Did you enjoy college /3rd level Education Life?

Oscar_Madison

Was a few decades in the distant past for me now but loved it. Lived away from home and came home most weekends. Great parties, made great friends, grew up a lot by living away from home and sharing accommodation with others - study was study which got done eventually but the social aspect was probably the best part for me.

Not without its low points - a premature death via accident which was very sad- some mad guy with a fixation on an ex girlfriend - a housemate who had a secret abortion in the UK over a weekend that I only overheard her discussing with her boyfriend before they left- but in general was a great time - glad I did it but would never wish to go back to those times again - had way enough of college life by the time final exams came and just wanted to get out into real “life” and get working

Had I the chance again even though they were great times, I’d probably elect to work and study by night - was too slow moving .

eightieschewbaccy

Not hugely if I'm honest. Went into it at a bad time so I was pretty depressed. I did make some friends at the time but I was just a bit reclusive. I did get on better during my masters and academically I was always good. But looking back, I feel a bit like I missed the college student lifestyle at the time. It was probably better for me in one respect in the sense I grafted. But the social and personal development is pretty important during that period imho.

BrianD3

I hated school but loved my time as a college undergrad in the mid-late 90s. This may have been a golden era for third level in Ireland due to (nearly) free fees and cheap rents.

I wasn't a party animal though and neither were the friends I made from my course and other courses. We couldn't be as the courses were difficult with long hours, labs, assignments etc. I'd be in the library or computer room most evenings until 9 pm although admittedly some of that time was spent hanging out or surfing the web. Evenings which weren't spent on college work were generally spent hanging out in student houses watching champions league games and roaring at the TV while we stuffed ourselves with half pounders and pizzas.

I did stress about assignments etc. at the time but with hindsight it was good stress and without it I wouldn't have done as well or been as motivated and focussed. Met some great and highly intelligent people and there was friendly competition between us. I topped the class one year, just barely pipping two of my friends, that felt great. Looking back at the course material now I can barely understand it and don't know how I even passed my exams.

Unfortunately I have found post graduation working life to be more akin to school than college. Also while the college course I did was interesting, it wasn't a good choice from a career pov. Also I have drifted away from the great friends I made. C'est la vie.

Oscar_Madison

thanks guys so far - reviewing my opening post yeah I did enjoy it but it was tough too - I probably have rose tinted glasses on now considering it’s 3 decades away -when I said it helped in me growing up, those times were tough enough throughout so I can relate - I’m envious of those who got a lot out of college from an academic perspective - I certainly could have given the studies more effort - I’ve a lot of respect for the modern student - I reckon things these days are far more challenging

pgj2015

Best days of my life without a doubt, I was 24 when I started and still partied as much as the 18 year olds.

the Course I found easy and we had a great class that were very similar and got on well. Im still friends with lots from college whereas im only friends with 1 person from school.

Cluedo Monopoly

Yeah best days of my life. The summers abroad were epic too. UCG is a mighty college.

JupiterKid

I had a complete ball in college. TCD 1993 to 1997 for my undergrad years. I found it extremely liberating after the sh*te I often had to put up with in school. I could be myself and be liked by others for who I really was. I also loved and did well in my course, especially in third and final year.

Made a great bunch of good friends, many of whom I’m still in touch with after nearly three decades. Ireland was undergoing so many huge changes for the better in the 1990s and to be in college during that time was great. Not all of it was amazing, I got crippling tinnitus at the start of 2nd year by falling asleep beside a loudspeaker in a nightclub which drove me mad with stress but it did abate to a tolerable level after a couple of months.

I also came to terms with being gay after a girl I was going out with (an Erasmus student from Austria) had to go back home and I decided to stop pretending. My J1 in San Francisco shortly after that enabled me to fling open my closet doors!

My college years were among the best years of my life.

Testament to how much I loved college is the fact that I pursued a career in academia and research….so in a sense I never really left! 😁😁

Quantum Erasure

went out drinking too much, studied too little. such is life

cj maxx

joined 3rd level the day after my 17th birthday and had no interest in it. whatsoever . Stayed 2 weeks and left , went to ag college later and qualified with distinction .

Bobson Dugnutt

Absolutely loved it. NUIG. Did a bit of studying, made some great friends, joined some sports clubs and societies, did plenty of drinking and riding, sat around the odd evening smoking weed and playing Mario Kart etc in a group. Magic days tbh.

JupiterKid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121982436#Comment_121982436

Starting 3rd level at just turned 17 is too young, IMO, especially for boys. The result of the 5 year secondary school cycle.

My older sister also started college at barely 17 after sitting her Leaving at 16 and has said in hindsight that although she did well, she was a bit too young and naive for college life in her first year. She also said the lads in her first year were often very immature.

I did transition year and thus 6 years in secondary school and started college at 18 and a half and it was just right, looking back.

I think these days hardly any students start college at only 17. As it should be.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121984776#Comment_121984776

Yeah , doing my leaving at 16 was way too young . Especially as I had mitched most of the previous years . I really should have repeated when I was a little more mature . Even choosing my subjects I just went on what my siblings had done , not what interested me . A few years later I got a place in an English college but my lack of chemistry and no grant meant work and rent came first .

drury..

Not really I was too immature for it.

z80CPU

My 3rd level story is like Quantum above.

not really a plausible excuse: Attending fairly sh|t fee paying school who had eulogy in their publication one year on passing of colleuge of dad who attended same school. I cannot forget the place enough.

megaten

Nope, wasn't clever enough to be any good at it but struggled on because couldn't figure out a plan to get out of it.

miamee

Did you enjoy college /3rd level Education Life?

Not as much as I should have, no. I did a 3 year degree course, I loved 1st year full of exciting new things, potential new friends, etc. I was the first in my family to go to college, I hadn't a clue. I didn't join any clubs or societies, I was shy and introverted and without my usual friends was a bit like a fish out of water. I struggled very badly in 2nd year and in 3rd year I just couldn't wait to be done. Looking back I was fúcking exhausted the whole time. I lived in Dublin so it never occurred to me (or my parents) that maybe I should move out closer to college (UCD) instead of spending 1.5-2 hours on a bus each way across Dublin five days a week. I made one real friend who I am still in touch with if not that often. We spent a summer away working together in Germany and still laugh about some of the things that we did and that happened when we were there - I don't think any parent would let their teenager off to another country to work and live for the summer on the basis of a letter these days 😂

Other than that summer, I can't say I have too many good memories of college life.

pjordan

Interesting that most of the perspectives so far tend to be from 1990's onwards. I initially started college in Galway in late 80's with a vision of campus life being something like the laid back, radical hippy days of the 70's (One of my secondary school teaches had been active in student politics in the 70's) which was a long way removed from the reality. The first 3 months were initially exciting and then hellish as I tried to adjust to being a very small insignificant fish in a big pond and living initially in digs and then in a dingy garage flat suffering from homesickness. After Halloween I moved into a house share with a group of country lads like myself (and made a couple of lifelong friends) and had a great two years, although I got less involved in extra curricular activities (apart from drinking) that I should have. I was out for 3 years and then went back again for another year as a "mature" student which was a different experience again with me in a very different frame of mind and a lot more life experience. However the main negative experience of that year was how petty and vindictive and inflexible some academics could be for anyone anyway out of the norm. Socially and extracurriculary I had a better year. What I note about those times relative to now was the sheer poverty or subsistence existence of students relative to now trying to eke along on the ESF grant with small supplements from home. We had no TV or video games or internet or mobiles (and only in the 3rd year had I central heating which was used sparingly due to finances) and barely enough money to feed ourselves for the week and have a few pints and rolly tobacco. Some of the lecturers were real nasty about non attendance for lectures (even during rag week) trying to catch you out signing in for the grant, so the miniscule income was sometimes reduced further and also a lecturers personal dislike of one could really impact on your marks. The facilities were pretty pathetic and underfunded too, relatively unchanged since the 70's. Also the student body of the 1980's/ Early 90's were pretty self absorbed and conservative and "careful" about just making in through with not a great deal of radicalism or embrace of external causes.

Ironically, I went back to college 20 years later as a part time, weekend student studying for a degree and a masters and absolutely loved the academic side of it (and finally realised on the 3rd attempt that the key to success in 3rd level is to regurgitate and give lecturers back exactly what they want. i.e.what they have spewed out to you in the first place - It took me 3 decades to realise that Irish 3rd level institutes aren't exactly cradles or champions of independent or free thinking ). I also realised as noted also by the OP above, that a lot of regular full time 3rd level education approaches were based on spoon feeding and repetition and rote learning not that different to 1st or 2nd level, whereas part time (generally mature student) learning was, by necessity much more focused and left the inititiative and the impetus on you to do the work and take responsibility and do the reading between the lines oneself. As for the social side of part time education 3rd time round. No interest and so wasn't really a factor except for a great weekend in Belgium and a good night out in Dublin with class mates after submitting our dissertations.

All in all, I guess ones 3rd level experience, like life itself, is what you make it yourself and how much you are prepared to put yourself out there and occasionally put your head above the parapet and be daring.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992229#Comment_121992229

I remember an essay I submitted in first year - I spent hours on it getting on all sorts of references - must have waded though a dozen books (this is back in the day where you HAD to go to the library and actually read a physical book 😀) - I got something like a D for it - went to the lecturer and put my case forward why it was worth more than that - he eventually gave me a B-. My “mistake” was not using his recommended reading list - most of those books were out on loan (there was over 100 students writing the same essay) - I thought I was being inventive and original but I learned very quickly that what you’re essentially doing is putting two fingers up to the lecturer after their hard work in formulating the question and answer structure for you.
After that my essays were all conformist even though at least some of the time I actually was just giving what I thought they wanted to hear - not what I thought myself .

jacobss

that was my favourite years

fluke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992645#Comment_121992645

I remember many a mature student getting into a huff as they wanted to use essays to challenge things, which is noble but goes to squat when the lecturer just wants somebody to 'stay the course', so to speak.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121994134#Comment_121994134

yeah I mean if we were lecturers correcting dozens of essays we’d just be looking for the gumpf we requested - nothing more as we just wouldn’t have the time

mariaalice

I did a diploma then went back in my 40s part time to do the degree l had to do an extra year and a bridging module.

Turnitin had come in and I'd never heard of it, now everything had to be submitted online and there was an obsession with referencing.

The first time, half the time we all swapped essays, I couldn't read the handwritten feedback most of the time.

The standard had gone up hugely as well.

taxAHcruel

Could have enjoyed it a lot more. Certainly a lot of the pain and stress and awfulness that was my school(ing) was gone in my experience of 3rd level. But I was still in my sedentary - loner - obese - awkward - self hating - undisciplined phase at that point.

"Youth wasted on the young" certainly applies to me. The me today would have enjoyed 3rd level a hell of a lot more than the younger me did.

chrissb8

Did not enjoy it at all. Was in DIT and it already doesn't lend itself to a community college feel due to at the time, multiple premises around Dublin and no central hang out place etc.

Then I just picked the wrong course in Marketing, was like a fish out of water and just couldn't bring myself to get to know my classmates. Who were nice, but just yeah, certain type it attracts, which I would never get along with.

On an individual level where I was mentally, I was far too immature, lazy, undisciplined and severely lacking in confidence. Then throw in a burgeoning unregulated weed habit I barely got my foot over the line.

My first third-level experience was a write-off and was in no way the halcyon days of others. I was a big insecure mess who in no way had figured myself out.

Thelonious Monk

Only did 2 years in 3rd level when I left school, left to work abroad, should have finished degree really but je ne regrette rien and all.

Anyway those 2 years were wasted on me, out of all boys school and into a boozy women filled college but I wasn't able to make the most of it as I was a much quieter person back then. I made some good friends though I still see nowadays.

Did a degree at night recently and now doing post-grad so 3rd level this time around certainly isn't that much fun but I find the academic side a lot easier now than I used to.

griffin100

Started in Trinity in 1990. Based on reports in the Irish Times at that time I was the only student in Trinity for at least my first two years that had a Dublin 10 home address. It took a while before the country students I was on my course with could understand my thick Dublin accent.

I loved college, had a great group of friends, loved my course and enjoyed the social life. It’s mad when you look back at a time when there were no mobile phones, no internet, hand written essays were acceptable for submission, students lived in shared bedsits, there were plenty of student jobs, and there was a lot less pressure to compete and perform.

We protested against apartheid, the ban on abortion and the restrictions on access to condoms. We enjoyed £1.50 pints in the student bar and the roulette of trying to find friends when out and about (no mobiles remember!).

We all assumed we’d probably have to emigrate to get jobs but by the mid 1990’s when we graduated things were starting to improve.

Compared to my kids in college today I think I had a better time.

yagan

First attempt was a good course in a regional technical college in the 80s but by half way through second year I knew i wasn't suited. I really only went because the alternatives were unemployment and emigration. The craic was alright, but there were just loads of people like myself there only because the options were shyte.

If employment options were better after the leaving cert I definitely would have worked at anything until I figured out what I'd like to do.

After I dropped out of regional I was aimless for a couple of years, did lots of voluntary stuff while unemployed until I finally discovered a course I was really interested in and returned as a mature student and flew through without hassle. I never actually socialised much during that course. It was the 90s and things were picking up so I had weekend work and I wasn't going to mess around with my course after the wasted years of my first attempt.

mariaalice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121996548#Comment_121996548

I know someone from a very working-class Dublin background who went to Trinity in the '60s it had a large amount of upper-class English students at the time he got his degree but the experience turned him into a communist.

miamee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992070#Comment_121992070

When I think of it now, I was so clueless. I came from Dublin 15 to UCD - @griffin100 your post has just reminded me of this.

The innocence of me, a lot of 'local' kids went to UCD - think Foxrock, Blackrock, Stillorgan, etc. and in first year I remember several of them asking what school I went to. I was baffled thinking how are they going to know every secondary school going but I told them about my local community school anyway, usually met with blank stares. It was only years later I copped on why they were asking what school I was from…I was oblivious to the idea that the school you went to meant something, said something about you, your family and your €€€ status as it does in South County Dublin.

Aisling(",)

I went to college in the early 2010's.I had a ball and the people on my course were lovely. I was hugely interested in the subject matter and while I found some parts difficult I always knew I'd get through projects and assignments.

The social life was great too-workmans, ALT, the globe etc. all did good student nights during the week. I had a solid part time job from leaving cert all through college and I lived at home so I never massively had to worry about money. I was very lucky.

JupiterKid

I went to Trinity (see earlier post) and had a great time in college in the mid 1990s - it was a very liberal place - but there was definitely less classism and rank snobbery amongst us science heads (I studied Geography via science) compared to the Arts students who were much more into the image and fashion and posing and more cliquish in general.

There were quite a few students in my course from less well-off areas but from what I could see no-one was discriminated against and I easily made pals from all backgrounds, urban and rural. One thing I really realised after starting college was that I’d come from a rather priviliged well-to-do middle class background and those from working class areas on my course had to work bloody hard and fight against the culture of early school leaving and often limited subject choices, facilities and poor teaching standards just to get the points in the Leaving cert to get into college.

One thing they did have in common were parents who supported and encouraged them as best they could (one girl had grown up in a single parent household), lots of brains and a sheer determination to succeed. It certainly made me appreciate the head start I and my sisters had.

A few of our geography lecturers were also very left-wing in their political outlook, coming from their undergrad radical student days of the late 1960s/early 70s.

I had a couple of school friends who went to UCD at that time and being out in Belfield the occasional time at the bar with them and meeting their college friends I definitely found a lot of them to be more snobbish and of the old boy/school tie mindset.

blackbox

An enjoyable four years - maybe I should have got a better result but then I might have missed out on other things.

However, the four years was enough. I was ready to move on. Lots of colleagues stayed on to do PhDs etc. as there were few jobs at the time but that wasn't for me.

fluke

Interesting to see the comments about people going through an awkward sort of time during their college years. I definitely felt as though I enjoyed college a helluva lot more than school, but college came with it's fair share of drama, among my peers, and at least for me, there was a lot of growing up to do.

Oscar_Madison

just a note to say thanks for all contributors so far - it’s a slow moving but very interesting thread and read- hopefully it will grow over time - I know it’s not quite a “discussion item” but sometimes less is more - I’ve read all posts - certainly so far it’s clear that whilst we all thought we’d take on the world going to college it can be a daunting place too - we were still all growing up to various degrees .

Cheers and thanks again .

hoodie6029

Seems like an age ago now. But I enjoyed it overall.

I didn’t get people who started (or more likely were forced to start) college young. I know one guy started a 3 year Law degree at 17. He was still 6 months shy of his 21st and he was done and out working! I didn’t start til I was 19 and with hindsight 20 would have been a better age to start at. Still immature enough to have wanton fun but ‘old’ enough to be responsible for your study.

PommieBast

Undergrad and PhD combined totalled 9 years. Mostly enjoyable but the last 18 or so months ranks as the worst time of my life.

Nigel Fairservice

I spent 4 years in UCC in the early to mid 2000s and had a great time. I struggled academically a bit in secondary school and had to repeat my Leaving Cert. I seemed to hit my stride in college and did reasonably well without having to kill myself. Lots of time spent playing Pro Evolution in friends houses on College Road between classes and having tea in the student centre or the Green Kiwi. Very care free days for the most part

I wish I had been a bit more adventurous with some of the opportunities I could have had in college. Looking back I would have loved to do an Erasmus year abroad or a J1, or both!

I did a masters at a UK university after for 2 years. In Cork I knew a lot of people in UCC before we ever got to college. In the UK I knew nobody. You had to make more of an effort to meet people but I did end up meeting some wonderful people.

mrslancaster

They were the best years, ug UCD and pg DCU, loved my courses and made some lifelong friends.

lmk123

hated school, loved every minute of college made some great friends, it was great crack but if I had to any longer back then my liver would’ve given in

Wanderer78

crippling depression and anxiety, guess it wasnt great for me…..

Fathom

Enjoyed university so much that when they offered me a research assistant job after 4-year graduation I took it without hesitation.

Later on I moved to another university after getting another grant researcher offer, while pursuing advanced degrees. Love it so much that I will probably stay in the Ivory Tower as long as they will have me. I’m publishing, so I won’t perish.

Furze99

More like early 80s here and yes it was good experience, knocked the edges off for sure with fellow students being from a wide variety of backgrounds. Only downside was going into the jobs market mid 80s - not a great time to be getting in the door.

Strumms

didn’t enjoy it. Without getting into specifics, the course was not as advertised. It was the first year of it we were like guinea pigs. the language lab we were supposed to have access to didn’t appear till year two. The language lab when it did appear was essentially a room full of desks with a tape player and headphones. So why it took that long or why it was determined to be a ‘lab’

the head honcho refused to take any responsibility for it and told us to take our problems and concerns to the department of education…not her. This despite at the beginning her lauding the course and state of the art facility 🤪…more like state of the facility.

Made friends and got to spend some time abroad working as part of the language element of the course, the sole enjoyable aspect…

BaywatchHQ

I had a bittersweet experience at university in the early 2010s. I did like the experience of city life in a GB city but I was a loner and spending weeks without much social interaction wasn't good for someone in the prime of youth. My hope at 18 was that I could have friends and meet girls and have a normal life. It turns out I was an incel and I wasn't aware of that because the incel internet sub culture hadn't really started at that time.

I was obsessed with the idea of visiting an escort and would scroll through the escort websites but wasn't low inhibition enough to go through with it. You know it is over when you are looking at escort websites aged 20. The height of my sexual experience at university was doing live cam sessions on Adultwork. Nowadays young people have others to chat to in that situation because of incel and blackpill forums and YouTube channels.

weadick

I hear people talking about college days as the best of their lives and often wonder where it went wrong or didn't work out for me. I did four years in Carlow and one year in UCD and hated it, especially Carlow. I only made two or three real friends in my time in college and even then I haven't seen any of them in person since graduation. I'm glad I got the degrees but don't look back on that time with any nostalgia, it was mostly crap.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122031007#Comment_122031007

I think a lot of it has to do with luck, the group of people in my small class of about 20 were all very similar, the year ahead of us who did the same course were a bunch of twats mostly and so if I ended up in that class, college mightn't have been half as good.

But god did we have fun, out 2 or 3 nights a week sometimes, rag week was 5 nights out in a row, BBQs, foreign holidays, Raves, gigs in Dublin, 24 hours parties sometimes, college bar.

gormdubhgorm

I would say absolutely yes - both times suited me down to the ground, to be honest. I learned much more than in secondary school that is for sure. Not sure I would have the energy for it now though.

Post grad I had even more appreciation for it all. I lived on campus then, so even handier. Loved having to do research (when research was proper research mostly done manually as the internet was in the more basic days), loved the buzz and energy of the places.

Obviously there was the drinking and parties etc. But from what I remember there was not too much of that. Because the courses were so time consuming. But the 'pubs' (plural) were all short distances from the colleges I was in. So there was always the chance of a couple of pints anyway.

Lost touch with the friends I made etc and those from the courses. But out of curiosity, I looked them up during lockdown to see what they were doing. Those that are still around are doing well. I think, I was very lucky to be in exceptionally good groups of people who sort of drove me on by their high standards, and they were always helpful.

Bredabe

As a mature student with a "disability" it was tough going especially as I was promised particular support which were then refused at every turn. Being gaslite by senior members of staff constantly was enough to drive me to the edge.

The lack of respect from senior lecturers was also an issue, as was the arrogance shown by some of my class on the mandatory notice board assignments. Lack of maturity in the staff who were supposed to help(am aware I was old enough to be someone's granny, but grannies need support too)

The things I enjoyed most after the discounts on the card and the ability to access experiences I wouldn't have previously, was how much I learned about ppl and how norms expected their educational experiences to be. I met some truly lovely grad students who kept me sane.

One of the most enjoyable things is the look on people's faces when I tell them I have an honours degree from a recognised university! They go the most enjoyable shade of green some of them.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122017026#Comment_122017026

Yep, if you're dealing with personal issues like that, it can a bit crippling to start out in college I found. You don't really have the confidence to start making friends and it can be incredibly lonely.

iffandonlyif

. . .

Amberjack

went to UCD in the early 90s, hated it, was like a factory, you were just another number. Now as I was a Dub I got the Dart there and back so probably would have had a better experience if I lived on campus or local digs. In later years I went back and did additional studies at smaller colleges which in my opinion were so much more personal and friendlier and made good friends there.