Are you happy with what you're studying?

Mr. Spock

I study political science and often wish I had chosen a different major when I was a freshman. I'm probably gonna pick up a double major in Economics or something and stay an extra semester or two.

EverybodyLies

Well, I'm in 6th year at the moment. I know what I want to study really, it's more where to study it.

I was dead set on Science in Trinity until this afternoon. I got this letter/package thing from the University of Aberdeen in the post and it sounds amazing! Also, if I go to university here, I'll have to commute and I don't really want to do that. And the course I've applied for in Aberdeen have built in Masters and industrial placements. But Trinity has a better reputation and it's closer to home.

Ugh, it's really annoying me now.

amacachi

TBH if I knew then what I know now I probably would've went over to somewhere in Europe to study, think it's Utrecht where the the fees are lower than the feckin registration fee here.

ReacherCreature

Third Year Arts student in UCC here. Single honours in History (50 of 60 credits) and remaining 10 in Greek & Roman civilisation.

Difficult question OP but yes in general I'm happy with it. 1st year was pretty basic and rather rigid in choice, then 2nd year upped it significantly and now in 3rd year the workload is heavy (five essays due on one day was mighty craic).

Last year I loved the course, it was wide, diverse, interesting and I got good grades. How ever this year, it's been different I feel. The course topics are still good but the lecturer standard has dropped significantly and the work has gotten more precise - focus on analysis, which can be difficult. Grading (just got back one or two assignments but it's been sharply graded. As well as this, Arts, more precisely History isn't a wholly employable course and I'm not sure if I want to do a post-graduate seeming as three years with one year repeat means I'm sort of sick of college.

I'm being critical but the course is good and rewarding. It's challenging, competitive, simulating and gets you thinking. History in the long term has re-evaluated my thoughts on history, got me more patriotic, more opinionated, more confident and 'worldly', increased interest and helped me develop as a person. In that essence it's been hugely beneficial.

The key to be happy in your course is your willingness to work and be passionate about your subject. Without that, you get bored and bogged down - then college's a waste.

In sum, things could be different, but for the most part, I'm happy with it.

ReacherCreature

EverybodyLies wrote: »

But Trinity has a better reputation and it's closer to home. .

This can be important to folks but I wouldn't bank on reputation entirely. Think of everything possible: funds, location, course, requirements etc.

sock puppet

Yes and no. Some of it is incredibly boring. In fact if I ever build a time machine Thomas Bayes is second on my kill list only to Tom Hanks.

A Neurotic

I'm in second year of medicine in TCD.

Things I love:
Tuesday is hospital day for us baby doctors. We have to wear grown-up clothes and learn how to do physical exams and shadow physiotherapists and meet patients and stuff. I f*cking love talking to patients and getting their stories. I've only spoken to a few but they really open up. I really can't wait to get to a level where I'll be skilled in helping these people. Oh God I love Tuesdays.

There are ~150 in my class, and on the whole we're fairly tight. There are different cliques and stuff obviously but in general everyone's really cool. It's nice to have a fairly close group, as opposed to massive Arts courses where everyone does different modules and no one knows anyone else. It makes going to lectures easier anyway.

I love the freedom a medicine degree can give me. Medicine is such a broad term - there are so many, incredibly varied things I can do. I could be a GP or a psychiatrist or a... knee surgeon! Also, it's a nicely portable qualification, should sunnier shores beckon.

Bad things:
The "sharp intake of breath" response when I tell them what course I'm doing. Eh, f*ck off. It's a course like any other, at least for the first two years. I'm probably the laziest person I know, college-wise, and I've managed to scrape through 3 semesters so far.

Med students who want to perpetuate the above perception of the course. OMG I DO MED AND IT'S SO HARD COS IT'S MED AND I DO IT AND IT IS HARD. No. (sorry bythewoods, agree to disagree here )

The mean lady in the school of medicine offices who's hassling me for missing an exam. Leave me alone, mean lady!

The fact that only two and a half years of my college degree are... in college. Being in hospitals next year is going to be brilliant, and I'm really excited, but still... gonna miss campus something fierce!


I have no regrets, I can't really see myself doing anything else. Except maybe Psychology.

Or English.

Maths, maybe.

Wait, what course do I do to get David Attenborough's job again?

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

What are people opinions on the place they're studying in? (Assuming that they're studying away from home). I absolutely love Galway but I'm sure there are people who who don't like where they are.

Wolfe Tone

Im living in Dublin now, I like it, is pretty good. DCU is a decent size too so its grand, decent facilities and lots of computers too.

bythewoods

A Neurotic wrote: »

There are ~150 in my class, and on the whole we're fairly tight. There are different cliques and stuff obviously but in general everyone's really cool. It's nice to have a fairly close group, as opposed to massive Arts courses where everyone does different modules and no one knows anyone else. It makes going to lectures easier anyway.

What are you talking about? Nobody even likes you. Stupid ginger.

ReacherCreature

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

What are people opinions on the place they're studying in? (Assuming that they're studying away from home). I absolutely love Galway but I'm sure there are people who who don't like where they are.

I'm in UCC in Cork. It's a terrific place. UCC itself is outstanding and you find little fault with the campus. I like the way of life down here, like a friend of mine said, it's a slower speed than what Dublin may be. The people are spot on and it's nice to be in a place where people are as enthusiastic about their studies as I am. Anyway, anywhere other than Dublin, suits me.

Mr. Spock

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

What are people opinions on the place they're studying in? (Assuming that they're studying away from home). I absolutely love Galway but I'm sure there are people who who don't like where they are.

I'm in Virginia (Mid Atlantic region, US), it's quite a change from my regular northern state. Nice though, right in the mountains.

Jako8

I'm studying Computer Systems in UL at the moment and I love it. Programming is made for me. Seriously. A lot (not all) of my classmates complain about this and that but I like everything. Like Pygmalion, I'd say make sure you really like programming and stuff before you enter the course rather than "I'm unreal at putting choons on my phone so I'll defo be good at this". There's a load more to it than just pointing and clicking. If you're struggling UL has a load of great free help services. Like a drop in center where you just go in and get the help you need.
Sometimes I wonder if I should have done French or English because I really love them. I've come to the conclusion that I've made the right decision because I can always do those things in my spare time.
UL is an awesome place and all but sometimes I wonder if I should have went to another university. I mean some days I'm really happy here but others I'm pretty disenchanted. I mean, most people LOVE the place but I'm not that great at making friends so I normally just stick to my 2 friends who came here from my school and my housemates (who are awesome). I'd like to have better friends within my course but I'm not very good at chatting unless I'm drunk. Yeah, so I think that's my main reason for being a bit miserable some days. I like it when I'm in the labs programming though solving problems and stuff.

So, I'm happy with my course but sometimes feel I should have done it elsewhere (I do love UL a lot of the time though. I mean it's a great place).

Insect Overlord

I'll give a more detailed (to be read "on topic") reply either tomorrow or the day after.

Until then, for anyone in UL or LSAD, I tend to be bored in Limerick most days of the week, so meeting up for tea/coffee/hot chocolate/pints and a chat would be awesome if anyone is interested!

A Neurotic

bythewoods wrote: »

What are you talking about? Nobody even likes you. Stupid ginger.

Nice of people to buy me chips even though they don't like me in that case...

KnifeWRENCH

ReacherCreature wrote: »

I'm in UCC in Cork. It's a terrific place. UCC itself is outstanding and you find little fault with the campus. I like the way of life down here, like a friend of mine said, it's a slower speed than what Dublin may be. The people are spot on and it's nice to be in a place where people are as enthusiastic about their studies as I am. Anyway, anywhere other than Dublin, suits me.

I agree that UCC itself is great, but I don't agree with that last line; I'm abandoning Cork for Dublin if all goes according to plan in September!

But yeah, to answer Duffys' question: UCC is nice and pretty and we have the Quad and stuff. And trees with names nailed onto them. And buildings with stairs that lead nowhere and a half a floor sandwiched between other floors but only at one side.

And the big shiny new Computer/Maths building that cost millions even though the university was in debt and has an entire floor that's unused (apart from the rumour that a Chinese student was living there undetected for a few months) but it doesn't matter because it's big and shiny and nice and stuff and yeah, UCC = nice.

*deep breath*

And we have Lennoxes, where potato pies are NYOM. And the nice pretty Lough, where the ducks and geese and evil, evil swans live. And a pretty good nightlife; not everyone agrees on this but I always find Cork a good enough place to go out in.

ReacherCreature

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

I agree that UCC itself is great, but I don't agree with that last line; I'm abandoning Cork for Dublin if all goes according to plan in September!

Why would you even consider that?!

KnifeWRENCH

I'm one of those weird people who actually likes Dublin. Though that opinion may change when I actually live there...

ReacherCreature

I'm noting this post for a year's time so I can chuckle to myself amusingly when you say you prefer Cork to Dublin.

Pigwidgeon

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

I'm one of those weird people who actually likes Dublin. Though that opinion may change when I actually live there...

I love Dublin too. Although I think it's more being in cities that I like. That's one of the things I can't wait for next tear, I'll get to be in the city centre everyday

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Dublin is big and scary to me.

KnifeWRENCH

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Dublin is big and scary to me.

I think that's what I like about it though. More to do. More to see. More to experience. I feel less sheltered, less constrained whenever I'm in Dublin. Like I'm "freer", almost (ugh, that sounds really wanky and hippyish, but it's not meant to.)

It's like every other city, really; has nice places and not-so-nice places. I pretty much fell in love in Ranelagh when I stayed there a few nights before Electric Picnic (due to the very generous hospitality of the lovely Ms. Extrasupervery! ) Ranelagh is lovely. I wanna live there. I wanna live there NOW.

UCD does scare me a little bit though. UCC is a nice size campus, as is Trinity. By comparison, UCD is fecking huge. Buses actually go through it! :eek: So that will probably take a while for me to get used to if I get my Masters there. *fingers crossed*

Konata

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dublin. Hated it when I first moved here but it grew on me after a about 8-10 months.

Anyway, I'm not studying anything at the moment, having successfully dropped out of college for the second time. OH YEA!

Started Biomedical Science in UCD in 2008 and dropped out in March 2010 due to a combination of illness and just not really being happy with what I was doing, as most people here already know. I hated the course, hated UCD and wanted a new start. Began General Science in Trinity in September 2010 but dropped out about 7 weeks later :P Again, it was a combination of not being as well recovered as I thought I was and realising that I actually hated Science.

I suppose after all this stopping and starting college, I've finally learnt that A. There's very little chance of you knowing exactly what you want to do when you're 18 and B. The MOST important thing in choosing a college course is to do something that you'll actually ENJOY. I did Science because I knew I could and I always felt I had to be extremely academic and whatnot. But now I'm looking into studying Japanese in college. It's a completely different area to where I always thought I'd end up but fúck it. I love Japanese and the culture and everything so WHY NOT do a course that interests me, that will lead to a job I might actually love doing?

Seriously, don't listen to what anyone else thinks you should be doing, and don't fall prey to stereotypes. Whether you get a bazillion points or next to none, whether you're 18 or 50, it really doesn't matter. It's never too late to reconsider what you're doing. There's ways to get into anything and if you focus on choosing something that you think you'll enjoy or find interesting, you never know where it will lead you.

Well that went on for a lot longer than I expected :P

Mr. Spock

This forum makes me wanna go to Ireland.

Jako8

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I'll give a more detailed (to be read "on topic") reply either tomorrow or the day after.

Until then, for anyone in UL or LSAD, I tend to be bored in Limerick most days of the week, so meeting up for tea/coffee/hot chocolate/pints and a chat would be awesome if anyone is interested!

I'd be up for that some day. Send me an aul PM there sometime.

QueenOfLeon

I love my course (medicine). I wanted to do it for years, and a year and a half in I've never considered dropping out or pursuing anything different.

I love the class and the dynamic of the whole year, I can't imagine what it must be like to be in lectures and not know anyone in it. From the very start we were assigned to a lot of small groups for different activities so we all became very close very quickly. To an outsider, I would imagine that we seem very exclusive, which is partly true as we always go out all together, go on trips together, and there are very few non-medicine people in our groups of friends. But we share very few lectures with other courses so apart from societies/clubs etc it isn't as easy to branch out from our own class. Thats grand by me though, everyone in my class gets on very well and I'm lucky to have ended up with such a great bunch of people

Study wise, the pre-clinical years are a bit of a pain. It wouldn't discourage me, as the small tastes of hospital work we get make you remember why you chose this course and what lies ahead in a few years We're assessed a lot, theres a lot of pressure in exams, and they're very frequent. The topics are interesting, but they're still mainly theoretical so it always ends up the same way, the night before the exam cramming in reams of material that are as yet useless to us.

Sometimes it does seem as if the course is out to get us, with a pass rate of 50%, corrective marking, negative marking...it is discouraging to work your ass off for an exam and then due to a combination of tricky mcqs, time pressure and negative marking do terribly.

I couldn't possibly put a proper account of what the course is like into a few paragraphs, but people can always pm me if they want to know more. I would say don't go into it lightly though, theres a lot of work involved and I've heard a lot of people saying they wished they could do something else as its not worth the time and effort. I still love it though! Now just to trawl through another year and a half of books before placement!

Screaminmidget

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

And the big shiny new Computer/Maths building that cost millions even though the university was in debt and has an entire floor that's unused (apart from the rumour that a Chinese student was living there undetected for a few months) but it doesn't matter because it's big and shiny and nice and stuff and yeah, UCC = nice.

Teehee, im going to be soo lazy next year, a 2 minute walk to all my lectures/labs etc.

But ya, im happy with what im doing at the mo (Computer studies), better than repeating anyways (I really wouldnt be able to hack it) and ill be ahead of the rest of the class a small bit when i I do start in cork

Lawliet

I'm another one for science at Trinity and honestly for a while I didn't really like it. The size of the lectures was pretty intimating, I came from a school with about 500 students and there was at least 350 in most of my lectures. Maths is a requirement for most of the third year choices, I fail spectacularly at maths and spent most of the lectures gawking at the lecturer wondering what the hell was going on. Also the nine to six timetable really took it out of me at first. It wasn't all bad, I loved biology and the chemistry labs were great but overall the whole college experience just made me feel small and stupid.

But this semesters been a lot better; maths has been replaced by physics -which is boring and kind of sucks but is still a massive improvment on maths. I miss the biology from last term, the stuff we're doing now is pretty wishy-washy sort of "we think this is how this works but it might work this way too, or we could be completely wrong," but sure it's grand. Chemistry's tough, but it's the good kind, and I'm looking forward to rising to the challenge once I actually get time to study it properly!
The hours are longer, we have a lot more work this term and having spoken to some second years I know it only gets worse next year, however I don't really mind that too much. I can't realistically imagine doing any other course, or doing it at any other college.

TL;DR:

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

I love the class and the dynamic of the whole year, I can't imagine what it must be like to be in lectures and not know anyone in it.

I never know anyone in lectures. Its very discouraging for going to them.

QueenOfLeon

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

I never know anyone in lectures. Its very discouraging for going to them.

Do your classes get smaller as you go up in years with people picking different subjects?