Q: One of my students has applied for music in Trinity College Dublin and also in the Cork College of Music; both have scheduled their day long practical music tests for March 23rd. Can something be done about this absurd situation? - Dublin teacher A: It is absurd and totally unnecessary. This used to happen regularly with art and design courses, but they eventually got it sorted out. Now music is starting the same nonsense. Trinity says it has always had its tests on the last Saturday in March; the Cork college says when it announced its date ages ago, nobody else had set a date.
There are only a handful of music courses around and it should be a very simple matter for them to get together and ensure that there is no overlap in the timing of the practicals. Next year the Cork course will be in the CAO system, so perhaps the CAO can exert some influence. If Trinity really has always had it on the last Saturday in March, then I suppose one could argue it has precedence. But students and teachers should not have to argue and lobby on such an issue - the colleges themselves should ensure that there is no overlap.
I'd suggest you get together with other guidance counsellors and make a formal submission to the colleges.
Q: My friend and I already have a degree but we want to do a course in France next year. Unfortunately, the fees are £2,500 and nobody can tell us if we are entitled to any financial support. Can you help? - Dublin student.
A: I don't think your chances of getting any funding are great. The Minister for Education is considering extending grants to students studying in other EU states from next year - but if you do not meet the means test requirements you would not be eligible.
In other words, if you did not qualify for a grant as an undergraduate here, then you are unlikely to qualify as a post grad either.
There is quite a lot of EU money available to encourage students to study in other member states. But this is all channelled through specific schemes such as Erasmus, for which you would have to be on a course here in Ireland that operates a formal exchange scheme with another EU college. It is not money that is just handed out to individuals. Fees have been abolished here for undergraduate courses, but not for postgrad ones, so that would rule out the Irish Minister for Education - paying your fees in France.
The only real entitlement - you have is not to be charged any higher fees than a French - student on the same course; check if native French students are asked to pay £2,500. If they are not - and assuming it is a state run and not a private college - then they cannot charge you £2,500.
In your full letter you mention the possibility of getting a company to sponsor you. There is no great tradition of such sponsorship in Ireland - though quite a few British companies do so - so I don't honestly think your chances are great.
Q: My son had been planning to take physics in the Leaving Cert. But he has developed an interest in investment banking and we're wondering if he should do economics instead. What do you think? - Howth, Co Dublin, parent A: My first reaction is that the laws of physics might prove a lot more useful in investment banking than the laws of economics! But I suppose the proper answer is that he should do whichever of the subjects he likes best and is most interested in.
He doesn't really need to do economics in the Leaving Cert just because he may go into banking. It is perfectly possible to do a degree in commerce, business or finance without having any business subject in the Leaving Cert at all.
If he likes physics and is good at it, stick with it; on the other hand, if physics is a drag and he'd enjoy economics more, then go for economics.
His other career interest, you say, lies in the science and engineering direction. That to me would indicate holding on to the physics to maximise his options in this direction, but without closing off the financial route.
At the moment career opportunities in financial services are good; investment banking would therefore be a reasonable choice. I'd just be worried that he might see it as a glamorous yuppie sort of career. I would suggest looking at the whole wide spectrum of financial and banking careers.
Q: My brother was born and brought up in London but his parents are Irish and he is an Irish citizen. He would like to go to university in Ireland. Is he eligible for a grant if he does so? - Dublin reader A: Grants are decided on the basis of residence, not nationality. This applies in both Irish and British regulations. Thus the fact that your brother is an Irish citizen has no bearing on the matter. He has not been resident in Ireland, so he does not qualify for a grant from the Irish authorities. However, he is a London resident and should qualify for a grant from his local London borough. If he were going to college in the UK, it would be automatic; it should also be automatic if he comes to college here, a fellow EU member state.
However, some local authorities in Britain have become niggly about grants and have been refusing to pay grants to residents going out side the UK. Strictly speaking they are not entitled to do that under EU regulations. Plenty of boroughs still do grant aid their residents studying in Ireland, so I would push it hard with my local borough if I were your brother.
Failing this, complain to the Department of Education and Science in London; it sets the broad regulations for the grants system.
I have also had a letter from an Irish student complaining that as she had been told that she would have to be resident for three years in the UK before she would qualify for a British maintenance grant (as opposed to free fees), this represented discrimination against the Irish. In fact, British and Northern Irish students themselves must also meet the three year residence qualification, so there is no discrimination.
Q: My daughter has applied to British colleges through UCAS for pharmacy and actuarial studies. So far she has not got even one conditional offer. How can they reject her before they even know what her exam results are? - worried Co Meath mother A: I think I know exactly why she is being turned down; the clue is in your question.
There is a big difference between working as a pharmacist and as an actuary. In the UCAS system, all the colleges you list get to see your actual application form (as against the CAO system, where they do not).
British colleges like their applicants to have made a fairly clear career decision. They expect students to have decided that they will work in the general area of business, for example, or science. An admissions tutor in a UCAS college would get very suspicious of someone who was still trying to decide whether she wanted to go into insurance or opt for a medical/scientific career. I suspect that may be why she is being turned down.
As to how they can do this before the exam results, it is quite simple: the UCAS form asks for quite a bit of detail about the student's interests and extracurricular involvement; it requires a very precise report from the school which includes details of Junior Cert results and a prediction of Leaving Cert grades. On the basis of these and taking her pattern of course choices into account - they decide if she is the calibre of student they are looking for. They then make a conditional offer, i.e. they state that, provided she gets five B2s (or whatever) in the Leaving Cert, they will give her a place. The offer is therefore condition on the student getting the required grades.
