UoM General Chat

[vox nihili]

So biomed at monash doesn't have majors/minors etc, but picking for science was a bit tricky and I'm genuinely glad for you guys that you don't have double-degrees because of it. I could only pick from a select list of majors (chose genetics, most others were ecology/plants/chemistry/maths etc) + another science major if I wanted (pick physiology). Initially I wanted to do a Micro/Immuno double major but neither of those were on the select list that I needed to pick on. Pretty dodgy system for a few reasons and I'm trying to get the university to remove that policy, but it'll take a long time haha

Are choosing majors at UoM straightforward, or are there things you guys need to plan for?

Genetics is an interesting one to land on, a lot of people I know absolutely hate it!

Things stay pretty open until third year, particularly if you're doing life sciences or Biomed. Some second year subjects influence our majors in Biomed. Biochem, Genetics and Micro all require second year. And Bioeng requires first year input, so does health informatics. Otherwise, everything is still open, you've still got about 9 majors or so to choose from which makes it difficult!

[LeviLamp]

At this point I can still pursue over 20 majors, even after locking out several (such as the earth sciences, physics and mathematics) ((

[Russ]

I chose my major because there was a pretty girl doing it and I figured it couldn't be that bad if she had chosen it. Turned out to be an excellent major! I encourage the rest of you to choose your future this way as well.

Nb monash students out

[simpak]

Hahaha Russ.

I don't know if decisions I'm making are the right ones until after I've made one.  Many decisions I've made, including my major, have caused me to feel comfortable.  Others, like Arts, not so much! I don't have regrets over picking my major or any particular path.  I think it just seems more difficult when you reach a fork in the road but usually you feel 100% okay as soon as you make a decision and I don't usually look back and wonder! PART OF THE UNIVERSITY LEARNING PROCESS.

[Ballerina]

successfully registered in painting techniques classes!( yes yes yes yes...). after weeks I woke up at 10 am just to get in the subject:P:D

I promise to write a review about it. lets see how easy we can get h1:D

Congratulations! Did your introductory letter arrive with contact information for Painting Techniques? John Neeson is a difficult man to get hold of.

7.0 comes from this: http://www.gemsas.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/GEMSAS-GPA-guidelines.pdf
In this GPA, first year is weighted x1, second year x2, third year x3.  No subjects are removed from the calculation.
GEMSAS GPA = 7.0 GPA.

SGPA comes from this: http://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1053
In this GPA, all years are weighted the same but the number of points a subject is worth is taken into consideration for weighting.  The two lowest subjects from either second or first year are removed.  Alternatively if you are a Biomedicine student and you did poorly in a second year subject worth 25 points that single subject can be removed.
I will quickly address the term "weighted" from this policy, even though I know you're not confused by that part as some people get confused and it might be beneficial for them: Weighting refers to 12.5 or 25 or even 50 points (as some subjects are) and the relevance of that.  So, a second year Biomedicine subject worth 25 points counts twice as much as a 12.5 point subject in a Biomedicine degree.  But second year subjects are not weighted more heavily than first year subjects in terms of SGPA.  Only for a GEMSAS GPA calculation (and potentially other degrees, I'm not sure what other GPAs courses use, but let's just consider SGPA vs GEMSAS GPA for now).
SGPA = GPA /100.00

SGPA and GPA can mean the same thing...I wasn't trying to distinguish between GPA and SGPA I was distinguishing between GEMSAS GPA (/7.0) and SGPA (/100) that's all.  Sorry if that wasn't quite clear!

And when I said something about a GPA not being relevant to what you want to do I was referring to the fact that you've stated you're not interested in Medicine so the only thing that applies is the SGPA out of 100 presuming you are applying for Honours.  I'm not entirely sure what postgrad course you want to do though so I could be wrong about it using an SGPA at all.

SGPA is definitely a calculation out of 100.  It might not say it in the policy but it is a calculation down to 2 decimal points.  I know, because it was used in the calculation of my own GPA for Honours and for awards and for whatever else we are discussing.  If I apply to Honours the GPA they will get is 94.8x (I can't remember the last point) and if I apply to Medicine next year and I only get H1s in Honours my GPA will be stated as 7.0.  That's because in this degree I never got anything below a H1, though I did in a previous degree that is removed from the calculations as of next year.  So it's near impossible to have a perfect SGPA (I wonder if anyone in the history of time has ever done it!) but it's very possible to have a perfect GEMSAS GPA for health postgrad course applications.  Does the anecdote help? 3:

What did the Science Student Centre say that contradicts what I said?  It's definitely a 4 digit number within the Micro/Immuno department for Honours.  I know for PhD it no longer includes your second and first year marks but your third year scores and Honours scores are considered.

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Where do you guys go on your fieldtrip?  Dandenongs or something?  It sounds nice!

Yesss, I know. However, I'm (hopefully) eventually applying for a Masters of Biomedical Science (best path to neuroscience research). The Science Student Centre stated I would be assessed using this http://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1053 and that my 7.0 would be used in my application. Perhaps it's different between departments and for Masters?

Or perhaps they were confused.  In 2013 an advisor at the SSC also said I didn't need a waiver to sign up to Chemistry 2 (despite not having done Chemistry 1 or Fundamentals) as I had completed Year 12 Chemistry. So I waited a week anticipating I could enroll after advanced standing, before asking again. I was then told that I did need a waiver and waited another couple of days from the poor coordinator. Another couple of days passed while it was processed at the Science Student Centre. On the day I could finally enrol I found out I had a prac in 15 minutes. And that is the story of my first H2B, copyright Ballerina.

[vox nihili]

I was made moderator for ten minutes...and now it's gone. The ATARNotes gods are trolling me

[Ballerina]

Farrago Magazine
3:16 PM (13 minutes ago)

to me

Hi Natalie,

Thank you for applying to be a Farrago illustrator in 2014. I'm happy to let you know that your application has been successful, congratulations! We really like your art style and feel it would look great in the magazine.

At this stage there isn't much to do, as the print deadline for edition one is still weeks away. Expect to hear from us around the end of this month with a brief of what we'd like you to illustrate in edition one. We're also planning a social event for our entire art and design team, so keep an eye peeled for more information about that as well.

Congratulations again,
Zoe


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*drools on floor*

[ninwa]

I was made moderator for ten minutes...and now it's gone. The ATARNotes gods are trolling me

Oh fuck, seriously? I didn't even touch the admin panel, fuck

Nb monash students out

Bite me

[vox nihili]

Oh fuck, seriously? I didn't even touch the admin panel, fuck

It's back again, but it never let me do or see anything, so don't worry! It does this

[ninwa]

It's back again, but it never let me do or see anything, so don't worry! It does this

oh that's a common glitch haha dw

[vox nihili]

oh that's a common glitch haha dw

Just thought I'd test your nerves

I don't think it's ever happened to me before! I felt powerful for a split second hahah.

[MelonBar]

How do I show an "electronic copy" of my transcript to show that I passed subjects?

Thanks

[hobbitle]

I think it means a print out of what you can view in your Results area in My Unimelb

[simpak]

No, you send yourself a statement of results.  It's an unofficial PDF of your transcript.  You can find it by going to 'Results' or whatever in the admin tabs and then clicking 'Send statement of results' or something to that effect, it's a link.  Then you press a button and it emails it to you, it's laid out like your transcript and it shows all advanced standing/scholarships/awards etc.

Ballerina they may have been confused as I was under the impression Masters doesn't use a 7.0.  My friend is applying and she thinks her GPA will be xx.xx% not x.x

[scribble]

ARMI is the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, which studies and develops means of regrowing and normalising function of cells, tissues and organs in an artificial setting. Think growing hearts, lungs and kidney in a lab, amazing stuff! ARMI itself is based at Monash, but I'm sure WEHI or a comparable UoM-linked institute (possibly ARMI as well) have a few regenerative medicine labs.

O____________O this sounds absolutely amaaaaazing!!