What Students Say
Likes
- Professors understanding of the concepts.
- Study material provided by the professors.
- Good mixture of industry based projects and research oriented projects.
Dislikes
- Number of student intake was too large.
- Not every professor was very good at teaching.
- Course content was a bit too generic.
Course Curriculum
8
- I would say the difficulty level of my course curriculum was quite difficult but manageable if you grasp all the concepts well and dedicate a good amount of your time during the week to self-studying. It was a good mix of theoretical and practical, and most importantly, it was research-oriented. I have already mentioned the positive and negative aspects of my course in the initial page of the form in brief and those are mainly it.
Admission Experience
- I had applied to NUIG University of Galway but I was rejected and the reason was unknown but most probably because they required my engineering percentage to be above 72%. Then I had applied to Dublin City University (DCU), and I received an acceptance from it and I decided to go ahead with this university. These were the only 2 universities/colleges that I had applied to.
- I had decided to apply to only these two universities because I felt that their course content related to AI comprised all the concepts that are required to gain a good research and industry-level knowledge of this field. Dublin and Galway having a good reputation and being the largest cities in Ireland also played a key role in exploring further opportunities. I don't quite remember the application process, but it had the basic requirements of submitting your LOR, SOP, other educational documents, and work reference letter (if any) and submitting them before the deadline of the admission process. My university required IELTS (I don't remember the exact IELTS Score required but I think it was 6.5). I had got 7.5, and for my course, it also required a previous bachelor's degree in the field of computing or some related experience in it. The overall admission process was pretty smooth.
- I had applied to the 2021-2022 intake. I had decided in late 2019 that I wished to pursue further education. I had first looked at options within India but I was working at Accenture during that time and I didn't have enough time to prepare for the entrance exams for MTech. Compared to that, the process for studying abroad, especially in Ireland, is much easier, as only IELTS is required along with a good background that can be highlighted in your SOP (which I had). The admission process didn't take too long, as I received my acceptance quite soon after applying for it.
Class Schedule
8
- There were at most 2 classes scheduled in a day and the timings were usually varied (but wouldn't have an end after 5 PM). The average number of students was 200 in my class. 80% of the entire class was Indian.
Faculty
8
- The faculty-to-student ratio was a weak point, as there were way too many students in my course. I think it was because I was in the very next batch after the COVID 2020 batch and many students had deferred their course so the university allotted everyone to the same year. Please be very clear that teaching is done to provide you with a research-focused mindset and it has very little to do with getting a job. A job needs experience or skills that are helpful to a company. Although my university did a good job at providing industry-level knowledge, the professors never necessarily pushed you to think in a job-specific mindset.
Campus Life
8
- My university has around 4 campus accommodations. The campus accommodations are - 1. Postgrad Apartments 2. College Park 3. Hamstead Apartments (All these 3 are in the DCU Glasnevin campus). Then there are 4. All Hallows campus accommodations. The campus has facilities like a library, pharmacy, bar, restaurants, praying areas, open areas for leisure, a theater (only has university-related shows, not an actual movie theatre), a gym, a sports ground for football, and a swimming pool in the gym. I don't remember the major ones but there are always some or other events going on within the campus, especially until summer starts (by May).
- Once the summer starts, there are no events. Events like student meetups, diwali, christmas, small events; there are also clubs like anime fan clubs and any other club that you can imagine.
Part Time Jobs
- There are very limited opportunities for the Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant and the Departmental Assistant positions. Only 2-3 people in a course get this opportunity. I don't know the pay range for these positions. There aren't many options available on campus for students to do part-time. Maximum hours of work allowed per week are 20 hours during the first 2 semesters and 40 hours in the last semester. Securing a part-time job on campus requires really good connections.
- It depends on what kind of a job the student is doing. Most people work at stores and earn somewhere around 11.5 euros per hour. Currently, it has started to become very difficult to secure a part-time job in Ireland. The usual process to apply for part-time jobs is mostly through their careers page or they can also secure a job using connections or by applying directly to a shop by handing the manager your CV.
Placement
6
- There is no such percentage of students securing employment but a better criterion is to see in which field students are getting a job more often. This remains with fields like IT and Finance. There are also nursing jobs available here. The average salary range completely depends on the person's previous experience. The best way to find a job is to visit LinkedIn or the careers page of the companies and keep looking for open roles as soon as they open up. Campus fairs are good for grad roles. My batchmates have been working in fields like IT and Finance and in IT they are mostly software developers (so am I).
Accommodation
Off Campus
4
- I applied for the university accommodation and got the same. I also kept on applying for accommodations outside of daft.ie and also found out the contact numbers of some agents. Telegram and facebook are good platforms to find accommodations as well. I was paying 720 euros for a single ensuite room shared with 4 other people (although the rent has now increased).
- Finding accommodation is the hardest thing to do while studying in Ireland. I couldn't attend any viewings, as I was in India when I was applying for accommodations so that was a challenge.
- On top of that, landlords prefer people who are working in Ireland, have a stable income and have a landlord reference letter. As I was staying in the campus accommodation, my accommodation was literally inside the campus. There is no such data available that tells where Indians mostly stay, as they can stay anywhere from campus accommodations to rented flats.
Exams
- IELTS is required (but I think even TOEFL is accepted). These are some of the documents that are required to get an admission (There might be more but these are the ones at the top of my head) - SOP, IELTS card, LOR, Work reference contact and letter (if available), Engineering marksheets for all semesters, 10th and 12th marksheets, and CV. There was no interview as part of my application process. The admission is done solely on the basis of the genuineness of the documents submitted, the fulfillment of minimum requirements, IELTS and, most importantly, SOP.
Fees
- The total fees that I had to pay were 17,500 euros (although they have increased now). I paid approximately 720 euros a month (including bills) for the university accommodation (although that too has increased now). It was a single ensuite room shared with 4 other people.
- The fees are charged yearly (at least that was the case for me). Monthly expenses completely depend on the person and how much that person spends on their daily needs and other leisurely activities.
Scholarship
- There was no scholarship available for my course but there were scholarships for other courses available. Some of my batchmates had received scholarships for their courses, which I guess were somewhere around 2000-2500 euros for course fees of around 15000 euros. I think they had opted for business-related Master's courses. I don't know how many people on average receive scholarships.
