Commerce

Dapics

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to this auld mechanism, only joined today.

I'm just wondering if anyone who does commerce will be able to give me a short concise description of the course, the various modules (I'm into my Economics) and the general buzz about the course.

Go maith!

Seans_Username

Finished my first year of it two weeks ago. Sorry if this is too long, I just started writing off the top of my head (you'll do that a lot in commerce :P)
I'll try my best to give a summary of the modules for ya (my own summary anyway)
1st Semester:
Maths for Business: Very easy if you're any good at maths
Inside Organisations: Interesting cos of the group work (where you make a 3 minute film), apart from that it's a kick in the balls. Comparison to another subject: Psychology
Foundations Management Thought: Biggest kick in the crotch ever. Two boring 3-4 page essays then an incredibly boring 2500 word essay before christmas. You need to keep up with the reading which is difficult. Comparison to another subject: History
Business in Society: Very interesting lectures but painful assessments (a debate and exam). Comparison: Business Studies
Effective learning: I enjoyed this, not sure about everyone else. Assignments are all long-winded fairly do-able essays (1-4 pages average). Group presentation is the main part
Data Analysis: Lots of probability stuff, and a bit of MS excel. Requires study to do well which is difficult. Passable with help from continuous assessment stuff. Everyone was worried about this exam.

2nd Semester:
Business Live: My personal favourite module. Group runs a simulated virtual business then do weekly reports and a suit-up presentation (fairly daunting but good experience)
Macroeconomics: Annoying cos the lectures can be boring and its all exams
ICT: Very boring but very passable. Focus on continiuous assessment (2 presentations, weekly open-book tests and an accounting-thingy test).
Marketing & Management: Interesting lectures but annoying assessments (2 group essays and 2 individual essays, can be tough to get through)
Accounting: Bad for me cos i was lost through the whole thing. If you did it for the LC then it's quite simple I'm told. Still have to work to get an A though.
Elective: I chose IT and would highly recommend it, it really helps for presentations cos you use Powerpoint and Excel.

One thing I noticed (mainly 1st semester) is that I was doing a LOT more work than other people. My friends were doing science, actuary, law, commerce international and it seemed like every week I had an assignment while they had fúck all! It's good though because you don't get lazy, as long as you do the stuff on time!

The main focus of the programme seems to be group work. They really put a lot of the assessment around group work, and analysing how you're group worked together.

I found that listening to the guy in the Effective Learning class was really helpful. That module is all about being organised and I thought it was really beneficial.

A good thing about the exams is that we seem to finish before most people. For christmas and summer I finished a week before most of my friends.

As for the people in the course, you'll be split in your classes alphabetically. There's 3 classes you'll be in: one big group (all 300 or however many are in Commerce), fairly big group (about 150) and then small group (about 30-35). O recommend trying to make as many friends as you can in your small group cos the groups will mostly be from that class.
I noticed that a lot of the students are from Dublin. I think only about 7 or 8 lived on campus in my small group, I was surprised because I expected more of a balance between students on campus and students who commute every day.
Regardless of where they're from, everyone in my class seems really sound. It wasn't until the 2nd semester when I really got to know most of them cos the group work got pretty serious then.

Overall, it's really enjoyable!
Any Questions? :pac:

Dapics

Sound as man! That's more than I hoped for!

Coming from Sligo, I'l be staying on campus with a few mates and should know a good few people already there but no one i know is doing commerce, still should be good aul craic!

I would have thought alot of people doing it would be staying on campus! still that could work in my favour.
So I take it that due to the small classes, a lot of people would be hanging around in these class groups?

Seans_Username

Dapics wrote: »

Sound as man! That's more than I hoped for!

Coming from Sligo, I'l be staying on campus with a few mates and should know a good few people already there but no one i know is doing commerce, still should be good aul craic!

I would have thought alot of people doing it would be staying on campus! still that could work in my favour.
So I take it that due to the small classes, a lot of people would be hanging around in these class groups?

No bother at all! Glad to help!

I'm from Donegal and I was living on campus with plenty of people from home, and I only knew one person from home doing commerce. I wasnt in her small class but we caught up fairly regularly in some classes. The whole group thing will be good because you could be in a group with someone you get on with really well with, it's a great way to meet new people.

Yeah by the end of the year the small classes will have a good few groups of friends in it. It wasn't until halfway through the second semester when I went on nights out with the lads from my class.

If you don't make many friends in commercce at first, you're guaranteed to make friends on campus, regardless. And campus is great craic altogether! That's what is was like for me, but I was a bit shy at first so it could be different for you.

stapler10

Hey ive only recently gone back on the idea of doing commerce at ucd, just wondering after last week, is all the on campus accomodation booked up? Or can i still book it on campus if i get the course?

Seans_Username

stapler10 wrote: »

Hey ive only recently gone back on the idea of doing commerce at ucd, just wondering after last week, is all the on campus accomodation booked up? Or can i still book it on campus if i get the course?

I'm not sure exactly... you'll be lower on the priority list but i'm not sure how much of an effect that's going to have on you. I got up fairly high on the list but I don't know if it makes a huge difference or not

What course you're doing has no relevence as to wheather or not you'll get on campus, you'd be better off asking that somewhere else on the UCD forum

mockshelp

I wonder how commerce in NUIG compares to this? I know in NUIG its one big class for most lectures so there probably isn't as much group work. (Probably only group work done in the tutorials). Would be great if someone who does this course in NUIG can compare it to Seans_Username's description- like is it very similar to it as regard the modules or different. A summary of modules in 1st year commerce NUIG would be good for comparison to UCDs course.

yesman2000

First year NUI Galway Commerce subjects;

Introduction to Management (Semester 1)
Business Law
Accounting
Economics
Management Information Systems
Maths and Stats for Business
Business Law
Introduction to Marketing (Semester 2)

Think you can do languages instead of business law. Only management and marketing are semesterised, you've only one exam at Christmas and all the rest in the summer. You're right about big lecturers for most modules. But for some (accounting) the year is spilt in two, those you have done it before and those you haven't, everyone sits the same exam though.

mockshelp

Thanks for the information yesman2000.

Just a few questions:
1. Is there much group work? There couldn't be in large lectures. Do you have smaller groups (tutorials) do you do group work activities there?
2. How do you find the course? Is it hard (is there a lot of essays etc.?) Is it like all the Leaving Cert Business, Economics and Accounting subjects put together just in greater detail?
3. What's the maths on the course like? I do ordinary level LC.
4. I know what accounting, economics, business law, marketing is. But what's management information systems? Is that computer work? Like spreadsheets? What do they teach in that module?
5. Also what's management like? In Seans_Usernames post above "Foundations Management Thought: Biggest kick in the crotch ever. Two boring 3-4 page essays then an incredibly boring 2500 word essay before christmas." Is it like this in NUIG? Is it all essays and theories about how to manage a business? Is most of the course essays based apart from accounting??? Do you get a big workload of essays and the like?

I think I want to be an accountant but not sure whether to do it through commerce or not (you get the exact same exemptions from cap1 exams as someone who studied a pure accounting course) If I do commerce it would give me a good business background in case I decide I don't like accounting or fail it I wouldn't be "stuck" with no other options!! But if the workload is hard in commerce I may get disillusioned as to why am I studying all this management, economics, 2500 word essays etc. when I want to be an accountant! Decisions... I think commerce would be a better/safer option... But I wouldn't like all those 2500 word essays which is why I think maybe I'd be better of doing a straight accounting degree?? Basically I just want to know what the work is like in commerce to help me decide. Is it all essay work apart from the accounting?

Thanks yesman2000!

yesman2000

I don't actually do commerce, I do commerce(accounting). I was in all their lecturers for first year , apart from accounting. Since first year I'd say I'm in less than half. I'll try give as mush info as I can.

1. Maybe half the modules have group work projects. Tutorials don't focus on this side of things, mainly exam content.

2. Personally I find my course fairly manageable, good grades can be got easily with solid work. Without sounding condescending or dismissive commerce (accounting) is more difficult than straight commerce. Yeah I would say it's a mix of all three, however, a lot of stuff you will never ave seen before.

3. Maths is very manageable for anyone, shouldn't be a problem.

4. MIS is information systems and how they improve businesses. It's probably the hardest module. All essays. One section is MS Excel - spreadsheets. The rest is how systems make a business more efficient and effective. Safety systems that should be in place, environment impact - didn't really interest me.

5. Management is a breeze easiest one there is.

I'd say most of the course is mix between MCQ's ( management, marketing, economics) and essays (MIS, Business law etc.)

First year is very easy, it's really to have everyone at the same level for the big step up in second year.

I firmly believe an accounting degree is the best base in business you can get, that's why I did commerce(accounting). If have any questions about my course I'd probably be able to answer them. I feel it's very easy revert back to marketing, management if someone didn't like accounting, think it would be a lot harder go the other way around. After all accounting is a profession

mockshelp

Hi! So there isn't a heavy workload in first year? You said management is a breeze. Did you have 2500 word essays in these modules like there is in UCD? So there isn't much essays aside from business law and MIS? Which modules do you find harder? Is economics hard? Economics is supposed to be a hard subject. What's it like? Is it all graphs, calculations and statistics?

I think a straight accounting degree would be best if I know I want to be an accountant. But the commerce degree is broader - there's more areas you could go into for masters degrees. I could discover other areas I might like! I might even like information systems or marketing. That's why I'm considering it too (because even if I want to do accountancy it still gives me same CAP1 exemptions as a pure accounting degree would). Although having no choice in modules is putting me of it! e.g. having to do economics.

What other careers can you do out of a commerce degree? Even if you have to do a masters afterwards...what careers could it lead to?? Accounting, marketing, human resource management, banking. What else?

Thanks again for your info!

graduate

But if the workload is hard in commerce I may get disillusioned as to why am I studying all this management, economics, 2500 word essays etc. when I want to be an accountant!

Perhaps because you want to understand business and not just keep books?

Even if you have to do a masters afterwards...what careers could it lead to?? Accounting, marketing, human resource management, banking. What else?

finance, business analytics, information systems, supply chain management, quant finance, management consultancy, project management, e-business ...
see http://www.smurfitschool.ie/tools/programmefinder/ for instance