What to expect?

Crash Override

Hey thought I'd spice up the NCI forum by adding a thread.

I'm just one exam away from finishing my leaving cert and I have NCI as my first choice on level 8 and level 6/7. I was just wondering, what can I expect?
I would also like to know roughly how much time a week I would be spending in collage like how do timetables work etc?

I have been to the open day of the collage twice and I liked what I saw. The collage looks really good.

I'm doing computer applications and support and can't wait to start.

jd83

Hiya,

Timetables will be usually be 3 or 4 days a week and if your in wednesday its usually only til 12 or 1. But it can depend on the course. Most of the timetables ive had and seen on noticeboards for other courses are usually pretty short.

The college itself is nice and as the classes are small so you will find it pretty easy to make some friends. There is a recreation room for students in the basement with pool, playstation and tv. Student union is down there and there pretty helpful and friendly.

Lecturers in nci is like a raffle there are a few good ones and a lot of terrible ones so hopefully you get some good ones. Exam are easy once you put a little bit of work in. Some lecturers give you tips that amount to the whole exam paper.

Personally if your looking for a nice place with good people and bit of laugh with a easy to get degree at the end go to nci. However I would recommend looking at some of the large colleges or Universities it will look better on a CV in a few years when your looking for a job.

Sinemo

A bit late saying to look at the larger colleges when they've already put nci down as a first choice :P

dragonfly!

Sinemo wrote: »

A bit late saying to look at the larger colleges when they've already put nci down as a first choice :P

how ya come to that conclusion? change of mind until 1st July....:rolleyes:

Crash Override

jd83 wrote: »

However I would recommend looking at some of the large colleges or Universities it will look better on a CV in a few years when your looking for a job.

Oh I have looked at most of the other larger colleges, but I actually found I liked this one the best. It's alot easier for me to get to and it's alot smaller than those other colleges with large campus' such as UCD, which I actually prefer.As for the Job thing, well, surely If I get the qualifications the employer won't really care what college I went to as long as I have the qualifications for the job ...right?

jd83

Its up to you really obviously a larger University Degree would look better for a job. But if you have been to the college and read up on the course and you like it go for it. Post back here in September and let us know how you find it.

xIsabelx

I didn't know Trinity or UCD gave out their degrees on gold and silver scrolls. :rolleyes:

jd83

xIsabelx wrote: »

I didn't know Trinity or UCD gave out their degrees on gold and silver scrolls. :rolleyes:

Im talking about from a employers perspective not my own personal view. A University Degree is better than a degree from a college like NCI. You could learn more in NCI, you could even have better lecturers and course content but a the end of the day the degree from UCD or TCD will look better.

Sinemo

dragonfly! wrote: »

how ya come to that conclusion? change of mind until 1st July....:rolleyes:

yeah now I feel like an idiot, I forgot about that!!

dragonfly!

are you gonna change yours?

dragonfly!

anyone know what date orientation will be on for 1st years?
Im worjing full time for the summer and my employer wants to know what dates im available!

jd83

Its says the 7th of september on the calender, maybe ring the reception they will be able to confirm the start day for first years. Make sure you get your bag of free stuff and coupons

Crash Override

Hey, just looked at the Academic Calender posted by jd83 there, just wondering, what are Reading Days?

jd83

There days that you have off to study before the exams. So basically the days you have to cram for the end of semester exams!

Crash Override

I bet they come in very handy :rolleyes:

Oh also it says that the second semester starts on the 18th of January however, I'm planning to go away with friends around that time and I may not be back til the 24th which, is six days, and excluding the saturday is 5 working days, I'm just wondering, would it be ok If I missed the first 3 or 4 days of that first week's worth of college, like would I miss alot?

jd83

I doubt you would miss much, just make sure that you dont have any continous assessment stuff due when your away, like labs or class tests or projects. I doubt you will as its the start of the semester. So your likely just to miss lectures and you can just download the notes from the ones you missed online.

They take attendance in class but do nothing to enforce it. Like they will give you a big speech about how 70% attendence is required but people in my class had more like 7% attendence and still passed. As long as your fees are safely in their bank account they wont say anything to you

Crash Override

Well that sounds okay then I guess, as for the attendence, well most likely they will be the only 3 or 4 days I will miss out of the whole year so I highly doubt that that much out of two semesters, not matter what is due, would fail me

Thanks again for the helpfull post jd83

Just out of curiosity, are you still attending the college? and what do/did you study?

waraf

I've just qualified with a first class honours in software systems from this place and I've had recruitment consultants laugh when I told them where I did my degree. Avoid this place if you can - it's a disaster IMO

dragonfly!

waraf wrote: »

I've just qualified with a first class honours in software systems from this place and I've had recruitment consultants laugh when I told them where I did my degree. Avoid this place if you can - it's a disaster IMO

why?

waraf

dragonfly! wrote: »

why?

The standard of lecturer is poor compared to other courses I have attended. There are some good ones but they are outnumbered by the bad. College communication is truly abissmal. Course content was very outdated and tutorials were old and taken straight from the book which meant that exact solutions were easily available on the net. Also, some of the subjects taught are completely irrelevant and of no use to you when it comes to searching for work.
Most people in my class (including me) have applied for post graduate courses in a national university to try and add a bit of credibility to their CV's. This is a bit of a pain considering we paid NCI a great deal of money for our worthless degrees.
All in all I will never recommend NCI to anyone. Having said that, I do hope that they get their act together and I think the current president is a good guy. The problem is that some of the permanent staff have no passion for lecturing and they are more interested in obtaining their own PhD's or working on some other research.

dragonfly!

well i did ask!

Moonbeam

A Hetac degree is a Hetac degree and they are all to the same standard.

I found NCI interesting,some amazing lecturers and some masters students among others teaching that might have never had a glimpse of the real world.

waraf

Moonbeam wrote: »

A Hetac degree is a Hetac degree and they are all to the same standard.

In an ideal world maybe but the list of top universities in the world (or even just in Ireland) doesn't lie. Trinity and UCD are always top of the list when it comes to Irish colleges and that happens for a reason.
On average the leaving cert points are higher for the higher placed colleges and therefore they attract the brighter students. Employers are well aware of this fact. NCI is way down the list when it comes to preferred colleges that employers look for. Generally it goes; NUI colleges, DIT, and then the rest (i.e. regional IT colleges plus others like NCI, Portobello, Griffith etc.).

dragonfly!

Just because someone gets high points in the leaving cert doesnt mean they wouldn't like to study at NCI :eek:

waraf

dragonfly! wrote: »

Just because someone gets high points in the leaving cert doesnt mean they wouldn't like to study at NCI :eek:

Absolutely but the point is that you must have higher points to enter the equivalent course in a National University therefore the intelligence of the average student is generally accepted by employers as being higher.

xIsabelx

Just had a look at the academic calendar there, I for some insane reason, thought there was October exams before Halloween. Thank god there aren't any, I'll be missing 3 days for a couple of Green Day gigs :P

Moonbeam

waraf wrote: »

In an ideal world maybe but the list of top universities in the world (or even just in Ireland) doesn't lie. Trinity and UCD are always top of the list when it comes to Irish colleges and that happens for a reason.
On average the leaving cert points are higher for the higher placed colleges and therefore they attract the brighter students. Employers are well aware of this fact. NCI is way down the list when it comes to preferred colleges that employers look for. Generally it goes; NUI colleges, DIT, and then the rest (i.e. regional IT colleges plus others like NCI, Portobello, Griffith etc.).

NCI is not a university.
Demand generally decides point but in the universities they would rather not fill places then lower points significantly.

-MrT-

What about Institute of Technology Blanchardstown compared to NCI?

Do you think computing courses would be considered better quality when compared one place over another?

dragonfly!

xIsabelx wrote: »

Just had a look at the academic calendar there, I for some insane reason, thought there was October exams before Halloween. Thank god there aren't any, I'll be missing 3 days for a couple of Green Day gigs :P

which ones a re you going to?
Im going to the one in dublin

xIsabelx

dragonfly! wrote: »

which ones a re you going to?
Im going to the one in dublin

Belfast, Dublin & Manchester

dragonfly!

xIsabelx wrote: »

Belfast, Dublin & Manchester

awh nice one
so we're hoping to do the same course and like the same music you are so my new best friend:D