please Tell Me About Each.
Esp Geography As All Im Finding Is This Other Geography Environmental Planning Jargin Which I Really Do Not Wish To Experience.
Love Geography-Think I'll Get My A1 In Lc.
Hate German- Lucky To Get A C3.

English Is My Pride And Joy Also.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Please Let Me Know.
Desperate Dundalker!
x.

Depp

I assure you, trinity is full of ARSEHOLES, not opinion, FACT.