Irish Education

Today, I had my second day of classes. My chemistry courses feel like they will be just as challenging as they are at home, no more, no less. I am actually looking forward to my biochemistry course. While waiting for biochem. course this morning I ended up chatting with an older Irish woman. We got onto the subject of education in Ireland. She herself was a non-traditional student being 30 years old. But she said that was because of how high school worked out for her. In America we think we have it tough with our SATs but the Irish have it much worse. Once you hit high school you have to know what you want to do because in the last year of high school you take a test based on 600 points. In order to work in higher paid jobs you have to get at least 550 points. If you want to do medicine you have to get 600 exactly. She was explaining to me that because of this system students are either very involved in extracurricular activities and dont' care about school or only care about school and don't have time for anything else. Also once you go to college (which Irish students don't have to pay tuition for, they just pay a registration fee of $1,000 every year) you have to follow the course schedule for whatever discipline your score corresponds to. So if you get around 400points you automatically go into the arts. If you place higher into the 500s you study subjects that will lead to a better paying career. It's really different and it sounds very stressful. She said that many times students will graduate with one degree and then a few years go back for another because they are not happy with what they ended up with.