Contribute to a brand new book about university!

[Joseph41]

Ever wished we had a university equivalent of the VCE Survival Guide and HSC Survival Guide? Well, you might not have to wait too much longer.

Elyse, Brenden and I are the main contributors, but we're planning to have one section where current and past university students can give their own perspectives on their degrees and their uni experiences. If you would like to contribute, please use this template below:

Code: [Select]

[b]Degree:[/b] The name of your degree here.
[b]Institution:[/b] The name of your institution here, plus the city.
[b]Length of degree:[/b] In years, studied full-time.
[b]Your current year, or year of graduation:[/b] Year here.
[hr]
[b]Why you chose your degree:[/b] Write a paragraph or so here on why you chose to study your degree.

[b]Contact hours:[/b] Write a paragraph or so here on your experience with contact hours in your degree.

[b]Workload:[/b] Write a paragraph or so here on your experience with workload in your degree.

[b]Content:[/b] Write a paragraph or so here on your experience with content in your degree.

[b]Assessment:[/b] Write a paragraph or so here on your experience with assessments/exams in your degree.

[b]General thoughts:[/b] Write however much you want here on anything else related to your degree.
It's not necessarily the case that all contributions will make it into the book, but hey, if nothing else, they'll still be extremely valuable here!

[RuiAce]

Degree: Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics)/Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)
Institution: University of New South Wales (Sydney)
Length of degree: 5
Your current year, or year of graduation: 2nd (Bit safer to say 2 than to say 3)
Why you chose your degree: Initially I didn't choose computer science. I transferred into it because as I lost interest in my old degree, I found that the computing aspects of it started to become more interesting. I wasn't fussed about employability as both were roughly the same, but code and algorithms appeared a lot more enjoyable. On the other hand, I kept to mathematics simply because my life has revolved around it - it was a passion of mine since the early days of primary. Essentially, now I wish to explore what power mathematics and statistics has in our modern world.

Contact hours: 20, give or take 5. Tends to be split evenly between lectures and anything else (tutorials + labs + etc.)

Workload: It really seems to correspond to just how much I feel like doing on any day, as well as if any assessment tasks are coming up. If nothing's due any time soon, it's generally fairly relaxed and I can finish everything off in a day. (Exception - First year math has too many tutorial problems and it takes a while if I try to do all of them.) But when tests start piling up, it becomes a lot more intense and like most students, I fall behind.

Content: Has always been interesting. It continues to challenge me to break things down and think logically, and also deduce what "just makes sense" and what "works". Keeps me away from rote learning a lot since I'm always being forced to apply the concepts, which I find a lot more fun. Mathematics occasionally gets difficult mostly because there's too many concepts presented all at once, or it's difficult to actually use them in solving problems. I find that these issues are diminished with just enough time and practice. Computing is intense when you're unsure how you can arrive at the solution (i.e. design the algorithms), or when you can't figure out how to use syntax. These all revolve around breaking problems into smaller steps and gradually building up to an end result.

Assessment: For math, most of the assessments have been quizzes and assignments. They're pretty much the same, except assignment questions are done at home, typed and involve harder questions. Generally always doable so long as you can keep up with the coursework (at least, before the day of the test or the due date for the assignment). On the other hand, the first course for computing is unlike all the rest in the degree, in that several other things are marked (e.g. blogs, corresponding to a strict style guide) that are never examined again. That can make the course a lot more annoying. However, the actual tasks and/or questions in the assignments are much like the real world of computing - it gets agonising but feels brilliant once you solve them. It tends to involve things that only truly pay off at the end, but pay off really well.

General thoughts: Can't say too much about computing, although I have enjoyed the content thus far. I feel like few people realise just how useful mathematics actually is, since it sets the foundations for so many of our models today, be it physics, economics, finance or anything else. It's a skill that people tend to lack (potentially influenced by high school matters of course) and seems to always be forgotten.

P.S. template looks a bit flawed; it keeps saying talk about workload for content and assessments

[Joseph41]

Thanks Rui! And template updated.

EDIT: Also, I should note that by default you will be credited with your ATAR Notes username. So like, Rui would be "RuiAce, ATAR Notes Forums". If you would prefer your real name, that's totally fine - just let me know. And if you would prefer to remain anonymous entirely, that's totally fine - just let me know.

[Joseph41]

Degree: Bachelor of Arts (Honours).
Institution: Monash University, Melbourne.
Length of degree: Three years full time for the Bachelor of Arts, with an additional one year full time for Honours.
Your current year, or year of graduation: Degree complete. Graduated Arts in 2015, Honours in 2016.
Why you chose your degree:
Straight up, I didn't know what I wanted to do after Year 12. I thought I knew at various stages, mostly considering Education and Design. In the end I went with a Bachelor of Arts and, to be perfectly frank, I don't really know why. I think its broadness appealed to me - there were any number of areas I could study, and for somebody who was indecisive, I guess that suited me.

Contact hours:
Considerably fewer than other popular degrees, such as Medicine, Laws, Science, Commerce, Engineering etc. I reckon on average I would have had 8-15 contact hours per week. I don't think I ever had a semester where I was required at uni more than three days per week.

Workload:
This is such a subjective thing. Despite the comparatively few contact hours and (incorrect) notion that Arts is useless/a complete bludge, I always felt busy. Arts has a lot of readings, a lot of essays - basically, tasks that can either take you as much or as little time as you like. What I mean by that is that you can probably get through an Arts degree without investing too much time and effort - cruising through classes, just doing what you need to and so on. But if you want to do really well in Arts, it's a different story. I spent hours and hours doing readings and improving essays and making sure my assignments were on point.

My girlfriend studies Medicine and like, the workload is completely different - way more independent (in a sense), and way fewer hours actually required on-site - but don't think that Arts requires no work whatsoever.

Content:
Is Arts the broadest degree type available? Perhaps. Even if it's not, it has great breadth, and there are so, so many options for what you can study. In my degree alone, I studied Linguistics, International Studies, International Relations, Politics, Philosophy, Human Rights Theory, Ecology, Psychology, Philosophy, Bioethics, Gender Studies, Media Studies, History, Communications - the list goes on. And that's just in my degree alone. There was so many subject areas I didn't even come close to touching. If you like choice, Arts gets a big tick.

Assessment:
Assessment for me was pretty standard throughout my entire degree. Typically, each unit would have 2-3 assignments (often essays), plus an end-of-semester exam (worth 25-50% of your overall mark for that unit). But this is really the product of the particular units I chose. Other areas of study, even within Arts, might have drastically different assessment types - this is just how it was for me.

General thoughts:
I loved Arts. Genuinely loved it. And I'd like to address a few points.

Firstly, Arts is not a "bludge" - far from it. Like I mentioned earlier, you can probably get by and pass doing the bare minimum if you really wanted to, but doing well takes a lot of effort and dedication - just like any other degree. Secondly, studying Arts does not necessitate being unemployed after finishing uni. That's a huge stereotype, and non-Arts kids love to pedal the "haha u'll have no job because u did Arts lolzzz" line, but it's simply a lazy train of thought. Admittedly, there might be a less clear career path. For example, if you study Engineering, you will logically become an engineer; if you study Medicine, you will logically become a doctor, and so on. Arts doesn't have an obvious subsequent career, but I actually think that's pretty exciting - that are any number of career paths you could pursue.

The cool thing with Arts is that it teaches you transferrable skills (a bit of a buzz term, but stay with me). What I mean by that is that to do well in Arts, you need to be able to communicate effectively. You need to be able to think deeply, and often laterally. You will acquire these types of skills throughout your Arts degree, and this is what will put you in a great position in the workforce. I don't really use specific subject gained at uni on a day-to-day basis at work, but I certainly do use the skills I've acquired - and that's what I love about Arts.

[zofromuxo]

When is the due date for this?
I would love to contribute, but I'm going to need to think about what I write here .

[jamonwindeyer]

You can use my real name - Which is of course, Bender Bending Rodrigues.
Degree: Electrical Engineering (w/ Honours)
Institution: University of New South Wales, Kensington
Length of degree: 5 years
Your current year, or year of graduation: 4th year
Why you chose your degree: I chose Engineering because I love problem solving - Engineers are the modern day inventors, and the people who will help shape the landscape of our society more than perhaps any other profession in the near future. My degree allows my work to have direct and practical relevance to other peoples lives. I chose Electrical because I love technology, I love Physics, and I enjoy working with numbers. It's bloody challenging at times, but I think it's been the perfect choice for me!

Contact hours: Like many Engineers I spend a lot of time in (compulsory) labs, so I rarely get away with less than 3 days a week. I spend a lot of time travelling to and from university, so when I do go, I pack my days full. I'll often have classes starting early, like 9am or 10am, and not finishing until mid to late evening. This suits me, I'm at my most energetic and most switched on at night - I think it's really important to tailor your timetable to when you are switched on. No point smashing a rough computer lab at 9am if you can't even stay awake through it. For me, this meant putting easier classes in the morning where I could, and putting my labs and tutorials in the afternoons and evenings.

Workload: I was expecting a challenge when I picked this degree, and to say it has lived up to that is a serious understatement. Not just in the amount of content either (there is heaps). It's also extremely complex - A lot of my time is spent doing extra reading, watching videos, and just stewing things over in my brain to try and make it click. The hard bit is trying to balance all that time you need to understand it, with all the time you need to memorise the formulas and apply it. In saying that, it's a good workload because it is varied. Programming, sketching, solving mathematical problems, analysing circuits. It gets tricky near exams, when I've pulled more coffee-fuelled study binges until 2am than I'd like to admit

Content: One of the reasons I love Electrical Engineering is the huge breadth of knowledge you gain. In my three years of content and across various internships, I've gotten to experience programming in half a dozen languages, including developing a simple platformer for iOS (with terrible graphics made by me!). I've gotten to design circuits small enough to fit onto a printed circuit board the size of your thumb, and ones that spread across a whole shipping container. I've designed my own audio equaliser, including doing all the calculations myself. I've learned about motors, transformers, generators and power distribution, right down to microprocessors, semiconductors and logic gates. Super broad and super interesting!

Assessment: My uni semesters go from 0 to 100 real quick - I'm always on top of things until a certain point, then all of a sudden I'm far, far, faaar behind. Doesn't matter how hard I try or how organised I try to be - Just can't keep things reigned in. I've come to terms with that and actively plan for it - I think part of doing well in university assessments is accepting that you just can't hand in your absolute best work 100% of the time. Personally, although I find exams super stressful, I tend to do better in them than take home tasks. You can't exactly procrastinate in an exam room, after all! It's lucky I've picked engineering for this reason, because your final exam is almost always worth well over half of your grade, and a significant chunk of the rest is usually assigned to some kind of practical work in a lab. If you hate essays (me), it's a nice fit

General Thoughts: If there is one thing I've learnt as part of being at university, is that university does not prepare you for your career by itself. Not by a long shot. University is about developing the background knowledge and immersing yourself in the field - Including the content and the people. Don't for a second treat your tertiary education as the "end" of your learning, it is just the beginning. I've been fortunate enough to have a fair bit of industry experience under my belt, in the engineering field and beyond, and I have learned far, far more useful skills and developed far more useful habits while actually working, versus in a lecture theatre. Don't stress so much about remembering that one result from that one class that you probably won't see again - Focus on figuring out what you can offer a team. Making valuable professional connections. Figuring out what you can offer your profession and what it can offer you!

[RuiAce]

You can use my real name - Which is of course, Bender Bending Rodrigues.

Hi Bender Bending Rodrigues. By any chance do you know of that Jamon Windeyer guy who wrote the ATAR notes physics publications?

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi Bender Bending Rodrigues. By any chance do you know of that Jamon Windeyer guy who wrote the ATAR notes physics publications?

Total tosser

[sweetiepi]

Might as well join in
(Happy to use my real name)

Degree: Pharmaceutical Science.
Institution: Monash University, Parkville.
Length of degree: 3 years.
Your current year, or year of graduation: Second year.
Why you chose your degree: The main reason why I've chosen pharmsci was that I've always been interested in what medicines do and how they interact with the body. This probably has something to do with being dragged in and out of doctors/specialists offices since I was little due to my mum's own medical problems. I've always been curious as to what made mum's ever-changing medicines tick, and now here I'm studying it myself. It also appealed to me as I really enjoyed chemistry in high school, and I was involved in a program at the campus during that year.

Contact hours: It can vary, the timetable itself is stable, however I found that the hours per week can dramatically change. I've had as much as 28 hours in a single week (in first year), but I've also had as low as 8 hours (so far in second year). A lot of the hours are workshops, tutorials, and labs. I've also had no less than 4-5 day weeks thus far.

Workload: Much of the workload goes into preparation for the interactive lectures, labs and prelab assessments, and answering tutorial questions. I've found that by preparing myself for the lectures can be sometimes bland, but makes it all the more worthwhile when I solve problems in the interactive lectures or tutorials. There's also a fair amount of revision that is continuous in-semester, as I've had plenty of assessed multi-choice quizzes to measure my knowledge.

Content: The content covered so far includes a lot of chemistry, physiology and biology, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, and a light brush through statistics and research methods. Some of the units I've experienced have a bit of overlap, so it is quite interesting to see how different subject areas all relate to 'pharmaceutical science' as a whole.

Assessment: So far I've done a few reports, plenty of oral presentations, a debate, plenty of exams (which are hurdles- according to faculty policy, I must pass them to pass the unit), lab reports, in-lecture "clicker" questions (which are slowly phasing out because PollEv is taking over) and topic quizzes. I've found that the topic quizzes are really handy for keeping on track, however most exams I've had are weighted 50-60% and still require a lot of work to be put into them.

General thoughts: Coming into the degree, I thought I'd be really scared to do assessments such as oral presentations and debates, but I've gotten sort of used to them now, and that's pretty surprising. I've also learned so far that the most units are structured in a way that forces you to work with people- whether you like it or not, so it helps you develop that skill pretty quickly too.

[Joseph41]

Great contributions in this thread so far!

When is the due date for this?
I would love to contribute, but I'm going to need to think about what I write here .

I'll be discussing this tomorrow afternoon - let me get back to you.

[K888]

Happy to use my real name

Degree:
Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours)

Institution:
Monash University, Melbourne (Peninsula campus)

Length of degree:
4 years FT

Your current year, or year of graduation:
Year 2

Why you chose your degree:
I've always wanted to go into healthcare, but physio appealed to me especially because you have the opportunity to play a part in helping someone get back to being healthy, and you can improve their quality of life without being invasive. As a physio I'll have the privilege of restoring people's trust in their body and empowering them to achieve their goals, which is pretty awesome. The fact that I could use my skills to have a positive impact on someone really appealed to me when I was thinking about possible courses and careers.

Contact hours:
Heavy in first year - usually ~24, sometimes more. Definitely 5 days of attendance. In second year, there's a fair few less contact hours, and they're moving towards putting more stuff online (as well as a lot more self-directed learning). There's only 4 days of in-person attendance (and one day of online lectures), contact hours are ~18 I think, but honestly a bit variable depending whether a lecturer decides to move the content online for the week or not. Once you hit third year, contact hours drop again a fair bit.
Once on placement (2nd semester of 3rd year onwards), you tend to do ~32 hour weeks and the placements are in blocks of 5 weeks (the exception is a 2 week paediatric placement). All up, you end up doing 30+ weeks of placement.

Workload:
Workload is steady. There's learning issues that you have to write for CBL every week that'll usually be about 800-1000 words in length. You're expected to do further learning outside of lectures to complete your understanding of a concept, which is fairly standard for most uni degrees. How much work outside of uni that has to be done is up to the person, but everything is examinable (across all years of the degree) so it's expected that you continue to revise stuff across the degree. There tends to be weekly prep videos to watch before anatomy lectures, and there's questions to answer before pracs that are in your prac manuals (as well as skill videos to watch before pracs). There's definitely always something you can be doing.

Content:
Mostly interesting - some parts are unavoidably dry, but necessary to learn. It's split up into anatomy, physio theory, physiology, research, and prac. Each week you cover a different theme and the lectures tend to be related (mostly anatomy and physio theory - eg: anatomy of the hip, and pathologies of the hip), and then the prac will teach you practical skills relating to that theme (eg: assessment of the hip). First semester of first year is lower limb musculoskeletal physio, second semester is upper limb (and some spinal) musculoskeletal physio. First semester of second year is cardiorespiratory physio, second semester is neuro physio. First semester of third year covers past topics with more advanced content, as well as things like men's and women's health, paediatrics, etc.

Assessment:
The important thing to remember with physio is that every assessment is a hurdle requirement. Essentially, you have to pass every summative assessment to be able to progress to the next unit.
There tends to only be one or two written assignments/essays per semester, and the rest of your assessment is made up of online research quizzes/activities, CBL performance, the written exam(s), the OSCE, anatomy image exams (mid-semester and at the end of semester) and a few physiology assessments (quizzes). In first year you also have some group video assignments.
There's also some assessments that are just hurdle requirements and not graded, such as the reflective portfolio, skills mastery videos, professional conduct, etc.

General thoughts:
I feel like the main thing with physio is that it's super easy to get caught up in the details (after all, there's so much stuff to learn!), but what's important is to understand the principles. Once you've got those, you can apply them to anything, and you'll have also acquired some pretty good reasoning skills to boot.

If you're interested in healthcare, passionate about improving people's quality of life, and want to help people achieve their goals, then physio is a great degree. It's also a growing profession and there's heaps of different fields you can pursue, depending on your interests. I think a lot of people enter the degree because they like sport and imagine themselves being a physio for an AFL team, but the reality is that sports physios make up a small percentage of the workforce - the majority of physios actually work in a hospital setting. That's not to say don't do the degree if that's what you're interested in, because if you're motivated, then you can achieve anything. Just be aware that by the end of your degree and the time you enter the workforce, you might end up in a completely different field to what you expected you'd go into when you started the degree.

[Joseph41]

^Awesome!

@zofromuxo, the sooner the better, but before the end of March would be fantastic.

[zofromuxo]

I would like to be listed under Geospat It's an inside joke between my friends.If that isn't possible then list me under anonymous thanks. Don't write my username or real name as the author for this.

Degree: Bachelor of Science (Geospatial Science) (Honours)
Institution: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Melbourne (City Campus)
Length of degree: 4 Years Full-Time
Your current year, or year of graduation: Year 2
Why you chose your degree: I loved Geography. I wanted to work in the field, but I didn't want to do something about Sustainability that was the rage back in the day. I was considering doing Bachelor of Environments and to major in Spatial Systems, however University of Melbourne changed the program to Bachelor of Design. I didn't like the direction it was going into, I also couldn't do Bachelor of Surveying at RMIT because of the Math Methods per-requisite. I was then told of the degree I'm doing now by my highschool's career counselor, but really looked into it when I was told by a University of Melbourne representative for Spatial Systems to look into the Geospatial Science degree for a more practical course. So I went to their Open day presentation and as soon as the speaker showed the work they had done. My brain was like "This is what I want to do, sign me up, put this as 1st preference". 2 years later, I'm now doing the Geospatial Science and haven't looked back since.

Contact hours: 1st year is ~30 hours and maybe more. You go to university 5 days a week. In 2nd year, it gets even more full on from what 3rd and 4th year students have told me about the 2nd year. I've found that my contact hours are in fact last. But then again I'm sure they will get higher as the year goes on. 3rd year and 4th year are where you have a big drop in contact hours as most of your subjects are very self-driven. It also helps to talk to other students for ideas especially in Cartography subjects as the work is subjective. "There are a few wrong answers, but many right answers", it helps you as you get exposed to different elements you can use for your map and fresh outlooks on maps. It also helps to ensure your meeting the user requirements of your map. A recent example: Making sure your map can be read by colour-blind people as well.

Workload:
It varies. It really does. It depends what grades you want and also how well you pick up on the learning material. In 1st year, I would come in on weekends and even my "off day" to finish work because I wanted to get the best grade possible, but also because I need more time to work on assessments and practicals. Most if not all the work isn't difficult. As long as you ask for help from the tutor and/or your lecturer and put in the time to study for tests and also work out of class for assessments like Maps and reports, then the workload isn't going to weigh you down.

Content:Mostly interesting. I loved learning about how map making is a lot more then just BOLTSS as you learn in high school. There is a lot of design principles behind it like the use of colour, the layout of your map, the science behind why certain conventions are used in maps, etc. It does get a bit dry for some subjects like coding and learning about the laws of land boundaries, but most of the information is relevant and is required knowledge for working in the industry. The practicals for the Surveying subjects are all right, its good to go outside and do work. It can be an annoyance for you as this is one of the areas where picking you group members is extremely crucial. If you are in a "good" group that knows what to do and follows the procedures to the letter (trust me, you'll want to do this) then you'll finish early and it will be a relatively stress-free day. If you pick a "bad" group, members not following the procedures correctly (Not setting up instruments correctly, not observing the correct measurements, not checking that your observations are within the allowable limit of errors, etc). You will finish beyond the expected practical time and will have a stress-inducing day that will spread for the rest of the other practical components.

Assessment: Assessments are fair and you are notified well in advance about them in the syllabus. The lecturers aren't sneaky about what they'll assess you on they'll mostly tell you what is on the quiz, test, practicals and exams. You just have to study and make sure you do what is asked of you. Not all subjects have exams, that being said those without exams will have heavier weighting on assessments, so don't just go cruise control because there is no exam. Oh there is also a work experience component of 12 weeks (60 working days or b] 40  working days on vacation[/b] that you'll need to undertake in the 4 years of the degree or else you can't graduate, so look for work early. Which you can do, in fact some 1st years work in the industry already while studying. But typically most find work in 3rd year, so be open to working but don't stress if you can't find work.

General thoughts: "You come to university to learn and make mistakes, so you don't make them in the field". Wise words from one of friends in this course. The teaching staff don't expect you to do everything 100% from the get go, they do expect you that you are willingly to learn and ask for assistance when needed. In fact, they are actually extremely helpful and most have had either worked in the industry for a long time and/or have contributed to the industry via research.
Explore the industry like Dora the explorer. Don't just stick with learning how to use ArcGIS, learn about the other GIS programs and try them like QGIS (a free and open source GIS software package). Go and ask people in the industry - trust me you'll see surveyors in the field a lot these years, so ask them about the industry. Ask the guest speakers question and introduce yourself - don't be scared, they were like you as well and it makes you stand out from the rest of them. Talk to lecturers about what they did, ask about research they have done (if they are a researcher), ask about their industry experience, send them relevant material you find like research papers, articles, videos, etc. They are often more accomplished then you think and are also humans not robots used to teach you. Use your 'student' privileges, ask professionals in the industry questions, go to industry nights, panels and/or talks. Join the relevant professional associations and get involved in the course club (GSSA). This will make you stand out compared to all the other students as your learning about the industry now as opposed to when you graduate. University can't teach you everything, so go out and yonder my friend.
Which brings me on to the one of the best things about doing this degree. Work experience and job prospects. There are a ton of them. Go to your local surveying firm and ask for work. Some will hire you on the spot, no joke. Ask your lecturers for help finding work as many of them are in fact asked by companies to refer students to them. (This is also a subtle reminder not to be an ass to your lecturers and be friends with them. It can really benefit you moving forward).
It doesn't hurt to learn coding and programming. Try to learn a language to a GIS like Python for ArcGIS or HTML/CSS for Webmaps. This makes you extremely attractive to firms as you can automate a lot of the processes done in GIS. I would also be in at least good physical shape as the Surveying practical in the 1st and 2nd year are quite rigorous. A lot of lifting of equipment and setting up can really test your endurance and physical strength.
It doesn't help to ask the students above you for help, most of us are willingly to help you as long as you aren't an ass.

Lastly, have fun and enjoy the ride. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained".

[Joseph41]

^Brilliant - thanks zofromuxo!

More contributions would be fantastic if at all possible.

[Joseph41]

Would love more perspectives from all degree types, but particularly:

* Business
* Biomedicine
* Commerce
* Design
* Education
* Health Science
* IT
* Law