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Well on my course people don't generally like English people, but that's because they're all rich, stuck up and stick together, as there seems to be a lot of Oxbridge rejects here. I think people think they feel superior or something. I was born in England but I've lived in Ireland for 10 years so nobody thinks of me as English. If you're friendly to people and don't just stick with the other English people, you should be fine. There are lots of people from the UK and different backgrounds so people don't generally bother about you not being Irish.
Reply 21
IzzyWizzy
Well on my course people don't generally like English people, but that's because they're all rich, stuck up and stick together, as there seems to be a lot of Oxbridge rejects here. I think people think they feel superior or something. I was born in England but I've lived in Ireland for 10 years so nobody thinks of me as English. If you're friendly to people and don't just stick with the other English people, you should be fine. There are lots of people from the UK and different backgrounds so people don't generally bother about you not being Irish.

I'm Irish but have lived in UK all my life, so when I tell people I'm Irish they look at me like 'wtf you are the least Irish sounding person in the universe':wtf?:
Yeah, that's normal. I had an English accent when I moved here as well. And I have really tanned skin because I'm part Italian - try explaining that one. People might not see you as Irish if you've grown up in the UK, but there's nothing you can do about that.
To the OP I'd consider the 6 counties seriously - you get full loan/grants etc from the UK government and degrees in general are 3 yrs whereas most in the South are 4 years I believe. You still end up with a BA/BSc at the end of it so I'm not entirely sure what the extra year is for.

My parents live down the road from UCC in Cork and I go to uni in Northern Ireland because I get funding from the UK govt (lived in the UK for 6th form) and nothing from the Irish government because I wouldn't satisfy their residency requirement for assistance.
Reply 24
Well all my family are from Ennis in county Clare - I was the unfortunate won to be born in London and grow up there, but I've got an Irish passport and I'd sooner say I was Irish than a Brit.

Matter of fact I'm in Ireland now, and visited UCC yesterday. The older buildings looked really nice, and the city itself was great. I also went to Galway the other day and while I didn't check out any of the Unis I thought the place was quite nice and I've a cousin at GMIT, it's also near enough to Ennis where I've tons of relations.

I'd love to do BIS at Cork but due to me dossing around in AS I reckon I'll be pushed to get grades BBC, let alone the BBB they're after. Comp Sci is only CCC though, and while it's not the most attractive of the courses I'm interested in, I can see myself doing it just for the hell of it (I'm fairly confident I can get CCC without much effort). My predicted grades are BCC, which is a bit unfair seeing as how I'm retaking one Business exam and only need 2 more marks to get a B, and I'm also retaking 2/3rds on the Computing AS course - this time with a proper teacher instructing us.

Can anyone tell me about the Insitutes of Technology? I know there's one in Cork and they probably have em in Galway and Limerick. They seem to offer more courses in the areas I'm interested in but will I come out with the same qualifications?

And finally - please can someone clear this up once and for all - how much do I pay? I'm a first time UG student from the EU and as far as I'm aware, only pay the application/capitation fee. Is this different per college? Are the course fees only loaned to me like in the UK?

All help is very much appreciated!

Slán.
Reply 25
TOSCS
Well all my family are from Ennis in county Clare - I was the unfortunate won to be born in London and grow up there, but I've got an Irish passport and I'd sooner say I was Irish than a Brit.

Matter of fact I'm in Ireland now, and visited UCC yesterday. The older buildings looked really nice, and the city itself was great. I also went to Galway the other day and while I didn't check out any of the Unis I thought the place was quite nice and I've a cousin at GMIT, it's also near enough to Ennis where I've tons of relations.

I'd love to do BIS at Cork but due to me dossing around in AS I reckon I'll be pushed to get grades BBC, let alone the BBB they're after. Comp Sci is only CCC though, and while it's not the most attractive of the courses I'm interested in, I can see myself doing it just for the hell of it (I'm fairly confident I can get CCC without much effort). My predicted grades are BCC, which is a bit unfair seeing as how I'm retaking one Business exam and only need 2 more marks to get a B, and I'm also retaking 2/3rds on the Computing AS course - this time with a proper teacher instructing us.

Can anyone tell me about the Insitutes of Technology? I know there's one in Cork and they probably have em in Galway and Limerick. They seem to offer more courses in the areas I'm interested in but will I come out with the same qualifications?

And finally - please can someone clear this up once and for all - how much do I pay? I'm a first time UG student from the EU and as far as I'm aware, only pay the application/capitation fee. Is this different per college? Are the course fees only loaned to me like in the UK?

All help is very much appreciated!

Slán.



Aim high, there's more scope for it in Irish unis than at UK unis, put down your TOP choice, whether you'll think you'll get in or not, it won't affect your chances at the others.

And, yes, you do only pay the admission fee of about €800, or £500.

UCC is nice ain't it, went there last week, we were staying at our holiday home, I'm torn between there, UCD and TCD.
Reply 26
lukeitfc
Aim high, there's more scope for it in Irish unis than at UK unis, put down your TOP choice, whether you'll think you'll get in or not, it won't affect your chances at the others.

And, yes, you do only pay the admission fee of about €800, or £500.

UCC is nice ain't it, went there last week, we were staying at our holiday home, I'm torn between there, UCD and TCD.

Meh I hear things about UCD. It's apparently very spread out and a lot of people apparently feel out of place there if they're not from Dublin.
TCD is much easier, all pretty much in the one place. Plus it's like the only place I know how to find in Dublin (my sense of direction is appalling):smile:
Don't know much about UCC, although I hear it's nice.
I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but aren't the grades at most Irish unis MINIMUM grades? That's how it is at Trinity. People at my school thought that the course requirements being CCC meant that's all they needed to get in, when in reality it means you won't even be considered with less than that, and you still need to get whatever the required points are that year. Do you know what I mean? Even if you get CCC, if the points are 550, you won't get in. You're basically competing with everyone else who applied for that course, and you won't know if you're successful until after the Leaving Cert results come out. Maybe it isn't like that in Cork, I don't know, but I thought I'd let you know in case it is.
Reply 28
IzzyWizzy
I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but aren't the grades at most Irish unis MINIMUM grades? That's how it is at Trinity. People at my school thought that the course requirements being CCC meant that's all they needed to get in, when in reality it means you won't even be considered with less than that, and you still need to get whatever the required points are that year. Do you know what I mean? Even if you get CCC, if the points are 550, you won't get in. You're basically competing with everyone else who applied for that course, and you won't know if you're successful until after the Leaving Cert results come out. Maybe it isn't like that in Cork, I don't know, but I thought I'd let you know in case it is.

Err what you're talking about is matriculation. It isn't what we're talking about. All unis have matriculation even UK unis.
What we're talking about are the grades required for specific courses.
Ehhh, no I'm not. When I was at school we had books full of British unis, with the grade requirements beside them, e.g, LANCASTER FRENCH/SPANISH BBC. This means that if you apply with those grades, you have a good chance of being accepted and if they make you an offer and you get them, you're definitely in. There were also Irish uni guides, with the exact same layout, e.g, TRINITY COLLEGE FRENCH/SPANISH CCC. Only it wasn't the same thing at all. That did not mean you would get into Trinity with CCC. It meant you wouldn't have a chance of getting in with less than that, but it wasn't an indication of the grades required for the course. Most people in my year didn't realise that, and wondered why all the grades were so low. It really wasn't very clear at all. It might be different now, I know Trinity publish the points required from previous years for different courses and their A Level equivalents, which could be what Luke means. I thought I'd warn yous just in case because I know loads of people confused by this system.

Once you get your offer from UCAS (well before you sit your A-Levels), if you get that offer, the uni HAS to let you in, regardless of how many other people have got the grades. In Ireland, you don't get offers at all. The course points depend on how many people that year have applied for the course and how well they have done in the Leaving/whatever exams. So even if Luke did get the CCC on Computer Science, if everyone else did better, he won't get in. And even if everyone else got the same grades and the course has limited places, random selection will be used. You are never guaranteed a place, even if you get the required grades or higher, do you know what I mean? This doesn't happen in the UK. My friend applied to Trinity to do French and History of Art, got way over the minimum grade requirements, way over the predicted points and still didn't get in because too many people applied with the same points, random selection was used and she wasn't selected. If you applied to Bristol, got an offer of AAB, got your grades, you're in, and if the course is oversubscribed, that's the uni's problem. In Ireland, it's your problem. That's what I'm trying to say.
Reply 30
IzzyWizzy
Ehhh, no I'm not. When I was at school we had books full of British unis, with the grade requirements beside them, e.g, LANCASTER FRENCH/SPANISH BBC. This means that if you apply with those grades, you have a good chance of being accepted and if they make you an offer and you get them, you're definitely in. There were also Irish uni guides, with the exact same layout, e.g, TRINITY COLLEGE FRENCH/SPANISH CCC. Only it wasn't the same thing at all. That did not mean you would get into Trinity with CCC. It meant you wouldn't have a chance of getting in with less than that, but it wasn't an indication of the grades required for the course. Most people in my year didn't realise that, and wondered why all the grades were so low. It really wasn't very clear at all. It might be different now, I know Trinity publish the points required from previous years for different courses and their A Level equivalents, which could be what Luke means. I thought I'd warn yous just in case because I know loads of people confused by this system.

Once you get your offer from UCAS (well before you sit your A-Levels), if you get that offer, the uni HAS to let you in, regardless of how many other people have got the grades. In Ireland, you don't get offers at all. The course points depend on how many people that year have applied for the course and how well they have done in the Leaving/whatever exams. So even if Luke did get the CCC on Computer Science, if everyone else did better, he won't get in. And even if everyone else got the same grades and the course has limited places, random selection will be used. You are never guaranteed a place, even if you get the required grades or higher, do you know what I mean? This doesn't happen in the UK. My friend applied to Trinity to do French and History of Art, got way over the minimum grade requirements, way over the predicted points and still didn't get in because too many people applied with the same points, random selection was used and she wasn't selected. If you applied to Bristol, got an offer of AAB, got your grades, you're in, and if the course is oversubscribed, that's the uni's problem. In Ireland, it's your problem. That's what I'm trying to say.



Wasn't me who asid it.
Yeah sorry it was you quoting. Apply all this to TOSCS :biggrin:
Reply 32
Hi, I'm British and am going to UCC, if anyone wants to ask any questions about it feel free.
Reply 33
I am a final year student in UCD.There seems to be a lot of people making up stuff about UCD being rubbish,lonely etc.I dont know where you are hearing it from,maybe trinity students :p:

There also seems to be a ridiclous amount of misconceptions about the CAO system going around.The tariff is as follows
http://www.ncca.ie/uploadedfiles/Publications/UCAS0204.pdf

This is a quote from the study
Adopting the CAO model, a top ILC candidate gaining 6 Grade A1s would receive
540 UCAS Tariff Points. By comparison an A Level student gaining 4 Grade As at A
Level would receive 480 UCAS Tariff Points. However, in 2003, out of a total
candidature of 59,525 only 101 candidates (less than 0.2%) achieved 6 ILC Higher
Grade A1s. Indeed, only 0.86% of the candidature in 2003 achieved 6 ILC Higher
Grade As. An A Level student with twenty one units (1AS, plus 3 A Levels) at Grade
C would receive 280 UCAS Tariff Points, a similar number to the ILC student gaining
6 Grade C2s. The weakest ILC candidate in Table 8 above, with 6 Grade D3s, would
receive, on the basis of the CAO model, 120 UCAS Tariff Points, the same as an A
Level student gaining 3 Grade Es. Thus, the CAO model does appear to have some
face validity in that students with similar levels of attainment in the two systems
would be allocated a similar number of UCAS Tariff Points.


You wont get into a lot of courses without AAA,AAB or ABB in UCD,UCC or Trinity.This is due the fact that far fewer people get 500points+ in Ireland than in the UK where getting an A seems quite easy.
Reply 34
Jameo
I am a final year student in UCD.There seems to be a lot of people making up stuff about UCD being rubbish,lonely etc.I dont know where you are hearing it from,maybe trinity students :p:

There also seems to be a ridiclous amount of misconceptions about the CAO system going around.The tariff is as follows
http://www.ncca.ie/uploadedfiles/Publications/UCAS0204.pdf

This is a quote from the study


You wont get into a lot of courses without AAA,AAB or ABB in UCD,UCC or Trinity.This is due the fact that far fewer people get 500points+ in Ireland than in the UK where getting an A seems quite easy.



That's with three a levels though. Right? Whereas CAO and the unis give offers based on 4.
Reply 35
IzzyWizzy
Ehhh, no I'm not. When I was at school we had books full of British unis, with the grade requirements beside them, e.g, LANCASTER FRENCH/SPANISH BBC. This means that if you apply with those grades, you have a good chance of being accepted and if they make you an offer and you get them, you're definitely in. There were also Irish uni guides, with the exact same layout, e.g, TRINITY COLLEGE FRENCH/SPANISH CCC. Only it wasn't the same thing at all. That did not mean you would get into Trinity with CCC.

Really? I don't remember seeing that anywhere on the website:confused:
Wait...
Hmmmm okies I think I might get what you're on about now. I was going by the points required for courses last year, not the minimum required:redface:
Sorry!

Jameo
I am a final year student in UCD.There seems to be a lot of people making up stuff about UCD being rubbish,lonely etc.I dont know where you are hearing it from,maybe trinity students :p:

Maybe:flute:
And getting an A in some A Level subjects is hard!
I've heard that UCD is big and lonely from people who went there and ended up dropping out. I couldn't care less, I don't go there, but since I've heard from nearly everyone who goes there how cliquey it is and how lonely for people from outside Dublin, I say that to anyone who asks about it. It's something to take into consideration.

And I'd love to see the people who say A Levels are so easy get 4A's. The A-Levels I took were way, way harder than the Leaving Cert exams. You don't even have to do literature in foreign languages in the Leaving! The only reason that it might be harder is that you have to do well in Irish, and there are a few compulsory subjects, but then we do all that at GCSE. GCSE's aren't that much easier than the Leaving, and you have 9 or 10 of those. The new points system is very unfair on A Level students, IMO.
Reply 37
Any good arguement is based on facts.The fact is that the A-level system has suffered from major grade inflation in the last 2 decades.There are numerous examples of the media,business etc all saying this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6106008.stm

Our system allows universities to differentiate between the absolute best(590LC points) and the very good (e.g 520 LC points).The A level system does not and as a result,it is impossible for your top unis such as Oxbridge to filter candidates and so subjectivity plays a much greater role in the process.

2% of Irish students get 580points+,something like 10% of UK students get AAA or better.Work it out..
Reply 38
I appreciate all your help, but lets not have this turn into a thread about A-Levels etc :smile:

Oh and by the way, I was told in person by someone from UCC admissions that to do Business Information Systems I would need BBB in A-Levels, CCC to do Computer Science and both require passes in English, Maths and a Foreign Language at GCSE.

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