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UCD or TCD engineering???
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Thanks for the replys! yeah see I do actually have an intrest in science and can't imagine myself sitting through buisness lectures when I could be in labs and science lectures. Was also told by few people that if you want to do buisness don't do a buisness degree...all very confusing really
if I was to make a choice at the moment it would be the four year trinity course purely on it having a well known name in banks and finance companies ext and then go work in finance or business side of scientific company and then maybe go back and do an MBA in America or something like that... any thoughts or am I being a bit unrealistic? 0 -
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Thanks for the replys! yeah see I do actually have an intrest in science and can't imagine myself sitting through buisness lectures when I could be in labs and science lectures. Was also told by few people that if you want to do buisness don't do a buisness degree...all very confusing really if I was to make a choice at the moment it would be the four year trinity course purely on it having a well known name in banks and finance companies ext and then go work in finance or business side of scientific company and then maybe go back and do an MBA in America or something like that... any thoughts or am I being a bit unrealistic?
When it comes to getting a job, its not always about your degree. Engineering is one of those degree's where you can literally do anything after it. Most Engineers have solid problem solving skills which lends itself greatly to finance, business and the IT industry. I think something like 90% of Eng. go into something other than pure Engineering. However you need to be a good Engineer first! A lot of people forget that. To do the nice Masters such as business, you need to get your base degree and there is a minimum standard to do so (And its going up!)
A degree is meaningless if you just skrimp by. If you have a 2.0 (Bare pass) and were up against someone with a 1.1 (Best grade possible) You'll be likely shown the door if you even get considered for interview.
By the way, the name on your degree is meaningless. Thats utter tosh. Employers want high / good grades and experience (Work experience, outside hobbies) If you have that, you can have a degree from Ronald McDonald for all they care. Go to a college you like and a course you'll love. I know plenty of people in UCD and Trinity who would rather be vice-versa.but the fact that I'd have to do computer eng modules for two years sort of scares me as Im terrible at that sort of stuff and the trinity exams at the end of the year also seem pretty daunting compared to ucd
You'd want to do good bit of computer eng if you want to progress. The world is crying out for good IT people and its a good basis for problem solving. Its not difficult either.
Exams are absolutely equal. Engineering is not an easy course and you'd need to keep on top of your work. It can be 24/7 for 4 years unfortunately.0 -
Thanks for the replys! yeah see I do actually have an intrest in science and can't imagine myself sitting through buisness lectures when I could be in labs and science lectures. Was also told by few people that if you want to do buisness don't do a buisness degree...all very confusing really if I was to make a choice at the moment it would be the four year trinity course purely on it having a well known name in banks and finance companies ext and then go work in finance or business side of scientific company and then maybe go back and do an MBA in America or something like that... any thoughts or am I being a bit unrealistic?
UCD eng student here, as you can see I also looked for help a few posts back and now I'm here.
It sounds like Engineering would be a solid option for you. If you want to get into business in some form but also want a knowledge of maths and science (which is something that is very useful) then I can't think of anything better. Like others have mentioned, the UCD course will let you specialise and get your ME in Engineering with Business. It's also worth pointing out that engineers have very good job prospects and always have.
I would slow down on planning for an MBA in America to be honest, if you have your engineering degree and you get into the world of business, there really isn't much chance that you'll need one. A huge number of business executives have degrees in engineering and no formal business qualifications. Maybe a company would pay for you to go and get an MBA but it's unlikely.
With regards to choosing a college, I might be biased since I'm in UCD but I would recommend coming here for a few reasons. UCD does have a great name (maybe not quite as good as Trinners but we'd be next in Ireland) and many people do consider it to have the best engineering department in the country. I can't comment on that since I haven't studied anywhere else but I do have an uncle who runs a large engineering company who has told me that they do give preference to UCD. Like ironclaw said though, your grades are ultimately going to matter a lot more than your college. A Trinity B student isn't going to get a job offer ahead of a UCD A student or vice versa.
Since you mentioned studying in America I would also like to draw attention to UCD's comprehensive exchange program. Most people don't think about this coming in but it was a deciding factor for me in choosing whether to go to UCD or TCD. UCD have a huge number of exchange partners all over the world, some of them being some incredibly highly ranked colleges, many that are much more prestigious than TCD or UCD. You can check out the full list on their website but there are tons in America and they include places like the University of California and University of Texas at Austin. I have a lot of friends heading to Connecticut and I myself am heading to McGill in Montreal next year with a few others. Basically, if you want, you can spend a year or half a year in another university, studying there in 3rd year.
Not sure if you care but UCD does have a brand new student centre too which is nice. Brand new cinema, theatre, debating chamber, gym and swimming pool. Enjoy it while it's fresh and all that.
UCD only has one year of general eng before letting you specify and there are no mandatory computer science modules. You will still have to learn to use some complicated programs in any college anywhere though and a few of the degrees do require students to take one basic programming module at some stage.
A thing I hadn't considered at all when I came here but which I think is a huge draw for UCD is the exam structure too. Every semester (semester 1 is September to December, semester 2 is January to April) you have 6 modules (basically 6 different subjects) that you study. At the end of the semester you do your exams in these subjects and then that's it. You get a whole new set of modules and you never need to study them again. After the LC where you're piling them up for 2 years, I found this to be a massive relief. You also get all exams out of the way before Christmas and at the start of summer and then there is no need to study over the break at all because you're subjects are all changing afterward. Trinity save them all until summer which I imagine is a lot more stressful.
One last thing, I need to stress that college is not a doss, particularly engineering. It's one of the courses with the longest time spent in lectures and labs (upward of 25 hours a week), possibly the longest in the college (I think vets might have it similar). It's certainly a lot more time than commerce or arts. This course is hard and it's a big step up in difficulty from what you have to do in school for science and maths (mainly because you have 12 weeks to do it and none of that post-mocks revision period). I'm not saying it's not interesting but you will have to go through a fair bit of boring maths and science and you will be overwhelmed with work occasionally. One of my lecturers told me privately that the Electrical and Electronic course in UCD is the hardest in the country. There's a good chance he was hyping it up a fair bit but the point is that it is tough.
I know that I for one had visions of college being like in those prospectus brochures and in so many lazy student jokes where working was almost a secondary activity and that it would be a big drop off in work from the LC but that's not how it is. If you want to succeed, you're going to have to put a lot of work in. Of course you aren't cramming from wake to sleep and you can of course get out and have fun fairly frequently but be prepared for a lot of work. It's very common for people to fail at least one test but they're getting rid of compensation for this (basically, you could make up for E grades if other things brought the average up). I found that working an 8 to 5 job in the summer was a lot less stressful than during term. That said, term is only in session less than half of the year so there's a lot of time off too.
Dammit, this turned into an essay.0 -
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