Hi!
I’m an American student looking to apply to Trinity Dublin. Problem is, even after looking at their website, I know next to nothing about what they look for in terms of grades, tests, super scoring, etc. from American students. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!
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A friend of mine’s DD went there. she had high stats, NMF, and they had to pay full freight. Are your parents fine with paying all costs?
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I think it is in the league of Oxford and Cambridge. Very prestigious.
The requirements for US students are here: https://www.tcd.ie/study/non-eu/undergraduate/country-specific/usa/index.php
As a TCD alum, I am a big fan, but it is an overreach to say that TCD is at the level of Oxford / Cambridge 
All international students (which means you/your parents have not been tax-resident in the EU for 3 of the last 5 years) pay full freight. That’s why it is easier for international students to get in than it is for locals.
There are two scholarship possibilities, both highly competitive. One is ‘schols’ aka Scholarships, which all students are eligible for. You sit an exam in your subject area in January of 2nd year, and the top scorers get ‘schols’, which means you get free meals and no tuition (for locals) or local tuition (for internationals) for up to 5 years (so they go over to cover grad school at TCD), and you are considered a scholar for life… They are a huge big deal to get.
This one is for Americans, and covers tuition for your course:
https://www.tcd.ie/study/non-eu/undergraduate/country-specific/usa/USAScholarship.php
You can also use FAFSA.
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almost forgot one of the best things about getting schols: you get to be "in rooms’- aka on campus housing. On campus housing is old and small, but also extremely limited and highly coveted. All other housing is off campus (though some only just off campus).
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I think it did make the list for most beautiful library! Lol.
College mom, if you live in EU, is it as competitive to get in as Oxford? Is it like Harvard versus Cornell? I just remember my sister in law touting it as one of the best options for an English student. ( I know it’s in Ireland) I know the girl who got in from our high school this year had stellar stats.
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TCD is not as hard to get into as Oxford for an American. If you have the stats that they outline on their website, you will be fine for most courses (some particularly competitive ones you may need to exceed the stats).
The campus is beautiful, and the library is amazing. I highly recommend it (but then I would, wouldn’t I!)
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Seems like a great school. However, the requirements they list are nowhere near Oxford or even low end Ivy.
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Absolutely- they would like to attract Americans 
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@mathplustutornj, TCD wouldn’t be as ‘competitive’ as Oxford or the Ivies, not least b/c there isn’t the competition (ie, it doesn’t have the name, so not as many people are competing for places).
However, to get into TCD an Irish student is required to take A level-like exams in at least 6 (7 is recommended) subjects:
Mandatory: English (a full day exam); Irish (with spoken, written and listening sections); and Math
Strongly recommended: a modern language (incl. spoken, written and listening); a science.
Some courses also have specific requirements.
The exams come in 2 levels, honors and pass. To get into most courses at TCD requires points equal to at least 4 A’s and 2 Bs at honors level, or 7 Bs (it varies by the course you apply to- which is also Oxford’s minimum requirement for Irish students
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Here are the minimum requirements for US students:
https://www.tcd.ie/study/non-eu/undergraduate/country-specific/usa/index.php
You don’t have to have studied Irish, btw, in case you were alarmed by the fact that Irish students do! But there will be specific requirements depending on the course you apply to.
I’d say it’s significantly easier to get into than Oxbridge or the Ivy league, or even universities a level below those, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a very good university - just that the competition isn’t as intense because they get fewer applications. However, you have more FA options, and visas are much easier too.
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Do Irish students applying to UCD also have to take a test in Irish? Is it required in the school in Ireland? In the 18th century, you had to agree to the 39 Articles at TCD. Are they trying to down live that?
Yes, all Irish students are required to take the exams in English, Irish and Math as part of finishing secondary school, and also applying to college. All students from age 4 up have to take a minimum of 30 minutes of Irish / day (and there are numerous schools that teach only in Irish; if you take your exams in Irish you get an extra 10% added to your score).
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I am still exploring option of pursuing my CS undergrad course from Trinity, Dublin. I found it to be a viable, cost effective destination but last weekend after I got conditional acceptance, the fees for International Students got hiked by over 7,000 euros per annum ! I believe, it’s not fair for any university to do that just because they notice steep hike in applications within one year. Not aware of any such precedence by any other university.
Are you sure it’s gone up that much? On their website it looks as if it’s going up for CS from c.17K for non-EU students who started in 2016, to c.18K for those starting this autumn. What price were you expecting?
https://www.tcd.ie/academicregistry/fees-payments/course-fees/
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@Conformist1688 - It seems, it’s my mistake. Fees for CS with Linguistics & Language was c.17K whereas CS (UICS-ICSC-1F) was c23K. Thanks for responding.
What about Irish citizens born and educated in the US? (Dual citizens.) Are they really treated like any other foreigner in terms of tuition, etc?
Absolutely. It’s like in-state and out-of-state tuition at state universities.
Ireland started taking this very seriously when they slashed tuition in the 80’s (to make college more affordable) and US students eligible for Irish passports worked out what a good deal that was and started showing up in big numbers. The government couldn’t afford to subsidize that so they increased the out of state tuition - and discovered that it was still seen as good value by the US students. Now it is an important revenue stream for them.
As an example, a child of the Irish ambassador had been living outside of Ireland for 4 years while the family were posted abroad. As government workers posted abroad they were entitled to domestic tuition, but they still had to petition for it.
Of course, a dual citizen (with a passport) doesn’t have to get a visa, so there is that!
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