Higher Options RDS

ConTheCat

So are many of your schools heading to this? Have you planned out your day or just going to head to random colleges?

Random_Person

Yup, we're heading to it for the full day. We're going on the Thursday I think..

I'll be happy if I get to the TCD and UCD stands.

donvito99

Yep, we're going. We should all converge for a boardsie meeting!

partyatmygaff

Don't hesitate to check out the UK/NI colleges. The entry requirements for some courses may be far lower over there than here.

That Handsome Devil

Yeah I'm going thursday. Probably just wander... I mean my UCAS is filled out cause I've the early deadline, and my CAO will just be the same kinda things from TCD/UCD, so idk. I went last year, thought it was really good then anyway

ConTheCat

Ye interested in the talks? I've made up my mind on top 3 courses and they're all WIT so I know I wont bother with anywhere else but I probably should

AnnaKin

donvito99 wrote: »

Yep, we're going. We should all converge for a boardsie meeting!

sounds good to me
going thursday too, apparantly its the best day because theyre either setting u wednesday or they leave early friday :rolleyes:

should be fun, one way system though :pac:

Random_Person

donvito99 wrote: »

Yep, we're going. We should all converge for a boardsie meeting!

You going on Thursday?

ConTheCat wrote: »

Ye interested in the talks? I've made up my mind on top 3 courses and they're all WIT so I know I wont bother with anywhere else but I probably should

Kinda same situation here, my top courses are TCD so I'll be more interested in the talks.

AnnaKin wrote: »

sounds good to me
going thursday too, apparantly its the best day because theyre either setting u wednesday or they leave early friday :rolleyes:

should be fun, one way system though :pac:

That's exactly what our teachers said to us too.

AdamD

Went to this last year, left with all my mates after 20 minutes. Just took the prospectuses, all the info is either there or on the websites. Waste of a day tbh

stealinhorses

It's definitely worth it to go and pick up all the prospectuses, but also look out for the Institute of Physics stand, they are easily the best thing going over there, talk to them!

sarah.

I went last year and unless you have a decent idea of what you might want to do or at least have loads of questions to ask, it's a waste of time! I was completely unprepared for it and wasted the day! So unlike me, think about questions you'd like to ask...etc., etc...

boggerbarbie

Pick up a prospectus from all the major colleges, maybe an IT or two aswell the college I'm going to this year (TCD) was the one stand I didn't go to :L

Call Me Lia

Damn :rolleyes: I'm going Wednesday, and by the looks of it everyone is going Thursday. Is there a way to find out what times Trinity is having its talks? Or will they just randomly be giving them all day?

bamhaithliom

I went last year. The only part of the day that was useful was talking to the UK college stands. Everything the Irish colleges were saying was directly from their prospectuses, so other than getting a library full of those I learnt very little. In fact, my friend and I ended up teaching one of the Irish medical stands and a group of students about how the HPAT worked...

MagicIRL

bamhaithliom wrote: »

I went last year. The only part of the day that was useful was talking to the UK college stands. Everything the Irish colleges were saying was directly from their prospectuses, so other than getting a library full of those I learnt very little. In fact, my friend and I ended up teaching one of the Irish medical stands and a group of students about how the HPAT worked...

Yeah, I found this to be exactly the same with me- It seemed the colleges want you to ask them questions, but when you do they can only point you to page x of the respective book and then give you said book for your reading pleasure. Beats a day of school anyway.

frantic190

We're heading on the Friday, been advised to get there early as they may run out of material as the day goes on. Thursday does sound like the best, but busiest day.

LilMissCiara

Bring a school bag! I know you get free bags there but they're pretty useless and your arms will be killed by the end of the day from carrying prospectives (sp?) if you haven't a schoolbag!

PictureFrame

LilMissCiara wrote: »

Bring a school bag! I know you get free bags there but they're pretty useless and your arms will be killed by the end of the day from carrying prospectives (sp?) if you haven't a schoolbag!

We're heading up Wednesday! 8am Start as we have to get up before the talks start!. Was there last year and thought it was a good day, but then I didn't really know what I was looking for to be honest. Going to the Law/Business talk and then the NUIM/TCD/DCU stands and that'll be me happy!. Anyone know where you can find the times for the list of talks?. Oh and defo. bring a schoolbag as Ciara said above ^^. I brought mine by chance last year and ended up having a stress free day unlike a lot of my friends! :P

Leftyflip

Heading up on Thursday with my school, I don't intend on staying that long. Grab what I need and run!

Superbus

Going in on Wednesday, not even sure what exactly it is! Will see soon enough I suppose.

Eathrin

Going Thursday, Are the lectures worth hanging around for? I'd expect I'll be done with the stands very early. Only really interested in UCD/TCD/international. Might as well make the most of the day.

donvito99

Wednesday for me, should be fun, and a deserved day off after all that work put in in class.......:p

....will bring a bag for all those prospectususususususes

younggalway

A few of us went last year after being constantly warned it was a waste of time, of course we didn't listen and went and wasted money on train, food etc. It was the biggest waste of time ever, Most of the smaller/ UK colleges only have 1/2 'representatives', their just there to give out prospectai (??) They cant answer specific questions on courses and usually just tell you to contact the college directly/ talk to current students etc.

I know theres probably plenty of ye going just to waste a day or whatever whcih is fair enough, buf if theres anyone going thinkin its gonna be beneficial just stay in school. This is coming from a repeat leaviing cert, just stay in school and learn..

donvito99

Higher options: great for 30cm rulers, highlighter pens and other stationary.

bad for: deciding what to do with yourself after the leaving...:o

Chuchoter

I was there for the full day, its exhausting. Bring a backpack. Prospecti are so heavy! Its mostly foreign universities I'll never be able to go to. Bit of a waste of a day tbh, lectures weren't much good either.

Call Me Lia

I went today and was there until 2, which I found to be looong. But I have to say I disagree with the comments that it's not helpful for helping you decide. There will always be people that don't understand what you are saying you want or your reasons for it, but if you visit enough stands and ask the same qs, you will eventually find somebody who really knows what they are talking about and understands, and they are the ones who point you in the right direction. I also loved the career talks. I went to the engineering one which turned out to be only about software engineering (which luckily was the only reason I was there anyway), and the speaker was brilliant. His speech was short and concise- but it was the asking him qs afterwards where he helped me very much.
Some advice though: get to the halls early where the lectures are being held, because they a lot of people (us included) were turned away from the science talk as that hall was full and it had already begun (even though we were there on time). And print out a map of where all the stands are (found on the higheroptions.ie site) as I was almost dizzy from walking round in circles.
Altogether I had an awesome day, very helpful, interesting (army base anyone? ) but also very tiring.

donvito99

Did anyone go to the "Working with a Law Degree" talk in the clyde room? was it any good?

Superbus

I found Higher Options pretty worthwhile. None of the talks interested me, and I only went to the CAO one which cleared up that whole process for me. However, the 3+ hours spent going around the stalls were 3 hours well spent. Spent a good 15 minutes I'd say talking to the Trinity Classics guy - hadn't thought of Classics before, now it's well in contention. Kinda the point of the day I suppose.

What was slightly depressing though was looking at Oxford and Cambridge and St. Andrew's and all those and realising that the furthest I'm really willing to venture outside Dublin is Maynooth, and even that'd be a bit of a trek. And even then it's not like Oxbridge is attainable at all.

The free stuff had been hyped beyond all expectation for me as well, the pens/highlighter/weird bottle thing were a disappointment on the whole.

For people going tomorrow or Friday, I'd recommend bringing a school bag, a bottle of water, and one question you could ask at any stall.

PictureFrame

donvito99 wrote: »

Did anyone go to the "Working with a Law Degree" talk in the clyde room? was it any good?

I did!. To sum it up in one word... Meh
Wasn't anything spectacular to be honest! I came home with 26 Irish times Pens 13 NUIM Pencils and 6 notebooks.. The funniest thing all day was some of the schools uniforms however.. MANKY :L.. Chuchoter for some reason I think I recognized you at the Trinity stand de some reason :L.. I don't know why I just thought I did? :L hahaha

dambarude

If the CAO are holding a talk on how the system works I'd advise you go to it. I went when I was at Higher Options and I went away knowing exactly how it works.

If everyone went it would save a lot of questions in this forum next August:rolleyes:.

donvito99

PictureFrame wrote: »

I did!. To sum it up in one word... Meh
Wasn't anything spectacular to be honest! I came home with 26 Irish times Pens 13 NUIM Pencils and 6 notebooks.. The funniest thing all day was some of the schools uniforms however.. MANKY :L.. Chuchoter for some reason I think I recognized you at the Trinity stand de some reason :L.. I don't know why I just thought I did? :L hahaha

Cheers for the reply. I spent most of the day making trips to the City of London Uni stand, pretending to be interested...and then stealing mints!

good times