Uni life thread

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JaRedy

Guest
I don't know all the facts so I wont go into specifics but at QUT last year there seemed to be a whole heap of un-professional and generally pretty shitty/full retard behaviour coming out of the politics groups. Really not the sort of think you'd want from the people who pride themselves on being 'leaders'
 
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Xavo.au

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hahaha I just had a squiz at the UQ 4 Democracy page on FB.

This whole election thing is a joke, from what I can tell - Fresh was always going to win, they may or may not have played a dick move; but the other parties weren't paying enough attention and got called out.
Gonna vote for the bush turkey so I can get some $5 dorra voucher, but srsly why is this such a big deal?
 

Matt H

Eats Squid
hahaha I just had a squiz at the UQ 4 Democracy page on FB.

This whole election thing is a joke, from what I can tell - Fresh was always going to win, they may or may not have played a dick move; but the other parties weren't paying enough attention and got called out.
Gonna vote for the bush turkey so I can get some $5 dorra voucher, but srsly why is this such a big deal?
I know you're new to UQ so you're probably not aware that fresh has been doing similar (but not quite as bad) stuff over the last few years. It's a big deal, partly because of principle and partly because of the fact that I don't want my fees going to a bunch of dodgy wankers. People that have, as you put it, "played a dick move". Also, I'm not surprised you're thinking like this, a shit load of college execs are involved with fresh and they seem to hold a lot of sway over first year kids.

Anyway, here's a completely non-partisan letter about the topic. http://alettertouq.org/
 

hach_bee

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Slowly coming to the realisation that 600hrs is a frikkin long time for an internship placement, when most companies don't need you more than two days a week... also when you're working fulltime hours to afford to live!

Loving my internship though, big learning curve, but loving being out of the uni classrooms more!
 

taitt

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I know you're new to UQ so you're probably not aware that fresh has been doing similar (but not quite as bad) stuff over the last few years. It's a big deal, partly because of principle and partly because of the fact that I don't want my fees going to a bunch of dodgy wankers. People that have, as you put it, "played a dick move". Also, I'm not surprised you're thinking like this, a shit load of college execs are involved with fresh and they seem to hold a lot of sway over first year kids.

Anyway, here's a completely non-partisan letter about the topic. http://alettertouq.org/
The only people who tend to care about it seem to be jumping on about 12 other bandwagons at the same time. Does the thought even cross your mind for the other 50 weeks of the year?
 

downhillar

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How do you guys stop procrastinating? I waste so much of my life sitting here attempting to do work and getting nothing done.
 

Hamsta

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^^^^^Perhaps you could set small goals. Buy a diary that has a full A4 page for each day and spend a few moments planning your day and proritise your workload. Maybe by physically writing down what you want to do with your time may help to give you enough 'mental inertia' to overcome procrastination.
 

XYGTHO

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I'm the same downhiller. Doing second year engineering maths at the moment external which sucks while working full time, looking after a 8month old. Finished my associate degree elec eng now doing the bachelor. Working full time the whole to time.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Does anyone study Physics?

Or, more to the point, has anyone entirely changed what they were doing at uni?

I've been studying anthropology and the social sciences for 1.5yrs, and while I've enjoyed learning this different way of thinking, I've come to the conclusion that I could've learnt everything I've already learnt by spending my spare time in the library and subscribing to a few academic journals. I've reached the point where I can't take myself seriously anymore if I'm to believe that it will lead to a good job, or even a job, after uni. I increasingly get the feeling that I'm being taken for a ride on this one if I believe otherwise.

I thought about it and decided that principally I'm at uni to gain real world skills, I can learn new way of thinking or academic writing in my own time. I feel that the hard sciences may allow me to achieve this goal, and I've always been interested in Physics. A did a couple of electives in Astronomy last year and got HDs, and these would count as credits if I switched over. My only reservation is that its been a long time since I did any serious maths.

So my question is, has anyone done the switch? And any physics students out there who see an obvious career path ahead of them?
 

Mywifesirrational

I however am very normal. Trust me.
How do you guys stop procrastinating? I waste so much of my life sitting here attempting to do work and getting nothing done.
I'm in my 9th year at uni and this is always a problem.

The only way I can avoid it is through organisation. I just have set times when I do study for a give topic. Everyday for at least 1 hour I do some writing, every morning I read 1-3 studies, depending on the size and complexity. If you don't need to go into uni, I still go in as I waste less time their than home. Organise a study group (only worth while with 1-2 other organised / motivated peeps).
 

@nDr3w

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Or, more to the point, has anyone entirely changed what they were doing at uni?
Yes. I switched from a B/Social Science at the end of 2010 into my current program, a double degree of B/Laws and B/Communications.
If it's an obviously good career choice, and the new degree is something you thoroughly enjoy, I say go for it. I'm so glad I did. The only negative I felt was that I was further behind, that I'd put myself at uni for longer than I needed to be. However, in the grand scheme of things, it's a relatively small amount of time to sacrifice in relation to the potentially enormous benefits. And at the moment, I'd love to go down a path similar to MWII and chase the post-grad/doctorate sort of stuff, something I'd never have thought of at the time I switched.

TLDR: Personally, the positives cancel out the negatives. By a lot.
 

RYDA

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Setting the scene. 15% assignment. 4 group members. 3 weeks.

I personally took on around 85% of the assignment all the major design / calcs / cad. Finished up around midnight last night.

Other members had 'writing' tasks.

Get a text from someone last night "oh running a bit behind, will upload later tonight"

I think cool, no worries, will just add it to the report in the morning.

Wake up, open his document, ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME!

Complete dogshit, questions answered poorly with no sketches.

How on earth will these people become effective engineers is beyond me.
 

MasterOfReality

After forever
The joys of group work.

I'd go burn them in front of the lecturer - I did it to a guy in a 4th year management subject. Lazy prick was designated Resolutions Officer or something like that, but we never saw him for the 10 weeks we had for this assignment until the day of hand in and presentation. Of course he came empty handed, some other guy did the work for him. When we had to do the presentation in front of the class, I had the job of closing the presentation and towards the end I said something along the lines of "thankfully our project went smoothly and we were confident in the skills of our non-existent Resolutions Officer, but he must have been on annual leave". The lecture theater erupted into laughted and old man was standing on stage with his face going bright red.

I found habits like that tend to carry over into the workforce. One guy I worked with was a guy I went to uni with, and he was exactly like the guy you mentioned. A combination of laziness and incompetence, and thought I was going to pick up the slack (as I was the only other mining engineer). I dropped the fucker in the shit right in front of the mine manager in the morning production meeting as I was getting sick of dealing with his half arsed efforts. Development plans out of sync, incorrect tonnages, volume calculations incorrect etc etc.

Boy didn't he get torn a new one in front of all the superintendents, and what do you know, magically things started getting done on time and in a professional manner.
 
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RYDA

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Thats slightly reassuring MOR.

We handed the report in at 9am (was due at midday). Got a text at 10am "hey guys, my alarm didnt go off again, do you need me to come in to get it printed or anything?"

Thank god we can pick our groups members for the major design assignment.
 

flamshmizer

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How do you guys stop procrastinating? I waste so much of my life sitting here attempting to do work and getting nothing done.
What time is your earliest lecture? Go to uni at that time every day (get a mad consistent sleep schedule going) and whenever you aren't at class head to the library or a computer room. Schedule a solid one hour lunch break where you can go and meet friends, but spend a solid day at uni doing work. I do an 8-4/5 day most days of the week. It leaves one full weekday free for me to go to work and I hardly ever have to do anything on weekends unless I'm behind because I didn't stick to that schedule.

Separate your sleep room and your study room. Never study where you sleep, when you study you will feel tired and lethargic. It also makes sleep more difficult as its the same room your stress happens in. If you turn your uni into your job, you can leave it at the door when you get home.

I've been trying to do this for 2 1/2 years, have not been perfectly successful but I have never missed sleep for an assignment, and I've never handed one in late. Rolling on a pretty sweet GPA too.
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
If you turn your uni into your job, you can leave it at the door when you get home.
Great approach flamshmizer!


I ended up deciding to defer this semester. Just gonna work and save money for a while. I think I will go back next year and continue it as I think I can make something of it myself, even if its not in the academics field which seems to be so off-putting.

Also, thought some people might enjoy this interview with Doctor Karl.
[video=youtube_share;tlwIvPrZg-0]http://youtu.be/tlwIvPrZg-0[/video]
 

Steve-0

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Has anyone dropped out of fulltime work and headed to uni?

I've been working fulltime for 4years (22yo) and have completed an apprenticeship in electronics. Im thinking of doing an electrical engineering degree fulltime at uni but was looking for advice from others. I guess I'm still young, live at home and could do it but at the same time, the loss in money is huge...

Also whilst I could do 10-20hrs casual, I couldn't do uni part time. I know I would just not put in the effort...
 

RYDA

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Has anyone dropped out of fulltime work and headed to uni?

I've been working fulltime for 4years (22yo) and have completed an apprenticeship in electronics. Im thinking of doing an electrical engineering degree fulltime at uni but was looking for advice from others. I guess I'm still young, live at home and could do it but at the same time, the loss in money is huge...

Also whilst I could do 10-20hrs casual, I couldn't do uni part time. I know I would just not put in the effort...
Try and get some sort of financial support from either your current employer (assuming here they have a need for electrical engineers) OR try to find an industry scholarship before you start.

Also - knowledge is power!
 

Joel O

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Try and get some sort of financial support from either your current employer (assuming here they have a need for electrical engineers) OR try to find an industry scholarship before you start.

Also - knowledge is power!
This! It is quite common for electrical engineers to have an electrical trade so you might be able to use that as an advantage when looking for a company pay your way, especially since it means you would be in a better position to contribute to the business while you are studying
 
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