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Worried about college
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Yes ma'am, I'm back to college in 21 days exactly. Majorly depressing but I'll try to be more social this year.
College will not beat ME.
\o/
You can do it, I have like.. THIS MUCH faith.**Timbuk2** wrote: »Thanks for the very helpful replies, everybody!
I can't believe how friendly everybody is here
We've a lovely community here, you should stick around. Always nice to have some more people around. 0 -
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:eek: Did I?? I'm sorry.You blanked me in the Buttery ;_;
/holds grudge
I must not have seen you. DENTISTS SUCK OUT YOUR BRAIN.
Boards is a good social circle to have all the time! I only started going to beers when I dropped out of college cos I thought I'd lose all my friends.A Neurotic wrote: »Fact: Boards is a good social circle to have in college. Just throwing it out there.
Now basically every time I go out on the lash it's with boardsies.\o/
You can do it, I have like.. THIS MUCH faith.
We've a lovely community here, you should stick around. Always nice to have some more people around.
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At this stage I'm really uncertain about college. I don't even know where I'll decide to go (and it has nothing to do with points, because I'll get those).
For the last year, I've been sure I wanted to go to St. Andrews in Scotland. It's a better course (a four year route to a Masters in Maths) than the alternative (Trinity Maths), it's also cheaper to live there than in Dublin, but it'd mean leaving my family, my girlfriend, and my friends (many of whom are going to Trinity) and basically starting anew in an unfamiliar environment. I don't know what to do, and I hate not knowing what to do!!! 0 -
EuropeanSon wrote: »At this stage I'm really uncertain about college. I don't even know where I'll decide to go (and it has nothing to do with points, because I'll get those).
For the last year, I've been sure I wanted to go to St. Andrews in Scotland. It's a better course (a four year route to a Masters in Maths) than the alternative (Trinity Maths), it's also cheaper to live there than in Dublin, but it'd mean leaving my family, my girlfriend, and my friends (many of whom are going to Trinity) and basically starting anew in an unfamiliar environment. I don't know what to do, and I hate not knowing what to do!!!
It's a tough decision to make alright. I had an offer from Cambridge back when I was applying to medicine. I decided to take my offer from RCSI instead. I was nervous that I would hate the course (and it pretty much worked out that way), and hating my course in a country where I didn't know anyone would have been even worse than what I did experience.
That said, I wouldn't take my experience as the be-all and end-all. You could love your course (and from being a Theoretical Physics student who may end up in pure Maths, I know it's either love or hate with college maths), and getting the MMath in St. Andrews would be an excellent course. At the same time though, it's only a year shorter. I know from my experience as a class rep this year (we had meetings with the lecturers regularly), that it seems to be recommended that you do your postgraduate studies in a different college.
I wouldn't worry about the unfamiliar environment really. Maths is maths wherever you go. As regards leaving all your friends behind? As I said to someone in the past few days, I nearly think it's better to attend college without your friends. It really encourages you to get out there and make new friends as you don't have a cushion to fall back on. From my knowledge of various maths courses, you'll easily make friends within your course - we tend to be a tight-knit bunch.
Having a brief glance through the modules, I don't see a whole lot that's different from the pure Maths course in Trinity. There seems to maybe be more emphasis on stats, whereas Trinity's course has a lot more of things like quantum mechanics. It honestly depends on what area of maths you're most interested in. I think that's the deciding factor:)
If you have any queries about the Trinity maths course, drop me a PM. I don't do everything the pure maths course does, but for anything I haven't covered I can annoy some friends.
Oh, and if you do decide to stay here, I'd recommend going abroad for your postgrad as I'm planning to do (oh, and I'll see you around college, I think we might even share a module in second semester!). If you decide to go to St. Andrews, I wish you the best of luck, and I'm sure you'll excel there. 0 -
Thanks very much for writing such a detailed and helpful reply!It's a tough decision to make alright. I had an offer from Cambridge back when I was applying to medicine. I decided to take my offer from RCSI instead. I was nervous that I would hate the course (and it pretty much worked out that way), and hating my course in a country where I didn't know anyone would have been even worse than what I did experience.
That said, I wouldn't take my experience as the be-all and end-all. You could love your course (and from being a Theoretical Physics student who may end up in pure Maths, I know it's either love or hate with college maths), and getting the MMath in St. Andrews would be an excellent course. At the same time though, it's only a year shorter. I know from my experience as a class rep this year (we had meetings with the lecturers regularly), that it seems to be recommended that you do your postgraduate studies in a different college.
I wouldn't worry about the unfamiliar environment really. Maths is maths wherever you go. As regards leaving all your friends behind? As I said to someone in the past few days, I nearly think it's better to attend college without your friends. It really encourages you to get out there and make new friends as you don't have a cushion to fall back on. From my knowledge of various maths courses, you'll easily make friends within your course - we tend to be a tight-knit bunch.
Having a brief glance through the modules, I don't see a whole lot that's different from the pure Maths course in Trinity. There seems to maybe be more emphasis on stats, whereas Trinity's course has a lot more of things like quantum mechanics. It honestly depends on what area of maths you're most interested in. I think that's the deciding factor:)
If you have any queries about the Trinity maths course, drop me a PM. I don't do everything the pure maths course does, but for anything I haven't covered I can annoy some friends.
Oh, and if you do decide to stay here, I'd recommend going abroad for your postgrad as I'm planning to do (oh, and I'll see you around college, I think we might even share a module in second semester!). If you decide to go to St. Andrews, I wish you the best of luck, and I'm sure you'll excel there.
I'm not entirely sure what areas I would be most interested in TBH, besides knowing that it probably wouldn't be Applied Maths, which I find rather dull and mechanical (I'm not sure quite how to explain what I mean, just that it takes a lot of dull number crunching, which is very easy but repetitive, based solely on my experience with LC App Maths, and I find this quite boring). I prefer to have to think more.
As for the subject of doing your Postgrad elsewhere, why would you advise this? Is it because different colleges have different emphases on different aspects of Maths, or another reason?
Thanks again for such a detailed and helpful reply!0 -
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EuropeanSon wrote: »Thanks very much for writing such a detailed and helpful reply!
It's no problem at all, I've have this predicament before so it's nice to be able to try and help other people - especially a fellow maths student!
EuropeanSon wrote: »I'm not entirely sure what areas I would be most interested in TBH, besides knowing that it probably wouldn't be Applied Maths, which I find rather dull and mechanical (I'm not sure quite how to explain what I mean, just that it takes a lot of dull number crunching, which is very easy but repetitive, based solely on my experience with LC App Maths, and I find this quite boring). I prefer to have to think more.
Mechanics in college is nothing like LC Applied Maths.. Well, not in my course! You'd have struggled to get by without it (most people who didn't have it failed the course), but you'll still struggle with it! And that's just classical mechanics! Quantum mechanics will hopefully be much more fun! And there's so many other areas of "Applied Mathematics" that aren't just Mechanics.
The Trinity course does have a nice range of modules actually. You can go down the stats route, the computational route (there's a very interesting looking final year Cryptology module that I'm hoping is still available when I get there!), the theoretical physics route, the pure maths route (these two can be quite similar) and there's even a course called Mathematical Neuroscience that you can take in third or final year, depending on when it's offered. It's (from what I know) a really interesting course, with an excellent lecturer.
If you were looking at postgrads in Trinity, we've been discussing a new Masters in Pure Maths which should be starting in the next year, there's also things like the MSc. in High Performance Computing, a Maths graduate can take the Medical Physics Masters too it seems - so you're not limited by your course.. There's also opportunities for research postgrads in Mathematics and/or Theoretical Physics, research in Biomathematics (this is very cool!!).. You also of course don't have to do a Masters, a friend of mine (a TP graduate) just got accepted straight into a PhD, so there's always that route.EuropeanSon wrote: »As for the subject of doing your Postgrad elsewhere, why would you advise this? Is it because different colleges have different emphases on different aspects of Maths, or another reason?
I think that's the reason the lecturers tend to advise you do your postgrad abroad alright. It's so you get a rounded education in Maths, and you don't just stick to say the favourite courses in one college, or a specific teaching method.
As regards choosing between the two courses, what does your instinct say? I'd go with that.**Timbuk2** wrote: »LC Applied Maths isn't indicative of real world Applied Maths. LC App Maths is based solely on Mechanics, so it was quite Physics-like in nature, but in college Applied Maths can be based on many different aspects, not just mechanics.
And this is very true! 0 -
Pretty much what everyone else said. Don't do what I did, and not join anything or really talk to anyone. I knew one girl in my course from school, who's now dropping out, so I'm left in a limbo.
Try and take advantage of all the stuff on offer in first year. Try as much clubs and societies and talk to people in lectures and tutorials and things. Seeing as you're going to be in a small course, you shouldn't have any problems making friends. As several people have said, arts and science are where it's hard to make friends. Hopefully it won't be too bad for this years arts first years seeing as they're bringing in the arts buddy scheme.
Basically, just go for it. I've got to try and do it all again this year now, so don't get stuck in a rut like I did. But most of all enjoy 0 -
Thanks again for all the information! The cryptology module sounds like something I might go for tooIt's no problem at all, I've have this predicament before so it's nice to be able to try and help other people - especially a fellow maths student!
Mechanics in college is nothing like LC Applied Maths.. Well, not in my course! You'd have struggled to get by without it (most people who didn't have it failed the course), but you'll still struggle with it! And that's just classical mechanics! Quantum mechanics will hopefully be much more fun! And there's so many other areas of "Applied Mathematics" that aren't just Mechanics.
The Trinity course does have a nice range of modules actually. You can go down the stats route, the computational route (there's a very interesting looking final year Cryptology module that I'm hoping is still available when I get there!), the theoretical physics route, the pure maths route (these two can be quite similar) and there's even a course called Mathematical Neuroscience that you can take in third or final year, depending on when it's offered. It's (from what I know) a really interesting course, with an excellent lecturer.
If you were looking at postgrads in Trinity, we've been discussing a new Masters in Pure Maths which should be starting in the next year, there's also things like the MSc. in High Performance Computing, a Maths graduate can take the Medical Physics Masters too it seems - so you're not limited by your course.. There's also opportunities for research postgrads in Mathematics and/or Theoretical Physics, research in Biomathematics (this is very cool!!).. You also of course don't have to do a Masters, a friend of mine (a TP graduate) just got accepted straight into a PhD, so there's always that route.
I think that's the reason the lecturers tend to advise you do your postgrad abroad alright. It's so you get a rounded education in Maths, and you don't just stick to say the favourite courses in one college, or a specific teaching method.
As regards choosing between the two courses, what does your instinct say? I'd go with that.
And this is very true!
As to which course my instinct says to go for, based purely on the courses themselves, leaving aside personal and social issues, I'd definitely go for St. Andrews. It allows for a wide variety of opportunities in other, non maths subjects in first year that I'd also like to avail of, and the choices in Trinity's TSM seemed very limited. Plus the quicker route to a postgrad is important to me, as I'd like to go beyond Masters level eventually.
Besides that, stats does seem to sound more in line with what I think I'd enjoy. If the two universities were the same in terms of distance from home and social matters, I've no doubt I'd go for St. Andrews. It's just such a big step...0 -
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**Timbuk2** wrote: »Also, generally in digs, do you have to be back by a certain time? I don't mean every night, but maybe going out with friends one night of the week? Similarly, do you have to be in the house at a certain time for dinner?
I remember my grannie ran digs in her house a few years ago and had 4 guys, she never placed any restriction on when they could go out or come home, but she said "If they come in legless they're going back out legless!". Dinner was ready for whatever time daily and if they didnt want it, fine.
Obviously varies between families, best ask...
Digs might em....limit your opportunies for bringing wimminz home, if you wanted to do that... 0 -
EuropeanSon wrote: »Thanks again for all the information! The cryptology module sounds like something I might go for too
As to which course my instinct says to go for, based purely on the courses themselves, leaving aside personal and social issues, I'd definitely go for St. Andrews. It allows for a wide variety of opportunities in other, non maths subjects in first year that I'd also like to avail of, and the choices in Trinity's TSM seemed very limited. Plus the quicker route to a postgrad is important to me, as I'd like to go beyond Masters level eventually.
Besides that, stats does seem to sound more in line with what I think I'd enjoy. If the two universities were the same in terms of distance from home and social matters, I've no doubt I'd go for St. Andrews. It's just such a big step...
That's understandable - being honest, Trinity's TSM is a bit ****e. :pac: I've no interest in taking it myself, but there's so many maths modules I want to take that there's no way I could take it anyway! I already plan on attending far more than just my own lectures this year, to help me decide whether I should stick with TP or go into pure maths!
I fully intend upon going beyond Masters level myself, but I don't think an extra year at Masters level would kill me. That said, I may attempt to go straight into PhD.. Honestly, it's so hard to know where you're going to end up with Maths.. I don't know what I want to do yet, but there's so many opportunities out there for a Maths grad, so that doesn't matter. And that goes for either college, they're definitely both well-respected and recognised colleges, so there's no difference there.
I'll put it like this: for me, when I was deciding which college to go for to study medicine, it really didn't matter. Funnily enough, RCSI would have given me more letters after my name than a Cambridge degree! :P For the most part, once you're in a semi-decent college, you'll study the exact same stuff for medicine, there just might be a different way of teaching. Maths is different.. There's so, so many things you can study that where you go does at least determine a little bit what you'll cover. So if St. Andrews has modules which are of more interest to you - go for it!
It really sounds like St. Andrews has the right course for you. Think about this - if you took the course in Trinity, would you seriously regret turning down St. Andrews? If the answer is yes, go to Scotland. You don't want to regret passing up on an opportunity like that if it's what you want to do and where you want to be.
As for your friends and your girlfriend? They'll still be here on visits home. Your friends will stick with you if they're really your friends, just make sure you do keep up the effort to stay in contact. You can have a long distance relationship with your girlfriend too, they've been known to work. Sure I live 3-4.5 hours(if not longer, depending on buses!) away from my boyfriend, but it works.
I know it's scary, but if it's really what you want to do I think you should go for it. You'll most likely have the time of your life and you'll wonder why you were ever nervous!
Again, feel free to PM me and stuff, and hopefully I can help you! 0 -
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**Timbuk2** wrote: »I have a few questions!
What should you bring to a lecture? I'm guessing either a pen and paper, or a laptop/netbook.
Pen and plenty of paper! I'd strongly advise against bringing a laptop, as you'll end up dossing on the internet and not paying attention - a HUGE no-no for any course, especially a maths-based course. If you miss an important basic concept, you could be screwed for a huge chunk of a module!**Timbuk2** wrote: »Are there many books in college to carry, or is it mainly notes? I will probably be bringing a schoolbag of some sort, but I'm hoping it won't be piled full of books (I had enough of that in secondary school).
You shouldn't have *too* many books. I didn't really use books at all, except for the Mechanics one that I bought. Any decent college library will have the books you need anyway, so you can get away with not dragging them around all the time!**Timbuk2** wrote: »I'm guessing a folder (possibly 5 subject divider?) and a USB key are essential items?
Yes, they both come in rather useful! Lots of refill pads, spare pens and pencils too!**Timbuk2** wrote: »Also, generally in digs, do you have to be back by a certain time? I don't mean every night, but maybe going out with friends one night of the week? Similarly, do you have to be in the house at a certain time for dinner?
I don't know an awful lot about digs, but it really depends on where you end up. Some people would be strict on time, whereas you could end up with someone lenient who doesn't care when you come home. It's worth checking out if you're asking around. They're important questions to ask! 0 -
Generally an A4 notebook and pens for each subject was fine (although I never really used either, even on the rare occasions when I did show up >.>) :P, the notes were usually put online, and the lectures were pretty much just based around them with some more explanation.
It might just be worth printing out the notes in advance and scribbling some stuff in the margins rather than even having a notebook.
Everyone had laptops as well but was usually just online and not taking notes, some lectures told you to put them away.
If you're going to be doing mathsy subjects (I assumed you will) expect some more writing for taking down examples though (Our maths lecturer gave us notes and left blank spaces for the examples she'd do in class).
Yeah, pretty much this. For Numbers and Functions, you'll be taking notes exclusively from the board and he won't put them online so you may want a hardback for that, or a section in your folder or something.
For a lot of the other subjects (no idea about economics or accounting), the lecturers will put notes up online. Some will leave gaps in the notes so that you print notes out before and fill in the blanks or bits they forgot to put in during lectures. They do it to try to make you come to lectures, but it's just awkward when you legitimately miss a lecture.
Mainly you'll need a refill pad and some pens or a pencil.
Outside of lectures, you'll want a folder or two, some polythene pockets and maybe a stapler (For handing in assignments).
Oh, and the Stats lecturers hate people on their laptops. :P
In orientation week, they give you a free USB key so if you don't have one, don't bother getting one yet.
None of the maths, stats or computer subjects require a book. Handy, huh? 0 -
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Don't get hung up on living in digs too much, don't be afraid to just look up shared accommodation on daft.ie etc. All of my friends from my first first year lived in shared accommodation around the place and this year (final year) they're all living together.
College is such a great adventure, I'm sorry that I'm missing out on the opportunity to live away from home and look after myself for once. The whole concept is terrifying I know but it's so worth it! 0
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