Ulster Bank Publishes Survey of Student Views of Their Time in College Regrets, I've had a few, but again too few to mention...

18 September 2007

As students around the country make preparations to return to college, an Ulster Bank survey reveals that not travelling to America on a J1 visa, not being in a stable relationship during college years and not studying enough are just some of the regrets students have experienced following a survey carried out last month of 600 third level students from Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

In terms of love and relationships the survey came up with some interesting results. Many students indicated a strong preference for being in a stable relationship during their college years with 32% expressing regret at not being in one. On the flip side 13% of students polled expressed regret at having a steady boyfriend or girlfriend during their student years. Student relationships also impacted on travel plans. As one student put it, "I regret having a boyfriend for over two years and choosing not to travel because he didn't want to."

Students were also polled on the most stupid thing they felt they did during their college years. Drinking too much and drinking related incidents topped the poll while bad relationships and bad dates came in second. However, the third most popular response was 'no regrets'. This was followed by not studying enough and failing exams.

Studying featured highly in survey responses. The survey also found that 26% of those entering first year regretted not studying harder for their Leaving Certificate while 11% of students regretted not studying more while in College. The survey also found that 27% of students had to repeat at least one exam forcing 34% of students to make considerable changes to their plans. 46% of students had to change their plans slightly while failure had no impact on 20% of students.

Other findings in the survey, revealed:

• 84% of the students had not travelled to America on a J1, with 1 in 3 regretting not doing so.
• 16% of the students who took a year out from college regretted it. (27% of WIT students have taken a year out compared to 18% in TCD and UCC).
• 4% of students surveyed had been arrested during their time in college with 31% of students not regretting this. 28% of students expressed regret at being detained.

But one thing students won't regret is opening or switching to an Ulster Bank student account. And it's easy to see why - Ulster Bank is the first bank to offer students from first year to final year a cash incentive for opening a student account. €100 will be lodged into new student accounts in two separate instalments. Students will receive the first instalment of €50 in November and then in January another €50 will be added just in time to ease those winter blues. The package also includes a €650 interest free overdraft, commission free foreign exchange and 10% discount on books through Waterstones. Talk will be cheaper too with a 25% discount off Skype handset and 40% off bill pay phones or €10 off Pay As You Go phones at the Carphone Warehouse.

Commenting on the launch of Ulster Bank's survey, Samantha Gregan, Marketing Manager - Student & Graduate Segments at Ulster Bank said: "College life provides students with opportunities to do lots of new and exciting things. With the range of choices they have we thought it would be interesting to take a different perspective on college life and see what regrets, if any, students have from their college days. Some of the results like one third of students regretting not going on a J1 programme didn't come as a shock but others such as regretting not having stable relationships at such a young age came as a big surprise. I'm sure this survey will get students and graduates talking about their college regrets. But one thing they won't regret is opening a student account with us and that's because we're giving them a €100 incentive to open an Ulster Bank account."

Notes to Editor

Terms and Conditions apply. See brochure in branch for details. Offer open from August 7th - 31st October 2007 inclusive. Ulster Bank Student Package is only available to full-time (minimum course length of one year, maximum six years), third level students, who are new customers to Ulster Bank, resident in the Republic of Ireland, aged 18 years or over. Only one Student Account per student. Customers must use their new Ulster Bank Student Account as their "main account" for a period of 18 months from the date of account-opening.