A few former students offer this year's freshers their words of wisdom – which you can now ignore and make your very own mistakes, writes ANNA CAREY
JANE McDONNELL
Publisher, The Glossmagazine. Studied science at TCD
For many school-leavers, it’s time to bin uniforms and this is the first time they’ve been allowed to express their individuality through fashion. There are pitfalls – if you intend to skip lectures it’s better to blend in. To be a true character on campus, you need to have the personality to match – mere clothes horses are open to ridicule. I always associate university with scarves, and one really smart bag, big enough to carry quite a few books, is a must. Invest in great flat boots. Don’t buy a thing until you get your student card: shops such as Topshop, American Apparel and Warehouse all offer great student discounts and if you can get a part-time job there, you’ll get an even bigger discount.
FINTAN O’TOOLE
Journalist. Studied English and philosophy at UCD
Most of what I learned in college was not curricular. It was about growing up, it was about making friends. I’m in my early 50s and at least half my closest friends are people I met in college. The people sitting around you in a lecture hall now will be the ones you’ll be sitting around with discussing the great property crash of the early 21st century when you’re 50. Your college years shape your life in very pleasant ways that have nothing to do with study. It’s about the friends and lovers you meet and the books you read and the crap bands you form and the movies you see. The older I get, the more I think that’s the most important stuff.
BRIAN GORMLEY
Campus Life manager at Dublin Institute of Technology. Studied Biotechnology in DCU
Five hundred years ago, a Florentine doctor called Marsilio Ficino wrote in his Book of Life that the “five principle enemies of students are phlegm, black bile, coitus, over-eating, and sleeping late”. If you substitute Guinness for black bile, then really nothing has changed since the 1400s. But sleeping late and missing lectures is the best indicator that a student will fail their exams.
So go to your lectures and keep up with your continuous assessment. It’s very important that students get to know their lecturers, and most are very approachable. But don’t be fooled into thinking that your lecturer is great craic, just because they’re friendly. If a lecturer receives an e-mail saying “Wz@frshrs bLL Lst nyt got Lcky if u no wot I mean. Prjct wiL b L8. xxx k8e”, then Katie will get an F for her project.
CLAIRE KILROY
Author of All Names Have Been Changedand Tenderwire. Studied English at TCD
College provides a safe environment to experiment and make your mistakes. Try to get out of the secondary school mindset of there being a right and wrong answer as soon as possible – academics, I’ve discovered, aren’t judging you in the way I assumed they were when I was 18. Take risks because you might surprise yourself. Education is more about broadening your horizons and learning how to think than about getting good marks, although if you do broaden your horizons and learn how to think, you’ll get good marks. More importantly, you’ll come out with a clearer notion of who you are, and who you could be.
Dr JENNIFER FOSTER
Director of the National Centre for Language Technology at Dublin City University. Studied computer science, linguistics and German at TCD
If you have a question about something in a lecture, tutorial or lab, speak up – the chances are that most of the class will have the same question and will be relieved that someone was brave enough to ask it. I remember when I found something puzzling as a student, I would generally try to figure it out on my own after the lecture. But when I started lecturing, I was grateful to those students who voiced their opinions or who admitted to being confused, because it made the class more interesting for everyone – and helped me improve my presentation of the material.
KATHY SHERIDAN
Journalist
Everyone feels overwhelmed in first year. People expect college to be brilliant straight away, and if it’s not and they have trouble coping, they feel like giving up. I feel very strongly that no matter how miserable you are, see out the year and see how you feel then. There’s always help available.
My daughter Mary Kate dropped out of Trinity in first year to tour with her band [Fight Like Apes], but she had a concrete plan and she knew her own mind so I had to accept it. I think most first years don’t have a plan – they have a wobbly and they leave, although in time and with help their problems would have been resolved.
BOB COGGINS
Of Campus.ie. Studied transport management at DIT, Bolton Street
Are societies and clubs important? Extremely. When you’re doing your second-round interview for the Brazilian beach volley ball team bus driver’s job, being able to mention you were a member of your college capoeira society will be a big plus. You meet the most like-minded and inspirational people in clubs and socs, so get involved. Approach everyone with the same open-minded attitude, make as large a circle of friends as possible, and you’ll never be stuck for studying/partying/romantic partners. Also, when you have figured out who all the stalkers are, invite them around for a party some night when you’re not there. This is a lovely surprise for your housemates, and will ensure they will never bother you again.
MATT COOPER
Presenter of The Last Wordon Today FM. Studied commerce at UCC
From a social point of view, which is an important part of going to college and a big part of growing up, I feel that I didn’t get the best out of my years at university. I didn’t throw myself into enough things, either by joining societies or clubs, just hanging around with a few friends I knew and not getting to know too many other people. It was a combination of being young – I’d just turned 17 when I started at UCC – and living at home.
Years later, I envied the stories that my wife and her friends would tell about their time at DCU and the bonds that they formed and that survived. They had great fun. I had fun. So my advice? You get three or four years that you’ll never get again: you will have to work but make sure to enjoy it, too.
DAVID NORRIS
Senator, presenter of Sunday with Norrison Newstalk. Former lecturer and student of English at TCD
Try to take a subject that interests you. Motivation is everything – it’s three or four years of your life and you must remember that it’s your life, not your parents’ life. I was a tutor for 10 years and I couldn’t count the number of students who came to me in distress, because their parents had forced them to do medicine or physics or something they didn’t want to do. When they changed subjects, they blossomed.
Dr EMILIE PINE
Lecturer in English at UCD. Studied English at TCD
Always go to a lecturer if you’re having difficulties. There can be a tendency to leave discussing problems until the end of term when it becomes a crisis, but as soon as you start having problems, talk to a tutor or lecturer. Office hours are there for students to drop in and talk to lecturers, but very few students use them.
MICHAEL BARRON
Director of BelongTo, a service for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people. Studied English and history at TCD
A lot of people come out when they go to college. Many mightn’t know any other LGBT people so they’re excited about making lots of new friends. But this can mean they feel a sense of pressure. They think they should automatically be best friends with the first gay person they meet – then they realise they have nothing in common.
College life can be a bit of a disappointment – they think they’ll be transported into New York in the 1970s, and the reality is a bit more mundane. You’ve got to remember that all that stuff takes time.
TOM DUNNE
Presenter of the Tom Dunne Show on Newstalk. Studied engineering at UCD
What do I wish I’d known as a fresher? It’s tempting to say that I would never really work as an engineer, but if I’d known that, I’d never have studied.
The thing that keeps sticking in my mind is the location of the Science Building. I arrived on my first day, and while standing on the steps of said building, asked an older student if she knew where it was. Without missing a beat she directed me to a far-flung terrace of UCD. It took about 20 minutes to get back to those steps, at which point, laden down with books and cycling gear, I was red-faced, perspiring and late. So, I wish I’d known a bit more about the college’s layout, and the casual, if exquisitely executed, malevolence of the lesser spotted arts student.
