Why so negative??

jmt09005

ill be coming to UCD in september, and I'm very excited to be visiting ireland. but with so many posts about how awful ucd is, I'm a bit nervous. Id love to hear some positive things about where ill be spending 5 months of my life!

beardedmaster

Don't worry about it, I've known at least a dozen foreign students to come to UCD, and absolutely every single one of them loved it.

The thing you need to know about (some, a loud minority of) Irish people, especially in Forums, is that they bitch and moan and only ever complain about things, and would never ever look on the brighter side.

Even my parents are an example of this. If I was to come home with the result of an important test, and I got 96%, the first thing they would say is "Where's the other 4%?" - instead of congratulating me on doing well. It's just to do with the mindset of some people - the UCD forum on boards is not an accurate representation of what student life is like in UCD at all. As I said before, all other exchange students here that I know really loved the place and were so sad to leave.

Be sure to have some Guinness before you go!
Oh, and watch Father Ted.

beardedmaster

Also - since the 1st of May, it's been the time the Exams are on in UCD - and that'll never put you in good mood!!

[Jackass]

Ah Irish people just love to moan, and a forum is used more to vent than to bask in the glories of college.

UCD is great, good campus, great facilities (especially for foreign students), short bus ride from city centre, very active events, societys and social events...don't worry, it's great really, just a load of negative Nigels dragging the tone down!!

Maldesu

Something is always going on in UCD and is load of fun. You will always have a number of people who have something negative to say, but that's the same wherever you go. And as beardedmaster said, May is a bad time to ask - lots of exams!

HavingCrack

Irish people as a whole are a pretty negative bunch, everyone loves whinging and complaining, it's just a bit of a cultural thing. Maybe the weather makes everyone pessimistic? Boards is far worse than UCD in general for a good old moan, don't let it put you off!

Americans in particular have a hard time getting used to the negative attitude a bit.

OneOfThem Stumbled

UCD, who so negative?

Let's put a smile on that face.

F9Devil

I've found the contrast between the UCD and TCD forums very telling

Expanding:

Even from trawling through both sections and reading what the two respective student bodies have to say about their college I've learned UCD has a bucket load of problems- such as:

Bad printing
Shortage of plugs
Noise-levels in libraries
Gigantic lecture size
Noise-levels in lectures
Poor student-staff communication
A complicated Arts registration system
Rundown sports facilities
A terrible SU

gradlife

jmt09005 wrote: »

ill be coming to UCD in september, and I'm very excited to be visiting ireland. but with so many posts about how awful ucd is, I'm a bit nervous. Id love to hear some positive things about where ill be spending 5 months of my life!

90% of the internet is porn and complaining. People with good things to say generally don't feel like saying them.

beardedmaster

Wow, F9Devil.. I've never really encountered that many problems at all.
Just about none of those have ever been applicable to me, and many of my friends.
I know for a fact that TCD have plenty of problems of their own, regardless of how vocal people are about them on internet forums.

Also, why make a list of faults, when the OP specifically asked for good points? This is about being positive!

Fad

F9Devil wrote: »

Bad printing No dispute there
Shortage of plugs Bit of a pain, but if you need one, get there early
Noise-levels in libraries Never really found this to be as big a problem as it's made out
Gigantic lecture size We're a very big college...
Noise-levels in lectures No problems with this
Poor student-staff communication Depends on the faculty entirely
A complicated Arts registration system It's not hard, just no one's ever willing to actually read instructions which is why they have problems...
Rundown sports facilities That will be rectified in the next few months
A terrible SU Depends on your perspective, whether it's gotten from experience or just parroting back what you're friends say...

Responses are in bold.....

errlloyd

F9Devil wrote: »

I've found the contrast between the UCD and TCD forums very telling

Expanding:

Even from trawling through both sections and reading what the two respective student bodies have to say about their college I've learned UCD has a bucket load of problems- such as:

Bad printing
Shortage of plugs
Noise-levels in libraries
Gigantic lecture size
Noise-levels in lectures
Poor student-staff communication
A complicated Arts registration system
Rundown sports facilities
A terrible SU

FAD's responses are fine, but really compared to Trinity?

Bad Printing: We have 3 printing providers, the price is a little steep but I have never had problem accessing printing. I know for a fact Trinity's entire print network was down for 4 days last month. And there's is the same price.

They also have a shortage of plugs.

I have never experienced high noise in the library, but if I did I'd have the choice of 4 other libraries.

Lecture size is a little bigger in UCD then TDC?

Student staff communication in Law is good.

As fad said

Fun down sports facilities? Are you actually joking me? Compared to trinity? Of the UCD pitches I have used, we have multiple world class all weather pitches, the national hockey stadium, the bowl, one of 4 olympic sized pools in Ireland, a brand new Gym, a world class sports hall? The ****?

Siuin

From what I've seen foreign students have a ball here- don't worry about it. There are just too many spoiled kids here who will always find something to whinge about. When it comes to it we've all very lucky to be in UCD at all and I'm sure you'll have a great time in Ireland.

F9Devil

Thanks Fad and Loyd!

They're just a few things I've picked up on from scouting these forums for the last few months. While I wasn't exclusively comparing UCD to TCD (as I go to neither) I was merely referring to differing topic trends on both forums

waseqr

jmt09005 don't worry you'll be fine there seems to be a large population of students from oversees and they seem to have a decent social life. They college is good as far as facilities etc. go. The library is not noisy as stated above and the staff are helpful. There seems to be a good standard of lecturers in each of the departments (science and engineering) anyway.
I don't think that there is poor staff/student communication some people go through college without ever speaking to their lectures, I found that most of them if approached will offer you help or clarification if needed. The college along with everything has plus and minus points to it nothing in life is ever 100%.
I think you'll have a great experience just try it out and make up your own mind.

OneOfThem Stumbled

TCD forum has a moan/bitch thread with almost ten thousand posts. :pac:

If you're not going to bleat on about stuff with the relative anonymity granted by the internet, where else are you gonna?

Agree with Fad btw.

bbuzz

F9Devil wrote: »

Thanks Fad and Loyd!

They're just a few things I've picked up on from scouting these forums for the last few months. While I wasn't exclusively comparing UCD to TCD (as I go to neither) I was merely referring to differing topic trends on both forums

You read the UCD and Trinity threads for the craic?

BTW, OP you'll have a great time, there's a great atmosphere in UCD (when the exams aren't on)!

beardedmaster

bbuzz wrote: »

BTW, OP you'll have a great time, there's a great atmosphere in UCD (when the exams aren't on)!

Yes... some might say there's even a bbuzz about the place...