Are Irish universities exempt from UCAS?

Don't know if anyone is still watching this thread... but just wondering if UCD is anywhere near as good ad TCD?
I love Trinity but theres no way I can manage 4 A-Levels

They are the only 2 I know of in Southern Ireland so any other suggestions would be great too?

Also, does anyone know what the funding is like for a UK student studying there?
Thanks!

Yes, UCD is a very good University. UCD and TCD are the two best Universities in Ireland. After this probably University College Cork, Dublin City University and The National University of Ireland, Galway. I only applied to TCD and UCD because I wanted to be in Dublin.

If you can do four A-levels it would definitely help and some courses you can't get onto without doing four. I got an offer from Trinity with only three A-levels (AAA and a B at AS) but this was for a low demand humanities course with low points needed. I always did Maths and Further Maths which I believe give extra points over other subjects. To get the course you want you will more than likely need four.

As for funding, I can't help here. Northern Irish students were funded by the Government for study in ROI however that is ending next year. I have no idea about the rest of the UK. However, fees are much lower in ROI.

Hope this was of some help.

Thanks, this was really helpful!

Also, I know you have to rank the ones you apply to in preferential order - does this affect whether you get in or not?

Say I put UCD down and didnt get the points for that, would my second/third choices care that they weren't first and offer anyway? Or are some of them particular about being first?

What is the course in question? If it's over 500 points, then you will need 4 a-levels regardless of which university it is. UCD is a great university, it excels in science, business and arts in particular.

You are applying to the CAO, not the individual universities. CAO manage everything- the universities in question will not know you exist UNTIL you accept your offer. That's the case right now, thousands of students who accepted their offer yesterday are only now going to get stuff sent out to them.

If you don't have the points or the entry requirements for your first choice, they move onto your second. If you don't have the points or requirements for that, they move onto your third and so on. Say you get an offer for your third choice. That means that even if you don't accept it, you will not ever be offered anything lower than that as those choices are automatically scrapped. You CAN be offered your first and second choice in a later round, if the points go down or if your remarks boost you up etc. Individual universities on your list haven't a clue you exist (until offer accepted as I said) and don't know what else you picked.

I heard Wales do funding for students studying abroad, but England and Scotland don't. If you think about it, why would they really? Ireland does not do loans, especially now after the crisis, there never was a student loan culture in the first place due to the no tuition fees. You can't get the grant until you are here for 3 years. You CAN get a job with most courses though, and they pay very highly, minimum wage is much much higher here. Fees without tuition fees are €2500 a year.

This was really helpful, thanks!
I want to do English, which unfortunately is insanely competitive

However, I was looking at Trinity and am slightly confused about the entry requirements for Joint Honours courses.
The Drama Studies requirement is listed as 440-555, and the English Lit is listed as 525-570, they cannot be taken as a single subject, so if I was to try for a combined course of Drama and English, what would the point requirement be?

So unless I do 4 A-Levels will I not stand a chance anywhere? Even with 3 good A-Levels and an AS? Or do they not take AS into account?

Also, are TCD and UCD the only top unis in Ireland then?
Is there no where else with lower expectations?
I would reaaally love going to an Irish uni but don't want to end up going to a bad one because my grades aren't good enough, I'd rather stick with English unis if that's the case.

You can do English by itself. It can also be done with another course (called two-subject moderatorship). It is 510 this year by itself, but you need more than that to guarantee it. You can actually achieve this with 3 and an AS, but because an AS is worth so much less than an A2, it puts immense pressure on you- you would need A*A*A* in A2 and an A in AS. But, if you did 4 A2's it would be much easier on you grades-wise. as you could get away with A's and a B instead.

Points for TSM courses are not published, it's very messy really. English and Drama combined is extremely in demand, you can expect it to be 530 at least, I would not be suprised if it went higher. This WOULD need 4 a-levels without question.

Trinity is the only university that does English this way. Other universities do it as part of general Arts. Arts is about 380ish everywhere, which means a lot less pressure grades-wise. Some offer Drama, but you'd need to look it up and be sure. You would take a third subject with them and then drop one after first year. Arts degrees are 3 years. All Trinity degrees are 4 years.

NUI Galway and UCC (Cork) are great universities, they would be behind TCD and UCD. Galway is known for its social life, but all of them are teeming with nights out, events etc. UCD is outside of the city, but the rest are all fairly central to their cities. Trinity IS the centre of Dublin city and there are loads and loads of pubs and clubs within a 5 minute walk from it. Not one university or college in Ireland would ever be described as quiet!!