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Stage 3 Subject Selection

The majority of students who progress to Stage 3 for the 2025-2026 academic year will choose their preferred major for Stage 3 online (SISweb) from Monday, 21st July - Friday, 25th July.

For majors which may be oversubscribed,  allocation to these majors will be managed by the College office.

These majors are:

Neuroscience

Pharmacology

Physiology

Students whose first preference is one of these three majors must complete the (opens in a new window)Stage 3 Major application form by  Friday, 25th April.

Where demand for places exceeds the number of available places in these major, GPA ranking will also be considered in the allocation process.

As these three majors will not be included in the online registration process in July, you must complete this application form if you wish to be included in the allocation process for these majors.

If your second preference is one of these three majors, you can also include this in the application form.

Pre-Stage 3 Academic Advisory Session

This section includes the slides and FAQs from the Pre-Stage 3 Academic Advisory which was held on 11th February 2025.

With 27 degree majors available, most students progressing to Stage 3 will be given their first preference.

If the demand for a degree major exceeds the number of places available, places will be allocated to progressing students based on the student's Stage 2 performance, including number of credits and GPA.

Students can make changes to major and module registration during the online registration period for the autumn trimester. Before you make changes to your major registration, please contact the Science Programme Office for advice.

Students should note that a minimum Stage 3 GPA is required to be eligible to progress to Stage 4.  Students must achieve a GPA of 2.48 or higher to progress to Stage 4.  Students who do not meet this GPA requirement will be put forward for the BSc General Science degree.

Will the Stage 3 GPA count towards the Final Degree GPA?

  • Students will have their degree GPA calculated on the basis of their performance in the final and penultimate stages of the programme.
  • For a four year programme, this means that your final degree GPA will be calculated on Stages 3 and 4, and for a three year programme (BSc General Science)  on Stages 2 and 3.  The award  will be based 70% on your final stage and 30% on your penultimate stage.

What happens if we put our first preferred major choice down on our Exchange application and don't get our first choice for third/fourth year?

If you do not get a place in your preferred major, as indicated on your Exchange application, you will need to complete the module approval process again and ensure that the nominated institution is approved.


Any further questions or concerns you have can be emailed to averil.clarke@ucd.ie or marguerite.reilly@ucd.ie

What careers are available to graduates of the BSc degree programme?

Student should contact the Careers Network Team for further information on the supports and guidance they provide to students.  Appointments can be made on CareersConnect through their website and a member of the team will assist with any queries you may have on the opportunities available to Science graduates

Students may also contact the School representatives who attended the Advisory if they have further queries about career opportunities within each field.  Please see contact details below under the Research section of the FAQs.

What subject choices offer Graduate Entry Medicine and Veterinary Medicine?

Students across a number of degree majors go on to pursue Graduate Entry Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.   Information on graduate programmes is at (opens in a new window)https://www.myucd.ie/courses/

For Graduate Entry programmes offered outside of UCD, please contact the Careers Network for further information.

Queries in relation to subject choices and how subject areas would link in with research opportunities on completion of your degree can be answered by the School Heads of Teaching and Learning. Please see their contact details below:

SBBS Geraldine Butler ((opens in a new window)gbutler@ucd.ie)

SBES Paul Mc Cabe ((opens in a new window)paul.mccabe@ucd.ie)          

Chemistry Robert Johnson ((opens in a new window)r(opens in a new window)obert.johnson@ucd.ie)

Earth Sciences Lawrence Amy ((opens in a new window)l(opens in a new window)awrence.amy@ucd.ie)

Maths and Statistics Conor Sweeney ((opens in a new window)conor.sweeney@ucd.ie)

Physics Thomas McCormack ((opens in a new window)tom.mccormack@ucd.ie)

Physiology John Baugh ((opens in a new window)john.baugh@ucd.ie)

UCD College of Science

Room E1.09/E2.09 UCD O'Brien Centre for Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
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