University College Dublin — Attraction in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

I studied in this university for 5 years from 2014 - 2019, and what an excellent education I received here. I graduated with a 1:1 Bachelors of Agricultural science degree (Specialising in Horticulture and Landscape mgt)

OK WELL...

Educational facilities, e.g laboratories, classrooms, computer rooms, tutorials, studios, Library, ag testing sites....are next level, 1st class ++++

Educational staff: A++ were really great, very helpful, understanding, good presenters, extremely knowledgeable, links with Industry etc...

Course content: very thorough, applicable to industry A+

Campus: B-..........A lot of people complain about the campus, but tbh its very green, well maintained, two lakes, open air, safe, bright. My only gripe would be there are not enough places to hang out/congregate!! its almost too big, in a weird way XD

Club & Societies- A+++ Absolutely incredible. i got really involved with the mountaineering club, Horticulture society and rowing team too :) so much to offer, they add so much value, easy way to meet new people!!! amazing fun.

Social life: GRADE C......I found it really difficult to meet new friends here (and I know many many others that did)...i really had a hard time integrating and i'm not a shy, or introverted person at all. Although I met many people I only made like 2 real friends in 4 years which is kinda dissapointing. I was so desperate to fit in, but I never could, I still dunno why to this day. Many of my friends went to TCD, DCU and trinity made so many new friends and life long friends...but there is something about UCD that makes it hard to make real friends. In the first 3 months, lots of people form a clique that they stick with for the next 4 years and if you aren't in a clique by then, well then good luck. I knew a lot of lonely people here, some even dropped out because of it. I mean I was very lonely for periods in UCD. The bar at UCD, isn't much craic at all, got a weird layout and pretty small for the size of UCD. it was the last day on campus, and they were playing live music and everyone was standing there like fools. So it ended being just me and two punk guys that danced XD beer is expensive too, like regular prices. (DONT GET ME WRONG, You will be friendly and have 'uni friends' yes, but long term mates, outside of campus, im not sure)

This really is my only gripe, which is why I give it 4 stars instead of 4!!!

BUT STILL, VERY GRATFEFUL FOR MY EDUCATION HERE, and it was a fantastic experience all the same. I leave you with a great photo from HORTICULTURE SOCIETY (Which I managed for 2 years) and mountaineering party and Rosemount, ! I am gonna be an Alumni in a few years after I make my millions in Agriculture, thanks...

UCD is one best colleges in Ireland and in the world. I was at the open day yesterday. It was my first time ever going to UCD and it was fabulous. I loved the campus and the buildings too.

I enjoyed the open day. There were plenty of talks on for different courses and there were campus tours all day. The talks were very good and the stands for all the courses in the O'Reilly Hall were very informative too. The students, ambassadors and lecturers were helpful and it was a very insightful day. It has helped me decide which college I want to go to next year after my Leaving Cert.

I did have two problems arise during the open day and that was the fact that there were so many overlapping talks that you would have to rush out in time for another talk. I would suggest they either increase the length of the open day or have atleast 2 open days in the year either back to back or one day in November and the other in April for example. I wanted to go to the physiotherapy talk yesterday but there was a long queue outside the lecture hall which was the perimeter of that room. There was only one physiotherapy talk too throughout the entire day. I'd also reccomend they have stalls at all the entrances giving out a bag of items with a map and the timetable of all the talks rather than having people who've never been to UCD like myself searching to find those booklets etc.

UCD has accommodation on campus right outside UCD village. There's a lot of parking space and there is disability access too. A lot of buses serve UCD so it's easy to reach the University via public transport. The 39A and the 17 are the two most popular buses. On weekdays at peak hours, they have extra buses running but are slightly more costly but the routes are longer and they will drop you outside your house such as the X30 from UCD to Adamstown. Unfortunately there is no Metro, Luas or DART options to UCD so on days of heavy traffic, expect to be on the bus for a very long time. UCD has a huge gym and many different buildings for different courses and the campus...

UCD has 2 campus, Belfield is their main campus. Approx 4 KM from Belfield campus they have UCD smurfit for management studies. Belfield is very huge and has all facilities for students. Connectivity is great they have a bus stop in university campus and every 5-10 minutes a bus arrives/ departs from their campus bus stop. They have huge car parking and massive accommodation in campus. There are many libraries in Belfield. James joyce library was very helpful for my studies and one can find all required books related to their subjects in the libraries. There is also a career network office. There are 2 coffee vans in campus where one can get snacks and coffee. These vans/ coffee trucks are not open on weekends. There are few restaurants also in campus where one can get nice food and they also have many vegetarian options. Campus has a massive lake and sitting area for students. There is an ample space for cycle parking at Belfield. At end of campus there are many playgrounds and one can book game field as per their requirement. Overall is it a very nice campus with great Connectivity and infrastructure. Just outside Belfield canpus there is pizza hut, many coffee shops and also dorset student accommodation. Stillorgan village is approx 3 KM from Belfield and city center is...