Computer Science UCD

krisfoster8

Okay so I'm hoping to do Computer Science in UCD next year but just wanted to know a few things about the course.

How many hours a week of lectures can I expect?
What is the workload like?
Do I need much knowledge of CS before I start?
What kind of jobs can I expect to get after I get the degree?

If anyone who is doing CS in UCD or who has any knowledge of the course could help me I would greatly appreciate it..

Durz0 Blint

krisfoster8 wrote: »

Okay so I'm hoping to do Computer Science in UCD next year but just wanted to know a few things about the course.

How many hours a week of lectures can I expect?
What is the workload like?
Do I need much knowledge of CS before I start?
What kind of jobs can I expect to get after I get the degree?

If anyone who is doing CS in UCD or who has any knowledge of the course could help me I would greatly appreciate it..

I did computer science for 2 years and the one thing that struck me was how much different students hours would vary.

Some students would be able to breeze through an assignment in an hour while others would spend days working on it. For that reason I would take any quote on workload with a grain of salt - the lecture hours weren't bad though - couple of hours a day but that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the work you have to do.

No knowledge of computer science is required but it certainly would help and would let you know if you like programming.

Can't say much about the job prospects but I would imagine they are good.

krisfoster8

Thanks for the reply.. So basically what you're saying is that the lecture hours aren't very extreme but the course requires you to spend a lot of your own time doing work yourself? Did you do CS in UCD?

Durz0 Blint

krisfoster8 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.. So basically what you're saying is that the lecture hours aren't very extreme but the course requires you to spend a lot of your own time doing work yourself? Did you do CS in UCD?

Yea that was my experience of it.

I did two years of CS in UCD before switching to a course I prefer.

ironclaw

krisfoster8 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.. So basically what you're saying is that the lecture hours aren't very extreme but the course requires you to spend a lot of your own time doing work yourself? Did you do CS in UCD?

I generally tell people, in any course, if you attend lectures and engage with them (i.e. Don't spend your time on fb) then you'll sail through college. If you want to climb up the grades ladder, you'll want to be putting in a little extra work on the side. The problem with most people when they hit college is they sit back and relax, and then suffer when Christmas / summer exams 'sneak up' on them.

CS in generally in UCD is fairly mathematical and you don't do a huge amount of programming. At least that was the feedback I received. (I studied Elec. Engineering and I did more programming for example)

As regards industry, its generally accepted that UCD graduates don't have a huge amount of programming or industry ready skills. If you want to increase your job prospects (As with any courses or line of work) do some self directed learning in an area that interested you (i.e. Mobile development, game development, database certifications etc) They don't have to cost money but will stand to you. A decent internship one or two summers will also help.

From now on, its not going to be enough to just walk out of college with the skills you were thought. You need to shine in the jobs market. Its sort of irrelevant what college is written on your parchment.

krisfoster8

Thanks for the reply.. Some good info there.. Engineering is also a possibility for me.. Did you find it fairly easy to get a job with your engineering degree?

ironclaw

krisfoster8 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.. Some good info there.. Engineering is also a possibility for me.. Did you find it fairly easy to get a job with your engineering degree?

I take it your doing some CAO research at the moment? Honestly, and I cannot say this enough, do not choose a course based on:

1) Job prospects
2) What your parents think

I know that sounds ridiculous but the amount of people I know that did one or both is astounding, and they either wasted their time, dropped out or were miserable for 4 years.

Globally, an Engineering degree will get you much, much further than a standard CS degree. However, in Engineering its far more competitive and you will be looking at a Masters (5 years) minimum. The new course is 3+2, that is 3 years for a BSc. Eng and then the final 2 for a Masters. The final year is full fee's (€6200) so factor that in from the start.

Engineering and CS are also worlds apart in terms of difficulty. Eng. will be 5 years of decent hard work to be honest.

krisfoster8

Yeah I'm going to try to do as much research now that I'm off school for a week.. I'm struggling to decide between CS and Engineering to be honest.. I don't do physics for the leaving cert though and there is a lot of physics in engineering in college isn't there? I wouldn't like to be playing catch up in September as soon as I go in..

Anyway, thanks for the reply.. Good to hear from someone who has 'been there and done that' !!

ironclaw

krisfoster8 wrote: »

Yeah I'm going to try to do as much research now that I'm off school for a week.. I'm struggling to decide between CS and Engineering to be honest.. I don't do physics for the leaving cert though and there is a lot of physics in engineering in college isn't there? I wouldn't like to be playing catch up in September as soon as I go in..

Anyway, thanks for the reply.. Good to hear from someone who has 'been there and done that' !!

Don't worry if you haven't studied physics or chemistry if you do Engineering. They start from the very basics. You do a full intro to both in the first and second semester in year one. I know people who didn't do Chemistry and are now chemical engineers. If you have done either, it basically just makes the first few exams a tad easier. Same to be said for Higher Level math, you get a full refresher. Physics and Applied Maths are only a bonus if you want to do Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry is just a decent ground base for Chemical Engineering. Neither are 'compulsory' in my opinion. You'll be thought everything you need.

Forgot to add, I have all the notes for Engineering, so if you want a taste of the course content, drop me a PM.

Aspiring

Don't mean to hop on the back of your thread here or anything but I'm also hoping to do CS in UCD next year. Hopefully I'll give this thread a bump and we can both benefit

Somebody mentioned that the UCD course wasn't very heavy on the programming side of things, up to now I had heard the polar opposite! I had heard that compared with the other CS courses in Ireland it was more focused in programming.

Also what is the likelihood of getting a summer internship? I understand one of the drawbacks of the UCD course is the lack of experience you come out with (unless you do summer internships and the like) so this is important.

ironclaw

Aspiring wrote: »

Somebody mentioned that the UCD course wasn't very heavy on the programming side of things, up to now I had heard the polar opposite! I had heard that compared with the other CS courses in Ireland it was more focused in programming.

The feedback I got was that it isn't heavy on programming. But honestly if you want to do CS as a career, you would want to be learning your own languages in your spare time. It would be very naieve to think a CS College course will equip you with real skills for the very fast moving modern market. They will of course teach you the basics and the background, but you'd want to have an interest yourself. Also, its not a bad idea to explore your interest and try get some accreditation. Always looks good on a CV.

Also what is the likelihood of getting a summer internship? I understand one of the drawbacks of the UCD course is the lack of experience you come out with (unless you do summer internships and the like) so this is important.

Any course has equal opportunity of getting an internship. Generally I advise against them until 3 year, as you may as well use the first two summers to enjoy college life! Some people prefer not to however and do one from year 1. Personally, employers arn't always interested in internships. Some are renowned for being really poor and won't count as much towards your CV. Some are excellent and a real boost. Really it comes down to the skills you learned outside your degree and in your own time, as there are 100s of people with the exact same degree and internship skills, you have to ask yourself, what makes your different?

Aspiring

ironclaw wrote: »

The feedback I got was that it isn't heavy on programming. But honestly if you want to do CS as a career, you would want to be learning your own languages in your spare time. It would be very naieve to think a CS College course will equip you with real skills for the very fast moving modern market. They will of course teach you the basics and the background, but you'd want to have an interest yourself. Also, its not a bad idea to explore your interest and try get some accreditation. Always looks good on a CV.



Any course has equal opportunity of getting an internship. Generally I advise against them until 3 year, as you may as well use the first two summers to enjoy college life! Some people prefer not to however and do one from year 1. Personally, employers arn't always interested in internships. Some are renowned for being really poor and won't count as much towards your CV. Some are excellent and a real boost. Really it comes down to the skills you learned outside your degree and in your own time, as there are 100s of people with the exact same degree and internship skills, you have to ask yourself, what makes your different?

Great reply thanks for taking the time. In response to your first point do you mean one should be doing programming before they go to college at all? I have done very little and have only ever played around with c++ and HTML to the point where I could maybe make a simple calculator at best (in c++). I had planned doing more but with the leaving cert it's just not an option atm. Or did you mean while in college you should do a lot on your own?

ironclaw

Aspiring wrote: »

Great reply thanks for taking the time. In response to your first point do you mean one should be doing programming before they go to college at all? I have done very little and have only ever played around with c++ and HTML to the point where I could maybe make a simple calculator at best (in c++). I had planned doing more but with the leaving cert it's just not an option atm. Or did you mean while in college you should do a lot on your own?

You can go into CS having never switch on a computer Honestly, you'll be taught basic C and Java from the ground up. But what I mean is you should pursue a few languages, get a grip for all of them and maybe enhance your skills in the ones you like (After you have sat the LC etc). Will be really handy going forward and make job applications much more interesting i.e. You can discuss personal projects etc.

Don't worry about knowing an ounce of code before you get there.

mhangasor

I'm currently in UCD Computer Science year 2.

The hours we have are fairly standard for a university course. About 22/24 hours a week. However, as someone said above, the amount of time you put into the course will take up a lot of time for most people. In order to get my practicals done in first year, I'd often spend from the minute I got home until the deadline (12pm) doing my programming to get the marks. And I definitely was not alone in doing this! However, some people could do their work in a few hours, so you could be one of those!

The workload is heavy enough, in my experience. Compared to my friends in other courses and even other computer courses in Dublin, I had the most to do.

I would strongly recommend learning some programming before you come into the course, maybe over Summer when you're finished your LC, preferably in C since you'll be doing that in first year. If you're at the level where you can make a simple calculator then you will be fine for the first semester, but there's no harm in moving on! I found in my first year that they expected us to know a lot more than we did and moved on with the students who were ahead. This may not be the same for you next year though, since we had no programming lectures for all semester 1 in first year due to our lecturer being sick (this seriously crippled many of us from the very beginning!)

Someone said above that there is not much programming and this is not true in my experience. Out of my 5 compulsary modules this semester, 3 of them are programming modules. The main thing we do is programming. Our course focuses on software and there is very little hardware, so if you're interested in that then maybe this is not the course for you.

UCD CS is seen as a really good course, but it's extremely difficult and is not easy to pass. It's not the type of course you can just expect to get through without much effort. I rarely/never miss lectures or tutorials and I try to pay attention, but I often find myself left behind and totally lost. Having said that though, I've yet to fail anything and get good grades, but that's with a lot of work.

Myself and my classmates have so many issues with our modules. I know this might sound scary but I think it's important to be prepared. I'm actually shocked with the standard of the lecturers who teach me and have taught me in the past. As I type this I'm sitting in the hall, two 3rd year students have just stormed out of their lecture early and are giving out about how it's a joke of a module. I cannot tell you how many times I've experienced things like this!

I know my reply might be harsh, but I think it's best you know the truth. I honestly don't know if I'll make it through the 4 years and as I've said, I attend everything, work hard and get good grades. If anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask away! This course is not for a lot of people and it's important to realise it before you get stuck like me!

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

I'm currently in UCD Computer Science year 2.

The hours we have are fairly standard for a university course. About 22/24 hours a week. However, as someone said above, the amount of time you put into the course will take up a lot of time for most people. In order to get my practicals done in first year, I'd often spend from the minute I got home until the deadline (12pm) doing my programming to get the marks. And I definitely was not alone in doing this! However, some people could do their work in a few hours, so you could be one of those!

The workload is heavy enough, in my experience. Compared to my friends in other courses and even other computer courses in Dublin, I had the most to do.

I would strongly recommend learning some programming before you come into the course, maybe over Summer when you're finished your LC, preferably in C since you'll be doing that in first year. If you're at the level where you can make a simple calculator then you will be fine for the first semester, but there's no harm in moving on! I found in my first year that they expected us to know a lot more than we did and moved on with the students who were ahead. This may not be the same for you next year though, since we had no programming lectures for all semester 1 in first year due to our lecturer being sick (this seriously crippled many of us from the very beginning!)

Someone said above that there is not much programming and this is not true in my experience. Out of my 5 compulsary modules this semester, 3 of them are programming modules. The main thing we do is programming. Our course focuses on software and there is very little hardware, so if you're interested in that then maybe this is not the course for you.

UCD CS is seen as a really good course, but it's extremely difficult and is not easy to pass. It's not the type of course you can just expect to get through without much effort. I rarely/never miss lectures or tutorials and I try to pay attention, but I often find myself left behind and totally lost. Having said that though, I've yet to fail anything and get good grades, but that's with a lot of work.

Myself and my classmates have so many issues with our modules. I know this might sound scary but I think it's important to be prepared. I'm actually shocked with the standard of the lecturers who teach me and have taught me in the past. As I type this I'm sitting in the hall, two 3rd year students have just stormed out of their lecture early and are giving out about how it's a joke of a module. I cannot tell you how many times I've experienced things like this!

I know my reply might be harsh, but I think it's best you know the truth. I honestly don't know if I'll make it through the 4 years and as I've said, I attend everything, work hard and get good grades. If anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask away! This course is not for a lot of people and it's important to realise it before you get stuck like me!

Thanks for the comprehensive reply one of the reasons I want to do the course is the focus that's placed on software with little on hardware. So the lecturers are a bit hit and miss? Can you compensate for this through learning stuff yourself or is it such a big problem that it is having a huge impact on your results when it comes to exams?

Thanks for the advice on programming in summer I'll take a look at C so first year flows more smoothly should I get the course.

Thanks for your replies.

mhangasor

Aspiring wrote: »

Thanks for the comprehensive reply one of the reasons I want to do the course is the focus that's placed on software with little on hardware. So the lecturers are a bit hit and miss? Can you compensate for this through learning stuff yourself or is it such a big problem that it is having a huge impact on your results when it comes to exams?

Thanks for the advice on programming in summer I'll take a look at C so first year flows more smoothly should I get the course.

Thanks for your replies.

No problem, I'm happy to give advice! I'd have loved if someone was honest with me about the course before I got in so I could have been prepared!

Yeah, unfortunately some of the lecturers are pretty awful. Every semester there's about one who nobody is happy with at all. One of my lecturers last semester was the worst I've ever encountered. We were expected to know Java before the module even though we had not been taught it in college yet. As a result we were taught months worth of Java over four weeks before starting what the module actually involved. The lecturer went through 100s of slides per lecture and if we had questions we were told to look up the answers online! It was a total disaster and I'm still not comfortable with the basics of Java, nevermind the more difficult stuff we do now! In the end we were all given pity grades, I got an A even though I can honestly say I knew very little that was on the paper and really struggled with the continuous assesment. Lots of my friends were in the same position, know very little now and ended up with high grades too! So it didn't bring down our grades but it does leave us at a disadvantage.

Having said that though, we do have some excellent lecturers. There's just a few who are really really awful and they tend to stick out in my mind and I feel it's worth mentioning! I've had about 20 different lecturers so far and only 4 stand out to me right now as being awful. There are way more good/average teachers than bad to be fair!

I definitely think looking into C basics is a good idea, it will put you at such an advantage going into the course and you can enjoy yourself more!

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

No problem, I'm happy to give advice! I'd have loved if someone was honest with me about the course before I got in so I could have been prepared!

Yeah, unfortunately some of the lecturers are pretty awful. Every semester there's about one who nobody is happy with at all. One of my lecturers last semester was the worst I've ever encountered. We were expected to know Java before the module even though we had not been taught it in college yet. As a result we were taught months worth of Java over four weeks before starting what the module actually involved. The lecturer went through 100s of slides per lecture and if we had questions we were told to look up the answers online! It was a total disaster and I'm still not comfortable with the basics of Java, nevermind the more difficult stuff we do now! In the end we were all given pity grades, I got an A even though I can honestly say I knew very little that was on the paper and really struggled with the continuous assesment. Lots of my friends were in the same position, know very little now and ended up with high grades too! So it didn't bring down our grades but it does leave us at a disadvantage.

Having said that though, we do have some excellent lecturers. There's just a few who are really really awful and they tend to stick out in my mind and I feel it's worth mentioning! I've had about 20 different lecturers so far and only 4 stand out to me right now as being awful. There are way more good/average teachers than bad to be fair!

I definitely think looking into C basics is a good idea, it will put you at such an advantage going into the course and you can enjoy yourself more!

I suppose it's a bit like secondary school, you'll always have a ratio of good teachers to bad.

How competent would you be at this stage in programming in general, I don't expect you'd be industry ready yet of course but what kind of things could you manage.

Also, is much emphasis placed on java in the course. I was hoping to do a bit with android apps in the future and I know how beneficial java is (android uses java dalvik or something it's called I think doesn't it?).

Also in the course is there any web development development i.e. would one learn HTML / CSS / JavaScript (not sure if the latter is classed as web development but anyway).

Thanks

mhangasor

Aspiring wrote: »

I suppose it's a bit like secondary school, you'll always have a ratio of good teachers to bad.

How competent would you be at this stage in programming in general, I don't expect you'd be industry ready yet of course but what kind of things could you manage.

Also, is much emphasis placed on java in the course. I was hoping to do a bit with android apps in the future and I know how beneficial java is (android uses java dalvik or something it's called I think doesn't it?).

Also in the course is there any web development development i.e. would one learn HTML / CSS / JavaScript (not sure if the latter is classed as web development but anyway).

Thanks

At the moment I feel behind when it comes to programming. It might be because of my bad start with the lack of any lectures for semester one but I always found it tough. I do feel like I'm improving now that we have a great lecturer but I constantly struggle with it. I'm not very confident in my skills, like if I'm asked to do something I always assume what I'm doing is wrong and I always need help from friends/tutors. A lot of people are in my situation because programming is really not something everyone will excell in!

However, there are a LOT of very good programmers in my year. It really depends on the person. But I do find the people who are very good are the ones who do programs themself for "fun". If you can get into that mindset you'll hopefully be sorted! Some people in the class already have programming jobs since summer after first year (they're already industry ready) and are doing stuff they'd be doing when they graduate, so it really shows that it depends on the person.

Yes, second year involves programming entirely in Java. And yeah, as far as I know Android app development is based on Java too! But anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

In first year I did a web design elective, as far as I'm aware it fits in the timetable for first and third years so you can do it in these years. It was quite good, even though it had a comparatively heavy workload for an elective. It was nice to get away from C and do some HTML and CSS which is a lot easier! We covered mainly these two languages and touched on JavaScript and PHP. However, it was not comprehensive since it was only an elective and done over a short space of time. It felt rushed but there was nothing that could be done about it since it's an elective and not core. I did really enjoy it though. So basically you can learn web developmet if you want, but it's not a web development course and you only really do these things if you pick the one semester long elective.

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

At the moment I feel behind when it comes to programming. It might be because of my bad start with the lack of any lectures for semester one but I always found it tough. I do feel like I'm improving now that we have a great lecturer but I constantly struggle with it. I'm not very confident in my skills, like if I'm asked to do something I always assume what I'm doing is wrong and I always need help from friends/tutors. A lot of people are in my situation because programming is really not something everyone will excell in!

However, there are a LOT of very good programmers in my year. It really depends on the person. But I do find the people who are very good are the ones who do programs themself for "fun". If you can get into that mindset you'll hopefully be sorted! Some people in the class already have programming jobs since summer after first year (they're already industry ready) and are doing stuff they'd be doing when they graduate, so it really shows that it depends on the person.

Yes, second year involves programming entirely in Java. And yeah, as far as I know Android app development is based on Java too! But anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

In first year I did a web design elective, as far as I'm aware it fits in the timetable for first and third years so you can do it in these years. It was quite good, even though it had a comparatively heavy workload for an elective. It was nice to get away from C and do some HTML and CSS which is a lot easier! We covered mainly these two languages and touched on JavaScript and PHP. However, it was not comprehensive since it was only an elective and done over a short space of time. It felt rushed but there was nothing that could be done about it since it's an elective and not core. I did really enjoy it though. So basically you can learn web developmet if you want, but it's not a web development course and you only really do these things if you pick the one semester long elective.

I see, thanks!

Apologies for the ridiculous amount of questions, now that I've apologised I'll continue anyway

Is the course maths heavy if you know what I mean? I like maths and am doing applied maths too but I know neither are like what college would be. The kind of thing I hate (I mean find least interesting) on our maths course are probability and theorems and the like. I love solving maths problems and it eats away at me if I can't get the right answer for something. So yeah anyway, how's the maths?

mhangasor

Aspiring wrote: »

I see, thanks!

Apologies for the ridiculous amount of questions, now that I've apologised I'll continue anyway

Is the course maths heavy if you know what I mean? I like maths and am doing applied maths too but I know neither are like what college would be. The kind of thing I hate (I mean find least interesting) on our maths course are probability and theorems and the like. I love solving maths problems and it eats away at me if I can't get the right answer for something. So yeah anyway, how's the maths?

I used to really like maths in school but I find it soooo boring and obviously a lot harder now! It's such a shame because I genuinely used to love going into maths class. There's usually one maths module a semester so it's enough to take at a time. The closest thing I had done from school to what we do now was matrices (although I think they were taken away with Project Maths?) Anyway, it's very theory based and not very practical. That's what I think anyway! However the CS school is very good at getting support classes for the maths modules (something I wish they'd adopt for other modules!) and these are very helpful. I wouldn't worry about the maths too much, especially if you're doing Applied Maths. That should be a good help to you. And to anyone reading this who finds maths hard and dislikes it, I wouldn't let that put you off the course. It's achievable to pass if you put in the effort, even if you do OL.

Please do not worry about asking questions, it does not bother me at all! If there's anything you'd rather ask me in private, about UCD in general even, feel free to PM me

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

I used to really like maths in school but I find it soooo boring and obviously a lot harder now! It's such a shame because I genuinely used to love going into maths class. There's usually one maths module a semester so it's enough to take at a time. The closest thing I had done from school to what we do now was matrices (although I think they were taken away with Project Maths?) Anyway, it's very theory based and not very practical. That's what I think anyway! However the CS school is very good at getting support classes for the maths modules (something I wish they'd adopt for other modules!) and these are very helpful. I wouldn't worry about the maths too much, especially if you're doing Applied Maths. That should be a good help to you. And to anyone reading this who finds maths hard and dislikes it, I wouldn't let that put you off the course. It's achievable to pass if you put in the effort, even if you do OL.

Please do not worry about asking questions, it does not bother me at all! If there's anything you'd rather ask me in private, about UCD in general even, feel free to PM me

Thanks a lot!

Yeah I heard they have a lot of support in place for maths. Have many people dropped out of the course? I heard from someone in a different college that a lot of people pick CS because their guidance counsellor praised it as something they could get a good job in, then they get to college and realise they hate it. Have you seen any of this?

mhangasor

Aspiring wrote: »

Thanks a lot!

Yeah I heard they have a lot of support in place for maths. Have many people dropped out of the course? I heard from someone in a different college that a lot of people pick CS because their guidance counsellor praised it as something they could get a good job in, then they get to college and realise they hate it. Have you seen any of this?

Yeah, a fair few have dropped out. But apparently more usually drop after 3rd year because then you get a level 7 in CS (as far as I know!) I'd say about 10 have dropped out, although there's a LOT of people I never see. There's roughly 80 in my year and typically there's about 40/50 in on a good day. Sometimes it's as low as 20! So to be honest I'm not sure who is still in the course a lot of the time!

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

Yeah, a fair few have dropped out. But apparently more usually drop after 3rd year because then you get a level 7 in CS (as far as I know!) I'd say about 10 have dropped out, although there's a LOT of people I never see. There's roughly 80 in my year and typically there's about 40/50 in on a good day. Sometimes it's as low as 20! So to be honest I'm not sure who is still in the course a lot of the time!

Jaysus that's not a lot!

By any chance can you remember did you go to the computer science open evening when you were in 6th year? It's just I was at one there in December I think and the whole lecture hall or whatever it is in the CS building was packed. Got me worried there's huge demand for CS and points will go up. I know of course for many CS may not be first choice on their CAO but still.

I was disappointed at the open evening tho they just showed us a robot and the virtual reality thing rather than actual day to day coursework stuff. Trying to get people in

mhangasor

Aspiring wrote: »

Jaysus that's not a lot!

By any chance can you remember did you go to the computer science open evening when you were in 6th year? It's just I was at one there in December I think and the whole lecture hall or whatever it is in the CS building was packed. Got me worried there's huge demand for CS and points will go up. I know of course for many CS may not be first choice on their CAO but still.

I was disappointed at the open evening tho they just showed us a robot and the virtual reality thing rather than actual day to day coursework stuff. Trying to get people in

Yes, I did go to that! It was packed for me too and I agree, it was just showy stuff to get people in and nothing to do with the every day course. Like we haven't touched robotics or anything like that as of now. That open day isn't a good representation at all of what the course is like to be honest.

Hopefully the points won't go up too high, but it did level off last year and didn't increase from my year which was 470 points. Although it's hard to predict. In my year it went up 60 points! I guess all you can do is your best and hope you still make it! No point worrying over what you can't control.

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

Yes, I did go to that! It was packed for me too and I agree, it was just showy stuff to get people in and nothing to do with the every day course. Like we haven't touched robotics or anything like that as of now. That open day isn't a good representation at all of what the course is like to be honest.

Hopefully the points won't go up too high, but it did level off last year and didn't increase from my year which was 470 points. Although it's hard to predict. In my year it went up 60 points! I guess all you can do is your best and hope you still make it! No point worrying over what you can't control.

Suppose they just want as many applicants as possible!

Yeah was expecting it to go up last year, pleasantly surprised it didn't. Can't see a massive jump like that for us (fingers crossed). Was that the first year of the extra points for maths? Judging by my mock results so far ill have around 470 from them hopefully, all B's so far. Hoping to end up around 515 to be sure I'm safely in!

mhangasor

Aspiring wrote: »

Suppose they just want as many applicants as possible!

Yeah was expecting it to go up last year, pleasantly surprised it didn't. Can't see a massive jump like that for us (fingers crossed). Was that the first year of the extra points for maths? Judging by my mock results so far ill have around 470 from them hopefully, all B's so far. Hoping to end up around 515 to be sure I'm safely in!

Yes, my year was the first for the bonus 25 so that definitely contributed to the 60 point rise. Hopefully it won't go up too much for you and you can manage it

Aspiring

mhangasor wrote: »

Yes, my year was the first for the bonus 25 so that definitely contributed to the 60 point rise. Hopefully it won't go up too much for you and you can manage it

Still that's 35 point increase which is huge. Thanks !

Post edited, it was an irrelevant silly question

Jamezzyboyoo

Hey, I'm after reading a post from 2010 saying that UCD's CS is not really programming orientated and that DCU CA is the way to go, I have UCD as #1 but I'm not throwing it out just because I've read one thing, but I have to admit it has me worried, anybody that has or does CS in UCD, what is the course like? and is more programming or maths covered in it? My god if this had happened in June I'd have had a heart attack!!

Thanks

ironclaw

Aspiring wrote: »

Suppose they just want as many applicants as possible!

Yeah was expecting it to go up last year, pleasantly surprised it didn't. Can't see a massive jump like that for us (fingers crossed). Was that the first year of the extra points for maths? Judging by my mock results so far ill have around 470 from them hopefully, all B's so far. Hoping to end up around 515 to be sure I'm safely in!

With respect, if your hitting 470+ you should seriously consider (Electronic) Engineering. As long as you have decent high level maths (Not Einstein, just enough) then you should sail by. Its a 5 year course and in the final two you do your Masters, which you can do in Electronic & Computer Eng. (For example)

I'd say 40% of my modules we're Comp Sci or computer based all the way through. So you have plenty of mix between hardware and software. And without being disrespectful, an Engineering degree and Masters would be worth an awful lot more than a standard CS degree.

Aspiring

ironclaw wrote: »

With respect, if your hitting 470+ you should seriously consider (Electronic) Engineering. As long as you have decent high level maths (Not Einstein, just enough) then you should sail by. Its a 5 year course and in the final two you do your Masters, which you can do in Electronic & Computer Eng. (For example)

I'd say 40% of my modules we're Comp Sci or computer based all the way through. So you have plenty of mix between hardware and software. And without being disrespectful, an Engineering degree and Masters would be worth an awful lot more than a standard CS degree.

Thanks for the reply

Never considered this, what is electronic engineering in a nutshell? I am more interested in the software side of things and when I think engineering I think physical things i.e hardware. Of course I'm willing to be swayed if the course would suit me better. Where would you suggest I do it if I were to choose it.

ironclaw

Aspiring wrote: »

Thanks for the reply

Never considered this, what is electronic engineering in a nutshell? I am more interested in the software side of things and when I think engineering I think physical things i.e hardware. Of course I'm willing to be swayed if the course would suit me better. Where would you suggest I do it if I were to choose it.

I did it myself in UCD and honestly, I'm 75% software and the rest hardware. Its a far more rounded degree and globally its considered a very good basis to have (Engineering) In a nutshell, its everything from the circuit to the bit code to the high level programming language. You learn it all. Its tricky and its a hard graft, but very rewarding. Given your points, I would recommend it and you should suss it out before choosing CS. CS was my 'fall back' when I did the CAO.