So you make ask why would you choose to do physics in UCD and it’s a good question. There are a huge number of reasons in my opinion. I’m currently studying physics in UCD and have just finished my second year of study. I believe that I could not have made a better choice in where to study.
I know a lot of people are a little daunted by the idea of studying physics. Whenever I’m asked what I study and I say physics everyone usually has the same reaction of ‘oh that’s great you must be really smart so, it wouldn’t be for me though’ or something along those lines. However, I think that this is untrue. Everyone would be able to do physics if they put their mind to it and there is no better place than UCD. The reason being is that it breaks this huge daunting undergraduate into manageable pieces really making it available to anyone who wants to do it.
The reason why I chose this course in particular to start with was that I had heard many good things about it such as the versatility of the course and that it was a fantastic university to go to, which for me after the Open Day I wholeheartedly agreed with. During my two years here, I can’t count the amount of times I’ve went to the staff asking for help with their modules and they have gone out of their way to help me understand in any possible. One of the main things that makes it such a great place to study physics is the friendliness and the approachability of the staff. They talk to you as if you were a peer which makes a great difference for me anyway.
The atmosphere among the students themselves is a fantastic one as well. Everyone gets along really well and there are often events which we organised ourselves. For example, we once organised a formal day where everyone came in wearing suits and dresses and we managed to raise some money for charity. We got a few questioning looks from some of the lecturers but it turned out quite well and everyone got to get out their formal cloths for once. There are fun events like this throughout each trimester whether organised by students themselves or the Physics Society which really lets you get to know who else is in the course outside of lectures.
In my experience UCD is a fantastic environment even when it comes to staff-student reactions. In labs, which are mandatory for the course, we would often chat away to the demonstrators while we are waiting for the lab equipment to finish up or they would talk to us about what things we can look forward to in the coming years which makes for a really relaxed atmosphere that I think is a great help when you are doing labs.
For a lot of students that come to UCD, the versatility in the choice of modules you can do is great. While there are certain core modules you have to do in Physics, the rest is up to you. It is a great opportunity to shape your degree and one you do not see in many other places. While you are in the physics course, this is also part of the general science course so you have the ability to choose from any number of science modules from all of the other disciplines which lets you get a flavour for other science disciplines if you want to. These and just the all-around fantastic atmosphere of the university are the reasons why I chose and love studying physics at UCD.
