Social work in TCD or Sociology and Social Policy in UCD

rosa121

Hi,
I'm currently in sixth year and I'm deciding on what I want to do in college. I really have a big interest in social sciences and would like to become a social worker. I like the sound of the TCD course as it is an actual social work degree and you get loads of practical placements which sounds really interesting but i'm afraid that i'll hate trinity. I go to private school and i kinda hate the people and i don't want trinity to be like that?? also like the course is really small and will realistically be mostly women so i'm afraid i'll hate it. What are people's opinion??

DeeAvery

Trinity has a Sociology and Social Policy degree, SocSocPol for short, as well don’t forget. In first year you you can do all but one of the same modules as the social work degree, BSS for short, as you can only do the intro to social work module if you are on BSS. Then every year after that there is still a load of cross over modules.

The lectures, with the exception of intro to Social work will have students from loads of other degrees, as well as all the TSM combinations. For example there is 350 in the intro to Economic Policy class, and 250 in the intro to Sociology class and the lecturer does that class twice with another 250. The tutorial groups are then mixed together for that one.

What I am saying is you won’t have to exclusively hang with people doing your degree, also by Trinity standards the BSS degree has 45 students which is a large class. Also then you’d be making friends in societies and sports clubs etc.

I would do BSS if that’s what you really want to do as otherwise you will have to pay for a masters in social work.

Also you can do internal transfers within trinity, if you want to leave BSS and go on to SocSocPol at the end of first year you can do that. You can theoretically do it the other way, including trying to transfer as soon as you get the place in September, but it’s not an automatic provision like it is for BSS. As in it would be down to the discretion of the addmissions people, and you’d need the grades and points etc. Though I believe the points for SocSocPol were higher then BSS this year. Things would depend if you were doing advanced entry into 2nd year through the CAO, or internal transfer as they are two different things.

Trinity has students from all over Ireland and the world, so people come from all different backgrounds, so some people are nice and some people are horrible. It’s full of people who are from access courses, Hear/Dare entry route, mature students, PLC’s, international students, privileged annoying people. It will be the exact same in UCD. It also might not be for months or even after first year before you make real friends, or you could make then straight away, making friends in university is a lot about patience, and I am sad to say putting yourself out there.

You should choose by the course you want to do, and by the modules it offers, as in if you want to be doing those over the next 3 or 4 years. Then take practical things into account like if going to X college will mean I have to commute, how will that effect me? Will I have to pay loads for public transport, will that mean I can’t stay late in the library as you have to get the last bus home. It’s your degree not some one else’s degree.

TheSockMonster

If you definitely want to go into social work I'd recommend the undergraduate social work degree in Trinity. I'm just finishing sociology and social policy in UCD and it's a great course but I now have to do a two year masters at nearly €9000 a year to qualify in social work. The entry into the masters is very competitive and many people have to take a year out and apply a second time before they get in. The undergraduate degree in Trinity would let you avoid that. Plus I've heard that it's a very good course.