ATAR Notes: Forum
Uni Stuff => General University Discussion and Queries => The University Journey Journal => Topic started by: Jimmmy on January 01, 2020, 11:51:05 pm
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Hello!
Well, who would've thought I'd be sitting here typing this. I first looked at the Law/Arts course at Monash way back at the start of Year 10, and despite not really understanding all the numbers or how they worked, the lowest selection rank number did have me a little worried. Through Year 11 I felt quietly confident, but safe to say that in Year 12 I hardly even thought about it. I got sick at the start of exams and part of me thought I'd be lucky to get a 90+, so to have received a December offer was such a relief.
Enrolling in the course was a journey, and I might even give Monash a ring tomorrow just to confirm I am indeed enrolled. I've currently listed Politics as my major study, but due to some technical difficulties around the choices of areas of study in the online enrollment for Arts, I'm planning to go for either Philosophy, or International Relations/Studies as my minor. Having International Studies/Relations and Politics might be a bit of overlap, but they seem somewhat different in the Course Handbook?
For the moment, I'm keeping myself busy with sport. A lot of the extra-curricular stuff I had during school has ceased, so I really have a bit of time on my hands before Uni starts! I've even started testing timetables, and it looks like I'll have at least one day free per week, potentially two some weeks, so I look forward to organising that! Really hope that happens sooner rather than later, as my work hours are generally afternoon/evening so I wouldn't want too many lectures running past 4.
Anyway, that's all from me for now! I'll keep this very active (I hope!), and it'll probably be more of a life journal than just a Uni one. I love discussion too, so if you have any questions or just want to start a topic of conversation, feel free to post in here!
Also, guess whose one year anniversary of joining the forums it is? :o I managed to *not* get addicted to posting on here during Year 12, I don't think 2020 will be alike in that way. ;D
Hope your opening day of 2020 has been an enjoyable one!
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Hey Jimmmy!
So excited to see another journal from you! Looking forward to hearing all about your uni/life journey! What kind of sport have you been doing with your free time (who knew that existed)? ;D
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Yessss Jimmmy! Law/arts sounds like such a fun combo and I am so keen to hear all about your university journey! All the best for this year and beyond!
P.S. Enrolment is such a pain isn’t it? 😂
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Hey Jimmmy!
So excited to see another journal from you! Looking forward to hearing all about your uni/life journey! What kind of sport have you been doing with your free time (who knew that existed)? ;D
Thanks Laura! Love your contributions also. I've been playing quite a bit of Tennis & Cricket, but slowly easing into it so my body doesn't break down. Also gotta monitor some niggling injuries from a sporadic sports year in 2019 due to Year 12. I've never been one for contact sports, but I try to play as much sport as I can.
Yessss Jimmmy! Law/arts sounds like such a fun combo and I am so keen to hear all about your university journey! All the best for this year and beyond!
P.S. Enrolment is such a pain isn’t it? 😂
Hey Colline! Yeah I'm keen. I have considered Law/Comm, but am leaning towards the Arts due to the range of electives, and the fact I've locked in an offer for it already! Hence, experiencing enrolment....oh my, that was the most long-winded process!
In an update on the Uni front, Orientation Planner came out for Monash yesterday! Lots of selection on there alone, as well as a bunch of other meetup options I've spotted on the MSS facebook. Exciting things ahead!
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In an update on the Uni front, Orientation Planner came out for Monash yesterday! Lots of selection on there alone, as well as a bunch of other meetup options I've spotted on the MSS facebook. Exciting things ahead!
I just had a sniff around the planner- lots pretty full on!
I hope you make the most of oweek- plently of free food and stuff, and imo it's worth going!
Looking forward to seeing further updates! :)
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I just had a sniff around the planner- lots pretty full on!
I hope you make the most of oweek- plently of free food and stuff, and imo it's worth going!
Looking forward to seeing further updates! :)
Thanks insanipi! Would you recommend going on the O-Week Camp? (it's a few weeks before the actual O-Week I think)
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Hey Jimmy! Best of luck with Arts/Law! Reading your post you definitely reminded me of myself when choosing between law com/ law arts. (Actually received a transfer offer to move from law arts to law comm at the end of last year, but rejected the offer!) I'm majoring in politics so any questions in regards to law or politics, please feel free to ask :))
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Thanks insanipi! Would you recommend going on the O-Week Camp? (it's a few weeks before the actual O-Week I think)
I've not been on one, but I've heard that they're fun- but I've heard that many of these kinds camps emphasise on alcohol consumption though!
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Hey Jimmy! Best of luck with Arts/Law! Reading your post you definitely reminded me of myself when choosing between law com/ law arts. (Actually received a transfer offer to move from law arts to law comm at the end of last year, but rejected the offer!) I'm majoring in politics so any questions in regards to law or politics, please feel free to ask :))
Hi Jigsaw! Thanks so much for the well wishes. I vaguely recall posting on your own Uni Journal back in January, and as I look back, I did! Jan 30th 2019, watching in awe of your scores which I was aiming for. I didn't get near them (not sure I was quite capable of them to be honest, I hate exams!), but was fortunate to score high enough to get a spot into Law/Arts, so I'm so keen for the year(s) to come! I'm honored to have current VCE students ask about the processes I went through to get into Law, and it's such a good feeling to see the progression of looking up to former VCE students who followed the same path (yourself as a main example) and then being able to help the future graduates achieve the same goals.
I've still been thinking about Law/Comm, but still heavily leaning towards the Arts path, as I think an Arts degree is highly underrated and, from what I've heard, more about the pedagogy and holistic learning and understanding than a more results driven Commerce course. Definitely good to hear you've obviously enjoyed that first year of Arts though, does sort of reassure me that it's worth going for it over Commerce. :)
Thanks so much for the advice offer for Law and Politics, I'll definitely take you up on that. I'm pretty set on Politics as a major or minor (probably major).
I've not been on one, but I've heard that they're fun- but I've heard that many of these kinds camps emphasise on alcohol consumption though!
Yeah, I've heard similar things. Considering I've been 18 for quite a while, and am yet to have my first drink, not really sure that would be an enjoyable environment for me. :-X
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Hey Jimmy
Thought I'd pop in and say congrats on getting into Monash Law School!
All that hard work paid off. I, unfortunately, missed your VCE journal, but I am for sure going to be around for your university one.
All the best for 2020 and can't wait to see future updates and your experience studying law.
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Hey Jimmy
Thought I'd pop in and say congrats on getting into Monash Law School!
All that hard work paid off. I, unfortunately, missed your VCE journal, but I am for sure going to be around for your university one.
All the best for 2020 and can't wait to see future updates and your experience studying law.
Hi Doc!
Thanks so much. Whilst my VCE journal was okay, I didn't put anywhere near as much into it as I would've liked due to studying and the other commitments I had (eg. school captain, debating, sport & other extra-curricular activities), so you're definitely arriving at the right time.
I see you've also got a VCE journal going, I'll go and take a look now!
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Quick update!
Not much on the horizon, but I did managed to purchase a couple of Law books second hand from a friend, so I'm stoked about that! I've been advised not to start delving into them too much yet, but it's somewhat tempting...
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Totally not a question full of bias 😬: considered linguistics at all?
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Not much on the horizon, but I did managed to purchase a couple of Law books second hand from a friend, so I'm stoked about that! I've been advised not to start delving into them too much yet, but it's somewhat tempting...
Yeah I would probably advise against pre-learning content - You'll have plenty of time throughout the year (and the next 5 to study) - definitely use the holidays to have fun and get some rest.
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Totally not a question full of bias 😬: considered linguistics at all?
Welcome back Joseph!
It was a brief thought, but I'm honestly still feeling a bit scarred from my EngLang exam. Probably one of the most distressing memories of my life sitting in that room watching the clock click down and my mind being in all sorts trying to hit the heights I was hoping for. I know it shouldn't affect me, but it currently still lies in the back of my brain.
Yeah I would probably advise against pre-learning content - You'll have plenty of time throughout the year (and the next 5 to study) - definitely use the holidays to have fun and get some rest.
Define 'have fun'? I literally have no interest in clubbing or going out to parties, and I'm experiencing some withdrawals from doing nothing 'educational'. Either way, I hear Uni is a party scene anyway? :-X
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Either way, I hear Uni is a party scene anyway? :-X
From my experience, it's pretty malleable, and can be what you make it. Lots of parties if you want to go to lots of parties, no parties if you want to go to no parties, and pretty much everything in the middle.
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Welcome back Joseph!
It was a brief thought, but I'm honestly still feeling a bit scarred from my EngLang exam. Probably one of the most distressing memories of my life sitting in that room watching the clock click down and my mind being in all sorts trying to hit the heights I was hoping for. I know it shouldn't affect me, but it currently still lies in the back of my brain.
Define 'have fun'? I literally have no interest in clubbing or going out to parties, and I'm experiencing some withdrawals from doing nothing 'educational'. Either way, I hear Uni is a party scene anyway? :-X
Ehh I don't really have an interest in those things either tbh Really just do anything you enjoy which you feel you may not have enough time for during the university semester.
I think the "party scene" of university is a bit overstated, like J41 said it is really up to you on how involved you want to be and what sort of activities you want to do.
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Hi Jimmmy! Can’t help but notice we have a lot of things in common;
- both did Global Politics
- both hoping to study Law @ Monash next year
- both experiencing education withdrawal lol
How are you planning to prepare for the course if anything at all? I’m feeling a little nervous about the workload (and fail rate), and I haven’t even gotten started with uni, its like I can’t shake off an imposter syndrome complex. Anyway, its great to know that there are other people here on AN studying similar courses.
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I'm curious, what is the fail rate for law at Monash (or just uni in general)?
I can't say for sure (don't have any data) but anecdotally (from lecturer's talking and past students) fail rates differ quite a bit some courses it can be as little as <5% whilst others as much as 30% possibly more. Generally Engineering Units tend to have the highest fail rates.
If you stay consistent during the semester and do the allocated work and keep up to date with assessments you shouldn't have to worry about it.
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Welcome back Joseph!
It was a brief thought, but I'm honestly still feeling a bit scarred from my EngLang exam. Probably one of the most distressing memories of my life sitting in that room watching the clock click down and my mind being in all sorts trying to hit the heights I was hoping for. I know it shouldn't affect me, but it currently still lies in the back of my brain.
Define 'have fun'? I literally have no interest in clubbing or going out to parties, and I'm experiencing some withdrawals from doing nothing 'educational'. Either way, I hear Uni is a party scene anyway? :-X
Uni is a party scene for some people, for others, not so much. There's so much going on at uni that no one can do everything anyway so those of us who aren't big partiers certainly aren't social outcasts or something :)
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Hi Jimmmy! Can’t help but notice we have a lot of things in common;
- both did Global Politics
- both hoping to study Law @ Monash next year
- both experiencing education withdrawal lol
How are you planning to prepare for the course if anything at all? I’m feeling a little nervous about the workload (and fail rate), and I haven’t even gotten started with uni, its like I can’t shake off an imposter syndrome complex. Anyway, its great to know that there are other people here on AN studying similar courses.
Hey Jinaede! Yes that is cool, you did amazing in GloPol and with your ATAR, congrats!
Despite the recommendations from Sine and others, I don't think I'll be able to resist and will probably do some light reading. It does feel a little surreal to be going into Law at Monash, but I guess the whole Uni caper feels odd too, so I guess it's probably just that. I'm not too worried about the workload or fail rate, because working hard (or being able to do so) has always been one of my strengths. Natural intelligence? Nah.
Hey Jimmmy! Just wanted to pop in and say how keen I am for your journal! I can't wait to hear more about your experience with arts/law at Monash and it's making me feel excited for uni too even though it's ages away for me.
I'm curious, what is the fail rate for law at Monash (or just uni in general)?
Thanks Prag! I feel proud to think I'm helping motivate you for the potential Uni pathway ahead. VCE definitely got me down at various points due to its structure and I feel like Uni is different, so I'm looking forward to that. On the other hand, High School has so many benefits too (eg. teachers that really care, seeing friends daily, routines and lunchtimes), so try and embrace that great stuff in school while you're there.
Uni is a party scene for some people, for others, not so much. There's so much going on at uni that no one can do everything anyway so those of us who aren't big partiers certainly aren't social outcasts or something :)
That's what I'm hoping! Everything seems really intense though. I'm on the Monash Law Facebook page and every volunteering/board opportunity seems to require a great skillset/bunch of experience. I'm really on the look out for anything extracurricular at Uni from the outset though!
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Booking for Orientation Week through the planner is an absolute nightmare! I've been forced to split my 'bookings' through EventBrite as well as the 'Monash Shop'. Can't wait to have to delve through my emails come February and March searching for those tickets :P
Time to begin the dissection of my inbox, which my school e-mail account was quite akin to by the end of Year 12. :)
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Few updates!
Been a pretty chill last week or so. Playing sport, getting a passport, also been out a couple times with friends which has been nice! We got caught on Degraves Street in the CBD during the thunderstorm yesterday which was amazing (albeit a little wet). I've never been in the city during a big storm like that so it was quite an experience.
Another thing that happened yesterday was January (Round 2) offers! I got a Law/Commerce @Monash after re-arranging preferences, hmm...
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Law/Arts or Law/Commerce.
(roughly) 11 hours left to decide.
Fun times. :P :-[
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Law/Arts or Law/Commerce.
(roughly) 11 hours left to decide.
Fun times. :P :-[
Well you be 100% locked in for the remainder of your degree?
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Well you be 100% locked in for the remainder of your degree?
I wouldn't think they would be. Internal transfers are quite possible but it may extend the degree a bit.
Law/Arts or Law/Commerce.
(roughly) 11 hours left to decide.
Fun times. :P :-[
Currently, what are you thinking of? or are you still 50/50?
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Comm Pros:
- very applicable skills to what I want/need to learn (accounting, balancing my finances/books, excel skills etc.).
- keeps a stronger option open for the business law side of things.
- I did BusMan in VCE and thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Seems a little more logical in terms of thinking process versus Arts, which I like.
Comm Cons:
- It seems a lot more competitive, and probably more time-consuming.
- I didn't do amazingly well in Methods (32 raw) and didn't do Accounting or Eco, so I'm going into it basically blind.
- I'm not sure how good I'll be at it.
Arts Pros:
- It's a bit of an easing into the Uni landscape from what I've heard.
- I'd probably take Int. Relations/Politics subjects, which I'm very interested in also and probably enjoy a bit more than the Comm side of things (although I've had more experience with the Int. Relations/Politics because I did GloPol in Year 12 as well as Legal).
- Lots of public figures who went into Law/Business-y things did Law/Arts anyway (if I was thinking in terms of public figures, Turnbull comes to mind).
- I'm pretty confident I'll do well in it.
Arts Cons:
- I'm not sure how those skills are valued by employers in comparison to Law/Comm graduates and other Law degrees.
- Seems like there'll be a lot of overlap from Global Politics from what I've heard, more holistic but I'm not sure what skills I'll actually be adding beyond what I learnt in Year 12.
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Looks like this thread requires a name change. :-X
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Looks like this thread requires a name change. :-X
Hope you can relax a bit more now that the decision is made
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Looks like this thread requires a name change. :-X
What did you end up deciding? ;D
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Hope you can relax a bit more now that the decision is made
No rest for the (not so) wicked, I'm still busy as anything trying to organise my life. ;D
What did you end up deciding? ;D
I changed! I'll give you a quick recap of my Thursday night, though;
9:30pm: Decided to go to Law/Commerce, enrol on the WES platform, got to the unit selection step (which is required to enrol) and it wouldn't let me pick my units because one of them (a law unit) was 'repeated in the same time period'.
10:30pm: panicking because my offer expires at 11:59pm, and not a single Monash contact (online, connect, chat service, phone) was available as they're only open until 5pm.
10:45pm: I realised I might need to discontinue my previous course before I can enrol in the new one.
11pm: Sitting at the table wondering whether to risk discontinuation, as I was scared that if I discontinued and the new offer still didn't work, I'd be left in a lurch with nothing.
11:30pm: I took the leap, discontinued and it let me (finally!) accept the offer and receive the transaction number.
Literally the most stressful day I've had all year :P :'( ::) You would think they'd make it a little clearer! I found out a few others encountered the same problem in the following day.
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Currently torturing myself that we have to wait until the 21st for our timetables now. :'(
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Hi Jimmy,
So exciting that you have made a decision! I guess we’re really in the same boat now. Law/Commerce, tentative methods experience and no background in accounting/economics. Will be keenly keeping up with this journal. Feels great knowing I’m not the only slightly concerned person. How’s your timetable looking? I have two full days and one one hour day!
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Been a bit of time between drinks here...
Recent events have meant that everything is on hold/delayed/online now. I originally had Tuesday,Wednesday & Friday at Uni so it's a pity it's all pretty much going to be online this semester, with limited (if any) contact at the uni. Motivation might be a struggle.
That's life though, gotta keep marching on.
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I received a few PMs about this so I figured it best be answered here;
In terms of my timetabling, I was fortunate to land only three days for such an intensive double degree! Bit of luck, making sure my middle preferences clashed so I'd get my higher ones and fortune came through! Albeit, my three days are very intensive. Fridays especially. :'(
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Same! My Friday’s were 8am - 6pm. I guess it won’t matter now :P
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Same! My Friday’s were 8am - 6pm. I guess it won’t matter now :P
We must have some of the same classes!
It'll all be on Zoom now, so still technically relevant.
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Exams done!
It was a hectic few months. Assignments galore, 3 timed exams (2-3 hours) in the last week + a take home exam a few weeks ago which was really a blessing. Now 5 weeks of holidays. What am I to do?!? Honestly doesn't even feel like I've had Uni with Corona, despite going into Monash a few times.
Might try learn an instrument!
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Been a big month of change!
Results came out, I was pretty content at the lower end, but disappointed at the higher end. I ended up very consistent all round but was disappointed by Criminal Law not being much higher, but pleasantly surprised by Accounting being a Distinction as my lowest mark.
Two weeks in; can definitely tell this semester will be more intense, but I'm a little more ready and know what I need to do.
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A fun week!
More assessments for Commerce, frustrating we are forced to do them on Friday though. Also signed up for Mooting!
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Hey Jimmy, I just had a quick stalk through your journal, I'm joining the bandwagon of following this thread now! :)
How are you finding everything?
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Hey Jimmy, I just had a quick stalk through your journal, I'm joining the bandwagon of following this thread now! :)
How are you finding everything?
Hi Skittles!
So, so sorry for this very delayed response. It's been a very busy few months! Welcoming you onto the (hopefully more regularly updated) bandwagon from here on.
To give a full rundown from September; it was packed with assignments due! All within a given two week period, so it definitely follows suit from VCE where term 3 was the busiest term. Exams were tough given lockdown was just easing and the sun was shining, but we got through! A bit of rest now. Can safely say I'm far more excited for next year having completed a year of uni than I was going into it with the knowledge that this year was going to be mostly (if not totally) online.
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Hi Skittles!
So, so sorry for this very delayed response. It's been a very busy few months! Welcoming you onto the (hopefully more regularly updated) bandwagon from here on.
To give a full rundown from September; it was packed with assignments due! All within a given two week period, so it definitely follows suit from VCE where term 3 was the busiest term. Exams were tough given lockdown was just easing and the sun was shining, but we got through! A bit of rest now. Can safely say I'm far more excited for next year having completed a year of uni than I was going into it with the knowledge that this year was going to be mostly (if not totally) online.
Don't be sorry, its been busy for me too!
I'm so glad to hear all that :) I wish you all the best for your second year of Law & Commerce!! Can't wait to read all about it :)