Your Opinion: University - First Thoughts

[excal]

I'm just interested to see what all you new first years think about Uni. Feel free to talk about anything about it, but here are some things you can use as a springboard:

• Transition issues
• Lectures
• Subject matter
• Tutorials / Laboratories
• Culture
• Making new friends and networks
• Clubs and societies
• Future aspirations

All I ask is that you make your posts substantial and fluent - I want to see this being a resource for future University students. Also, please note which University and course that you're attending.

Please take discussions regarding topics raised during this thought exercise to another thread (as there will certainly be some) - I will be deleting inappropriate threads.

[ReVeL]

Alright, I'm doing a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Melbourne.

First few weeks have been fun, but at the same time a little overwhelming. O-week was very enjoyable, I would recommend next years students getting involved with as many activites as you can(pub crawls, BBQ's, activity nights etc) and join alot of clubs. Met alot of people, wasn't very hard, people are looking to make friends and there was generally quite abit to talk about to get conversation started.

My first week of lectures varied with my subjects. Introductory microeconomics I'm finding fairly straight forward, having done VCE economics, it's not too challenging as of yet and my lecturer(Jeff Boreland) is taking things nice and slowly ensuring everyone grasps the concepts. Same goes for Quantative Methods 1. Accounting however is abit of a different story. Having not done VCE accounting, I feel like I'm behind and my lecturer seems to skim over things quickly that I really need more explanations for. Hopefully my tute will help me out cause I certainly need it. Business Law is going ok, but I find it boring at times and difficult to concentrate.

Then there was camp, which was the weekend after the first week of lectures. Wild weekend. Would definately recommend the camps if you like to relax and have a good time. However, if you're not sure it's for you, it's basically a shitload of drinking and partying, which obviously won't suit everyone. But yeah had a great time on that and met plenty of people that I think I will get along with well.

In terms of the 'culture and atmoshpere' of university, I absolutely love it. The freedom is so much better than high school. Being around the campus is great, and with the city right there means you can unwind after a day of lectures at melbourne central or lygon street or whatever.

So, proper tutorials start this week which is definately a good thing with the questions I've got, several assignments are about to start which should be awesome.. :S

Good idea for a thread, will be interested to see how other people are doing.

EDIT: Just a quick expansion:

I found the first transition lecture pretty useless, and almost nodded off like 4-5 times during the hour. The next one is on plagerism so I feel like I should probably go, but if it turns out to be a waste of time I don't think I'll even bother with the rest.

[Amnesiac]

I'm doing Arts/Education at Monash Uni, Clayton.

The transition from high school to uni is definately a big leap. There is much more reliance on our independance and genuine motivation to learn the content. I found it really difficult, and i still do, to comprehend exactly what is required from each unit. However, i am starting to get the hang of it which is really good. I think it is just a comfortability thing. Once you feel at ease with the workload and travel to and from uni you can start to plan your days and get into a routine. It all takes time i guess.

Lectures are really good if theres less than 100 people. In my Media and History lectures i contribute frequently because i know the lecturer will hear me and value what i am saying. We also have class discussions in these lecures which is quite stimulating. However, in my Psycholgoy lecture there is 300+ people so you sort of just have to sit there and annotate your lecture notes, which have been printed out particulary for the lecture. I am thinking of missing out of my psych lectures per week and just writing notes for it in the designated time. It would save me a lot of time because i would just have to do it later, and i'm not learning anything in the lecures really.

Subject matter is really interesting thus far. I won't bore you with the topics raised in my units, but i am really engaged at the moment. On the one hand it is comforting knowing that i have learnt half of the information before at some point in time, but it is also interesting to learn new information within the first 2 weeks.

Making new friends is not hard at all. If you're a naturally introverted and reserved person you may have some trouble, but some early effort to even say 'hey' to someone can allow a new friendship to begin. I met a big group on one of the camps before uni (which i highly recommend), and even though we don't all do the same courses we see eachother everyday and are very close. As for lectures and tutes, you just have to be proactive and outgoing from the beginning. That way it places less strain on yourself and also makes it less awkward when it comes to introducing yourself.

On conclusion, i will just add that clubs and societies are awesome, but you can't possibly join everything, so don't try to. Stick to a few that you and your friends are interestred in, and get involved. That way you are putting a lot of time into one thing rather than minimal effort into a number of societies. It also has its benefits because people begin to know you as being affiliated to a certain group and then you make more friends. The free booze and perks are also an extra incentives to join. Booze = fun times and awkward relationships :| haha.

That is all.