Has anyone had a student attend University College in Dublin? Specifically, if anyone studies Law as an undergrad? My S22 is interested and wants to work in foreign service or as a lawyer and was admitted to UCD for Law and also their Philosophy, Politics, Econ program, which would be a more traditional degree. If he studies law, he could apply to work in EU or come back to USA and get an LLM from a US law school and take the bar. Also, any experience on UCD would be great. Thanks.
In themselves, neither will be better/worse for a foreign service career., but obviously you need law school for a law career.
Be clear that an UG law degree is a long way from being qualified to practice law in the EU. In the US you finish law school, sit a bar exam and poof! you can practice law. In Europe you finish UG law, sit bar-like exams, and then start a 2 year traineeship; in between you do professional training courses (the exact sequencing varies a little by country: in Ireland you do professional courses 1 & 2- each followed by state exams- interspersed with your traineeship). There is a competitive application process for traineeships. If he does not already have the right to live & work in the EU, a the degree will not be enough to get him a work visa.
Yes.
As to which course would suit him better, that depends a lot on him! Has he looked seriously at the course requirements for each subject? The Irish system is much more structured / inflexible than in the US. Notice that in first and second year there are no optional modules in the Law course (there is one possible elective though), vs PPE, which has one option in Y1, the possibility of 2 in Y2, and 2 in Y3 & Y4.
As for UCD: both Law & PPE are on the Belfield campus, which now has quite a bit of on-campus housing. The older buildings are desperately ugly, but the new buildings are nice, and there is a great sports center. Buses into town are frequent, and there is a bike lane all the way (pro-tip: buy a cheap bike & expect it to be stolen).
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Thank you, I knew there were many hoops to jump through to practice in the EU, and this is very helpful. And we’ve talked a bit about the more structured program and pulled up the law curriculum, very similar to US law school as lockstep vs picking classes. I appreciate the info and the info on the campus too!