St. John's College

Mrs Garth Brooks

Has anyone been in the St. John's college in the city before? I am hoping to do a course there in september, if i get offered a place. I would like to know what the college is like?

RebelRockChick

I was there for two years. Decent enough college and isn't the biggest of places.

It consists of the new building and old building (or church building as you may hear it called) The new building consists of four floors, which has science labs and computers labs, library and classrooms. The ground classes are the woodwork rooms, grooming parlour and vet nursing room and one or two other classes. The canteen is also connected to the new building.

The church building has a good few classrooms (some of which can be freezing in the winter). Depending on what course you are doing you may be in a more specialized room according to the course (for example, I think interior design students work mostly in one or two rooms in the church building).

Good luck if you choose to go there.

Flesh Gorden

Good place, very relaxed and modern
I spent nearly a year there, left when I got a job
made some great friends from the place too

One thing to keep in mind though is transport, you'll be stuck in rush hour if you've to get the bus from the suburbs,
I used get the No.8 from Mayfield and it could often take 30+ mins of squashed bus trips
where I'd usually have to get off half way and walk in

If your travelling from outside the city black ash park and ride is your best bet

Dean820

I go there now and I have to say its grand. The courses don't get enough credit imo because there's some advanced stuff been taught there. All the lecturers are easy going and try their best to help you. They give you a starter pack at the start of the year too, a bag, folder, 2gb usb stick and other stuff which is handy. I'd recommend it.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Cool, sounds good. I'm applying to do animal care and then veterinary nursing in year two. Hope i get in. Interview is sometime in may. Is the college in the city itself? Is it close to the bus station? I'm not from cork and i'l probably never find it if its miles out of town.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Dean820 wrote: »

I go there now and I have to say its grand. The courses don't get enough credit imo because there's some advanced stuff been taught there. All the lecturers are easy going and try their best to help you. They give you a starter pack at the start of the year too, a bag, folder, 2gb usb stick and other stuff which is handy. I'd recommend it.

What are the hours like? Is it 9-5? Any late evenings? I would like to have some evening work sorted so the hours would be handy to know.

Papa_Lazarou

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Cool, sounds good. I'm applying to do animal care and then veterinary nursing in year two. Hope i get in. Interview is sometime in may. Is the college in the city itself? Is it close to the bus station? I'm not from cork and i'l probably never find it if its miles out of town.

Yeah the college is close enough to the city. Its about 7-10 min walk from the main bus station in town

johncm

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Cool, sounds good. I'm applying to do animal care and then veterinary nursing in year two. Hope i get in. Interview is sometime in may. Is the college in the city itself? Is it close to the bus station? I'm not from cork and i'l probably never find it if its miles out of town.

the college is about 5 min walk from the bus station . you leave the bus station and go left down parnell place. you cross over the bridge and walk down anglsea street and infirmary road. you pass south terrace on the right and the next small lane is sawmill street where st johns is.
if you zoom in on the map it will show you http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/direct/map/Cork-map

RebelRockChick

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Cool, sounds good. I'm applying to do animal care and then veterinary nursing in year two. Hope i get in. Interview is sometime in may. Is the college in the city itself? Is it close to the bus station? I'm not from cork and i'l probably never find it if its miles out of town.

Same course I did (expect did management in second year). The hours aren't too bad, the latest you would be there would be 5. The teachers are great, helpful and can enjoy a laugh with them at times. There is a fair bit of project work iirc, and you'll be doing work experience one day a week...which you don't need straight away, if you're stuck for work you can get recommendations in work experience class. If you have any questions on the course feel free to PM me and i'll answer the best I can.

The walk from the bus station isn't bad at all, walked it every day, only takes about 5mins.

Oh and don't worry about the interview, just show you have interest in the course and any background info on animal related work/ interests (I think it's usually Bill, Alison and/or Genny who do the interviews). Good luck

Sephiroth_dude

I was in there for a yr a few yrs back,nice place.

Dean820

Well my course doesn't really have long days. We only have one 9-5 day and the rest are 9-2 and 9-3.30 days. You'll have plenty of time to do a bit of work.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Thanks for all the info. Really looking forward to doing the course. I have no problem showing my interest, i do voluntary work and also done a doggy first aid course. That will have to look good. I think i am more worried finding a placement.

Dudess

Lovely college, great location - my friends went there before it was done up and they really enjoyed it. Now it's even better as it got a superb overhaul.

lisao80

I went there a few years back doing Aircraft Maintiance and loved the place.

RebelRockChick

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Thanks for all the info. Really looking forward to doing the course. I have no problem showing my interest, i do voluntary work and also done a doggy first aid course. That will have to look good. I think i am more worried finding a placement.

That's good, all the experience should impress the interviewers .

A lot of people in my year did work experience with various vets around the city. If you wanted to try and get the placement prior to the course starting best thing to do would be to have a look through the Golden Pages at a list of vets in Cork city (or county, depending on where you are staying and if its more convenient) and ring around explaining about needing work experience as part of the course. Most will have taken on students in the past, so should have no problem taking you on. Hope that helps

Mrs Garth Brooks

RebelRockChick wrote: »

That's good, all the experience should impress the interviewers .

A lot of people in my year did work experience with various vets around the city. If you wanted to try and get the placement prior to the course starting best thing to do would be to have a look through the Golden Pages at a list of vets in Cork city (or county, depending on where you are staying and if its more convenient) and ring around explaining about needing work experience as part of the course. Most will have taken on students in the past, so should have no problem taking you on. Hope that helps

Thanks for the info. Hoping on taking a couple of days off in may for the interview and going around to practices in person and seeing what i can get.

Were there much students on the course? I can't seem to find how many students they take in. Is there a certain % of places allocated to mature students?

sarah1986

i have applied to go direactly into 2nd yr of vet nursing as already done a animal care course is it hard vet nursing and how many people do they take on for vet nursing cant find it any where:)

RebelRockChick

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Hoping on taking a couple of days off in may for the interview and going around to practices in person and seeing what i can get.

Were there much students on the course? I can't seem to find how many students they take in. Is there a certain % of places allocated to mature students?

There were 3 classes of first years, with about 28, give or take, in each class. Although there were quite a few who dropped out throughout the year. To be honest, the class I was in was very mixed, some who had come straight from secondary school and some mature students. On their website it says "Applicants of mature years will be considered on their merits.", which i'd imagine they'd go on experience working with animals etc.

sarah1986 wrote: »

i have applied to go direactly into 2nd yr of vet nursing as already done a animal care course is it hard vet nursing and how many people do they take on for vet nursing cant find it any where:)

Only did the Vet. nursing classes in the first year of the course but know a few who went onto vet nursing in second year and there is a lot of practical work and projects during the year. It was a small enough class iirc as some had chosen the other courses or just hadn't returned. I think there were about 12-15 students, but i'd imagine they'd take on more than that if there were more interested

jazmind21

Hi was just wondering how the interview goes? I have an interview in May and it says that I have to do a science based test, do you know what this is about? Thanks