The following excerpts were taken from the University Journey Journal board of the ATAR Notes Forums. Get involved with University Journey Journals here. For other university resources, check out uninotes.com.


DANCING PHALANGES – Journalism

See dancing phalanges’ University Journey Journal here.

“As a dedicated humanities student in the HSC, writing is pretty much all I know. But my interest in journalism came from a far more enjoyable source. I have grown up supporting Rugby League for pretty much all of my life and have envied the reporters for Fox Sports who have the dream job of travelling to and reporting at games across the nation. I honestly could not imagine any better way to earn money.

Regrettably, Sports Journalism in itself is a very niche area to gain a full time career in and, if I am being completely honest, my obsession with the NRL means that I am pretty much only truly passionate about writing and reporting on it in particular. Most sports journalists are past players and experts who have in-depth knowledge of the game and their names themselves are often even more important than their writing ability as their sporting identity attracts viewers. It makes sense, but I did not want to completely give up. So I began to do what any good journalist does – write! I currently write pieces for TheRoar.com.au and LeagueUnlimited.com. I compose under the pseudonym of Mr. X for The Roar.”

 

FIRST YEAR UNIVERSITY TERMINOLOGY CHECKLIST

 

JAMONWINDEYER – Engineering

See jamonwindeyer’s University Journey Journal here

“So yeah, was an interesting week! Have never designed anything even remotely to the scale of what this design was – Like, he essentially asked a six year old to paint the Mona Lisa. Whether it was to keep me from asking for more work for a while or to give me a chance to expose myself to new stuff in the quickest possible way, don’t really mind, because it’s really cool! Learning as I go and asking what are probably really obvious questions to anyone who has done it before, but learning loads!

So far I’ve sketched out some basic block diagrams and made a list of the cables that we’ll need and exactly where they need to run between. This week will be spent figuring out exactly how to wire in each piece of equipment, figuring out how much power we’ll need to run the thing, and figuring out what circuit breakers and other safety devices we’ll need to keep everyone happy and safe. This last bit I’ve learnt literally nothing about at university (common theme) so will definitely be getting loads of help :)

Electrical Engineering

 

VAIKE – Science Advanced

See Vaike’s University Journey Journal here

“Well timetables came out yesterday, so I now know which units I’ll be undertaking this semester! Upon receiving my timetable, I honestly was a bit disappointed. Almost 5 days from 9 until around 5, with a ton of one hour breaks, which I can imagine/have heard are a pain. Luckily, after some a little bit of tinkering, I managed to get a couple days where I finish at 1 PM, and another that doesn’t start until 2 PM, eliminating most one hour breaks in favour of slightly longer ones (or no breaks at all).  Much happier with how it’s looking now that I’ll have a day to sleep in and some afternoons off, and no 8 AM starts!

The units I’m doing this semester are:

  • • Chemistry I (advanced)

  • • Classical physics and relativity

  • • Techniques for modelling (advanced)

  • • Algorithms and programming fundamentals in python”

 

QUANTUM44 – Medicine

See Quantum44’s University Journey Journal here

“On a whole I think medicine is exciting because there is a huge breadth of careers available such as dealing with patients in a clinical setting, doing clinical research, academics and teaching. Then within that breadth there is the possibility of really becoming an expert in a certain specific field which sounds awesome. Obviously I love science, and medicine incorporates this so well as you do a lot of learning and are then able to solve problems and directly impact people’s lives in a positive way.”

 

ELLELLEN – Arts/Laws

See ellellen’s University Journey Journal here

“Okay, so firstly I would say: don’t count yourself out yet! You haven’t sat your exams and you might surprise yourself and get the 98 needed for arts/law!!

Secondly, starting in an arts degree and transferring to arts/law is great and fun and i personally enjoyed it a lot more than i think i would have enjoyed going straight into arts/law. I got to branch out into a bunch of different arts subjects that i would have otherwise never gotten the chance to experience, and met a lot of great friends that i wouldn’t have known otherwise! So if you do just get into arts, it might actually be a really good experience for you !!!!!!!

Ultimately, at this stage I wouldn’t worry about the transfer process. If you just do arts for your first year of uni, then i would only worry about keeping your WAM above 70 for most of the year. You don’t need to stress about the transfer process at all until during second semester, and by then, the transfer process will probably become a lot more transparent and easy to navigate than it currently seems.”


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