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March 29, 2024, 05:34:47 am

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Sine

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University General Chat
« on: March 30, 2020, 08:18:08 pm »
+11
University General Chat

What is this thread for?
Welcome to the University general chat thread. ;D This thread is for anything University-related from any university. If you have general questions, ask them here. If you don't know where to ask something, ask it here. If you want to vent about your day at uni, do it here. If you want to chat about your subjects, do it here. Basically, whatever you want - this is the place for it. 👌 For more specific discussion there are threads available for particular universities.

Who can post here?
Anybody! Most will be current students at the university, but even if you're considering studying at university in the future, you're absolutely more than welcome to post! Providing different perspectives is incredibly valuable.

Just note that to ask a question or make a post, you will first need an ATAR Notes account. You probably already have one, but if you don't, it takes about four seconds to sign up - and it's completely free!

GENERAL UNIVERSITY RESOURCES
CLICK ME!
INTRODUCTION TO UNIVERSITY:
* Making the most of university [guide]
* How university works. The point of this thread is to get you up to speed on how university actually works, answering any questions first-year students (or older) could possibly have.
* First year university checklist. A concise summary of some of the major terms you might come across in your first days, weeks and months at uni.
* Choosing universities: a beginner's guide.
* VET FEE-HELP explained.
* HECS-HELP and what your careers counsellor won't talk about.
* What's the best way to pay off uni fees?
* What's a university lecture actually like?

GENERAL UNIVERSITY:
* Moving interstate for uni: is it worth it?
* Week 4 uni getting you down? Read this!
* Writing a university thesis.
* Guide to academic writing.
* The uni and course for you: a guide for prospective students
* Have you considered taking a gap year?

FACULTY-SPECIFIC GUIDES:
* What's first year Biomedicine really like?
* What's first year Medicine really like?
* Taking the long road to Law.
* The benefits of an Arts degree - by a current Law student.
* Beyond the end goal: lessons learnt from higher education (Science).
* What's the difference between Legal Studies and Law?
* Difference between undergrad and postgrad Law.
* Communications/Media Q&A.
* Engineering Q&A.
* First year uni maths questions.
* Differences between Bachelor of Biomed and Bachelor of Science.

ACADEMIC GUIDES:
* How to write a university essay.
* How do you get High Distinctions?
* Students who consistently achieve H1s/HDs, how do you do it?

DISCUSSION TOPICS:
* Rank your university units from favourite to least favourite.
* Things I wish I knew about first year uni.
* Is a Bachelor of Arts useless?
* Misconceptions (and truths) about uni life.
* I don't know what to study at uni - help!
* If you weren't studying what you're studying, what would you be studying?
* Is having a car/licence a must for university life?
* How to uni: a guide.
* Uni. Is it really worth it?
* Does university make you feel like a slave?
* Is a laptop necessary for university?
* I can't seem to make friends at university.
* Should I drop out of university?
* How to make friends at uni?
* University stationery.
* What happens if you do 'badly' in uni?
* Do you even SWOTVAC?

RESULTS:
* University results discussion.

NOT WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?

Sine

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2020, 08:24:03 pm »
+7
Now that the vast majority of university students are studying from home how is everyone finding it?

I had my first zoom tutorial today and it actually worked quite well, however, the tutorial was mainly discussion-based. Tomorrow I am supposed to have an online Anatomy Prac which is basically only going to give us a chance to ask tutors questions. Unfortunately, won't be able to work with the specimens like we normally do.

kauac

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2020, 08:34:10 pm »
+4
Honestly I have found it a bit challenging (and a little dull  :o).

Not loving being stuck sitting at my laptop for such long periods of time, and I have found it harder to retain information from my lectures (seems to kinda wash over me even though I'm taking notes). I did an online exam today, and it was okay. I also still have anatomy pracs - but they consist of looking at a diagrams and watching a video of the tutor identifying anatomy on a specimen.

On the otherhand, the convenience of the online system is great! Pretty flexible, no travel time, and in the comforts of my own home! I have been using zoom a fair bit - it seems to be fairly helpful, especially since we can ask questions and clarify, like a normal class. Guess this is the best we can do in this current situation!
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K888

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2020, 08:49:08 pm »
+3
I'm in the lucky position that I've been on placement and have been able to finish (this week is my last week) with no issues. Will just have assignments for most of the rest of my last year, with a few weeks of campus attendance required. First scheduled one is around July so hopefully things will be back to normal then! Thankfully this hasn't been super disruptive to me (some friends haven't been as lucky - some places have cancelled placements).

I'm meant to be mentoring 3rd years starting next week so assume that will all be over zoom - hoping to get more info soon because I don't really know how it'll work! It'll be interesting to see how they're coping with such a practical course having to be online.

sweetiepi

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2020, 08:50:46 pm »
+4
Had my first two Zoom meetings (one was a faculty Q&A because my faculty kinda doesn't do telling us things v well and finally decided to update us lmao, other was with supervisor) today and found them both to be a bit of a complete waste of time- but it's not like I was doing anything else that was mildly productive*?

I don't do this work from home thing very well (and honestly never have), so it'll be a bit of a jump to get myself adjusted :(

*I mean buying 4 km worth of thread and 120 m of fabric (online- also Spotlight have $11 shipping which is a big wtf btw) counts as being productive enough, right??
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jinaede1342

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2020, 09:17:07 pm »
+8
Sooo draining. Zoom with 50 people and breakout rooms usually just end up with two ppl talking over everyone else - in two hours can’t even open my mouth - you’d think everyone was a qualified practising lawyer rn :o

Thought uni would be easier than yr12 - it’s not. I’m drowning in so much work and readings. Read 6 cases yesterday and this is just one unit, not dedicating enough time to commerce and they cancelled our tutorials so that’s fun. Will fail law bc it’s hard and will fail Commerce coz we basically have 3 contact hours total. Feeling dumb in a sea of smart ppl.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 09:20:14 pm by jinaede1342 »
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sweetcheeks

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2020, 09:22:36 pm »
+5
My classes haven't started yet, as I have month long classes, with my first starting at the end of April. I really don't know how I'm going to cope, as I often struggle with watching lectures online, as I just don't seem to take in the information as well as I do in person.

I'm also struggling to discipline myself to get any work done, as I have always made an effort not to do any work at home (it's my belief that home is somewhere where I don't need to feel stressed out and separates my work and personal lives). On the plus side, since I can't do any lab work I can finally get a paper written (it was supposed to be done September last year), even if it takes me a lot longer than it should.

Seamus Wong

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2020, 02:15:38 am »
+2
Thought uni would be easier than yr12 - it’s not. I’m drowning in so much work and readings.
haha yeah ikr. Year 12 was actually so easy compared to uni. People say that uni's better because there is less pressure to do well, but I feel like that pressure in year 12 is good because it acts as a really good motivator. At uni there isn't as much of an incentive to do well.   

jinaede1342

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2020, 02:05:26 pm »
+5
Yea it’s a lot more independent. I think the most difficult part tho is the toxicity of such a competitive environment. My commerce component and group chats etc are veryyyy chill, everyone’s nice. Law on the other hand - everyone just wants to one up each other. It’s gonna be a 5 year bloodbath to find a job that’s for sure. I think this is what happens bc law attracts a lot of anxious, high achieving/critical thinking people. Yesterday, the law gc was busy seeing whose vocab and grammar was better on random internet quizzes  ::)
« Last Edit: March 31, 2020, 02:08:33 pm by jinaede1342 »
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Sine

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2020, 02:36:06 pm »
+6
Honestly I have found it a bit challenging (and a little dull  :o).

Not loving being stuck sitting at my laptop for such long periods of time, and I have found it harder to retain information from my lectures (seems to kinda wash over me even though I'm taking notes). I did an online exam today, and it was okay. I also still have anatomy pracs - but they consist of looking at a diagrams and watching a video of the tutor identifying anatomy on a specimen.

On the otherhand, the convenience of the online system is great! Pretty flexible, no travel time, and in the comforts of my own home! I have been using zoom a fair bit - it seems to be fairly helpful, especially since we can ask questions and clarify, like a normal class. Guess this is the best we can do in this current situation!
I think it would be really tough for a 1st year student - especially since university is a lot more of independent learning where you can and generally encourage to really just learn by yourself for a lot of things. Anatomy prac turned out all right - they had pre-prepared videos with one of the demonstrators having an overhead camera on a specimen and discussing it.

Re: University vs Highschool
I think most will probably be on the side that university is tougher. Although on a whole would depend on what course and units you are doing. I think if you want to just scrape through in most units it can be relatively simple but if you are aiming to do well it is definitely more work than high school. The biggest difference would probably be the speed and amount of content you cover at university. At highschool, you generally get plenty of times to go back over stuff in detail but you don't always get that time at uni.

Yea it’s a lot more independent. I think the most difficult part tho is the toxicity of such a competitive environment. My commerce component and group chats etc are veryyyy chill, everyone’s nice. Law on the other hand - everyone just wants to one up each other. It’s gonna be a 5 year bloodbath to find a job that’s for sure. I think this is what happens bc law attracts a lot of anxious, high achieving/critical thinking people. Yesterday, the law gc was busy seeing whose vocab and grammar was better on random internet quizzes  ::)
I would hope it gets better after semester 1. I don't have much experience with law but I would think it gets better after everyone is actually settled into uni.




JerryMouse2019

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2020, 04:54:17 pm »
0
Hey everyone,

I'm exploring different career fields and I was wondering if there are any acting or film directing degrees for people who have no experience in these fields.

I am thinking about this career field and I want to know if I will need to take acting classes or a course in film directing in order to get into these degrees.

I'm trying to see if my love of films can lead me to a career in them.

Could someone please answer?

Kind Regards
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AngelWings

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2020, 05:27:46 pm »
+7
Hey everyone,

I'm exploring different career fields and I was wondering if there are any acting or film directing degrees for people who have no experience in these fields.

I am thinking about this career field and I want to know if I will need to take acting classes or a course in film directing in order to get into these degrees.

I'm trying to see if my love of films can lead me to a career in them.

Could someone please answer?

Kind Regards
JerryMouse2019
I think AN mod Beatroot would be better at answering this, but I will add my two cents on acting courses.

In Victoria, some acting degrees have the requirement of a performance in order to enter the degree i.e. you’ll need to have a satisfactory audition to get an offer and not just an ATAR/ OP. I’m not sure if Queensland has the same entry requirements as Victorian courses do, but I assume it’d be similar. While experience is helpful, I don’t think it’s an absolute must, but you need to be able to get through the entry requirements.

I had a classmate who got into the Victorian College of Arts (Melbourne Uni’s performing arts college) and he’d had experience on a small TV show, however I’ve seen other cases where high school drama classes and school productions (but no other experience besides that) were sufficient.

How little experience are you talking though? Never did one acting class in my entire life ever sort of no experience, or nothing except Year 9 drama classes no experience?
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JerryMouse2019

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2020, 07:04:30 pm »
+2
I was introduced to acting as a subject when I did drama for a term in year 8 (2017).

I did 2 drama performances over the past 2 years (year 9 and 10). One of them was related to fairy-tales (but modified) and the other was Romeo and Juliet (modernised). I only had a minor role in both plays and I didn't really prepare hard enough for the Romeo and Juliet play. I guess I didn't take acting seriously enough as something that I could pull off successfully back then. I never saw my future in it before.

What's the best way to know if I can really act?

I'm sure though that I can improvise.

Also what does an audition look like?

I've read that it's pretty much acting out the script that a person has chosen for the audition.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2020, 07:11:22 pm by JerryMouse2019 »
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AngelWings

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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #13 on: April 22, 2020, 08:26:26 pm »
+4
I was introduced to acting as a subject when I did drama for a term in year 8 (2017).
Going back to your post before this one, I think this might be fine. I would’ve been quite concerned if you’ve never had any acting classes at all and suddenly decided on this pathway.

If possible, I’d maybe suggest you try some extracurricular acting classes if you’re not currently doing classes at school. Given the current circumstances, it’s been a bit easier to join online acting communities and classes, so that might be helpful for you.

What's the best way to know if I can really act?
I’m a pretty poor choice to ask this, but I asked my friend who’s had a lot of drama classes and experience under their belt. Here’s what they said in regards to this question: “It’s very common to feel self conscious in creative industries as so much of what you do is focused on “talent”, but what’s really important is that you love what you do and are passionate about it. To ensure you’re performing well, I’d suggest practicing to people you trust to be honest with you so you can get the best possible feedback so you can build on your skills!”

Also what does an audition look like?
Again, I’ve asked my friend for this, as I know very little about this. Here’s what they said: “For auditions you are often provided with something to perform. With uni auditions you are often given a list of monologues and are asked to prepare one classical and one contemporary piece from the list and perform them both. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a reaction from the assessors as sometimes they have poker faces on.” (My friend is also Victorian, so I’m guessing it’ll be similar in Queensland, but not 100% sure about that.)

My friend said that they’re happy to take on more questions in regards to drama/ acting, so feel free to ask any more questions you have.
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Re: University General Chat
« Reply #14 on: April 22, 2020, 09:39:04 pm »
+4
@JerryMouse2019 I'm guessing you're looking at a BFA?

Just adding onto AngelWings's really comprehensive response, of course having experience is beneficial, but no performing arts schools actually require you to have appeared in x amount of productions or whatnot.

Many of my friends doing BFA in acting/theatre/music theatre didn't really have extensive experience aside from background roles in school productions. One of my friends literally decided midway through year 12 he doesn't want to study law and now he's doing theatre at VCA. It's definitely possible.

Does your school put on major annual plays/musical productions? Could try auditioning for a lead role in year 12 and see.
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