Is there really a difference between Trinity and UCC for studying the humanities?

armchairunk

I'm sorry if this post does not meet the creteria for this forum. I'm a new user.

I'm a leaving cert student, torn between studying PPES (politics, philosophy, economics, sociology) in Trinity, or probably Arts International in UCC, with a similar combination of subjects.
The course in TCD seems to be a bit better, but I live in Cork so UCC would be much less of a financial burden. The rent crisis in Dublin is scaring the **** out of me!
What i'm trying to figure out, is whether it is actually worth it to go to Trinity.

How much does the university you go to affect a potential career in the social sciences? What about postgraduate study? Does the university's reputation play a large role in acceptance to top masters and phd programmes? Importantly, is Trinity actually better than UCC or am i getting caught up in the myth (in terms of reputation, quality of teaching, ect)

I just feel like this information isn't available anywhere and I feel totally overwhelmed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pat Mustard

I'm going to move this to the Third Level forum.

There are other subforums there that relate to UCC and Trinity so you are more likely to get the answers that you want.

baby and crumble

In all honesty, speaking as someone who works in, and who have been on interview panels for jobs in the sector, your degree location doesn't make as much of an impact as the type of institution it's gained from- by that I mean a University is a University, by and large. An IT is an IT. Go where has the combination of subjects, etc that you want. Some Universities will have specialities in particular areas. A degree is a degree. It's much more important what grade you come out with. If you want to go on to further study you need to be getting a 2:1 minimum. it's also really important to make best use of your time in college- part-time work, involvement in voluntary work and college societies, especially at committee level is looked on highly by a lot of employers in the type of sector you're aiming for.

When you get to postgrad level there are certain courses in individual Universities/ITs which are valued above others simply because they have proven track records of delivered really solid graduates. I'm thinking of the Masters in Social Research in TCD, which is one I know and have worked with graduates of. It's generally seen by academic employers as a good measure of someone who will know what they're doing.

I did my undergrad degree and two Masters degrees in TCD, and a H. Dip in UCD. Neither is better than the other, but they did have different priorities. For example, I applied for the Masters in Social Work in both TCD and UCD, with the exact same qualifications and experience. I got accepted in the first round of 22 to TCD, and got wait-listed for UCD, and was number 100+ on that waiting list that year. It just comes down to each University.

For you, I would really recommend UCC. I really doubt there's enough of a draw to spend so much money for 4 years to go to TCD. UCC is a really good University, I work with a lot of researchers there in the humanities, and they're really quite progressive and doing some interesting work.

armchairunk

Thank you so much. This is a brilliant answer. You probably don't know how much you've helped me!

armchairunk

if you don't mind answering a follow up question, because you seem to really know what you're talking about...

Would you say that arts or arts international have a stigma surrounding them in the social sciences field? I know there is a feeling among the general public that it is a useless degree but i'm curious about what the general opinion of people more in the know is.

JustAThought

Trinity will open doors all over the world for you & is a highly respected university - its like comparing the university of missouri With an ivy league like Harvard. Of course cash has a lot to do with it.
If the recession & chronic unemployment running at at least 280,000 ( not including schemes or emigration) hasn't frightened the bejaysus out of you then someone in councelling or career guidance is seriously not doing their job well. PE/Philisophy/Politics - will leave you far behind your peers in terms of attractiveness to employ regardless of how well you do/did in your LC. Have a serious rethink. This type of humanities will make you almost unemployable & employers will seriously question your judgement.

baby and crumble

armchairunk wrote: »

if you don't mind answering a follow up question, because you seem to really know what you're talking about...

Would you say that arts or arts international have a stigma surrounding them in the social sciences field? I know there is a feeling among the general public that it is a useless degree but i'm curious about what the general opinion of people more in the know is.

Sorry I only just saw this post now.

To be honest (and ALL of this in just my opinion, for good or ill!) you won't get a job with an arts degree. You will have to do follow up study. I don't really know Arts International as a course so I can't comment on that but think very carefully about your subjects within Arts. My degree is in Geography & Philosophy (Arts in TCD), and I didn't have a problem getting into a H. Dip in Social Policy from that- but I also had a great deal of voluntary & work experience behind me when I applied.

Make sure and have a "pathway" planned when doing and Arts degree. You don't have to stick to it like glue, but knowing that you want to go into social research, or policy, or teaching specific subjects, is a good idea. It looks more cohesive on your CV if your degree subjects within arts were History, Policitics and Social Policy for progressing into a policy development role into the future. Someone who did English, Psychology and Business sounds a bit all over the place to an employer.

Forget about what the general public think. They think of Arts as the "easy" option, because so many people do those subjects because they're very similar to school subjects- it's an easy default when you're a bit scared and worried and have no idea what else to do after the leaving. But there's no other way to study those subjects, if you have a passion or interest in them. Just be prepared to do other things around the course (like getting involved in the undergrad journals, writing for college papers etc) that will highlight to future employers/ graduate teachers that you are genuine in you passion for the area.

JustAThought wrote: »

Trinity will open doors all over the world for you & is a highly respected university - its like comparing the university of missouri With an ivy league like Harvard. Of course cash has a lot to do with it.

There is an element of that internationally- people have heard of Trinity, of course, and it does have a high reputation. But that doesn't automatically mean that an employer will choose you over someone from UCD- especially if that employer is a graduate of UCD and hates TCD.

JustAThought wrote: »

PE/Philisophy/Politics - will leave you far behind your peers in terms of attractiveness to employ regardless of how well you do/did in your LC. Have a serious rethink. This type of humanities will make you almost unemployable & employers will seriously question your judgement.

That's a poor statement to make. If someone wants a career in that area- such as in policy development, politics, teaching, social research, community work- then why would they do a different degree from the area they want to pursue? That makes no sense whatsoever. Yeah, if you'[re planning to do a degree and walk straight into a "marketing" job or whatever the feck is open to basic grads these days, perhaps it's not the most desirable, simply for the reasons I outlined above. As I said, an Arts degree holder will need to do further study, but that's true of a lot of jobs now. It's unlikely you'd walk out of a science degree into a decent job without a masters, or even engineering now.

The bottom line is study what you want to work in, eventually. Please think twice about being someone who studies topics they have no interest in or passion for, just to study what is employable now. That's a recipe for 5 years in a job you hate, followed by 4 or 5 years retraining to do what you wanted in the first place.