English in UCD

Eugers

I'm currently looking into doing either a joint arts degree in Englsih and History or a english and drama degree. Does anyone have any insight into any of these courses? any info would be much appreciated thanks

The Agogo

That's a very vapid question. I studied English, anything in particular you want to know?

It basically goes like this:

1) Read these books/texts/plays
2) Talk about said books/texts/plays
3) Write critiques on work of your own selection by way of exam/essay
4) Let three years roll by in this manner
5) Graduate

I'd say it's the same for Drama but not History.

I thought it was pretty easy.

OneOfThem Stumbled

The Agogo wrote: »

That's a very vapid question. I studied English, anything in particular you want to know?

It basically goes like this:

1) Read these books/texts/plays
2) Talk about said books/texts/plays
3) Write critiques on work of your own selection by way of exam/essay
4) Let three years roll by in this manner
5) Graduate

I'd say it's the same for Drama but not History.

I thought it was pretty easy.

Clearly a grade A student.

English is a little bit like Leaving Cert English but as Agogo said you choose your own material.

It is also far more grounded into the theory behind literature and drama. It ropes in a good bit of history as well (in the local, not general sense: what sense of late 16th century society can we get from Shakespeare's texts, for instance?).

You are encouraged to be bold and insightful, but personal opinion and woolly thinking will be blown apart. You are also meant to engage with existing academic criticism whether it conforms or counters your theories. You have to back up your arguments, and not just through recourse to the texts.

English has ties to psychology, sociology, women's studies (unfortunately), linguistics, history and philosophy.

Eugers

Thanks for the info! , definitely sounds like something i'd like . Being able to pick ure own material as well also sounds really good!!

NicsM

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

Clearly a grade A student.

English is a little bit like Leaving Cert English but as Agogo said you choose your own material.

It is also far more grounded into the theory behind literature and drama. It ropes in a good bit of history as well (in the local, not general sense: what sense of late 16th century society can we get from Shakespeare's texts, for instance?).

You are encouraged to be bold and insightful, but personal opinion and woolly thinking will be blown apart. You are also meant to engage with existing academic criticism whether it conforms or counters your theories. You have to back up your arguments, and not just through recourse to the texts.

English has ties to psychology, sociology, women's studies (unfortunately), linguistics, history and philosophy.

Spot on, English is UCD is a particularly well rounded course, as you progress you can choose an area of interest and pick modules around that, for me it was modernism. It sounds a bit obvious but studying English at degree level really does help your critical thinking and writing skills. It really helped when it came to studying for a masters.

The quality of lecturers is another important thing, professors Daly and Kiberd are legends.

The class sizes in first year are huge, you'll be in lectures with 300 people minimum and have smaller tutorials every week. As you progress through the degree some modules will be solely seminar based so you'll only have 14 people in the class in total.

The reading list can seem intimidating in terms of quantity, in first year you might average 2 texts per week and that can be 4/5 (plus critical reading) a week by third year! All modules in UCD are 12 weeks in duration, and each one focuses on a specific area of literature or critical theory. In terms of workload, some people seem to breeze through while others consistently struggle which can be said for the majority of degrees I suppose.

Basically, if you have a passion for literature you'll definitely enjoy the course.

Eugers

Ninaluna wrote: »

Spot on, English is UCD is a particularly well rounded course, as you progress you can choose an area of interest and pick modules around that, for me it was modernism. It sounds a bit obvious but studying English at degree level really does help your critical thinking and writing skills. It really helped when it came to studying for a masters.

The quality of lecturers is another important thing, professors Daly and Kiberd are legends.

The class sizes in first year are huge, you'll be in lectures with 300 people minimum and have smaller tutorials every week. As you progress through the degree some modules will be solely seminar based so you'll only have 14 people in the class in total.

The reading list can seem intimidating in terms of quantity, in first year you might average 2 texts per week and that can be 4/5 (plus critical reading) a week by third year! All modules in UCD are 12 weeks in duration, and each one focuses on a specific area of literature or critical theory. In terms of workload, some people seem to breeze through while others consistently struggle which can be said for the majority of degrees I suppose.

Basically, if you have a passion for literature you'll definitely enjoy the course.

i'm sold . It sounds really good!:D

WoollyRedHat

Drama is where all the sexy people go.

Pandoras Twist

What's the course like career wise?

Mardy Bum

Career wise I would say journalism and teaching are the most viable.

For those who are very strong academia is also a possibility after a masters and PhD.

AspiringWriter

I'm considering studying English with Film at UCD. Is it true that the lecturers at UCD arent very enthusiastic about helping the student outside of lectures? Anyone know if there is a creative writing module? is galway better ?

Mardy Bum

AspiringWriter wrote: »

I'm considering studying English with Film at UCD. Is it true that the lecturers at UCD arent very enthusiastic about helping the student outside of lectures? Anyone know if there is a creative writing module? is galway better ?

There is a creative writing module. It is an elective though so you make or may not get it.

Lecturers have office hours once a week where you can go talk to them one to one.

parker kent

AspiringWriter wrote: »

I'm considering studying English with Film at UCD. Is it true that the lecturers at UCD arent very enthusiastic about helping the student outside of lectures? Anyone know if there is a creative writing module? is galway better ?

Lecturers will help during their office hours and often chat after lectures. But you need to remember that it is not school and it is supposed to be self-directed learning in University.

Yes there are creative writing modules.

AspiringWriter

parker kent wrote: »

Lecturers will help during their office hours and often chat after lectures. But you need to remember that it is not school and it is supposed to be self-directed learning in University.

Yes there are creative writing modules.

Oh ok thank you

The Agogo

If you show your lecturers respect in class, they will respect you outside class and listen to any needs/discussion of material you may want to talk to them about.

Just don't ask about something which you could easily have found out yourself.

I have always found lecturers to be welcoming when asking for advice. But it is a two-way system.

The Agogo

Pandoras Twist wrote: »

What's the course like career wise?

I wouldn't limit the career opportunities to just journalism and teaching.

There're are plenty of other opportunities: Public Relations, Communications, Publishing, Logistics, Law (albeit after taking FE1's and doing two years expo), and pretty much anything other than Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering etc .

The possibilities are endless.

Chinafoot

I finished my degree in English and History in 2006, before all of this major and minor nonsense you guys seem to be subjected to these days. One piece of advice I would have for you, if you are considering both of those subjects, is to be aware of the workload that is involved.

I'm not sure how much the courses have changed in the years since I finished but there was a very large, time-consuming amount of required reading and assignments.

If it's where your passion lies then I say go for it. Best of luck.

The Agogo

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=75226152&postcount=3247

parker kent

Chinafoot wrote: »

I finished my degree in English and History in 2006, before all of this major and minor nonsense you guys seem to be subjected to these days.

The vast majority of people are no different to those with degrees pre-2006. You did a joint major in your degree as well, as will most Arts students in modularisation.

Modularisation has improved the Arts degree IMO.

Chinafoot

parker kent wrote: »

The vast majority of people are no different to those with degrees pre-2006. You did a joint major in your degree as well, as will most Arts students in modularisation.

Modularisation has improved the Arts degree IMO.

I don't see what that has to do with the topic at hand. I was merely saying that I completed my course before the change came about. In other words, the English course itself could have changed in the last 5 years making my experience of it irrelevant to the OP. The fact that I view the changes as "nonsense" is simply my opinion and was mentioned in passing. I'm pretty sure other people in this forum are entitled to a view on UCD, not just you.

parker kent

Chinafoot wrote: »

I don't see what that has to do with the topic at hand. I was merely saying that I completed my course before the change came about. In other words, the English course itself could have changed in the last 5 years making my experience of it irrelevant to the OP. The fact that I view the changes as "nonsense" is simply my opinion and was mentioned in passing. I'm pretty sure other people in this forum are entitled to a view on UCD, not just you.

It is relevant because you described your degree. You were not sure how relevant it was given the changes. As somebody who did English in the old format and is familiar with the current format, it is not that different in terms of workload and most people will be doing a joint major. That's why my post was relevant.

I didn't say other people can't have an opinion. I'm just saying that I did the old degree and to my eyes modularisation has improved the Arts degree. Don't go looking for a row where there is not one.

Chinafoot

parker kent wrote: »

I didn't say other people can't have an opinion. I'm just saying that I did the old degree and to my eyes modularisation has improved the Arts degree. Don't go looking for a row where there is not one.

And to my eyes, modularisation was an unneccessary change, and yes I do know people who have studied in UCD under the new system, just not English. You could have easily responded with "The course hasn't changed in terms of workload since you did it." Instead you have to jump on a minor part of my post because god forbid someone has a different opinion to you. Your opinion on it and my opinion are irrelevant to the topic at hand. So instead of nitpicking at my posts, why not keep the main focus on the OP?

Oh and while you're at it, I would appreciate if you could lose the patronising tone when responding to me. You may like to think you are Mr. UCD but believe it or not, others can have an opinion too :rolleyes:

OP, best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

dyl10

Do what you love and go for it!

parker kent

Chinafoot wrote: »

Oh and while you're at it, I would appreciate if you could lose the patronising tone when responding to me. You may like to think you are Mr. UCD but believe it or not, others can have an opinion too :rolleyes:

Must everything be taken as an attack on you? Your post mentioned modularisation and majors/minors. You called it nonsense so for the sake of people looking at this thinking about doing English, I wanted to highlight that it is not that different to the previous system. So any advice given from people that did it under the old format is relevant (so I was pointing out that your post was relevant). That is relevant to the topic.

Also since somebody doing English in UCD will be in modularised, I don't think it is wildly off topic to say that I think it has been useful. People thinking about the course might read your sentence about "major and minor nonsense" and be put off. Calling the way that the degree is set up as nonsense is more than just a little aside. Arts students probably benefit the most from modularisation in my opinion. That wasn't me saying you or anybody else can't have an opinion, nor was it dismissing your opinion. I just said it was my opinion. Some will love modularisation, some won't. I don't think me saying that is me believing I am Mr UCD or whatever other insults you want to throw at me.

The Agogo

^ The above debacle is what an English degree will do to you. ^

Eugers

Thankd for all the info guys . Was just wondering if anyone is doing film/drama with english and if they could say what they thought of it? Was on the UCD site taking a look but they don't give a lot of info!

NiamhW95

I have the problem of having a passion for English and wanting to study it at UCD, but I really do not want to teach in a school. I've done some research and it would seem my options are limited.
Out of interest, has anyone studied just English (in particular UCD, or anywhere else), and what have you gone on to do.
Also, if anyone has done the 3 years of English followed by the MA in Creative Writing and has any insights or can tell me what sort of jobs they may have received after, I would love to hear about it.

Siuin

You mentioned you'd like to do journalism or teaching- I was the same way when I applied for this course. After making some mistakes along the way myself, Id strongly recommend you;
- start to build up a writing portfolio if you haven't already. Experience is crucial. University articles are all fine for practice but always aim for high standard national papers and enter all competitions going.
- get computer savvy- print journalism is dying out fast. Start a blog, learn how to design a website- get stuck into the digital world
- read the main papers online every day and write frequent letters to the editor
- find your writing niche and become an expert in it- could be fashion, sports, politics, whatever- you should zone in on an area.
- from your first summer, aim to get an internship or volunteer somewhere relevant to your future career. Make contacts and *stay in touch with them*
- for teaching, volunteer your time to tutoring kids and giving grinds - gives you an idea if you're suited to the job. Get a TEFL certificate (120 hours is usually plenty) and teach abroad during the summer. If you want to really invest in this and see yourself teaching English to foreign students in the future, do a CELT.

That's just my 2c of how I wish Id done things in retrospect. May not be for everyone.

Mardy Bum

To be honest I wouldn't encourage studying English as a single major. Mix it up with something else and it will be of more use whilst broadening your horizons. It will also lead to better research in your English essays if you can call upon different topics especially of you want to study at a postgraduate level.

Seanchai

Pandoras Twist wrote: »

What's the course like career wise?

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Career wise I would say journalism and teaching are the most viable.

Career wise you may forget about teaching. The English-History combination is the most popular of all. There is therefore far, far too many unemployed teachers with that combination. Investigative journalism is all but dead.

Generally, try and go for the subjects the wafflers stay away from. You have a better chance of career success if the subject and course you choose is seen as difficult. The subjects you mention, while interesting, unfortunately just attract far too many wafflers and wasters looking for an easy path. Unless you can be the best waffler of them all, you'll just end up in a world of continuously mediocre competition and despair.

Mardy Bum

Seanchai wrote: »

Career wise you may forget about teaching. The English-History combination is the most popular of all. There is therefore far, far too many unemployed teachers with that combination. Investigative journalism is all but dead.

Generally, try and go for the subjects the wafflers stay away from. You have a better chance of career success if the subject and course you choose is seen as difficult. The subjects you mention, while interesting, unfortunately just attract far too many wafflers and wasters looking for an easy path. Unless you can be the best waffler of them all, you'll just end up in a world of continuously mediocre competition and despair.

There is more than one country in the world.

Leonardus Camillus

If you really want to study English at UCD do the Single Major. Taking English as a joint major/minor will only provide you with a semblance of knowledge and understanding in English literature. Single Honors English offers small class sizes, more debate and you build up a better sense of rapport with lecturers and tutors. You also write a dissertation in your final year which will stand to you if you decide to take on postgraduate studies.