XYGTHO
Likes Dirt
Good stuff hach_bee that's fantastic and I bet one of the best feelings. I can't wait for that day to come. What will you do with your spare time? Lol
Uni life thread
- Thread starter Rider_of_Fast
- Start date
2nd year of Geology/Environmental management (hoping to maybe change environmental management to something a bit funner like meteorology). Liking 3 out of the 4 courses. I've surprised myself this semester by doing a lot more study, I've moved onto campus proper which is really fun. Loving the people I live with and the stuff that happens. Really loving the Geo side of things.
2 more exams for the semester, 1 more in class quiz and 1 more prac exam. Then 3 of the 4 finals should be quite challenging, but hopefully I'll be on top of the study by then.
2 more exams for the semester, 1 more in class quiz and 1 more prac exam. Then 3 of the 4 finals should be quite challenging, but hopefully I'll be on top of the study by then.
wespelarno
Likes Dirt
graduated genetics and immunology end of last year, now I'm studying medicine at ANU. The amount of lecture content is obscene. I would describe it as soul consuming. But then thursdays are clinical days which are always awesome and we get to do lots of problem solving and hands on stuff which is a really interesting way to apply to copious amounts of knowledge we have to absorb out of lectures. So overall a massive commitment but lots of fun!
clockworked
Like an orange
it was that sort of time commitment that made me choose dentistry over medicine. and then they made us do the entire medicine course (switching only clinic days to dental clinics) as well as the dentistry concurrently for the first two years. it was hell!
J
JaRedy
Guest
3/4th year Urban Planning. The lack of jobs in the industry in Brisbane/Cairns is very disheartening. Sticking it out and hopefully the market picked up by the end of next year.
Marks are fairly average as usual, but i'd rather be working and have average marks than have excellent marks and be too broke to do anything!
Marks are fairly average as usual, but i'd rather be working and have average marks than have excellent marks and be too broke to do anything!
I literally almost did that course. Geology is the bomb.
Everyone thats into their 7-8th years of study - I feel your pain!
I am into the second year of my PhD in microbial comparative genetics. The research group I am in has been all over the news lately with the koala genome and working on a chlamydia vaccine for koalas. (The chlamydial species I am working on is heaps more interesting - in my eyes anyway :biggrin1: )
So far its been 12+ hour days, almost 7 days a week and that includes teaching/tutoring during semester. Finding the time to ride is really tough - but I try to make it out to the trails for a few hours twice a week. I figure if I am going to be in the lab or staring at the computer for 12 hours I deserve a few hours mid week to get out amongst it.
Long days with stupid teaching hours make commuting by bike a bitch though
This is my 8th year at uni, so hopefully I get this finished before it ticks into double digits.
What I love = 75% of my project is computational based, the rest I can make pretty pictures out of. Being able to choose my own hours.
what I dont love = starting at 5:30am and not getting home until 9pm some days, Having to book/plan weekends/social time with friends about a month in advance, waking up at 3am and thinking about experiments or something I need to write in this paper etc etc.
I am into the second year of my PhD in microbial comparative genetics. The research group I am in has been all over the news lately with the koala genome and working on a chlamydia vaccine for koalas. (The chlamydial species I am working on is heaps more interesting - in my eyes anyway :biggrin1: )
So far its been 12+ hour days, almost 7 days a week and that includes teaching/tutoring during semester. Finding the time to ride is really tough - but I try to make it out to the trails for a few hours twice a week. I figure if I am going to be in the lab or staring at the computer for 12 hours I deserve a few hours mid week to get out amongst it.
Long days with stupid teaching hours make commuting by bike a bitch though
This is my 8th year at uni, so hopefully I get this finished before it ticks into double digits.
What I love = 75% of my project is computational based, the rest I can make pretty pictures out of. Being able to choose my own hours.
what I dont love = starting at 5:30am and not getting home until 9pm some days, Having to book/plan weekends/social time with friends about a month in advance, waking up at 3am and thinking about experiments or something I need to write in this paper etc etc.
Yeah the Environmental Management course is pretty bland, I'm doing a pretty shitty subject at the moment - there's just so much crap involved in it, really gives me a feel for the legislative red tape that's applied to everything to keep a heap of public servant jobs that otherwise wouldn't be there. I want to shift my focus from the legislative side of things (which is what this course is about) and go towards the environmental science behind it - sort of like an adviser to the people that right the legislation if that makes sense (ideally want to be in a position to give the green light to more MTB projects
)Geology is the shit though, if it all goes to hell I'm going to drop the dual degree and focus on it - even though it is my primary focus out of the two degrees at the moment.
Matt H
Eats Squid
So now that I'm slowly starting to drag my GPA up to a slightly more respectable level (man I was an idiot for my first 2 years of study...), I really need to start looking for internships and work experience. I have a pretty strong interest in working in finance/banking/IB and more specifically equities research/asset management/etc. The problem (other than pretty mediocre grades) is that the extent of my resume is pretty much just a bunch of different bike shops for the last 6 or 7 years.
Any advice on getting some resume "filler"? What extracurriculars should I be partaking in? Community/volunteering work? What specifically?
Any advice on getting some resume "filler"? What extracurriculars should I be partaking in? Community/volunteering work? What specifically?
Joel O
Likes Bikes and Dirt
Committee position in a uni/sporting club?
Mywifesirrational
I however am very normal. Trust me.
Firstly, certainly use some creativity when describing working in bike shops.
Does the Uni offer any student leadership programs? always looks good on a CV.
Volunteer work, there should be a few options around the uni, especially good for meeting the ladies as well.
First aid - yup pretty generic, but it all adds up.
Is there any tutoring work (volunteer or payed) - student services often have random jobs / volunteer stuff as well.
Is there any research work (specific to your study) you could help with, this experience can lead to paid work and a reference with a PhD behind the name looks great.
Basically you just want to show while some of you early grades are average, you are keen to work, enthusiastic, team player... all that sort of crap.
I personally volunteered for everything within the faculty I studied in, yes I lost some weekends here and there, I also volunteered at Yorralla for a year (very confronting) and help with as much research as I could - and actually learnt a lot of lab skills, planning and implementation because of this. When I went for a job at a hospital, I had a very good referee who was a professor, lots of hands on problem management (thanks to the kids at yorralla) and was skilled in computers and data analysis due to all the research work, got the job comfortably.
Good grades are important, but just as important is getting some varied experiences on your CV.
Group assignment with 6 members, I'm stuck doing almost all the work. Had a group meeting today to try and finish the assignment, two didn't show up at all and still haven't said anything. And the assignment keeps dragging on and on.. I'll be up all night at this rate.
This.
But also don't be too disheartened if you 'only' have bike shops. I am in a position where I review lots of resumes of people trying to enter large commercial law firms. Here are some lessons:
1) If you've done an exchange programme, I just assume your parents have paid for you to go on holiday
2) If you have not worked through uni and do not have a scholarship, I assume you have no initiative and you parents paid for everything
3) If all you have on your CV are university clubs/societies/newspapers, I assume that you play war games with your friends and collect star-wars posters, ergo I don't want to work with you
4) If you have heaps of humanitarian-y looking activities on your CV and unpaid internships at NGO's etc (I'm looking at you 'Equality Officer' of the Law Students Society, who has also been to Rwanda and Haiti), I assume your parents paid for your holidays overseas and you are just resume padding (I mean you realise you're applying for a commercial job right? Working at a supermarket till is more relevant than your peacekeeping mission.
Don't underestimate the power of just being a normal person that had to work through uni. At least for me, I'd much rather see that than all the other bullcrap resume padding rubbish that people seem to include on their CVs these days.
Mywifesirrational
I however am very normal. Trust me.
Group assignments are despised by students, we always through one in every semester in our units, it seems to mimic many real life work places - but to be fair we do mark the students separately.
If two people have done absolutely nothing and not turned up, document everything, especially if others in the group members will also sign it and send a polite email the lecturer, tutor or course coordinator and explain you have members that have contributed nothing, you have done their work and you would like to be marked separately from them.
Student services will have liaison officers of some sort that can help with issues like this, there will be policy in place already around this sort of issue, if you also can highlight a section of a fair teaching policy or some such thing to you lecturer, you will get you way (deservedly).
J
JaRedy
Guest
In addition to what you said, I've heard some employers and lecturers say certain generalizations about "7" students and that they choose to NOT hire a student who achieves perfect marks. Their reasoning was along the lines of:
1. These people are perfectionists, so
2. They don't know what its like to fail, and so,
3. They wont work well with others who aren't at their level/ etc
To be honest, even though this sort of thought process have come from fairly large employers I still find it hard to believe.
Link, you're an employer/interviewer for a large firm? Whats your opinion on this?
Elbo
pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
This is what gets me. I'm studying anthropology and its pretty much given that if you want to work in the field you need to do internships with as many NGOs and community groups as possible. Employers in this field love this sort of shit on your resumé. Most internships are unpaid and go for 6+ weeks, that's just not something I can afford to do. Not only are you earning $0 for 6+ weeks, your expenses still continue and sometimes you're paying for the privilege of the position too. Recently an unpaid UN internship went to auction! I've got a few friends doing the same sort of course, they both know exactly what they want to do with it so they're going for these sorts of internships. One has spent 8 of the last 12 months overseas on exchange and unpaid internships with her parents somehow paying for it. Another got an UN internship in Africa and fundraised for the whole thing through his church. I don't necessarily agree with that ethically.
I think this culture of unpaid internships and internships being considered a 'privilege' is really dangerous and its spreading to commercial sectors like accounting and law too. I have a lot of problems with the international aid and development industry, but this is just another one.
I hope to use my anthropology degree with my bachelor of business in a commercial setting, like consumer behaviour/branding/marketing/etc, so I figure I'm better off getting good grades and proving myself through working through uni.
Internships are becoming another hidden cost of education. You can basically buy a career path now if you have enough money.
Matt H
Eats Squid
Mywifesirrational, thanks for the input, it definitely helps with narrowing down the stuff I should have a go at.
I don't agree with the idea of unpaid internships either. Especially ones like the following, which I received in a faculty email a couple of weeks back:
An unpaid work experience opportunity is available with Rio Tinto commencing mid May. Students must be in their final semester of a Masters program and have a current GPA of 6. The purpose is to obtain a global view of the existing LNG projects and projects under construction / being planned. This research will assist in obtaining an estimate of future LNG market supply capabilities and project cost structures (both capex and opex). This work is important in developing the RTE LNG cost curse, which will be used in our global energy modelling. Project tasks will include research and compile on an existing Global LNG project list, costs updates (capital costs, liquefaction costs update, shipping costs estimation and exporter/importer mapping). Internal tools for liquefaction costs estimation will be provided, it is not necessary to build the model from scratch. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to work with a professional energy analysis team and will be under professional supervision.
Something that technical and clearly incredibly beneficial to a firm just seems wrong to be offered for free. Working unpaid alongside people earning solid six figures would be an interesting feeling.
But I guess competition amongst students is fierce enough to warrant it. There's really not much I'm guessing can be done about it either.
I don't agree with the idea of unpaid internships either. Especially ones like the following, which I received in a faculty email a couple of weeks back:
An unpaid work experience opportunity is available with Rio Tinto commencing mid May. Students must be in their final semester of a Masters program and have a current GPA of 6. The purpose is to obtain a global view of the existing LNG projects and projects under construction / being planned. This research will assist in obtaining an estimate of future LNG market supply capabilities and project cost structures (both capex and opex). This work is important in developing the RTE LNG cost curse, which will be used in our global energy modelling. Project tasks will include research and compile on an existing Global LNG project list, costs updates (capital costs, liquefaction costs update, shipping costs estimation and exporter/importer mapping). Internal tools for liquefaction costs estimation will be provided, it is not necessary to build the model from scratch. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to work with a professional energy analysis team and will be under professional supervision.
Something that technical and clearly incredibly beneficial to a firm just seems wrong to be offered for free. Working unpaid alongside people earning solid six figures would be an interesting feeling.
But I guess competition amongst students is fierce enough to warrant it. There's really not much I'm guessing can be done about it either.
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hach_bee
Likes Bikes and Dirt
This. Goddamn. Barely scraping a pass on an assignment that I was told I could do independantly. Then got forced to throw out 5 hours worth of work when the lecturer decided I had to partner up. THEN got a third one thrown into our group. We had ALL started the assignment and no one had done the last bit. I would have had better marks doing it alone and submitting 4 weeks early like I wanted....
LTIHAU (about uni): being assessed on theories developed in the 50s, later cancelled out by the 80's theories which are NOW irrelevant.... the oldest readings we're being assessed on are 10years older than ME!
LTIL though . After tomorrow I will never have to worry about uni again (provided I pass these exams!). AND my boss is forcing me to take these two days off to get my exams done despite the fact I'm meant to be working onsite in TSV right now!
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XYGTHO
Likes Dirt
Well not loving life at the moment. Two weeks off the bike already. Family has been sick and I feel like crap. Have all week and got along way to go with this flu. I have my exam next Wednesday that I would have had a week and a half to study for but done none so far. Had a constant headache. I should be ok. Only need 10/40 or so to pass but would be nice to get a credit.