Honors degree? How to apply to an Irish grad school?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Giancarlo, Apr 30, 2002.

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  1. Giancarlo

    Giancarlo New Member

    In the next few weeks I will apply to a brick-and-mortar graduate school in Ireland – I plan to spend a year Dublin, get a MA in International relations and, yes, have a lot Guinness – and I have a couple of doubts about how best to fill the application, since I am not familiar to the Irish/English higher education structure.
    I am currently enrolled at Excelsior, with about 24 credits to go to complete my BA in Liberal Studies (a.k.a. BSL), with a current GPA of 3.54. I should be able to complete it before next September, when the classes begin, but that is not really a matter of life or death since, due to my professional qualifications, the director of the course said he will support my admission even without the proper academic requirements (this is possible, although not very common, in several Irish and English universities).
    The application form asks to discriminate what kind of “honours primary degree” (not honors, of course) degree the applicant holds. The honours are divided among 1st, 2.1, 2.2, and 3rd; there is also a column for “pass”. What exactly does it mean? What I should write?
    The application form also asks to state: 1) Institution attended; 2) Period of attendance; 3) Name of program; 4) Length of program; 5) Full-time or part-time; 6) Name of awarding body. I enrolled at Excelsior in 2001, had my old Italian college credits recognized, tested about 38 credits so far, and I am currently completing a DL Algebra course. So, what I should answer for 2), 5) and 6)?

    Thank you all very much.

    Giancarlo
     
  2. Giancarlo:

    I am sympathetic because I had to translate my undergraduate credentials in the other direction. I don't know the Irish system, and so will speak from the U.K. perspective (which I believe is similar). U.S. degrees are generally regarded as rather diverse in depth and in assessment (as has been discussed ad nauseum here). So a direct translation between U.K. and U.S. is not possible. In U.K., a 2.1 (upper second) is generally required for entry into a research Master's and a 2.2 for entry into a taught Master's program. Rough equivalents in U.S. would be 2.2 = GPA 3.0, 2.1 = GPA 3.5, 1st = GPA 3.8. I may get complaints about giving those numbers, since U.S. GPAs are considered to be so variable as to require a case-by-case evaluation. For example, see Warwick's Postgraduate Admissions Procedures. In your case, I would suggest you simply write "GPA 3.54" and footnote that it's roughly equivalent to a 2.1 if you like.

    For the other questions:

    2) State the full time you spent, footnoting if possible that some of this time was in Italy and some at Excelsior.
    4) 4-year program.
    5) Part time
    6) Excelsior College, University of the State of New York
     
  3. ahodgers

    ahodgers New Member

    Irish grad school

    Giancarlo

    Go with Gert's answers to your questions. Good answers

    Let me know which B&M grad school you want to attend in Dublin and I will talk to the admissions dept for you to see if they have any policy with regard to US degrees and awarding of GPA's. I does vary depending on the University i.e NUI constituent school or not (Trinity College)

    Andrew
    MBA 2002
    Oxford Brookes University
     
  4. Giancarlo

    Giancarlo New Member

    Gert, Andrew, thank you very much.

    I am going to apply to the Dublin City University. Wish me luck...
     

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