UCD and TCD - student make-up

Lord Arsraptor

I was just curious, as someone who lives in Dublin, as to the different make-ups of Trinity and UCD in terms of students.

I found its easy to see how many foreign students there are in Irish colleges online, but nowhere can you see where the students from within the country come from.

Because of the rules in Trinity Halls, and the limited places, would it be skewed towards having more students from the Dublin area? Or would UCD, despite having more accommodation spaces and students, be more Dublin-centric due to its location in the middle of South Dublin and it's high progression rates to third level? Or is its location a hindrance to students from northern Dublin, who have a long commute if they live off-campus? Aside from isolated stories, what would the general consensus be? And what about other third level institutions?

ididthemathtom

I'm inclined to think that Halls makes Trinity more likely to have students from out of Dublin, not less. Priority is given to students that would have difficulty to commute; UCD goes by a waiting list with no priority whatsoever. That's about all I know on the matter, however. Note also that people are keen to avoid Dublin due to cost, at least where I live. Most people I know (down in the sunny south east) are headed for Cork or Limerick, with the occasional Galway. I know of two others going to Trinity, but neither had it as their first choice AFAIK.