UCD SCIENCE!!

Davidius

There's two hours of statistics labs in the same room before the Computational Science lab now so that may help to cut the number of free-room users before class. Unless there's loads of ag students doing Probability Theory.

Cathald04

What sort of salary is in the sciences ? I am interested in doing physics or chemistry at Ucd and i am insure of what the pay is like after i graduate ? Which is a more valued degree physics or a chemistry related one ?? Can anyone tell me what science in Ucd is like ??

Killer Pigeon

Cathald04 wrote: »

What sort of salary is in the sciences ? I am interested in doing physics or chemistry at Ucd and i am insure of what the pay is like after i graduate ? Which is a more valued degree physics or a chemistry related one ?? Can anyone tell me what science in Ucd is like ??

To be honest, you're probably going to get into a science related industry, like pharmaceuticals, easier with a chemistry degree (or chemistry related degree, such as medicinal chemistry or pharmacology) than a physics degree. However, a physics degree will open some doors in engineering (but you're not likely to get the best paying jobs as they're reserved for qualified engineers), computer science (again an employer would probably give preference to CS grad rather than a physics grad), and finance. Surprisingly, physics grad (especially ones with Ph.D's) are popular in finance (particularly trading and Quant. Analysis roles) because of their problem solving and mathematical ability but you'd probably need top notch grades in both the LC (like over 500) and college (strong 1.1 or 2.1) to get into one of those roles and maybe further qualification in finance.

For Ph.D. chemists going into industry (don't quote me on this), the starting salary would be between €20,000 and €30,000. For research chemists the salaries would be about the same.

For Ph.D Physicist in research the starting salary would be between €15,000 and €20,000. In industry, about €20,000 - €25,000 (if you can find a job in the physics industry in Ireland). However, if you manage to make the transition from physics to finance you could expect a starting salary between €30,000 and €40,000 (but you'd be lucky).

At the end of the day, only do science if you really (I mean really really) enjoy it, most scientists don't do it for the money. Anyone who says different is bullshitting you.

Then there's always teaching.

Fad

ya-ba-da-ba-doo wrote: »

ugh.. why cant it be like first year again where u write up your labs in the lab!? Damn u 2nd year.. Grrrr

Inorg Chem has in lab write ups

Pity the labs are kinda horrible though (Really really interesting, but horrible >_<)

unknown13 wrote: »

I had a politics lectures in the science building, actually I have my constituional law lectures in the science building

Almost all 2nd year law is in there too!

Killer Pigeon

Cathald04 wrote: »

What sort of salary is in the sciences ? I am interested in doing physics or chemistry at Ucd and i am insure of what the pay is like after i graduate ? Which is a more valued degree physics or a chemistry related one ?? Can anyone tell me what science in Ucd is like ??

Here's some more details:

Graduate salaries plummet to a dismal €400 a week

ONE-IN-FIVE college graduates are beginning their working lives on €400 a week or less, the Irish Independent has learned.
The starting salaries for these graduates who worked hard for honours degrees are a massive €10,000 a year below the average industrial wage.
And significant numbers of them are earning little more than they would on the dole, a major new report reveals.

...


The survey shows 5pc of honours graduates were earning less than €12,999 nine months after graduation. Worst hit were arts, food and science technology graduates.
...

A further 5pc were earning between €13,000 and €16,999 nine months after leaving college. Another 10pc were earning between €17,000 and €20,999 a year.
This means one-in-five thirdlevel graduates began working on salaries of less than €405 a week, way below the average industrial wage of €625 a week.

...


The survey also reveals that, despite the reported shortage of scientists, just two out of five of the 2008 science graduates were working last year.
In fact, marginally more science graduates were studying for further qualifications than working – 43pc compared with 42.6pc – while almost one in 10 (9.1pc) said they were still seeking work.



http://www.independent.ie/national-news/graduate-salaries-plummet-to-a-dismal-euro400-a-week-2124158.html

more here:


http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2010/100218/full/nj7283-985a.html


As you might find, salaries are quite poor especially for people in physics and chemistry disciplines. I think this to do with demand.



They say that the 19th century was the century for chemistry, the 20th century was the century for physics and the 21st century will be the year for biology. Basically you'll fair better nowadays with a biochemistry/ biomedical/ microbiology degree than a chemistry/physics degree; especially if you want something in science (As I said in a previous post).


(Bleak, bleak, bleak, bleak, bleak, bleak, bleak future but who cares, it's science right, it's cool we don't need to think about our bleak futures in college, it's all FUN FUN FUN!! But at the end of the day, we will learn; we will learn the hard way)

Davidius

At the end of the day it's really all about how many cancers you cure I suppose.

Healium

rainbow kirby wrote: »

This is where people who barely passed CS in first year get destroyed.

*raises hand in anticipation"
Getting off to a disastrous start in Computer Science....

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

1st year BAFS - it's part of the science department, I swear!

Finding MATH10040 enjoyable and love Osburn's personality and style of teaching, but the problem sheet he gave us was very difficult, or at least in my opinion anyway.

MATH10050 is difficult. What we're doing at the moment is ok, but at the very beginning for the first week and a half or so, I was lost - I still don't understand anything about sets/maps/groups but homework has to be handed in on Monday! Unger explains things well though, and he's hilarious really!

It's early days yet, but I'm loving statistics so far. We haven't got into the real Mathsy element of it yet though, so I'm not basing my opinion on a full view of the subject.

Algorithmic Problem Solving is a lot of fun but I don't find it as easy as it's made out to be by some people - some people just seem to have a knack for solving problems easily. Hopefully I'll get better at them anyway. Henry is a legend!

I just don't "get" that class. I never know where to start with the problems! I'm normally the one up the very front. Say hi, I'm lonely blind!

**Timbuk2**

Healium wrote: »

I just don't "get" that class. I never know where to start with the problems! I'm normally the one up the very front. Say hi, I'm lonely blind!

I know what you mean - it can be tricky enough. Today was ok, I managed to get those puzzles (which is definitely the first time, apart from that 3 ages one). I usually sit nearish the front beside a CompSci guy who gets them all nearly right - you probably know him!

It's tough but enjoyable. I spent a nerdy afternoon yesterday looking at past papers for Al. Prob. Solv and they repeat themselves quite a bit. What's even more interesting is that that exact problem we did today (about the weights of the four people and crossing the river by boat with a max of 100kg) was on one of the exam papers. It should be doable enough, just keep note of what we do in the class.

You've got to love Henry though, what a man!

Ruski

To anyone in MATH10050: Is anyone actually able to understand the homework questions for this week's tutorial? I'm completely clueless on it.

Davidius

Has Linear Algebra & Geometry changed this year? I remember most of it just being matrix algebra (last year).

Ruski

Davidius wrote: »

Has Linear Algebra & Geometry changed this year? I remember most of it just being matrix algebra (last year).

Yeah, it's a different course this year. It started off being mostly sets, maps and fields. Now it's more into vectors.

Davidius

Ruski wrote: »

Yeah, it's a different course this year. It started off being mostly sets, maps and fields. Now it's more into vectors.

Interesting, we've only really started covering that stuff now in a second year module though we did cover the basics of vectors last year too. Come to think of it I did happen to briefly overhear a conversation between the lecturers themselves, talking about linear maps and all.

Sounds like they're making things a bit more difficult for the first years this time around. I'm slightly jealous.

Chet T16

First year engineers now only have one maths module per semester where we had two in the first and one in the second.

I wonder why they're changes things around, its not like UCD

Ruski

Davidius wrote: »

Interesting, we've only really started covering that stuff now in a second year module though we did cover the basics of vectors last year too. Come to think of it I did happen to briefly overhear a conversation between the lecturers themselves, talking about linear maps and all.

Sounds like they're making things a bit more difficult for the first years this time around. I'm slightly jealous.

We haven't touched on matrices yet. I kinda wanna see what it's like here.

**Timbuk2**

Ruski wrote: »

To anyone in MATH10050: Is anyone actually able to understand the homework questions for this week's tutorial? I'm completely clueless on it.

Is that the first Problem Sheet? In which case, I haven't an actual notion about those homework questions (I already handed mine up on Monday). Especially Question 3, what a mystery - I don't know if anyone got it out fully.

The second problem sheet (with two homework questions for a fortnight) is fine, apart from Question 6 (which thankfully isn't one of the questions marked for handing up).

Hopefully he puts up the solutions to the problem sheets once everybody has handed it up, like with Numbers and Functions.

Also, the Vector Spaces that we are doing at the moment are confusing!

Healium

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

I know what you mean - it can be tricky enough. Today was ok, I managed to get those puzzles (which is definitely the first time, apart from that 3 ages one). I usually sit nearish the front beside a CompSci guy who gets them all nearly right - you probably know him!

It's tough but enjoyable. I spent a nerdy afternoon yesterday looking at past papers for Al. Prob. Solv and they repeat themselves quite a bit. What's even more interesting is that that exact problem we did today (about the weights of the four people and crossing the river by boat with a max of 100kg) was on one of the exam papers. It should be doable enough, just keep note of what we do in the class.

You've got to love Henry though, what a man!

Alan?

Today's problems were the first ones that I could solve 17 minutes, though?! Stuck on 19

**Timbuk2**

Healium wrote: »

Alan?

Today's problems were the first ones that I could solve 17 minutes, though?! Stuck on 19

Yep, that's him - he's so good at it, he usually solves it without even writing anything down :S

I was stuck on 19 minutes for ages, then I got it down to 17 minutes by changing the order of one thing. I won't say it though, I don't want to spoil the fun (or pulling-out-of-hair) :P

Ruski

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Is that the first Problem Sheet? In which case, I haven't an actual notion about those homework questions (I already handed mine up on Monday). Especially Question 3, what a mystery - I don't know if anyone got it out fully.

The second problem sheet (with two homework questions for a fortnight) is fine, apart from Question 6 (which thankfully isn't one of the questions marked for handing up).

Hopefully he puts up the solutions to the problem sheets once everybody has handed it up, like with Numbers and Functions.

Also, the Vector Spaces that we are doing at the moment are confusing!

Really? Then that means that the best I could do is guess them. My tutorial is on Friday so I still have a fair amount of time. The second problem sheet doesn't look too bad at all. I did the first two questions and thought that they were fairly accessible.

Healium

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Yep, that's him - he's so good at it, he usually solves it without even writing anything down :S

I was stuck on 19 minutes for ages, then I got it down to 17 minutes by changing the order of one thing. I won't say it though, I don't want to spoil the fun (or pulling-out-of-hair) :P

Whatever, all those Snickerseseses will make him fat. Then we'll laugh at him

FUUUUUU....

**Timbuk2**

Healium wrote: »

Whatever, all those Snickerseseses will make him fat. Then we'll laugh at him

FUUUUUU....

That's the hope!

On a separate note, did Henry not take that class last year? From looking at past papers, his name isn't on last year's one but is on previous years. Maybe he wasn't taking that module last year. I also managed to subscribe to Algorithmic Problem Solving on the CSI Moodle but it isn't updated - it's just sitting there from last year!

Davidius

Last year's lecturer was Paddy Nixon as far as I remember. Think he mentioned that he didn't normally teach it.

**Timbuk2**

Davidius wrote: »

Last year's lecturer was Paddy Nixon as far as I remember. Think he mentioned that he didn't normally teach it.

What was he like? I think I remembered you said you got an A+, so obviously he was good or you are good, or both!

Our first assignment is on Thursday. Scary stuff.

For electives in second year and onwards, do we have to take Level 2's? Does this mean our elective choices are restricted by what we chose in first year?

Fad

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

What was he like? I think I remembered you said you got an A+, so obviously he was good or you are good, or both!

Our first assignment is on Thursday. Scary stuff.

For electives in second year and onwards, do we have to take Level 2's? Does this mean our elective choices are restricted by what we chose in first year?

While I am technically in 1st year, you can take level ones as electives. Not sure if there's a cap on them though. I need to pick good electives though! Only one more year after this one of electives .

Joneser

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

For electives in second year and onwards, do we have to take Level 2's? Does this mean our elective choices are restricted by what we chose in first year?

No you don't have to take level 2 modules as your electives, if there is anything you have always been interested in and never had the chance to study, picking the first year version of that as an elective is a good idea.

Davidius

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

What was he like? I think I remembered you said you got an A+, so obviously he was good or you are good, or both!

He was decent, explained the logic quite clearly. I'm not particularly good or bad with puzzles, think the A+ was more down to the exam being really similar to assignment questions.

**Timbuk2**

Numbers and Functions was seriously tough today! A quiz next Friday and an exam the Friday afterwards - an exam that had an average of 38.1% last year, with over 80% of people getting below 50%. We are screwed

Killer Pigeon

Anyone doing Vector Spaces & Coding this year. For me, it's hard not to think of the following Monty Python sketch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs

Davidius

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

Anyone doing Vector Spaces & Coding this year. For me, it's hard not to think of the following Monty Python sketch.

I am, I'm the short fellow that normally sits really close to the front and wears the same grey hoody everyday. Maybe you've seen me, hopefully you haven't.

I was able to empathise with the lecturer's (Astier?) reluctance to expand an expression into a polynomial in the first tutorial.

Killer Pigeon

Davidius wrote: »

I am, I'm the short fellow that normally sits really close to the front and wears the same grey hoody everyday. Maybe you've seen me, hopefully you haven't.

I'm the ginger in black. I'm really inconspicuous ...

Davidius wrote: »

I was able to empathise with the lecturer's (Astier?) reluctance to expand an expression into a polynomial in the first tutorial.

Oui, il s'appelle Vincent Astier. Have you finish the first PS?

Killer Pigeon

Yo, anyone know when the midterm for Sem. 1 is this year?