nice town, but look into UCD maybe? January 05, 2024

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The classes were interesting but support systems and feedback were severely lacking.

On-site administration of your program

The visiting students program seemed understaffed or did not anticipate the number of students who would be attending orientation programs. Administrative tasks were functional but time intensive.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Off campus student housing was expensive but nice enough. The University does not guarantee housing but was able to secure it for single semester students (albeit with much stress and uncertainty and at the last second).

Highly recommend Lidl for groceries, food was not prohibitively expensive especially if you're mostly cooking for yourself.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I was able to feel somewhat integrated into the culture of some campus societies and with my roommates, but less so with the local culture. Classes are large and provide less of an opportunity for meeting people than tutorials, which are infrequent depending on the course.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I didn't have a notable healthcare experience. I was able to successfully get cold medicine for my roommate from the pharmacy and that wasn't too expensive. I sought campus mental health support and that was free but understaffed (would recommend joining the waitlist sooner rather than later if you think you will want support).

For the most part, on a day to day, the city felt very safe, with the most glaring example to the contrary being the riots in late November. I think TCD did a decent job reacting to the situation and offering help to students on campus, but it is worth noting and the city did feel different and had a more visible police presence for the remainder of my time there. My safety advice would be largely the same as any other city -- be aware of your surroundings, especially in busy areas, and it's helpful to have access to immediate or local information whether through friends or neighbors or social media to hear about and keep track of developing situations.

TCD is a much larger school than I'm used to and that was somewhat expected, but I didn't anticipate the almost complete lack of feedback in most of my classes. There were very few assignments going into each course's grade and beyond that the assignments I did submit I received little and belated feedback for them (almost two months since submission).

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Housing was by far the most expensive thing. Groceries were extremely affordable and everything else is variable. If you get a student/youth pass for transit everything is half fare in Dublin, as well as some trains going to other cities -- very worthwhile to look into.

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