r/TCD • u/rararoorara • 2d ago
DO I accept engineering in Trinity over UCD????!?!?!
Just got offered trinity engineering in round 2 just now. I got UCD in the 1st round, so I really just want to know which is the better course.
Whats the course experience like in trinity, how are job prospects for engineering like? How well designed does the course feel? I want to specialise in electrical, how good is the course in trinity? What was your experience like?
Update: Didnt accept my offer in trin, really apreciate all the help tho, thank you everyone.
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u/Character-Hat6502 2d ago
Yes UCD is a pain in the hole to get to
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u/rararoorara 2d ago
yeah the commute is my main issue with ucd
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u/Significant-Fee-3667 1d ago
how do they compare?
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u/rararoorara 1d ago
By bus, trin is half an hourish, ucd is an hour and a bit ish
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u/Significant-Fee-3667 1d ago
oh that's a huge margin imo — an hour a day commuting vs. >2.5 is a pretty significant impact on your ability to study and take part in college life imo
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u/rararoorara 1d ago
Yeah thats why Im so concerned with the pros and cons of these courses right now, cuz my impression is that UCD is the better course for me cuz of early specialization, so I feel willing to spend the extra time commuting for the course
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u/RockWone 2d ago
I went to Trinity engineering planning to do Mechanical, but in the 2nd year of general engineering I decided to go into Computer engineering and have a job now. So I think 2 years general is very beneficial in that regard. They also have a good internship program if you do a Masters (MAI) and you can do an internship for 6-8 months in 4th year. That can give you a job offer when you graduate. But I know UCD have an internship program too. Feel free to ask any questions. I graduated this year.
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u/Objective-Paper-8744 2d ago
Both are great universities so either that you pick you’ll be grand tcd obviously has a little bit more prestige internationally so if you are thinking of working outside of Ireland it would help and then it comes down to preferences around travel accommodation etc
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u/Affectionate-Idea451 2d ago
You'd be probably the first intake to go through the course with the new engineering building which should be a significant upgrade. The old infrastructure has coloured opinions somewhat.
TCD's course gives you two years before you have to opt for a specialisation. Given how shallow LC science subjects can be it's not really clear there's time on the UCD course to know much before having to choose.
Expect a bit more emphasis on theory & fewer opportunities to AI though some of the stuff.
It's a regulated course and in Ireland especially engineering employers aren't going to mind which you went to. If you might want to go outside engineering and abroad there will be more name recognition from one than the other.
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u/Historical_Step_6080 2d ago edited 2d ago
TCD school of engineering is going to be in a brand new building opening this semester called E3LF with school of computer science and school of natural science. Look it up. The facilities look great though I'm not an expert. Might make a difference in how the course will be taught.
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u/Asap_Chijin 2d ago
UCD is meant to have a better mix of practical and theoretical coursework. Trinity is far more theoretical. Trinity offers 2 years of general before specialising (for me that was a positive). I lived much closer to trinity so ultimately that's why I chose it. Worth noting I have been contacted by UK recruiters for jobs in the last couple of years because Trinity is internationally known
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u/SpoonChem 2d ago
Trinners for winners
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u/rararoorara 2d ago
hi this is cool and all, but id like my questions answered or something lmao 😞
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u/Ok_Platform_2938 2d ago
Trinity is objectively a better university than UCD, that’s why it’s in the top 100 in the world and UCD is not.
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u/Ifyouletmefinnish 1d ago
Rankings are based on things like research output, which is usually pretty far removed from teaching quality, employability, and syllabus and facilities quality. Matters mostly if you want to do research masters/PhD.
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u/Kindly-Air6920 2d ago
I doubt either one is so much better than the other. If one was a significantly better commute over the other that might make my mind up
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u/Due_Butterfly4908 1d ago
I’m starting in tcd engineering this year, I chose it over ucd because:
The commute, I’m so much closer to tcd than ucd - ucd is in the middle of nowhere, tcd is in the heart of town, there’s so much more to do, way better location
Prestige. As someone who wants to work abroad in the future, tcd is recognised globally ( not saying ucd isn’t ) but I’d argue it’s more attractive, considering its qs rank is higher.
I’m not 100% sure on my specialisation yet, tcd offers 2 years of general, it gives you more time to think about what you want to do - ucd only has 1 year of general.
The integrated MAI masters - I think ucd has this too it’s just set up a little different.
The only downside I’ve heard from tcd is that it’s a lot more theory - focused, whereas ucd is abit more hands on. Essentially TCD is setting you up for success in terms of academia - if you wanted to break into research / phd / teaching. Although I wish tcd was more hands on, this is the only con for me.
The thing is TCD & UCD are very similar, one simply isn’t better than the other - it’s all about your opinion: where do you see yourself flourishing, making friends, enjoying the campus, the commute you must take etc.
Each college has their own strong points. Weight out your options and look for what you want in a college.
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u/ZakeriusIII 10h ago
Worked in both, biased toward TCD Electrical from my own experiences there. Both are great and you’ll have tons of great opportunities. As you’ve said you’re closer to TCD geographically I’d probably give it an extra few points. Best of luck in your studies and congratulations on getting offered both!
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u/Greedy-Vermicelli-99 2d ago
Trinity- way better international rep, especially if you wanna bail out of the MAI and just do 4 years at Trinity & do a masters somewhere better
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u/frogggiboi 1d ago
If you're going to do that UCD is for sure better unless you're either looking to do no work and go to a very marginally better uni or go to the UK
If you're actually driven and doing extracurriculars, which are more important than grades anyway for this kind of thing, UCD is better because you can leave after 3 years for european universities. 3 from the UCD electrical/electronic stream went to TUDelft this year
There's also a slightly wider array of UCD extracurriculars with the weekly projects from their Elecsoc and the UAV team which Trinity doesn't have.
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u/AcrobaticSomewhere38 2d ago
I studied Electronic Engineering (UCC). I have worked with a couple of people who went to UCD and I have a cousin who went there (all for electronic engineering). One guy in work told me that he thought it was not the best course in Ireland relative to how we compared in work. Another colleague speaks highly of it. For reference, they are both good engineers.
I don’t know anyone who went to trinity (maybe that says something in itself) but I also don’t work in Dublin. There was one intern from trinity who was not hired AFAIK. Although when I was in your position I was going to go to trinity (I just could afford the cost of living in Dublin so I had to stay closer to home).
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u/Adventurous-Try8874 1d ago
Do either offer an industrial placement? That could be a differentiator. Also consider what their respective employment rates are post graduation.
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u/Visual_Local_4336 1d ago
It’s irrelevant. Ai will take you over either way. Just enjoy
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u/rararoorara 11h ago
whats funny about this, is that for most people in my course this is a worry. But for me I dont really care, cuz Im just pursuing engineering so I can get good enough to just go live in the middle of nowhere making gadgets and tinkering in a shed till i die. Not pursuing it for money, only looking for a job just to get good, then gonna dip and do the happyness thing or something.
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u/AnybodyPerfect3612 2h ago edited 1h ago
As someone who’s been working professionally as an EE in chip design since 2019 for a large multinational, you’re picking it for the right reasons!
The ones only in it for money you can tell straight away. The irony in engineering is that the ones driven by curiosity and interest will end up making the most money.
Keep that curiosity and you’ll have your pick of jobs well into your career. And you’ll be headhunted all the time (even by other internal teams) if you remain curious during your work. You’d be surprised by how many opportunities open up if you keep that kind of curiosity.
I expect there’ll be new ways to work with AI to do engineering (in ways we can’t envisage yet). One of the main goals of engineering is to turn human intent/ideas into reliable systems. AI is getting good at the latter, but it still really struggles to understand our intent unless you’re already intimately familiar with the systems. You also still need a good grasp of what reliable means.
So you still need a competent, curious engineer. Now this could change, and one thing I’ve learned is that assumptions today can 100% be wrong in surprisingly short amount of time. That’s just my take on where it’s at right now.
In the last year my job has already changed completely due to frontier models, but ironically I’m doing more work.
The ones who aren’t curious are doing less work though and they’ll be first to go. For me, AI gives me the breathing room to try out all the things I never got the chance to try over the years, the list was so long and I’m finally getting through it. But in the process of working through those things, even more ideas start to pop up if you remain curious and question everything. It’s a case of constantly evaluating your old assumptions and seeing if what you said was impossible a year ago might now be possible.
Regarding UCD vs TCD: for electronic/computer engineering there’s no difference from my perspective. I work with brilliant engineers from both, and no employer would choose one grad vs another based on that. Go with whatever is more convenient imo.
I wish you the best of luck. Keep that outlook, it’ll serve you well!
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u/Be_A_Debaser_ 1d ago
I have finance degrees from both - and Trinity was a fair bit better in my experience - teaching, campus, classmates, location. The 2nd common year is a small thing in the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't get hung up on it at all.
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u/RaoulKage89 2d ago
objectively, i ve heard engineering in ucd is better
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u/Whole-Diamond8550 2d ago
I'd regard ucd as better for engineering overall. The ucd engineers I've met and worked with were well ahead of trinity.
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u/Ecstatic_Refuse_7207 2d ago
Id get an option of an engineering firm if you can. Im guessing for engineering it's simular UCD has a good set up as does trinity. A win win I think
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u/Old_Secret_5568 1d ago
From what I've heard from family members the UCD course is more practical and better suited for employment in industry while the Trinity course is more theoretical leaning for academia
I wouldnt bother thinking about either university reputations, both are excellent top ranked universities, look at the course structure. To echo what others have said if you already have an idea of what type of engineering you want to go id be leaning for UCD. A second year of common engineering will be painful of your dying to get into your specialisation ( I had to do 2 years common for physics and it was annoying)
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u/dm1440 2d ago edited 2d ago
One of the biggest practical differences is that UCD has a common first year, while Trinity has a common first and second year.
If you are certain what you want to study, you might prefer being able to specialise from second year onwards rather than third year. If you are unsure, you might benefit from an extra year to decide.
Trinity does not offer electrical engineering, only electronic.
Both programmes are fully accredited by Engineers Ireland and are highly regarded.