Why go to Maynooth?

oneofakind32

Im doin my LC this year. I was at the openday last Saturday and stayed with my brother whos in 1st year, for the weekend. It seems like a nice place except for the fact that someone attempted to egg us on the way back from Tesco on sunday morning. Ive herd on another thread that the place is verry cliquey. Most of all I want to enjoy my collage years and that kind of cliquey inviroment dosent appeal to me. Is this norm in all collages?

ClareBear

Well I was in college in Cork before here and they were the best days of my life so Maynooth will never match up to that in my eyes...BUT I'm really getting to like it now....most people are very friendly and if you move in with sound people you'll be sorted. I've only been here 2 months so it's early days and maybe 4 years of this place would be boring but so far so good.

irishboy99_

I too am thinking about going to Maynooth. I couldn't make it to the openday
how was it?

oneofakind32

Ah you theese opendays the pritty much all the same. Short lectures and every thing closes up before 2. The Collage is nice though. The Vacilities very new and modern on the new campus and the old campus dose exactly what it says on the tin but its not delapidated

FLB

It's not cliquey really. It's just people make friends that are more like family. If I went to college in town I wouldn't have had to move out and I would be more detatched from my friends. But when you live in Maynooth, you know most of the people around you are students and that you're in the same boat. It's a much different experience to just commuting.
There are cliques in every college, but I thik students here aren't the type to exclude. In general they're very friendly and Clubs and Societies are a big way of making friends.

Gael

I find it bizaare to read all this clique talk about Maynooth. I'm here my fifth year and loving it. It's one of the easiest placest ever in my experience to meet new people and new friends. I met some of the most interesting people ever, in this university from all walks of life and it's been a hugely enriching experience.

It's a given wisdom that the smaller colleges, wherever they may be, are more friendly and personable, because they are small.
I can't even count the amount of people I've spoken to who went to, or are still attending the big Dublin colleges and so many of them are of the strong opinion that the huge college are anonymous, cold and impersonal. No sense of community, that the smaller colleges have.

Yeah Maynooth can seem like a ****hole full of cliques if all you do is go to lectures and then go back to your house for the rest of the day, or if you commute, or if you spend all your free time playing playstation by yourself in a darkened sitting room or never consider any activity outside of going to the Roost, night after night.

Join societies/clubs or set new ones up, get involved in the student's union. Live on campus if possible. Get weekend work in maynooth if you can. or just start talking to random strangers in the bar. That how I met half my college friends!
You want a active social life and new horizons in Maynooth? Go and find them. Don't think they'll fall into your lap by whinging. Everything in life is what you make it.

Jammer

i commute to NUIM, but have made friends who live around, ya know urself, not always in the state to jump on a bus after the bar ex's

Friendliest environment i've ever been in.

Gael

You should also know that CAO first preferences for Maynooth have gone up about 25% in the last three or four years. They consistantly fell for the other major colleges over the same period.

Timothy Tickles

It is a sad fact that there will be cliques in all large colleges you go to, in smaller colleges there is far more togetherness and spirit.

I go to UCD and if there is anywhere cliques are prominent it is here. The fact is D4 people will stick to D4 people and country people will stick to country people etc. There are seriously people out here who will not bother to get to know new people in there time here and will spend their time out in UCD with their secondary school friends. This problem is mostly with people who have come from large private schools and who know loads of people out here already.

I have heard from people in general that NUI Maynooth has a good spirit to it and is a well liked college but for the person who has gone out there not knowing alot of people or who may be a bit shy, big colleges can be a tough environment and quite isolating. I have found this to be the case in UCD and in my first few months out there I have been pretty unhappy.

So just to warn prospective UCD students next year, beware of the D4 cliques!

Jammer

I went to NUIM on my own, didnt know a soul there, but instantly made friends which have turned out to be really decent people...everyone seems up for a laugh, but still motivated with their studies, which is cool.

Timothy Tickles

I envy you. I've gone to UCD knowing a few people and I've maybe only made one friend. I know people who have gone to smaller colleges and are having the time of their lives and I just am not which has really got me down lately. If I had a choice of college I would have gone to something else like Maynooth which is more intimate rather than the city that is Belfield.

Jammer

clubs and socs all the way then, meet people with similar interests! It was freshers fortnight that everyone made all the friends, 2 weeks in the bar! You not go out to freshers ball or anything like that? Out of interest, What course u doin?

Placebo

maynooth is the mother of all cliques, not much variety of people either,
id go UCD if i were you.

Timothy Tickles

Well I'm doing arts. Only roughly about 1,300 people doing my course! Fcuking scary. I've made qiute a few aquaintances rather than friends. (People who you just say hello to and thats it) I've joined societies and clubs but they haven't really got me anywhere and in general they have been qiute a let down. The problem is I've come across quite a few cool people but they would rather to hang out with the people they already know rather than try to get to really know any new people. This is where the problem of cliques in large colleges comes into effect. People who go out to large coleges already knowing alot of people are so secure in their respective groups they couldn't be bothered making new friends. It doesn't mean they are bad people or anything they just don't want to be seen making an effort with new poeple or they may get pushed out their groups. I'm not saying that all people in large groups don't bother getting to know new people but from my general experience out in UCD this clique thing is quite a problem. Since a huge percentage of the UCD population come from private colleges and already know alot of people already the root of the problem comes from these people. I know I have made a big effort towards people in UCD but I have got very little back in return. Basically my advice to people if you are looking for a really great college social life look towards the smaller colleges where there would be less people in large groups and if you don't know anyone there will be people in the same position as you but do remember your course choice must come first.

Shrapnel

oh come on placebo, we're not all that bad, are we?

you just had bad experiences on mikado...

Placebo

i think i made a mistake going to maynooth, coming from a private college (la de da) it set up a high standard ...i was expecting maynooth to be a bit up there with it, but it was a bit country people get together(not my scene) , most people from country and leixlip, settle with what you have, 20 odd small minded people in your class, where as larger colleges, it might be hard to settle in at first but at the end atleast you dont have to settle for people you know you wont get along with.

Placebo

Shrapnel wrote:

oh come on placebo, we're not all that bad, are we?

you just had bad experiences on mikado...

oh look, here come the nerds.

Jammer

Im not a country person, i am quite shy, but still managed to settle into a few different circle of friends. I think its a cool place, i'm having fun there...i'd recommend it to anyone..

Shrapnel

Lads, the one and only statistic you need.

40%guys,

60%gals.

me and a friend of mine did our sums, factored in the GLB, the proportion of people in relationships, and came up with the figure of

15:1
girls:boys.

if that doesn't sway the CAO vote nothing will

Gael

Placebo wrote:

i think i made a mistake going to maynooth, coming from a private college (la de da) it set up a high standard ...i was expecting maynooth to be a bit up there with it, but it was a bit country people get together(not my scene) , most people from country and leixlip, settle with what you have, 20 odd small minded people in your class, where as larger colleges, it might be hard to settle in at first but at the end atleast you dont have to settle for people you know you wont get along with.

I think you've got a little clique going yourself Placebo, inside your head!
I never got this whole thing about it being a college with nothing but country people in it. It may be outside Dublin, but most of Lucan, Palmerstown, Castleknock,Clonsilla, people etc. go there because it's on their bus/train routes. And a lot of country people who aren't from the area won't go to Maynooth becuase it doesn't have the rep. of places like UCD/Trinity. You can't even do agricultural science here!

Placebo

yeah sure i have a clique, its called the Gael -is - cool clique, you should Join.
wow, defencive, im just speaking from experience, im in comp science , remember ? so i dont see much, i do comute from coolmine good few people get on from there but majority of maynooth is filled with country folk, nothing wrong like, dunno why youre getting all pissy, might have hit a nerve, oops.

Gael

Did it ever strike you that I might have been being tongue-in-cheek in my post?

I reckon it's 'cause you're a computer nerd. You people never make friends anywhere. (again, take into consideration that I might be taking the piss while making this statement)

Placebo

computer nerd, drama nerd, its all the same thing. :rolleyes:

Gael

Chicks dig actors though.

DoesNotCompute

Gael wrote:

Chicks dig actors though.

True, but copmuter nerds get lots of money when they get employed, and chicks dig money!

purplepolkadot

y'all in first year computer science??? i'm in that!! (i'm one of the loud cocky ****ers that jackie usedta be always telling to shut up or get out).

i'm in first finance&venture management with IT (try explaining all that whilst inebriated) and i HIGHLY RECOMMEND maynooth.

i joined LOADS of clubs and socs on fairs day, mikado an' all (not sure if i agree with making real life friends on the internet), and i managed to show up to one fencing class. its not about joining clubs an socs its about BEING FRIENDLY. nuim always had a bit of a friendly rep (that i know of) and its cos people talk to each other! in lectures! after lectures!
one of my best mates in college is a commuter and if she doesn't want to go home after a bar ex, i make her stay in mine! hint to people, we're all very friendly.

i joined the events crew (those people in the red tshirts) and its a great oul thing for talking to random people and handing out sweets and the like.

socially, i think its a great little town cos everybody has to go out in the same few places, so the place is full of students- you're mixing with your own lot (except on the weekends maybe). if i were in ucd or trinners or dcu or wherever, you'd haave a few going to red box, a few going to d2 or whatnot, everyone split up. the clique thing is probably coming from the fact that we're all always together.

my class is quite small (30) compared to people doing arts, and i think we're academically looked after pretty bloody well. the thing i like about the college is that no matter what problem you have, there's someone there to help you. seriously, the place has officers coming out of its arse.

the place offers a wide range of degrees and there's masses of facilities about (that i've noticed anyway, others may digress) so i'd definetely recommend it. i'm having the best time ever. educationally and socially.