Environmental Biology

seanog9494

Hi does anyone have any information on what the course is like in UCD. I have the prospectus, but was just wondering if anyone had any info about it. Thanks for any help

Jello

It's quite diverse in comparison to most of the other courses in Science. In your first year you do a bit of everything in Science. In second you narrow it down to two subjects (ie Environmental + Zoology or Geology or Chemistry etc) Then after that you specialise and you'll be doing modules in Zoology, Ecology, Botany, Microbiology and more. You have the option to leave out some of these modules if you want, like if you hate the Botany related environmental stuff you can cut it out after third year. In third year you have the option of going on a field trip to Spain (which is mainly to do with Zoology bit ties in a lot with Environmental since the two are so closely related). You spend a week on a beach on the southern tip of Spain observing and sampling the marine and terrestrial fauna and doing projects. It's a lot of work but a lot of play too, things get very messy at night, was seriously one of the best weeks of my life!

Then in fourth year you have a thesis to do and because the course is broad you can choose between projects that tie in with Zoology, Botany, Micro etc or just pure Environmental. I've heard for doing a masters it's very easy to do the same. The class is small enough (about 15 I think after second year) but because you share modules with the Zoology, Botany people etc most of your class sizes won't be that small. Most of the lecturers are great too.

So yeah I'd definitely recommend the course, especially if you want to specialise in that area but at the same time are interested in the other areas related to it that I mentioned!

seanog9494

Jello wrote: »

It's quite diverse in comparison to most of the other courses in Science. In your first year you do a bit of everything in Science. In second you narrow it down to two subjects (ie Environmental + Zoology or Geology or Chemistry etc) Then after that you specialise and you'll be doing modules in Zoology, Ecology, Botany, Microbiology and more. You have the option to leave out some of these modules if you want, like if you hate the Botany related environmental stuff you can cut it out after third year. In third year you have the option of going on a field trip to Spain (which is mainly to do with Zoology bit ties in a lot with Environmental since the two are so closely related). You spend a week on a beach on the southern tip of Spain observing and sampling the marine and terrestrial fauna and doing projects. It's a lot of work but a lot of play too, things get very messy at night, was seriously one of the best weeks of my life!

Then in fourth year you have a thesis to do and because the course is broad you can choose between projects that tie in with Zoology, Botany, Micro etc or just pure Environmental. I've heard for doing a masters it's very easy to do the same. The class is small enough (about 15 I think after second year) but because you share modules with the Zoology, Botany people etc most of your class sizes won't be that small. Most of the lecturers are great too.

So yeah I'd definitely recommend the course, especially if you want to specialise in that area but at the same time are interested in the other areas related to it that I mentioned!

Thanks very much for all the information