I am sad to say that I have finished my final year at Trinity. It also happened to be my first year at the college. Although I have enjoyed my brief time here, I have decided to return home to finish pursuing my undergraduate degree.
I came here on a whim. I am from the US, and as I was nearing the end of my high school career I was simultaneously nearing the end of the incredibly drawn out process of applying to colleges in the US.
I envy the simplicity of the Irish system. In typical American fashion, the process of reaching higher education in the US is preceded by a circus show of essays and letters of recommendation, records of absolutely everything you did in high school, community service hours accumulated, the taking and retaking of standardized tests and hours spent crafting your resume. After this year-long exercise occurs you receive a series of stock letters, most of which say, “Sorry, we would love to have you, but you just didn’t make the cut”, which is fine because you probably couldn’t afford those schools anyway.
After going through this process, I wasn’t feeling all that warm towards American universities. Luckily, I had applied to two Irish universities as well. My father is from Cork, so I spent a fair amount of time in Ireland as a kid. I applied to University College Cork (UCC) because I thought I’d enjoy living over here for a few years and also because it was drastically less expensive than the American schools I was looking at. I also sent an application to Trinity at the last minute. This was because I thought it would be a more familiar name to American companies when I’m looking for a job in the future.
Trinity and its graduates play an exceedingly influential role in many aspects of Irish life – far greater than any one institution in the US
Needless to say, I ended up choosing Trinity. I knew practically nothing about the college before coming here despite the fact that Trinity has been trying to target more students from the US. I only knew of it simply because I come from an Irish family. Therefore, I came to Trinity with no preconceived notions of what it would be like.
When I arrived, the one aspect of the school that I found truly remarkable, however, was that Trinity and its graduates play an exceedingly influential role in many aspects of Irish life – far greater than any one institution in the US.
There are about 112,000 students enrolled in Irish universities according to the Irish Universities Association. Roughly 17,000 or 15 per cent of them attend Trinity, which is consistently ranked as the top university in the country. Considering the Republic of Ireland has a population of about 4.7 million people, this is an extremely significant percentage. Dublin is also the most densely populated part of the country as well as the centre of government and the headquarters of most of the nation’s firms – both foreign and domestic. What this set up produces is a school that draws the best minds in the country to the city where everything is happening.
To put this in perspective, the US has a population of about 319 million, with approximately 20 million students enrolled in colleges every year. This year US News ranked Princeton as the number one university in America which has a total student population of just over 8,000. This is less than half a per cent of the total student population of the US.
While the small size of Princeton might increase selectiveness, it also means the top minds in the country are spread across thousands of miles rather than concentrated in a single school
Princeton is situated in the state of New Jersey, which is roughly a three-hour drive to Washington DC, the seat of the federal government. Considering the sheer size of the US, this is a relatively short journey. However, when it comes to student proximity to the centre of government, it lacks the accessibility that Trinity has by being a two-minute walk away from the Oireachtas, the Irish Houses of parliament.
While the small size of Princeton might increase selectiveness, it also means the top minds in the country are spread across thousands of miles rather than concentrated in a single school, or city, or collection of cities that are a maximum of four hours from each other. The top ten colleges in the US are located everywhere from Boston to California, and none of them have a student population as high as Trinity’s. The result is that, despite the fact that Princeton is the top university in a very large and powerful country, it is still a little fish in a big pond.
The activities of students in Trinity are also significantly more influential on a national scale. Even this newspaper, which I got involved in, is different from most college newspapers. Its website saw over one million unique readers last year – almost a quarter of the entire country. It would be absolutely unheard of to have a quarter of the population of the US reading the Daily Princetonian.
Trinity is extremely fortunate to be situated where it is. Being a large and prestigious university in the capital city of a small country is an ideal set-up for a school. The college gets to play a remarkably large role in national life with a significant number of Trinity graduates being leaders in government, business, science and many other disciplines.
It is also large enough that most of the top minds can attend a single university, rather than just a small percentage. This means that many of Ireland’s future leaders are concentrated into a single place where they can share ideas and learn with and from each other.
A college that is a big fish in a small pond is an extraordinary resource for its students, and although my time here is done, I am so grateful I was able to be a part of it for just a little while.
