ATAR Notes: Forum
Uni Stuff => General University Discussion and Queries => The University Journey Journal => Topic started by: paigek3 on January 18, 2018, 10:53:10 pm
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So hey! My name is Ella so of course, my user name is something completely different. Hahaha, I’ve explained the reasoning behind using not my first name in my HSC journey journal.
I’ve been pretty inactive since compelting my HSC, only popping by here and there but I had a thought last night and realised I’d love to attempt to document my university experience on here, as well as my life post high school.
I’m currently at the beginning of my first job as a part-time Marketing Co-Ordinator for a Marketing company here in Sydney. Previously I had done a lot of Media internships but they were all unpaid so it’s pretty cool to finally be earning an income! By my gooooood is it busy! It honestly doesn’t stop, even when I’m not working I’m thinking about work and what I need to do for each client and what flowers I’m going to pick for one of our client’s media launch’s and so on ;D
Basically my company run the social media for a number of businesses, mainly local northern Beaches businesses as well as a number of exclusive resorts in Thailand, Bali and Mauritius. My job is to co-ordinate these posts as in what they’re going to say, when they are going to be posted, and making sure they align with what my clients want. I also do monthly reports for them on how the marketing is going, and assist with events when needed.
It is a pretty cool first job but with how busy and hands on it is sometimes I just wish I started off working as a checkout chick at Woollies or somewhere similar ;)
But really, I know this is going to give me such great skills for the future with time management and having the ability to handle situations when they don’t go as planned - as well as a pretty cool title for the resume!
So uni starts in about a month and a half and I’m pretty keen to see what it’s all like but I’m kinda sad I’m not going back to school because I honestly did have an enjoyable high school experience.
I will be attending Macquarie University doing a double degree in Media & Law.
Media has been my passion from a young age (particularly sports media) so I always knew that’s what I wanted to do at university. I only decided to do law pretty late into year 12 after loving Legal Studies so much. Sometimes I do think if I should’ve just done Media by itself because then I can get into the workforce quicker, but I need to remind myself how handy it will be to have two degrees giving me the freedom of two completely different fields, even if that does mean two extra years at uni than I had originally planned.
My timetable for uni is super good, as well as my work timetable. On basic terms, I’m working all day Monday, uni for an hour Tuesday, nothing Wednesday, working all day Thursday, working half a day Friday, and uni for the rest of the day that Friday. This little contact time at uni is mainly due to my choosing of online lectures, which I have given myself Tuesday and Wednesday to watch. I’m hoping everything works together as well as I think it will because I think I’ve given myself the right amount of time to work, be at uni, study and socialise. Have to give credit to my boyfriend though because I basically just copied his life schedule during his first year of uni last year ;D
So I better stop here because as you can see I could probably end up writing a book about my life if I do keep going lol.
I really hope I remember to update this but I’m afraid I won’t. I found the hsc one easy because I loved seeing my peers thoughts on subjects etc. but the uni community, and particularly the course/s im doing at my uni of course isn’t as big as an entire state doing the hsc.
But hey, we shall see.
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hi ella!
so excited to see you're writing another journal - would love to read about your uni journey! your contact time at uni is amazing, especially for a double degree, like... i have to go in 4 days a week. also, props to you for getting that marketing job, it would be so good for work experience :-)
i hope you have the best time at uni, and all the best!!
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hi ella!
so excited to see you're writing another journal - would love to read about your uni journey! your contact time at uni is amazing, especially for a double degree, like... i have to go in 4 days a week. also, props to you for getting that marketing job, it would be so good for work experience :-)
i hope you have the best time at uni, and all the best!!
Four days a week oh no! I’d have to do that too if my lectures weren’t online :P I just got really lucky that I could squish all my classes together with no breaks but I am starting to question if that’s a good idea or not.
You should write one too! I’d love to hear from your degree because it was something I was thinking of doing but decided distance was a bit too far for me
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Four days a week oh no! I’d have to do that too if my lectures weren’t online :P I just got really lucky that I could squish all my classes together with no breaks but I am starting to question if that’s a good idea or not.
You should write one too! I’d love to hear from your degree because it was something I was thinking of doing but decided distance was a bit too far for me
sooooo lucky. i reckon you'll get used to it :-) mum told me not to shove a lot of classes in one day because she said it would be tiring, but you learn from experience so if it doesn't work out, you can always change it. :-)
maybe i will write one! funny you mention the distance though, UNSW is quite a trek for me, hahaha. happy friday :-)
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WOW I have a lot to catch up on hey ;D. So many new threads of so many people I recognise from the HSC class of 2017 which is awesome and I look forward to reading all of those tonight!
But seriously I need to start getting back on here more - I mean I even got a notice asking if I really wanna post because this thread hasn’t been active in over a month....oops! But now that I have an actual reason to post, I’m hoping I will.
So tomorrow is my Orientation Day for Uni! I’m quite excited because I know a couple of people going. My other friends who have been to theirs so far haven’t enjoyed it too much because they didn’t know anyone else going so felt a bit out of place which is not like them at all. But I guess uni is a whole different ball game!
Main thing I’m looking forward to tomorrow is the freebies hahahaha!! Also excited to hopefully get my Student ID if the lines aren’t too bad, and need help with accessing my email because it’s telling me I’m putting in the wrong password even after I’ve tried eeeeverything.
So uni starts next Wednesday for me. I have a few lectures on the Monday/Tuesday but all mine are online hence why my first physical uni day isn’t till the day after.
I’m super excited to start and meet new people and do all that fun stuff. I’m sure the thought of uni being fun will quickly wear off ;D
How has everyone else’s orientation days gone so far? What stuff have you got? Have you met anyone doing your course? I’m sure I’ll find out a lot of stuff after reading the rest of the journey journals!
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Lol I dropped my Commerce part of my double degree after a year to focus on law full time.
Hopefully you have the motivation to stick with yours all the way through.
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But seriously I need to start getting back on here more - I mean I even got a notice asking if I really wanna post because this thread hasn’t been active in over a month....oops! But now that I have an actual reason to post, I’m hoping I will.
This is one circumstance where I'm really glad this warning was ignored ;) keen to hear how things travel for you, have missed having you around! ;D
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Might be a week late on my response to O-Week (well really day for me lolllll) but better late than never, right? ;)
Found the orientation day pretty stock standard, telling me to study, telling me what a lecture was and everything else, but from doing a lot of research myself & having a boyfriend who is a second year student (of a completely different degree but still helps for general uni stuff!!), I kind of knew most of what they spoke about. We had a ‘how to succeed in law school’ talk but everyone there was saying how it was basically a study skills session haha but I didn’t mind because it’s nice to refresh my study habits.
Have had two lectures so far, but all of mine are online so haven’t had a physical day yet. My foundations of law lecture was extremely introductory, introducing staff etc. but my Australian Media one did that and went into what exactly we will be learning in a more in-depth sense so I enjoyed that. My first physical day is tomorrow! I have one tutorial. I’m in a group chat with plenty of media students from Macquarie after it was posted in the 2017 hsc discussion group asking if anyone wanted to be added, and I found a girl in my tutorial for Australian Media tomorrow so that’s cool!
I’ve done my two readings for tomorrow, and really enjoyed one and struggled to read the other. Made some notes on them because I have to write 100 words on one of the readings every single week so definitely will choose the first one.
So not keen for ice breakers tomorrow lol! I’m a people person but I still think ice breakers are gross and awkward hahaha but it’ll be pretty funny cause at least we are all in the same boat!
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forgot to add I had my high achievers assembly today for 2017 HSC at my high school! Was fairly quick but was good to see some of the year 12s and my old teachers!
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Hope you have a great time tomorrow!! Excited to read more of your updates. :-)
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My first tutorial went well. Just did ice breaker activities for most of the class (which weren’t that bad) and then discussed the weekly readings for a bit. Met two girls who seemed heaps nice. Hoping uni is like high school where once you sit in a spot for the first time, no one takes it, like an unintentional seating plan lol.
Got four hours of tutorials straight tomorrow until 5pm so that’s going to be tough. Also have to carry around 2 (or 3 or 4..better check that) textbooks which also will not be fun. But cause uni is still so new I’m super excited!
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^re: sitting in the same spots - probably depends, but I found that people always sat in the same spots in my tutes last year haha
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My gosh, am I overwhelmed.
Been absent from here (yet again oops) but this time it’s for good reason - I’ve been so damn busy. I calculated that this week alone I had been assigned 269 pages of readings, 2 writing tasks and an online quiz... I’m going crazy!!! Alongside that + physically attending university, I’m also working 21 hours a week and work has been stressful too because we are organising a media launch for one of our clients, as well as signing new clients so things are changing and I need to stay on top of them.
It’s honestly frying my brain right now but I think once I get the hang of Uni work I’ll feel a bit better
Other than that, I’m really enjoying uni life in itself. The people are nice, my tutors are awesome and we have some good discussions
Is it bad to say I’m already keen for uni break so I can get on top of things lol?!
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My gosh, am I overwhelmed.
Been absent from here (yet again oops) but this time it’s for good reason - I’ve been so damn busy. I calculated that this week alone I had been assigned 269 pages of readings, 2 writing tasks and an online quiz... I’m going crazy!!! Alongside that + physically attending university, I’m also working 21 hours a week and work has been stressful too because we are organising a media launch for one of our clients, as well as signing new clients so things are changing and I need to stay on top of them.
Wow!!! Hope things settle down sometime soon :-)
Is it bad to say I’m already keen for uni break so I can get on top of things lol?!
Same! Do you have your break around Easter?
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Wow!!! Hope things settle down sometime soon :-)
Same! Do you have your break around Easter?
We have the long weekend (which we still have a lecturer for one of my law subjects that will be pre recorded fml) and then we are at Uni for two more weeks, then from the 16th of April is our break
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Firstly, just want to apologise for not posting for weeks then writing essay worth entries OOPS don’t hate me please.
The title of my journey journal is “Will she stick with her double degree?” because going into doing this course, I wasn’t sure if I was cut out for law. I was certain on media because it was something I had always wanted to do, and through internships, something I knew I had a passion for. But law scared me a bit, I wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision or not. Sure, I loved Legal studies, but was I doing law because I had a real interest in it, or just for the prestige of saying I do law? I honestly did love seeing the reaction of people when I told them I was about to begin law because everyone was always so impressed.
Oh how I doubted myself. I LOVE LAW!!! University has honestly surprised me so much. This semester so far I am enjoyed my law unit even more than my Media ones which is a huge shock. I love all the boring parts too like learning about the purpose of a long title, and learning the origins of common law and equity, and learning all the cool Latin phrases used.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoyed my Media classes too, but I just look forward to law every week! It does help that I’ve met people in that class who are great, and the people in my tutorial in general are also great. But it’s just so cool!!!
I also wanted to include in this post the units I’m doing this semester and next because I can’t remember if I have or haven’t before (sorry if I have)
SEMESTER ONE
Australian Media (Media)
Academic Cultures and Communication (Media)
Foundations of Law (Law)
Australian Society (People unit)
SEMESTER TWO
Criminal Law (Law)
Contracts (Law)
Law, lawyers and society (Law)
Media cultures (Media)
ps to clarify, a people unit is basically an elective. At Macquarie, we have to do at least one ‘people unit’ - which often involve studying subjects to do with social sciences e.g. Aboriginal studies, the ANZACs, social marketing, introduction to criminology, one ‘planet unit’ - which often are more sciency and mathematical or studying different cultures e.g. statistics, astronomy, human biology, drugs accords cultures, and one ‘PACE unit’ - which is an internship
I haven’t chosen my planet unit yet, but my people unit comes from sociology cause I loved society and Culture and the course outline seemed quite like that! However, we did begin learning about sociological theories which I didn’t exactly love, but learning about gender last week was really interesting so hoping it picks up a bit now.
I’ve made a fair few friends from Uni so far, and in Law we got to choose our groups for our projects so me and the two girls I sit with made sure we were in the same group!
I know I have already said how much I’m enjoying Law but my tutorial class is honesty amazing - my tutor is so fun and engaging, and the people in my class love to say their opinion and everyone is so intrigued by it all. If only I could have this same tute for my whole degree!
For this semester, I believe I have no exams if I have read my unit guide correctly. I kind of excepted it because it’s hard to assess media subjects through exams because it’s more of an assignment favoured area of study. For Law and Australian Society the only exams I have are online quizzes. It’s honestly weird knowing I’m not even going to be assessed on everything, but I’m kind of enjoying it. I really am liking learning without the added pressure of feeling as though I need to remember everything.
For Law also, we aren’t getting graded for HD, D, C and Ps, instead we are getting a mark of satisfied or not satisfied. You may think this is easy but it isn’t really. For my upcoming assignment the criteria is only in two columns for NS and S, and we have to re do the assignment as many times before the supplementary due date until we get all satisfied’s. It is teaching us to get out of bad habits early though which I think is awesome!
I have two assessments due this week - the one I mentioned above and one for academic cultures and communication, a critical essay on a topic of our choice to do with our discipline (in my case, media). I’m doing it on the media’s representation of female athletes and to my SURPRISE, I finished it on Thursday - AKA 5 DAYS BEFORE IT IS DUE!!!!!! This is so unlike me because the earliest I ever got an assignment complete in high school was the morning it was due lol. (Note: this is also for the subject that I hate because it’s so boring)
Also, I just wanted to add a question and I’d like whoever is reading this to be honest - do you think of Macquarie Law School as ‘lower’ to UNSW, USYD etc. or is that just my imagination? Of course I believe that Macquarie Uni in general is seen as lower to the ones mentioned so I guess it would make sense to perceive the Law School the same, but I honestly love it (ok I’ll try make this the last time I talk about me loving Law lol). My tutor mentioned how diverse it is here because of course there is the stereotype of the rich white private school kid who’s come from a law background family at the other unis (which could be and probably is completely wrong). But when we got asked who has a family member who is a lawyer NOONE put their hand up, and I think that is awesome. I always had the thought of possibly changing to a more prestigious university sometime during my degree, but looking at the units offered at other unis, I honestly prefer Macquarie’s and I am really liking everything about the Uni (especially the 35 min travel time from my house and being able to drive!)
Anyways, I think I’ll try wrap it up there. Sorry it’s all over the place, I’ve had enough of writing sophisticatedly and in an orderly fashion at the moment :P My uni break is coming up in about 2 weeks time which I’m keen for so I can get myself together before the end of semester!
I LOVE UNI (So far)
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Long time no speak!
Honestly have been soooooooo busy with Uni, work, and everything in my mind so updating this has not been at the forefront of my mind (soz for ignoring the 30 day rule pls don’t hate me)
So, I have been loving Uni still which I’m glad to say! I finally feel like I have a good grasp on how it all works, at least how it all works at Macquarie, like the fact never to trust your tutors when they say results will be released because 3pm today was release time and I’m stilllll waiting.
I thought I would do a unit review on each of mine for your interest and any HSC students wanting to study either Media or Law or both at Macquarie!
Foundations of Law: Have loved this unit. The assessment tasks have been very hands on which I think is awesome for a foundational unit. We did a case brief, a hypothetical problem where we had to give advice to a client, and did a group project on a topic that was given to us (my group did governance and corruption!). Only downfall is that you have to get 100% to pass in each assignment. I know what you’re thinking - 100%?!?!? It is a bit daunting but we do get re-submissions to keep going until we get it right. Basically, it is a satisfied/non-satisfied unit instead of HD, D, C, P. It is annoying to have to re-do assignments but it is honestly teaching me lots and making me know how to fix mistakes which is good.
Australian Media: This unit has been alright. It is quite broad and we have looked at a lot of topics, and then had some writing tasks and essays to complete. Some things I have found super interesting, but my only problem is the limited flexibility in assessment tasks. Like we were given 5 questions to choose out of, and ive seen at UTS you can like twist the question to suit your passions which I think is awesome. But I love the Law program at Macquarie SOOO much that I am happy to make that sacrifice. Just hoping future courses I can write more about what I want to aka SPORT
Academic Cultures & Communication: Worst unit ever. Just your standard first year class of learning how to learn. Honestly could have just put lectures online for us to watch, and then just added some assessment tasks, but NOPE, it’s a compulsory 3-5pm Friday afternoon class.
Australian Society: This is my people unit aka my free elective. Not gonna lie, kind of wish I chose something else. I chose this because I loved society and culture but it isn’t like it at all and I have heard of some other units that are way better. We do have a cool assessment task though, which is a group project to design your own monopoly board representing inequality in Sydney, and I have enjoyed doing that.
I haven't been getting the marks I did in year 12, but have got either Distinctions or Credits so far so I am still pretty fine with that!
I have met some amazing friends who I am unfortunately not in any classes with next semester but we are keeping an eye out for any openings in classes. BUT I ONLY HAVE TO GO ON THURSDAYS NEXT SEMESTER YEWWW!
I don’t have any exams this semester because of the nature of a media degree & the fact the law unit I am doing is only foundational so they thought a quiz will suffice. Kinda sucks though because my boyfriend has exams for allllll his units for his course so im just gonna be chilling here waiting for him to be doneeeeee!
I am still a Marketing Co-Ordinator at my work, but my gosh it is so extremely tiring. It is like having a real adulty job because I get emails on weekends, calls and texts from my boss’ on days I don’t work because they need something, and have to post on socials every day. It is a whole lot more to deal with than what I imagined so I am thinking of looking for something a bit more chilled out at the end of the year, but we will see. I know it is great practice for the future, and it is a pretty cool job, but I want to make the most of being able to have a job that I don’t have to worry about at home whilst I can.
Anyways, other than that, I am off to Europe with my fam in uni break, which im keen for except the flying because im not a huge fan of that.
Let me know if anyone wants to know anything about Macquarie, or anything!!
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Oops I did it again
Kk so I swear every post I do here starts with me forgetting to post from before
SORRY
BUT ILL KEEP IT A BRIEF UPDATE THIS TIME IN BULLET POINT FORM
- Still loving law
- Finding media a lil bland but its still so introductory so im just waiting till i can start my elective units!
- Got a new job at a law firm in the city! So excited because there were 130 applicants and I was one of the two that got it! It's a 'top-tier' firm too!
- Thinking of starting tutoring properly as my new job is less hours than my old one. Thinking of making it legal studies and pdhpe only though seeing as though they were my band 6 subjects
- Going to be active and assist in PDHPE/Legal Studies forums so that I'm not rusty if I do start tutoring
- Went to Europe, was cool, plane wasn't cool, but hey I made it home safely (just lol)
- Finished semester 1 with one HD, two credits, and then the other unit wasn't graded
- Only at uni one day a week this sem, have realised I prefer going two days and breaking it up
Hope everyone is enjoying sem 2 so far!