About my course: Classics

I mentioned before that I'm doing a joint major in Classics and Geography. Classical Studies isn't taught in many secondary schools in Ireland, and as a result many people are unsure of what exactly it is, or that such a university course exists. It is something I have often received questions about while working as an ambassador, so I thought I'd write a little about it.

 

 



The Temple of Hephaestus in Athens
 

Basically it is the study of ancient Greek and Roman civilisation. It covers a huge period of history, from the bronze age to the decline of Rome in the 5th century C.E. It deals with all aspects of life in the ancient world - politics, mythology, religion, art and architecture, literature and philosophy; it is a broad subject that offers a huge range of choice for the student. Much of modern European culture and society has its roots in the Greco-Roman world, and because of this Classics overlaps and links into a wide and surprising variety of subjects, including medicine and science. There is something to interest everyone. This is evident from the range of subjects my classmates studied alongside Classics - English, History, Politics, Archaeology, Sociology, Languages and Philosophy; even some of my friends studying Psychology, Medicinal Chemistry and Music took Classics electives. I took Geography as my other major.

 

 

One wouldn't think Geography and Classics had anything to do with each other, and indeed my subject combination led to several raised eyebrows over the years, from friends, family and lecturers alike. But like I said, Classics links into nearly every subject imaginable, and the two complimented each other nicely. For example, in our Urban Geography module we looked at Hippodamus of Miletus, who developed the grid system in the 5th century BCE, and Roman town planning; studying the process of Romanisation in Classics really helped me understand the process of Europeanisation that I had to study in my Political Geography class on the EU. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the politics and policies of the Roman Republic and modern day USA, which we studied in another Political Geography module. An understanding of physical geography is very useful when studying  ancient sites like Pompeii and Thera, and in explaining why some sites, like Troy, Priene and Miletus, are much farther from the coast today than they were in ancient times.

 

Studying Classics at UCD is brilliant. It’s a lovely Department. The lecturers and tutors are friendly and helpful. The student body is quite small compared to other courses like History, English and Geography (Classics has about 500 undergrad students in total, Geography has at least that many in third year alone), meaning you get to know everyone pretty quickly.



 

A Greek Symposium

The Classics Society holds coffee mornings every Thursday and organises movie nights, toga parties and guest speakers. We have our very own Classics museum, the only one in Ireland. You’ll get the chance to handle and study artefacts during tutorials. Check out the video about the museum here. One of the great things about Classics in UCD is that there are no core or compulsory modules – the choice is entirely the student’s, you can take whatever combination of classes you want. This means you can tailor the course to your interests – you can focus on Rome, on Greece, or both; you can focus on history and archaeology or you can focus on literature and mythology, or a mix of all. You can study Latin or Greek or neither. Usually you’re graded partly on continuous assessment and partly on an end of semester exam, which is nice as it means the pressure isn’t all piled on one exam. The continuous assessment is usually an essay or two worth between 30%-50% of the final grade, or a short mid-term test. Sometimes they’ll be fun little projects like creating a wiki page for a mythological character, a presentation on something in the Classics museum, or recreating an ancient Roman recipe (and then having a feast with your class) - there’s often a bit of craic involved.

 



Julius Caesar

Some of my favourite classes over the years have been Intro to Ancient Rome – basically a pocket sized history of Rome from its foundation to its fall, covering all major events and figures; Intro to Classical Mythology – another condensed course covering the major myths of ancient Greece and Rome, including the pagan gods, the Trojan War and Hercules; Homer and The Age of Heroes - you study the Iliad and Odyssey, the great epics about the Trojan War; Alexander and His Successors – focuses on what happened in the Hellenistic world after the death of Alexander the Great, the conflict between his generals over who should control his newly conquered kingdom and the resulting break up of that kingdom amongst the warring successors; Ovid’s Metamorphoses – Ovid’s brilliant and diverse collection of myths that had a huge influence on later art and literature, including Shakespeare; Greek Tragedy; Spartacus and the Slave Wars – the first part of the course covers the three major slave rebellions in the Roman world and the second part of the course focuses on the reception of Spartacus in modern media – you get to watch movies, which is always a winner.

 

 

In case you haven’t noticed from all that, I really love Classics, and I’m so glad I studied it in UCD. In fact I loved it so much I’m hoping to do a Masters in it next year. It’s definitely a course I’d recommend studying. As my friend Rebecca said: ‘Who the hell doesn’t love Classics? That shit’s the best’.

Achilles & Ajax
 

 

 

About my course: Geography

Geography is considered an Arts/Humanities subject in some universities while in others it is considered a Science. Anyone considering putting Geography down on their CAO is probably already aware of this. The classification of Geography as either an Arts or a Science comes down solely to the research interests of the staff (that’s what one of our lecturers told us anyway). So if their areas of interest lie in physical geography, it is usually classified as a Science (like in Trinity), while if they are more interested in human geography it is usually classified as an Arts subject. In UCD, Geography is part of the College of Human Sciences and is considered an Arts subject.

There are two different Geography degrees available in UCD. The first is Geography as part of the BA Joint Honours degree, where you study Geography alongside another Arts subject. The second is a BA in Planning, Geography and Environment. This second degree is the one to study if you want to become a town planner or something similar, as it trains you specifically for such careers. I am studying Geography as part of the BA joint honours degree.
 

Studying Geography in college was much better than I expected. I thought it would be quite similar to the school curriculum, but it wasn’t as close as I had anticipated. Geography is a very diverse subject, and UCD’s course is much, much broader than the Leaving Cert syllabus. We had three core/compulsory modules over the three years – Geographic Research Techniques, which teaches basic skills like cartography and research methods; Ideas in Geography, which covers theories and the history of the discipline; and Geographical Analysis, which focuses on statistics. After this, the choice is entirely the students. You can focus on physical geography, human geography, environmental geography or a mix of all (a word of warning though – if you want to become a geography teacher you have to have a certain amount of credits in both physical and human geography; each module is usually worth 5 credits so make sure you look into what is required and take the correct number of classes). There is a huge choice even within these subsections. Physical geography can be broken down into things like glaciation, fluvial geomorphology and planetary geomorphology (you study the physical geography of the other planets in our solar system, it’s pretty cool); human geography into political geography, urban geography, economic geography, historical geography, social and population geography. Environmental geography deals with things like climate change and environmental management and protection. The first year classes are general and broad, and give you a taste of everything; in second and third year you can specialise and focus on what interests you most. Physical geography is much more scientific in college than it is in secondary school, and because science has never been my strong point, I found it much more difficult. Thus I ended up focusing on human geography. My favourite classes were Political Geography and Social & Population Geography. There were two political geography classes – US Foreign Policy, which covered things like the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Arab Springs, and European Integration which was all about how the EU operates. For Social & Population Geography we did a research project on a topic of our choice (e.g. religion, migration, education). It was great because we got to choose the topic ourselves and make our own surveys etc.

 

One of the things I love most about Geography (and UCD in general) is the huge choice of classes offered and the way the student has so much control over the direction of his or her studies.

Getting Involved: Societies

 

You’ve survived Orientation Week and Black Monday and fumbled through your first week of proper classes. You’re getting used to the lectures, have made some tentative friendships with the people who sit near you in the lecture hall, and are relying less and less on the brightly coloured lines on the floor of the Newman Building to find your way around (jk, even the third years follow them occasionally). The second week of term arrives and you settle down in Theatre L. But instead of your lecturer talking about glaciation, you are confronted with men and women in brightly coloured t-shirts giving impassioned speeches encouraging you to join the [insert endless list of groups here]. Speeches given, they promptly leave, allowing the lecturer to get on with the class, but not before throwing loaves of bread at the students (yes, that actually happened, I think it was Arts Soc) and telling you to find them at the fresher’s tent.

Curious, you decide to check out this fresher’s tent and at lunch head off with a few of your new friends to suss it out.  You discover the parking lot at the back of the student centre has been transformed. Students swarm the large white tent that has been set up there like flies to a flame, and there is a bouncy castle nearby. Throwing caution to the wind, you brace yourself and join the rabble, plunging into the depths of the tent.

Inside it is hot and crowded. Stalls are set up all around the perimeter, with masses of people flooding them. As soon as you step inside, you are accosted from all sides by people, some oddly dressed and some offering you free food, in an attempt to get you over to their stall. You emerge several hours later dazed and laden with bags of freebies, not quite sure what happened. Thus are you introduced to the world of college societies.

Freshers’ week, which takes place in the second week of term, is when UCD’s societies promote themselves and recruit new members. Most will have stalls in the freshers’ tent, where you can find out more about a society and sign up. UCD has over 100 student societies, so it’s definitely worth a browse; there’s something for everyone. Like acting? Join Dramsoc. Movies? Film Soc. Debating? Then L&H is for you. There’s political groups like Young Fine Gael and Sinn Fein. There’s An Cumann Gaelach, LGBT, and Amnesty International. The list really is endless. If there’s something you’re passionate about, but can’t find a society that caters for it, you can have a go at setting up your own society (you’ll need to go through application procedures and get the go ahead from UCD before it’s made official). It’s 2 euro to join each society in UCD, but most give you big bags of freebies including t-shirts, hoodies and food. All the freebies can be very tempting, and many students go a bit overboard and join every society they can find, only to never participate in it again. I think it’s best to only join the societies that genuinely interest you – you save money (all those two euros add up!) and your inbox won’t be clogged up with emails from groups you have little to no interest in.

Societies are a massive part of college life. They organise trips, events and nights out for their members. It’s a great way to make friends and meet people with similar interests, while becoming more involved in something that’s important to you. It’s definitely worth taking the time to find a society that interests you.

Some Differences Between School and College

Semesters

In secondary school the year is split into autumn term (September to Christmas), spring term (January to Easter) and summer term (Easter to June), with midterms in between. The college year is split into two terms or semesters. Each semester is 12 weeks long. The first semester runs from September to Christmas, and the second semester from January to May. In UCD most courses have a reading week in the middle of each semester (a week of no classes to catch up on reading and studying – don’t call it a midterm, your lecturers will not be happy). At the end of the 12 weeks you have a study week and then end of semester exams which take place over a two-week period. That means you only have 24 weeks of classes in the entire year – much less intense than school!

 

Examinations and assignments

In UCD there are both Christmas and summer exams; semester one exams are held before Christmas and semester two exams are held before summer. Some colleges don’t have Christmas exams, the exams for both semesters are held in summer. This is another reason I love UCD - you get semester one exams out of the way at Christmas when the information is still fresh in your head.

You are rarely graded 100% on an exam. Usually you are examined on a mixture of assignments and exams. The assignments usually take the form of an essay or a group project, and are usually worth about 30% – 50% of the grade. The exam makes up the remaining 50% – 70%. Sometimes instead of an essay there’ll be a short midterm test. Some modules are entirely continuous assessment, meaning there are no end of semester exams (woohoo!).

I can’t speak for everyone, but personally I found college exams much easier than school exams - maybe because you only have to learn 12 weeks of information as opposed to two years, and in college they’re a bit nicer with the amount of time you have to answer a question. I’ll give you an example: for Leaving Cert Classics you had 20 minutes to write one essay answer, while in UCD you usually have about an hour for each essay answer.

Doing assignments and writing essays is much different in college than in school. In school you memorise and regurgitate information from one textbook. In college you are expected to research the topic and find a range of reliable, academic sources, critically analyse them and from them form your own opinion and answer to the question, referencing whenever you use someone else’s information or ideas.

 

Classes

Teaching is done through lectures, tutorials, and if you’re a science student, labs. Lectures are held in relatively large theatres and are 50 minutes long. The lecturer basically gives a presentation on a topic, which guides the students through ideas, theories and information. Students take notes and are expected to read up on the topic. There isn’t as much interaction between the lecturer and student as there is between teachers and students in secondary schools – the classes are usually too big (there can be up to 500 students in a lecture hall), but you can still ask questions of the lecturer and sometimes the lecturers will ask you questions too, or one of the lectures will be dedicated to a class discussion. Lecturers have office hours so students can meet and talk with them one-on-one. Tutorials are smaller groups, usually around 15 or 20 students. This is much more like a classroom setting, with more interaction with the teacher. It gives students the chance to further discuss topics with a teacher, as well as assignments and exams. Tutorials are also 50 minutes long. Not every course has tutorials, some only have lectures. For example, for a Classics module we had one lecture and one tutorial a week. Geography on the other hand had no tutorials, but had two lectures a week.

Theatre L is the largest lecture hall in UCD Arts Block

 

 

UCD Online

Depending on the school you were in, some of you will be used to using online resources such as moodle. When you register for UCD you get a UCD connect account, that gives you access to UCD email, newsletters, notice boards etc. You’ll also have a Blackboard account. Lecturers use Blackboard to keep in touch with their class – they’ll post announcements, reading lists and information about the module and assignments. Most lecturers will upload lecture notes onto Blackboard for the students to access. Students in many courses often decide to set up a Facebook group for their class. This is a great way to communicate with your class and is particularly helpful around assignment and exam time, everyone pulls together and helps each other out. You'll also have access to computers in UCD - computers line the walls of the corridors for students to check emails and timetables and for printing essays etc., you can borrow a laptop from the library for the day and there are computer labs for courses and classes that require them.




For anyone with a smart phone, there's a handy UCD app that gives

you access to blackboard, the library website, campus maps and

 news and events

 

 

And of course, freedom!

As an Arts student, I had about 15 hours of classes a week. That's about the equivalent of two school days. Which means you'll have a lot of free time on your hands. Obviously some hours will be spent studying and completing assignments etc. When you aren't in class you can come and go from UCD as you please, unlike school where students usually can't leave during free periods. There are none of the little rules there are in school - no one's going to give you detention for dying your hair a certain colour or for chewing gum or using your mobile. The only rules really are to pay attention in class and be respectful to your teachers and peers. You have to take more responsibility in college than school - there won't be teachers chasing you down if you don't attend class or hand in assignments or miss exams. It's up to you to do the work and to seek help if you're struggling. You're treated like an adult and will have much more control over your life.

 

Peer Mentoring

College is a wonderful experience. You get to study what you’re interested in, have the chance to take part in societies and get involved in things you’re passionate about, and meet lots of new and interesting people. Some of you will be living away from home for the first time. You have so much more freedom than you do in school. However, moving from school to college can be a bit of a shock for many students – it’s an entirely different system and a whole new environment. Most of you will have come from schools where all the teachers and students know you, and it’s normal to feel a bit (or a lot) lost at first. But fear not - everything will fall into place eventually, and in the mean time help is at hand. UCD runs a programme where first year students are assigned a ‘peer mentor’, a second or third year student in their course, someone who knows the ropes and who can show them around. Each peer mentor has a group of about 10-15 first years. The aim of the peer mentoring programme is to make the transition from school to college as smooth as possible.

 

When you arrive in September, you will meet your peer mentor group. The other first years or ‘mentees’ in your group will most likely be in the same classes as you, so it’s a great way to make friends from the very start. Fun activities are organised for the group during Orientation week, such as scavenger hunts, challenges, campus tours and social events. Some of you will have friends or siblings in UCD and you’ll probably be familiar with the college; for those of you from other countries and other parts of Ireland, orientation week is a great opportunity to suss out the campus before classes start, and your peer mentor will help you find your way around. Your peer mentor will be familiar with UCD and will know what’s involved in your course, so if you are unsure of anything or are having any difficulties they can help you or put you in touch with someone who can.

 

 

When you move on to second and third year, you’ll have the option of volunteering as a peer mentor yourself. When I arrived in UCD in September of 2010, there was no peer mentoring programme for Arts students. I knew very few people in UCD, so the first couple of weeks were a bit difficult for me. That’s why I decided to volunteer as a mentor when the programme was finally introduced to Arts a year later – I understood how it could benefit new students. I’m not going to lie: peer mentoring was sometimes hard work, especially the first few weeks – sorting out registration problems, subject changes, organising activities, leading campus and library tours; keeping tabs of 15 first years can be a bit hectic. But it’s something I’m glad I did - if it helped make just one student’s first year less stressful and more enjoyable, it was worth it. For the most part, my first years had few problems and settled in quickly enough, which was great!

 

I hope you enjoy your first year at UCD and that you’ll be encouraged to volunteer as a peer mentor yourself – it’s a great programme to be involved in.

Getting Involved: Student-Staff Rep

This year I was one of three student-staff reps for the third year geography group. At the end of class one day our lecturer asked for volunteers to sit on the student-staff committee (a committee of lecturers and students that serve as a communication platform between the school and its student body to make sure everyone is happy with the way things are and to solve any issues that may arise). To be honest, at the start I was a bit apprehensive about it – I already had my hands full with peer mentoring, working for the ambassadors and keeping on top of my studies. But when no-one else volunteered, my friend and I decided to. Looking back, it’s something I’m really glad I did. It didn't take up much time at all – the committee only met a couple of times during the year, meaning I didn’t have to sacrifice any mentoring or ambassador time or good grades to participate in it. And despite only meeting a few times, we got stuff done and some important issues worked out. One of our classes had a heavy amount of reading involved in it and students were falling behind. After talking to the lecturers on the committee, they agreed to give us a couple of free classes so we could catch up on readings. After a particularly difficult exam that few people did well in, we talked to the lecturers and they marked up everyone’s grade. Communication works both ways, and as well as bringing students’ problems to the lecturers, we discussed the issues and worries of the teaching staff, such as low attendance at lectures, with the students. We also participated in an outside evaluation of the geography programme, discussing what worked well and what didn’t, and suggesting ways to improve it in the future for all you lovely incoming students (you’re welcome!).

 

I’d definitely recommend volunteering as a student-staff rep. It gives you the chance to actively shape your academic experience; you deal with issues that directly affect you and your peers and you have the opportunity to help make it a better experience for everyone. If I was a career guidance counsellor I’d say you gain valuable communication and problem-solving skills. It’s also a good way to get to know your fellow students, as they come to you with issues they want brought up at committee meetings and you report back to them. You also get to know your lecturers better. From sitting on the committee I realised how sound the geography lecturers were – they were more than willing to listen to the concerns of their students and to help fix any problems. You play an important role as a means of communication between students and teachers, you learn a lot, and it doesn’t take up much of your time. Definitely something worth doing.