Where's best for what at third level?

Deciding which college is best for you can depend on a lot of factors and many of them are personal to you. Here’s our ‘best for’ list – and it’s not all about course choice

ACADEMICS

Trinity College Dublin and UCD

According to the Times World University rankings for 2011-2012, Trinity College Dublin was ranked 117th in the world overall. This was the highest ranking for an Irish university with UCD in second place at 159th. Just five years ago, Trinity made it into the top 50 universities in the world, while UCD was inside the top 100. However, government cuts to education budgets have meant that most Irish universities have slipped down the list.

In the most recent rankings, UCC also made it into the top 350, while NUI Galway and NUI Maynooth were in the top 400. Of course, different colleges are very often leaders in one field or another. So for specific courses, it’s best to contact institutions directly.

SPORTS

DCU

DCU has always had a vibrant sports community. Many different types are available for students to play. Plus an academic focus on subjects such as sports science and health means there’s a general “jock” atmosphere all around campus.

DCU’s Sport Scholarship programme is athlete-led with a network of support services and expertise available to individual athletes. Depending on an athlete’s achievement, potential and need, they can be allocated a sport scholarship at one of two levels – elite or talented, including up to €5,000 in support services.

Scholarships were initially introduced for GAA players only, but in recent times DCU has extended it out to include athletics, basketball, boxing, camogie, canoeing, Gaelic football, golf, handball, hockey, hurling, rugby, rowing, sailing, soccer and tennis. Other sports may also be included for consideration.

CRAIC

NUI Galway and Dublin Business School

Craic is as subjective as modern art or crisp flavours. So it’s a difficult one to quantify or qualify. It really depends on what you’re looking for. But NUI Galway has always had a reputation for good times among its alumni. Both the college grounds and the surrounding city make a beautiful backdrop for any festivities. Plus Galway city’s bohemian reputation goes down well with incoming students.

A pride in all things Irish, which isn’t really captured as well by any other city, means that craic in its literal sense is never hard to find. Irish dancing, traditional music and general tomfoolery are in good supply, while venues like Róisín Dubh’s and The Crane Bar bring the best of local and international music to the city each week. Plus the atmosphere created by the many bars and restaurants of Shop Street is electric at any time of the day. Even if you can’t get into the bars and you’re sitting on the banks of the Corrib, the abundance of Galwegian music, art and culture all around you combined with a tipple of your choice is your only man on a Friday night. Or a Saturday night.

Dublin Business School is well known on the academic scene and offers a massive range of undergraduate courses from business and journalism to film, marketing and law. It’s a private college, fully recognised and accredited by professional bodies, and it’s well worth considering if the course choice appeals to you. There is tax relief available on course fees so it may not work out to be as expensive as you might first imagine.

From a craic point of view, you can’t get much better in terms of location. The campus, in the heart of Dublin city centre, is small by the standards of the other city centre institutions but this means that DBS students have to make a real effort and create their own fun. A really diverse student population adds to the experience. They work hard and party hard. It’s character building.

LGBT

DIT

Voted DIT’s Best Society in 2012, the LGBT Society is getting bigger and stronger each year. Contrary to what people might think, LGBT societies don’t just organise nights out to gay bars or bingo nights in The George and the DIT LGBT Society is no exception.

It has organised all manner of activities for its members including a camping trip, panel discussions, the Dublin Ghost Bus tour, Guinness storehouse for St Patrick’s Day, themed movie nights, a trip to the Rocky Horror Show and The Jerry Springer Show in the Grand Canal Theatre, pancakes for Pancake Tuesday, coffee mornings as Gaeilge, Christmas dinner and even greyhound racing. It’s open to both gay and straight DIT students and prides itself on its open, all-inclusive atmosphere.

MUSIC

UL

UL is home to the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Here musicians, dancers, composers, singers, conductors, choreographers, musicologists and choreologists are all together under one roof. The atmosphere couldn’t be any more conducive to those with a keen ear for music.

Not only that but UL offers a wide range of scholarships, such as the RTÉ Lyric FM Scholarships to support the MA in Classical String Performance at the Irish World Academy. Since 1999 the scholarship has been awarded to students from Ireland, Australia, Malaysia, China, Hungary, Romania, Spain, Italy and the US.

The Paul Brady Scholarship provides €20,000 over three years to allow 25 musicians study at the Blas International Summer School. One of Ireland’s best loved singer songwriters does this in conjunction with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, which is also home to the Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance. Then there is the Muckross House Dance Scholarship, the Stepping Stones Scholarship, Sing Out with Strings Scholarship Fund, The EMI Music Sound Foundation, and PhD research funding.