DBS Review
Application:
When applying, I had very little effort. I simply directed all my wishes, ideas and questions to MicroEDU , who then took care of them immediately, or put me in direct contact with DBS contacts. MicroEDU ‘s answers were always very quick and well-stocked with helpful materials.
The delivery of the documents by the DBS took a little longer, which is no different at my home university. It also applies here that my questions were always answered immediately and the contact persons at DBS are very helpful and friendly.
The DBS offers a variety of courses, especially in the business administration area. It is important to ensure that you cannot put together the courses from a large catalog of subjects, but rely on “ready-made” programs with corresponding lectures. The courses have a relatively small number of participants, which has made everyday academic life less anonymous as it is often in Germany. The support provided by the lecturers also benefits from this. In my courses an assignment and / or a presentation was always required, which meant a certain amount of effort, for which one was saved a week of lectures in the “reading week”. In my opinion, the grades are very good.
Since I wanted to experience something else besides studying in Dublin and Ireland, I did not take all courses from my program, which DBS was not a problem. The DBS has distributed several buildings in the city center. These are only a few minutes’ walk away from each other and are located directly in the city center. The main shopping street (Grafton Street) and the city park St. Stephens Green are right around the corner. Supermarkets, shops, restaurants, cafes and countless pubs can be found around the university to pass the time during breaks. As a result of its outstanding location, the DBS unfortunately does not offer any campus life and the buildings are also sometimes quite cramped.
Living:
Looking for accommodation in Dublin is one of the greatest challenges. DBS will be happy to help you find accommodation in student dormitories, but there are one or two problems here. So you have to look for a place in the most popular dormitory “Blackhall Place” early and pay incredibly high rents. You have to get used to the 20-minute walk to the DBS and the city center and energy cards. The students from all nations and the daily unofficial student parties compensate for this. I lived in the “studenthomes” myself. The location is better, the premises are bigger and the rents are lower.
In retrospect, I would look around for a flat share closer to the center myself, even if luck plays a major role. In general, rents are much higher than in Germany (400 euros for a small flat-share room would be a bargain), apartments in the city center are very popular (therefore scarce). I got to know people who only looked for accommodation on site, some were just lucky, others lived so far outside that they were dependent on public transport.
Living in Dublin:
To anticipate the only negative thing about this wonderful city: it is expensive! From cheese in the supermarket to a pint of beer in the pub, many things are more expensive than in Germany. I rarely indulged in good cheese or salami.
But you can quickly overlook the costs. The population of Dublin is one of the youngest in Europe, which is noticeable when walking through the streets. Mainly because of this, Dublin is always touted as a “vibrant city”, which I would subscribe to today. The streets are always packed with people and pubs around the clock. As a result, Dublin has a nightlife that can compete with the largest cities in Europe. There are countless pubs all over the city, a cultural district (Temple Bar) which whistles from every hole at night (very touristy), a lot of discos and other party areas.
Getting to know other people is very easy. There are organized student parties several times a week, the classes are very small, as I said, and you are not alone in the dormitory or when looking for a flat. I have seldom met such friendly and helpful people as the Irish. To get to know the locals, it is advisable to simply sit down in a pub and wait and you will get involved in some kind of conversation.
Regarding traffic, I can only say that everything can be easily reached on foot. I never drove a bus in the 4 months in town. If you’re too lazy, a taxi passes by every 3 seconds or you rent a bike (dublinbikes. ie).
Studying abroad in Dublin at DBS is guaranteed to be a win. During this time I met wonderful people, gained valuable experience and had a lot of fun.
The University
So much for getting around. The DBS itself is located in the heart of the city center, so to speak. It consists of several buildings, all of which can be reached on foot. I myself had to spend most of the time in the “Aungier St. ” and “Castle House” buildings. These are quite close to each other and are also the main building, so to speak. But now to the actual study. Since I am studying real estate management in Germany, I had to choose courses that also fit my actual studies. I attended four courses in total. These were Business Strategy, Financial Analysis, Project Management and Personal & Professional Development. So I was able to take courses from different areas. So for that matter, the DBS is very flexible. See liuxers for more about DBS.
The problem that we encountered, however, is the organization of the timetable. The university has a page set up for students (Moodle), on which you can log in with your data. Ideally, you have access to a course overview, all files (including scripts, information, module descriptions) and the timetable. All you have to do is enter your matriculation number under Timetable and see at a glance where you need to be and when. At the beginning of the semester (approx. The first 3 weeks) only very few students were able to use this application because the other students were simply not yet registered in the system. The reason for this may have been the large rush that is common at the beginning of a semester. So I couldn’t see my schedule and didn’t know whether courses are already taking place and, if so, where. I was then told that the first two weeks are introductory weeks that you don’t necessarily have to be present. Nevertheless, I would of course have liked to have been there from the start. After several inquiries by e-mail and personally, I could not be told where my Kruse will take place. So the beginning was a bit chaotic.
After three weeks, however, I was in the system and now I knew everything I needed for my studies. The schedule was accordingly manageable with 4 courses. I had two lectures on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The lectures there last two hours and the professor decides whether or not to take a break. Thus, one or the other lecture can be a bit tough. As for the performance review, there are also differences. There are exams and term papers for which 5 or 10 CP are awarded at the end of the semester.
In my case, I only had to do homework and upload it to the Moodle program mentioned above by a certain deadline. At first I was very happy not to have to write any exams, and in the end I have to say that all the writing helped me a lot, but at first I slightly underestimated the scope of the work. The processing time for a term paper is approx. 6 weeks. During this time you have to put between 1500 and 3000 words on paper, individually or in a group. That depends on the task at hand. In some courses you have to hand in one homework, in others two. So my tip for this is to start early and, above all, to take care of sources early, be it in the library or via the online library. Most of the time you end up with the problem To have written too much, which means you will have to shorten in most cases. The number of words is taken very seriously by some and may be exceeded or undercut by a maximum of 10%.
With some courses, such as Project Management, it may be that a presentation also has to be given. In my case, we once had to give a 15-minute group presentation about our first handover and on our second task we had to give a 5-minute group presentation without aids. This is really not a problem and it helps a lot to be able to speak English more freely. In general, I have to say that I learned a lot in the courses and can apply this knowledge well in my actual studies.
About the grading in general. Don’t make the mistake like me and be disappointed at 62% for a housework. In Germany, this corresponds to approximately a 1. 7. The Irish grading system cannot therefore be compared with the German one. The top grade, i. e. a German 1. 0, corresponds to 70% and above in Ireland.
Finally, I would like to go into the offers of the DBS outside of the curriculum. The DBS offers a lot of “Societies”, in which you can register at the beginning of the semester. For us, it ranged from various sporting activities to social activities and a PlayStation FIFA Society. So there should be something for everyone. It is also highly recommended to register, because this way you can make new contacts, which may not always be the case during the lectures.
I finally decided to join the rugby team even though I had no prior knowledge of the sport. But I was assured that this was not necessary and so I signed up. All you need are football boots and a face mask. And so I was able to take part in training twice a week, in which the beginners were really taught everything. So I was able to take part in several games. This experience was painful at times, but I definitely don’t want to miss it. As I said, you meet a lot of new people and have a lot of fun. And if you can tolerate a little pain and are open to new things, you’ve come to the right place.
