BESS in TCD

Hi, just wondering if anyone could give an insight to the degree?
e.g. how interesting/boring it is, what the hours are like etc...

Also what job prospects you would have coming out with a BESS degree, and what trinity itself is like as a uni, the atmosphere etc...

lots of question i know, thanks!

Reply 1

StarsAreFixed

Someone here actually does it I think.. The hours are generally about 20. The course is massive and first year is general, so you'll be spending a lot of time in the biggest lecture theatre in the arts block- the ed burke. There are however much smaller tutorial groups so you can get to know people. BESS is ridiculed a bit- 80& of the girls in it are bright orange abercrombie wearers, but the size of the course means it's extremely active in the SU and there's always loads of BESS nights out and really active class reps etc.

BESS is so general you can do whatever you want with it. You can keep it up as how it starts out, ie. several modules or you can decide you just want to 'major' in economics, it's up to you. You have to do everything in 1st year and 2nd year is still general too, so you can make up your mind what to do with it in 3rd and 4th year. So youyr job prospects would depend on that also. It's a very well respected degree, very popular. Because the course is so big the points aren't competitively high, so you wouldn't need AAAA. Some of my friends have complained about having to do really boring parts of finance and maths but as a whole nobody I know has seriously complained about it, especially because you can specialise it yourself and cut out the parts you don't like. If you look up tcd.ie and find prospective students, the prospectus will be there as a pdf. It'll list all the modules covered in each year.

Trinity is seen by outsiders as being Protestant and west-brit with stuck-up students. There ARE students like this (mainly to be found in the Hist and Phil societies) but it's a minority. It's a really diverse uni that has everything going for it because of it's great city centre location. There's always loads of stuff going on, great atmosphere.

Reply 2

Legal_Irish

I did it.

In first year, you do a broad range of subjects, Math/Economics/Political Science/Business/Sociology, then in second year you start specialising. in second year I specialised in Political Science and Sociology, and then dropped Sociology going into 3rd year, so I did single honors Political Science in the end.

The hours are few, 2lecture hours per module per week, and then 1 hour tutorial per module every 2 weeks. Some of the classes are boring... but thats the lecturers fault more than anything. Trinity is the best university in Ireland so they have the best minds (doesn't mean they can teach). Saying that some of them are great!!!! Its quite a well respected degree in Ireland, so if you come out with a high 2.1 or 1st you should have options open to you, saying that, being a social science related degree most people end up going on to do a masters!!!

Trinity itself I think is great. StarsAreFixed is right when he says outsiders (UCD students) say its full of posh people but its not true, even doing BESS, an awful lot of people came from outside Dublin (or even England). There are tonnes of societies, and the SU is extremely active. Being in the centre of town offers its benefits too. Plus the grounds are gorgeous!!!

If you've any specific questions just PM me

P.S its not true that you don't have to specialise in any one subject - you need to specialise in at 2 at the most, so you can't take modules from all branches with you into 3rd year/4th Year. You don't get a BESS degree, you get a BA in whatever subject you specialise in ie BA Political Science, or BA Economics and Sociology