iMSISS

University is a very different place to secondary school. The laid-back atmosphere, the lack of uniform, the eating-when-you-can mentality add up to a completely different day and so far I’m loving the freedom.

Badminton trials on Wednesday were great. We played half-court singles which was fast and intense but overall everyone seemed to enjoy it and it was great that everyone - even beginners - seemed to win a match or two.

Since Tuesday I’ve also got to attend a few new classes: Software apps is decidedly easy, but considering I did ECDL in Transition Year that was a given. Statistical Analysis, so far, is a class about business statistics such as Averages, Ranges and Variances. The class is fast-paced for now while we’re covering the basics. The class also has contains some lab hours which I was pleased with - mostly graphing and critical analysis of data. Economics and Introduction to Organisation Management are the two classes I’m not so fond of so far - probably just because I’ve no real experience (academically) with economics or business but I’m hoping the case studies and assignments will be interesting. Certainly creating economic models and calculations on iMSISS Labs will be interesting. Management Science is a very interesting class dealing with mathematical methods of solving management problems. This week we focused on solving a business problem in which a craftsman had to decide, based on the cost of materials, available labour time, expected business and potential profit how many of each product to make. These are the kind of real-world problems that MSISS is designed to address.

Thursday was DUMSS’ (Dublin University Management Science Society’s) pub crawl in which the society (mainly consisting of MSISS students) gets to know its freshers’ and we get to know each other. The night was a lot of fun - not least because we were all given “DUMSS” t-shirts and markers with which to sign (or doodle/scrawl) on each other with. Further surprises were a shot called E.T (1/3 vodka, 1/3 sambuca and 1/3 Jagermeister) and a talent contest a few pubs in.

On Saturday I was at the Irish Web Awards in the Radisson SAS behind Dublin Castle. Robin Blandford was up for three nominations for ByteSurgery and Decision For Heroes. The night was exceptionally organised I must say - the timing was to schedule, the presenter Rick O’Shea was warm and entertaining and the food was far above what I expected. The informality of the night (a central idea to the Blog Awards and Web Awards) made the night all the more enjoyable and meant that Rick was free to have some fun when there was a little hick-up or an opportunity to play Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” (the unofficial theme-song of the night). Anyone who has not been to either the Blog Awards or the Web Awards should definitely note the dates in their diary and keep an eye on Awards.ie for any more of Damien Mulley’s industry-changing awards nights.

Posted on October 12th, 2008 by David
Filed under: college, msiss