Hel's Hopeful Hop Through Uni

[hel256]

Hi AN!

My name's Hel, and this is my (hesitant) attempt at a University Journal! After spending a fair amount of time this year (ghost) reading the journals of fellow ANers, I felt inspired to try my own hand at one through this new chapter of my life 

~A bit about me~
- I completed VCE in 2020, and was accepted into the Bachelor of Commerce/Masters of Engineering at The University of Melbourne
- I danced for 10+ years, but still can't do a cartwheel or the splits
- I enjoy playing and watching tennis; Rafael Nadal is my favourite player!
- I completed VCE Japanese, but at some point during my degree I'm hoping to start learning Mandarin
- I can wiggle my ears

During high school I wasn't particularly active in cocurricular activities other than sports, but at uni I'm hoping to become really involved in clubs and meet heaps of people! I don't know anyone from my school who's doing the same undergraduate course as me, so any other unimelb commerce kids (or anyone in general) feel free to reach out   
I don't have a specific career path in mind at this point of my journey, but I'm leaning towards majoring in economics/finance, although management also seems like it would be useful and interesting. After my undergraduate I'm thinking of specialising in software engineering for my masters, although that's so far away I'm likely to change my mind before I get there.

I'm looking towards uni with a mixture of hesitancy and excitement. On one hand, I feel like this is my opportunity to improve myself, become more confident and set myself up to enter the workforce with desirable skills. On the other hand, I worry about things like my grades, money (I really need to find a job lol) and whether I can become that confident person I desperately wish to.

This post became a bit poignant at the end there, but I am truly excited to start uni, and share my exploits with the community on this site! Hopefully I continue to diligently update this journal throughout my degree 

[hums_student]

Hello! Great to meet a fellow dancer!

Not BCom but I'm going into my final year as an econ major at UoM so if you have any questions feel free to ask. A lot of the commerce clubs are amazing by the way, you should definitely look into them

Would you consider doing Chinese for breadths, by the way?

Looking forward to your future updates

[The Cat In The Hat]

- I can wiggle my ears

Have you read Ethel Turner's novel 'Funny'? (Definitely recommend it, by the way. Comment makes more sense if you've read it.)

Also, I'm looking forward to hearing about your time at uni!

[ashmi]

Hey Hel🥰

Great to see another UniMelb engineering student! Why are you interested in software engineering in particular?
Also, being able to wiggle your ears is so cool. (What a cool party trick!!)

I'm excited to see some future updates from you soon!

[hel256]

Hello! Great to meet a fellow dancer!

Not BCom but I'm going into my final year as an econ major at UoM so if you have any questions feel free to ask. A lot of the commerce clubs are amazing by the way, you should definitely look into them

Would you consider doing Chinese for breadths, by the way?

Looking forward to your future updates

Thanks, hums_student!
Have you enjoyed your major and do you feel prepared to leave uni after this year? I've heard good things about many of the commerce clubs, are there any in particular you have personal experience with and would recommend? 
I considered taking Chinese using my breadths, but for this first year I've selected to take the mathematics pathway through BCom and, in order to prep myself for software engineering after my degree, I've chosen to fill my breadth subjects with accelerated maths and COMP10001 (From reading the subject reviews for the former, I think I might be in for a rough year...)
Hopefully at some point I will get enough time to include some Chinese subjects in my course!

Have you read Ethel Turner's novel 'Funny'? (Definitely recommend it, by the way. Comment makes more sense if you've read it.)

Also, I'm looking forward to hearing about your time at uni!

Thanks Cat! I haven't read that book, but I am in a bit of a reading drought at the moment, so I'll have to check it out

Hey Hel🥰

Great to see another UniMelb engineering student! Why are you interested in software engineering in particular?
Also, being able to wiggle your ears is so cool. (What a cool party trick!!)

I'm excited to see some future updates from you soon!

Hello Ashmi! I'm likewise happy to see another prospective engineer  Maybe (hopefully) we run into each other at some point on campus (at a time when we can actually travel there for all our classes...)
To be honest I was drawn to both software and electrical engineering, however it was mainly due to my fond memory of work experience in year 10 programming at Data61 where my mentor recommended software engineering to me, and the fact that I didn't complete VCE physics that settled me on software engineering at this point in time. Additionally, I think that the rapid digitalisation of many workplaces has led to greater demand for the programming skills of software engineers, and broadly I think the problem-solving approach of engineering is incredibly useful, interesting and something I wish to cultivate 

[hums_student]

Thanks, hums_student!
Have you enjoyed your major and do you feel prepared to leave uni after this year? I've heard good things about many of the commerce clubs, are there any in particular you have personal experience with and would recommend? 

Yes absolutely - I wasn't too sure about majoring in econ back in first year and considered doing it as a minor/breadth track, but I'm glad I committed to majoring in it in the end. In terms of feeling prepared to leave uni... I guess you can never feel 100% prepared, but I certainly have a much clearer direction in terms of careers than I did before. Keep in mind that, unless you want to go into academia, the biggest part of being 'prepared' would come from internships/leadership/clubs etc, not actual coursework.

There are way too many commerce clubs haha - the two big ones are FMAA (Financial Management Association of Australia) and MMI (Melbourne Microfinance Initiative). There are major specific clubs such as ESSA (economics), FSA (finance), ASA (accounting), SAMM (marketing/management), and project-based clubs like Enactus, BusinessOne, etc.

I considered taking Chinese using my breadths, but for this first year I've selected to take the mathematics pathway through BCom and, in order to prep myself for software engineering after my degree, I've chosen to fill my breadth subjects with accelerated maths and COMP10001 (From reading the subject reviews for the former, I think I might be in for a rough year...)
Hopefully at some point I will get enough time to include some Chinese subjects in my course!

Yeah the general consensus is that AM1/2 is no easy cruise but you seem to already have a strong background in maths. The mathematics pathway is very highly regarded in BCom by the way, I'm sure you will find it very rewarding.

[hel256]

Yes absolutely - I wasn't too sure about majoring in econ back in first year and considered doing it as a minor/breadth track, but I'm glad I committed to majoring in it in the end. In terms of feeling prepared to leave uni... I guess you can never feel 100% prepared, but I certainly have a much clearer direction in terms of careers than I did before. Keep in mind that, unless you want to go into academia, the biggest part of being 'prepared' would come from internships/leadership/clubs etc, not actual coursework.

There are way too many commerce clubs haha - the two big ones are FMAA (Financial Management Association of Australia) and MMI (Melbourne Microfinance Initiative). There are major specific clubs such as ESSA (economics), FSA (finance), ASA (accounting), SAMM (marketing/management), and project-based clubs like Enactus, BusinessOne, etc.

Yeah the general consensus is that AM1/2 is no easy cruise but you seem to already have a strong background in maths. The mathematics pathway is very highly regarded in BCom by the way, I'm sure you will find it very rewarding.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement! As I said before I'm both excited and apprehensive about starting uni but the welcome I've received from veterans like yourself is really comforting

[hel256]

~A Pre-O Week Update~
So timetables have come out for this semester and after some minor adjustments (including managing to snag the last place in an onsite tute at a great time) I'm pretty pleased with how mine turned out!

My subjects:
ACCT10001: Accounting Reports and Analysis
ECON10004: Introductory Microeconomics
FNCE10002: Principles of Finance
MAST10008: Accelerated Maths 1

My Timetable

All of my classes on Tuesday are online, which is a nice break

At the moment I've put myself in the actuarial stream of my degree, under the advice of some family members. The reasoning is that if I like it, I can continue with the actuarial major, or I can switch to another major if I decide it's not right for me (since the actuarial major requires the greatest number of prereqs).
After hearing warnings from other uni students who had completed the accelerated maths stream, I was considering doign Calc 2 and Lin Alg to satisfy the maths component of my degree, but after speaking with a lovely lady from Stop 1, who advised me that the AM stream is recommended for actuarial majors, I've decided to give it a shot!

In other news, I've started applying for a bunch of things like part time jobs, volunteering and societies. I was lucky enough to be offered a position as a VCE tutor, which is really exciting but also slightly nerve-wracking, as I worry whether I'll be able to provide a good experience for my students. I was also offered a position as a volunteer tutor, which I had applied for ages ago and didn't think I had gotten. I would like to do that in addition to my paid position, but I'm not sure I'll have the time, given that I also want to join some uni clubs and maintain a decent WAM.
My friend also helped me get an interview for her old workplace, but now that I've gotten a tutoring role, I'll probably have to decline the former. I hate turning down these opportunities, because it just seems like such a waste, but I know that realistically juggling everything I want to do isn't humanly possible 

This post is actually longer than I initially planned for it to be - I guess I had more to talk about than I thought!
I'll probably post another update soon-ish, say by the end of the first week of classes. Catch you soon!

[ashmi]

Hey Hel!🥰

Your subjects and timetable look amazing! What subject are you looking forward to the most when uni starts?
In regards to the AM stream, you never know until you try . I'm glad to hear that you are giving it a go and who knows, maybe you will find it alright and really like it!

Congrats on the new tutor roles you have gotten too! That is so EXCITING and I'm looking forward to hearing more about it in your future updates. Have you ever had experience in tutoring/teaching before?

Thank you for the amazing update Hel and enjoy O-Week!💕