Biological and biomedical science NUIM

11Charlie11

Hi, Just wondering is anyone doing or has done this course and can tell me what it is like. I really like the course structure and overall it really interests me. Does anyone have experience staying at this college?

I would be really nervous about moving away from home as i dont know anyone else going and what accommodation is like?
Thank you!

Boeing777

11Charlie11 wrote: »

Hi, Just wondering is anyone doing or has done this course and can tell me what it is like. I really like the course structure and overall it really interests me. Does anyone have experience staying at this college?

I would be really nervous about moving away from home as i dont know anyone else going and what accommodation is like?
Thank you!

My love for NUIM is apparent on these forums so I might as well go ahead and reply as best I can :P

I don't do Biological & Biomed in NUIM but I do know a fair bit about it because all science programmes in first year are basically the same. Biomed is different in that you have the option to pick an arts subject. I know somebody who is in first year Biomed and chose an arts subject and deeply regretted it. If you do choose an arts subject in first year, maths become compulsory in second year, meaning you can't drop it. That obviously has it's disadvantages. If you choose all science subjects for first year, you are free to drop whatever you like in second year. You have to pick 4 subjects in first year but three of those are compulsory (Biomed, Biology and Maths) meaning you are really only choosing one subject. In second year, you choose 3 subjects but two of those are compulsory (Biomed, Biology).

I've heard a lot of positive comments about the course. Biomed has it's own module separate from everyone else that deals with the medical side of Biology. It's suppose to be extremely interesting and there's excellent lecturers for that.

In relation to course hours, for science you're looking at 20+ hours. I'm not exactly sure of how much hours Biomed has but it would definitely be over 20 hours. That includes labs, tutorials etc.

As for staying in college, I don't stay myself so I can't really comment. I am always in and out of the apartments and they're grand like. Living on campus definitely has its advantages!


Sorry if this is messy :P If you want anymore info just PM me. Hope it helps.

11Charlie11

Boeing777 wrote: »

My love for NUIM is apparent on these forums so I might as well go ahead and reply as best I can :P

I don't do Biological & Biomed in NUIM but I do know a fair bit about it because all science programmes in first year are basically the same. Biomed is different in that you have the option to pick an arts subject. I know somebody who is in first year Biomed and chose an arts subject and deeply regretted it. If you do choose an arts subject in first year, maths become compulsory in second year, meaning you can't drop it. That obviously has it's disadvantages. If you choose all science subjects for first year, you are free to drop whatever you like in second year. You have to pick 4 subjects in first year but three of those are compulsory (Biomed, Biology and Maths) meaning you are really only choosing one subject. In second year, you choose 3 subjects but two of those are compulsory (Biomed, Biology).

I've heard a lot of positive comments about the course. Biomed has it's own module separate from everyone else that deals with the medical side of Biology. It's suppose to be extremely interesting and there's excellent lecturers for that.

In relation to course hours, for science you're looking at 20+ hours. I'm not exactly sure of how much hours Biomed has but it would definitely be over 20 hours. That includes labs, tutorials etc.

As for staying in college, I don't stay myself so I can't really comment. I am always in and out of the apartments and they're grand like. Living on campus definitely has its advantages!


Sorry if this is messy :P If you want anymore info just PM me. Hope it helps.

Thank you really helpful!

rachNUIM

Hi, Probably a bit late answering this for the CAO...but I am in 3rd year of the Biological and Biomedical science degree in NUIM.
First off, I didn't research the degree properly and thought that it would qualify me for working in hospital labs (what I want to do). It doesn't. Only DIT, GMIT and UCC I think qualify you for this.

The course is interesting but quite tough. The hours and work load is much more than an Arts degree.

In first year you have to do maths. If you don't choose to do physics or chemistry then you have to carry on maths to 2nd year and it gets very difficult and time consuming. Lots of people complain about it!!

There is no work experience incorporated into the course but you have labs every week that are compulsory.

I would also advise that you pick modules carefully in later years because the more interested you are in the modules the more likely you are to try harder at them.

Maynooth is a good place to live. Campus accommodation is expensive but handy!!

Any questions let me know!

Michael Scofield

Hi OP,

As RachNUIM said, this degree does not qualify you to work in a hospital lab when you graduate. Sadly, it doesn't really qualify you to do much else, either! It's a classic example of doing a bit of everything but a lot of nothing, if you know what I mean? We were introduced to a wide variety of scientific fields over the 4 years, but didn't go in to any great depth at all in any of them (Immunology was probably our most in-depth subject, along with molecular bio).

Of my graduating class (2012), the vast majority of us are in further education (Masters', Graduate Entry Medicine, a couple of PHD's and a lot of complete career changes), and very few that I know of have gone directly into employment in the field. Obviously, this has a lot to do with the economical situation in the country at the minute, but I honestly don't think we're as "employable" as people with similar degrees in other institutions, particularly the IT's. That being said, everyone i've kept in contact wth is very happy in whatever they're doing, it's just that very few are actually working!

Hope the post wasn't too negative, just giving you an informed opinion!

If you want to ask me anything else feel free!

11Charlie11

Thanks for replying so if I wanted to work in hospital labs do I have to do a post grad course.. Do you know how long it would be as I don't mind staying in college as I will only be 21 graduating from the undergrad course

Michael Scofield

Yeah, in order to work in a hospital lab you need to be accredited by the Academy of Med Lab Sciences. You don't get an accreditation by doing this course (You do if you get a biomedical science degree from DIT) so you would have to do a follow up course in order to become accredited. These would probably be 1-year courses in most cases. Unfortunately, there aren't many of these available (that I know of) and they can be expensive and difficult to get into. One good thing about the NUIM degree is that everyone I know who applied for a Masters was offered every one they applied for

As far as I know, the academy are revising their guidelines for accreditation in the near future, so keep an eye out for what you need to do to get accreditation