Mariana Verdes, BA Economics & Politics ‘15, Masters Common Law ‘17

"I am a practising barrister in all areas of civil law including personal injuries, medical negligence, immigration and asylum law. Skills I have developed at UCD which have proved useful in my current role would be research skills, critical thinking skills and the ability to distil large volumes of information and identify the important information. I really gained a great mix of skills from combining Economics and Politics in my undergrad with Law at Master’s level. My advice to current students would be to step out of your comfort zone and make things happen. Everyone is starting afresh so don’t think you are the only one struggling to fit in or find like minded people. Identify something you are interested in, be it a sport or a society and just turn up and see what happens. Or if it’s something that’s not there already chances are there are others who also would join into whatever your idea may be so link up and set up a new society. I was involved in setting up, or perhaps more accurately reviving the chess society which was one of my favourite and most proud accomplishments. I am thrilled we managed to leave on campus a thriving society and the giant garden chess board for future students to enjoy and socialise around. I only wish I was still there to enjoy it also.

Most importantly, turn up and make the most of it as your time will fly and there’s nothing worse than looking back and regretting not having made the most of the incredible opportunities available in UCD. Through the setting up of the chess society I got to meet my hero- Judit Polgar (the greatest female chess player in history). You really can use the platform UCD provides to achieve the most incredible things. It only requires a little effort and teaming up with likeminded people (who will also become wonderful friends) and sometimes not accepting ‘no’ for an answer, all great lessons for life on the other side of college."