Going to university in Dublin

[eatyourveg]

Anyone know if students are eligible for maintenance/tuition loans?

[lateSeptember1964]

My son has applied for Irish Universities, so have been looking at the info. As far as I understand they can not get anything from the UK student Loan company. I did read that they can take a tuition fees loan from the Bank of Ireland which needs to be paid back at 100 euro monthly commencing immediately. Hope this helps

[eatyourveg]

Thanks - ds is looking at tcd and I have found that tuition fees are minimal but its the maintenance I'm worried about. I shall check out the BoI loan

[mathanxiety]

BBC article here. Does your student have an Irish passport? If so he could go to Scotland for free. NI students are entitled to all RofI student advantages.

Free Fees Initiative info here.

[UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea]

TCD is amazing BTW, would highly recommend Dublin in general and Trinity particularly.

No idea abotu the money side of it though.

[eatyourveg]

He's in the process of applying for an Irish passport yes - not interested in Scotland

[lateSeptember1964]

Do they need an irish passport or is he just applying for one? I have all the paperwork here but just never seem to get around to sending it. Any luck with finding out about the tuition loan. I think I saw the info on the DCU website.

[eatyourveg]

No they don't need an Irish passport ds just applying for one because he is eligible and he likes the idea of having one if he is there. Its a straight EU application. No joy on the info for tuition fees - the deadline for going through the Irish equiv of ucas is Feb 1st and he really isn't organised so he may have to go in as a late applicant. He's been through ucas and has a deferred entry place here but would prefer Dublin - but its all down to a matter of getting his head in gear and doing it!

[lateSeptember1964]

The application process was much simpler and faster than UCAS. If he knows the courses he wants to put down then it's very quick. There is no personal statement, however, once the application was in he had to send copies of his GCSE certificates that were stamped by the school. They needed to arrive within seven days. My son has conditional offers for UK unis but likes the idea of Dublin. He thought it was worth a go but I think no offers are made until he lets them have actual results this August. Your son is probably in a better position.

[lateSeptember1964]

www4.dcu.ie/news/2012/jul/s0712t.shtml

Have posted a link, hope it works. I am now wondering if this is just a one off arrangement between DCU and BOI

[eatyourveg]

thanks for the link - its a maintenance loan which is the tricky bit though - either we or dgp will do the student charge. Can't see having a part time job covering food/ rent etc. Looking at the job centre website doesn't offer much hope either. I think everyone hears in the summer so already having his A levels is not any advantage

Good luck to your ds

[mathanxiety]

Watch out for that CAO application. There is a sort of an art to it. The dream course should go at the top but make sure he has the required courses under his belt. For instance, he has no use applying for a course that requires honours maths if he isn't doing maths or his standard isn't comparable to the Leaving Cert honours curriculum.

If you get offered your first choice you won't get a further offer so that choice had better be the one you really want. If you get offered your third choice you won't get any other offer from further down your list, but your choices above Number 3 will remain and you will be in the pool for an offer for your Number 2 or Number 1 if offers already sent out for those courses are declined. You can move up the list but not down the list.

If he is really, really keen on Dublin, does he have a fallback option even a course not in Trinity that he would be happy to do? UCD and Dublin City University are both good universities.

They make offers in August iirc, after all Leaving Cert results have been fed into the system and offers churned out (like a sausage factory in many ways but I like the impersonality).

[eatyourveg]

Thanks for that math his fall back is his ucas unconditional, he has looked at dcu but the course is not as good. Do you know anything about the American College in Dublin? The website says it is an associate of the American Irish University. Never heard of it and not much info online which makes me a bit suspicious but the course they do is just up his street.

[boomting]

Can't see having a part time job covering food/ rent etc.

[mathanxiety]

ACD is accredited by HETAC, which accredits third level educational institutions outside the university system (they don't accredit TCD, UCD, etc). HETAC places the honours degrees awarded at level 8. (HETAC is the successor of the National Council for Educational Awards or NCEA). HETAC is a member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Education (or whatever its successor is called).

Courses in ACD follow the American liberal arts model, which is a good one imo -- however, Irish American University is at the moment only a candidate for accreditation with the state of Delaware Dept of Education, not accredited yet as far as I can see. Without the American accreditation, you are looking at a course on a par with what Dublin City University offers (same accreditation body) but without the advantages in Ireland or in Europe (or elsewhere) that DCU (which is very well established) offers.

[eatyourveg]

Thats really useful Mathanxiety hadn't realised dcu's accreditation was any different to tcd or ucd. ACD has the perfect course but if its not worth anything in terms of being an established and recognised qualification its probably going to be a complete waste of money.

[mathanxiety]

DCU and Limerick NIHEs (National Institute of Higher Education) were established in the in the 70s iirc. They weren't 'universities' when they were established and didn't grant degrees as such, but they were very good and recognised abroad as excellent educational institutions. A cousin of mine went to Limerick and got a 'diploma' in maths in the 70s and then went on to get a postgrad degree in the University of Virginia and have a long career in r&d in General Electric -- he actually got his postgrad degree without technically getting a bachelors first. Another cousin who went to DCU in teh late 80s and did languages and international marketing has never been out of a great job.

Both Limerick and Dublin were part of the wave of expansion of third level opportunities into technical/science/engineering/business institutions that also resulted in the establishment of regional technical colleges around the same time. In 1989 Limerick and Dublin were both turned into universities so my info on accreditation wasn't up to date.

They retain the original forward-looking, tech, science, languages, business and generally practical course offerings (as opposed to Irish Folklore, Classical Archaeology sort of offerings elsewhere) -- an example of some of the first courses in Dublin was Electronic Engineering and Computer Applications. The aim is to prepare students for the workplace wherever that may be. Grads find good jobs all over the world, as well as excellent postgrad opportunities. Research is one of DCU's string suits.

[mathanxiety]

So DCU courses would be a much better bet than ACD's if there is one that suits. The internship element makes it very attractive.

[eatyourveg]

I rang ACD yesterday as the website is not terribly clear on quite a lot of stuff including the accreditation. There are only 200 students in the whole college and the only accommodation is for students coming from USA for their semester abroad. All full time students are placed with host families. Ds would miss out on the whole university experience so its off the agenda.

DCU don't offer a literature based course, only one in culture and societies which is too biased towards social science. He'll have to do something quickly if he wants to go for tcd, the deadline is friday

[mathanxiety]

He won't go wrong with TCD (or UCD) wrt literature.

There are two options with English Lit in TCD. One is the two subject honours Moderatorship, where English Lit is read with one other subject. There are a lot of permissable combinations

A UCD BA is structured differently from TCD. It takes three years for a start. In the first year, you take three (or even four) subjects and drop one, two or maybe three if you want to go on to single subject honours.
Average intake numbers are much higher than TCD and UCD is an excellent university. Details.

UCD lacks the olde worlde ambience of TCD but it lacks nothing in university atmosphere.

[mathanxiety]

To see that page a bit clearer, click on the magnifying glass icon at the top right of the page (to the right of 'Degree Structure'). The only subjects you can't take with English in the first year are Archeology and Politics.

[mathanxiety]

UCD entry requirements for applicants with A levels

[eatyourveg]

OMG thats AAA* and A for the AS - ds can't have noticed that! Not even Oxbridge ask for that! How on earth do UK students ever get in?

[eatyourveg]

A A A* - should have previewed msg

[turkeyboots]

Dublin isn't cheap for students either. DB studied there and shared a room for most of the time. Most colleges don't have halls or any sort of accommodation office, so finding somewhere to live is a challenge if you have no local guide.

TCD only take the best of the best, and it is a tiny college, so 4 A* doesn't surprise me. UCG and UCC are also great institutions and maybe worth a look if he is set on Ireland?

[eatyourveg]

If its Ireland its only Dublin as far as ds is concerned. Maybe going in as a transfer student might be an option - for now though it looks as though it'll have to go on the back burner and he'll have to stick with ucas if he wants his degree- thanks to all for the advice