Welcome back!
Sorry for the hiatus, I’ve been in finals mode for the past few weeks trying to get high marks! On the topic of grades, I figured I would go into some of the nitty gritty details about studying at Trinity, before jumping into some of the more fun stuff.
So you’re thinking about studying at Trinity? Amazing choice, I like the way you think. When reflecting back on my time applying for studying abroad, there are a few tidbits I figured I would share with you that would have been helpful to know when weighing my options.
First: HC students are required to go to Trinity three weeks before first semester classes to participate in a pre semester module called the Semester Start-Up. This program teaches you all about Irish history, takes you on a bunch of field trips, and provides you with the opportunity to meet a bunch of other study abroad students before everyone arrives on campus. No need to stress, the class is super laid back and honestly is one of my favorite parts of last semester. We visited some amazing places, Glendalough being my favorite (i swear that place is magical). Plus, it allowed us to get accustomed to the city and the school way before everyone else came, so basically we were experts by the time the semester rolled around.
Second: You are only allowed to take classes in the areas of study you get accepted into. This is one of the most important things to keep in mind when applying for different study abroad programs, in my humble opinion. So for me, I knew that I needed to take a bunch of Psychology classes for my major, as well as complete my Cross-Cultural and Religion common area requirements. Thus, I made sure to apply for Psychology, Religion, and Art History on my Trinity application on “areas of study”, that way I could stay on track for completing my degree on time. The only hiccup was that I wasn’t accepted into the Statistics area of study, but thankfully I had planned my degree timeline accordingly so I didn’t need to take any classes for my minor this year. So, if you have specific requirements you need to get done, keep this in mind. Trinity isn’t like Holy Cross where you can take classes in any field, as you have to apply directly to each school of study and get approved to be able to take their classes.
Third: Class structures are widely different than at Holy Cross. Rather than having smaller classes that meet two or three times a week, you typically have one class that meets for 50 minutes a week, with about 70 or more students in that one lecture. Additionally, some of these classes will also have smaller seminars that meet every other week, which take more of the Holy Cross approach of discussion based learning. For me, this was part of the appeal to go to Trinity, as I wanted to challenge myself to take on learning in a different setting. Plus, rather than getting multiple weekly assignments throughout the semester, many classes only have one or two grades total, and you get weekly readings to do on your own. So the dynamic here is widely different from Holy Cross, as there is a lot of independent work that adds up to your one chance of proving you paid attention all semester.
Those are just some of the key information that I figured would be vital when thinking about coming here! Now that I have the foundational ideas out of the way, I’ll be sure to jump into some of the fun stuff next time. If you have any questions about Trinity, feel free to shoot me an email!
Until next time,
Emilee
