BA solution needed

Dostoevsky

OK, I'm calling on the geniuses here who know the UCD system. I'll try to simplify this.

I have a BA. I want to add a subject to that BA. I have First Year in the subject I want to add. I need to do two more years. I need to begin those two years asap - i.e. this month.

Background: I did not apply to start this month because I was told in July that, in UCD, I do not apply for the BA because I already have a BA. What I should have applied for was the part-time BA to add a subject to my existing BA, the deadline for which closed in February 2010. I am now in limbo but I need to do 2nd and 3rd year in my subject asap as I cannot wait another year for them (layman's translation: my job opportunities are seriously reduced if I put going back to college on the long finger for another year).

In NUIM, for instance, I can apply for 'occasional student' status to do 2nd and 3rd year this year and next. UCD does not allow me to have 'occasional student' status for Arts here.

If anybody has any solutions to my predicament I would be most grateful. Thanks.

delta_bravo

What subject is it? You need to check it is offered as a single honour I would guess.

I never heard of anyone that could add a subject to their degree; I thought once you have a B.A. thats it. You will need to visit the tierney building I would say. Do it this week before it gets filled with freshers

Dostoevsky

delta_bravo wrote: »

What subject is it? You need to check it is offered as a single honour I would guess.

I never heard of anyone that could add a subject to their degree; I thought once you have a B.A. thats it. You will need to visit the tierney building I would say. Do it this week before it gets filled with freshers

Irish. I, also, never heard of such a thing. However, because I have a BA degree it is, according to UCD, impossible for me to gain entry to the conventional 2nd year of my BA in Irish; I must, instead, do the part-time BA in Irish as that will add a subject to my existing BA.
It is possible that the UCD lady was mistaken, but this is what she told me.

Two problems with this: 1) the part-time BA in Irish (at night) will only recommence in September 2012; 2) the part-time BA in Irish (daytime) will commence in September 2011 but I need to work (i.e. teach) during the day.

I'm working now but I need to do a BA in Irish course at night in order to get my BA asap.

Mardy Bum

If you want to apply for an undergraduate degree you are going to have to apply through the CAO, regardless if you have a BA already.

Dostoevsky

Mardy Bum wrote: »

If you want to apply for an undergraduate degree you are going to have to apply through the CAO, regardless if you have a BA already.

I'd just like to update this thread, particularly in regard to the above comment. If you want to add another subject to your existing BA you must now do something known as the Higher Diploma in Arts. You do not apply through the CAO: you apply through the UCD Apply Online function. I received all my information on what to do from the BA Arts Programme Office here. The deadline for applications was 1 July 2011.

Furthermore, because I have first year in the subject in question I have 60 credits to do in the forthcoming two years. I will then have all the degree-level credits but I will not have a BA. I don't get why UCD are doing it this way as it would be easier (in terms of explaining) for us all if they just said you have a degree in whatever subject you're doing once you have sat all the credits for which other people receive a BA degree.

Anyway, hopefully the above information will be useful for people who are thinking of going back and adding a subject to their existing BA next year.

Gae

Dostoevsky wrote: »

I will then have all the degree-level credits but I will not have a BA. I don't get why UCD are doing it this way as it would be easier (in terms of explaining) for us all if they just said you have a degree in whatever subject you're doing once you have sat all the credits for which other people receive a BA degree.

You don't get a BA because you're not doing a BA. A BA is a 3-year 180 credit programme. You've done that, and had that awarded, and so your credits have been 'cashed in', so to speak. You can't use them again. If you want another BA you have to do another 3 years, obviously. Which you're not doing. You're doing a 60-credit HDip. So you're awarded a HDip...

Dostoevsky

Gae wrote: »

You don't get a BA because you're not doing a BA. A BA is a 3-year 180 credit programme. You've done that, and had that awarded, and so your credits have been 'cashed in', so to speak. You can't use them again. If you want another BA you have to do another 3 years, obviously. Which you're not doing. You're doing a 60-credit HDip. So you're awarded a HDip...

True. I rechecked, however, and 'The HDip in Arts is taking a subject to degree level. You can be awarded a BA Degree if you take two subjects to degree level and an additional first year subject.' So, you are doing a single subject to degree level (i.e. doing all the course material which somebody doing that subject as part of a two-subject BA degree level does) but only doing a single subject to degree level so therefore can't get a BA.