UoM General Chat

[vox nihili]

I still remember my first biology lecture last year in biomed. The girl sitting in front of me had at least 30 pages of detailed notes having summarised the first 5 or so chapters of the textbook. Turns out she didnt need them... lol

Now I miss Geoff

[saints1996]

Has anyone done the U21 Diploma in Global Issues? What's the go with it, apart from what's on the uni website?

[hurdles]

According to the Chemistry department, my labs are on Tuesdays at 2pm despite selecting Tuesday at 9am on the timetable. Have they moved me or am I misunderstanding something? :S

stick this happened to me as well. :/

[Inside Out]

for subjects that require reading, i do think extra studying should be done before uni starts .
"Or would you rather employ the one that has a 75% average but has worked for several companies overseas, has a lot of experience and ties with the community and is actually an engaging and worldly person to speak to?:
^in regards to this, the only way you're going to get good internships is by getting good grades first. yes, co-curricular and work experience is important, but grades always come first in my opinion.

[simpak]

Are you saying people that get good grades can't have lots of experience or interact with the community or be engaging/worldly?  I don't think those things are mutually exclusive...

I'm guilty of dedicating most of my time to study (lol obvz) and probably need to buff out my CV with some volunteering or co-curricular things in the near future, but as Inside Out said it will be difficult to gain relevant experience if you can't pass through the paper stage of an application and not even make it to an interview because your grades don't allow you to make the cut...

Also, with undergrad, many people are trying to get into a postgrad degree for which having a great GPA is imperative.  Some postgrad courses will use an interview in their selection process that may allow consideration of 'experience' and 'engaging worldly views' but others don't - grades are extremely important if your goal is further study rather than just employment straight after undergrad.

[charmanderp]

^in regards to this, the only way you're going to get good internships is by getting good grades first.

This definitely isn't true - often employers hiring for interns will be much more impressed by relevant extra-curricular stuff (even clubs and societies work) than they are by good grades. Especially if the responsibilities of those extra-curricular commitments are similar to the internship, and you can demonstrate that it was successful.

Balance is everything.

[Russ]

It depends on the area where you want to work and the actual marks involved but in general a lot of people attempt to rationalize away not studying hard/getting lower marks as not mattering because they do extra curricular things. I'd avoid thinking "I can get lower marks and it won't matter because the employers will look at my CV and see all these wonderful things I've done elsewhere"

[charmanderp]

It depends on the area where you want to work and the actual marks involved but in general a lot of people attempt to rationalize away not studying hard/getting lower marks as not mattering because they do extra curricular things. I'd avoid thinking "I can get lower marks and it won't matter because the employers will look at my CV and see all these wonderful things I've done elsewhere"

Balance!

[vox nihili]

For the love of God, don't start studying before you've even started Uni. You're about to embark on a bloody hard 12 weeks, so enjoy your break!

[LeviLamp]

AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE BIOLOGY STAFF NOW WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO PROVIDE THE NOTES FOR THE SUBJECT GIVEN THAT THERE'S A LECTURE TOMORROW MORNING

The only "studying" related to uni I've done is "studying" the timelines of the girls that added/accepted me on Facebook from o-week (just the usual protocol - checking if they're single and whatnot)

omg people actually do this in lectures quite often and it's really creepy ;-;
that said, I stalk my Facebook friends with alarming regularity, so maybe I'm being hypocritical :s

Also, I completely agree with simpak about good grades and life skills not being mutually exclusive. I find it quite easy to make conversation with some types of people in the general public out of nowhere and, furthermore, lots of faculties also provide relevant experience within their subjects (obviously this varies, but many of the subjects in my major provide field and/or research experience and there is significant interaction with academic staff) and many staff are approachable for summer internships, conversations about the future, ideas of where to go and what to do relevant to the field you're interested in etc. etc. etc.

Good grades don't mean you do nothing other than study or have nothing to offer other than academic prowess. Furthermore, they're definitely a useful gateway to future study options, and the better you do, the more freedom you'll have with study or even research in the future (even if you decide to return to university to complete a completely unrelated degree at the age of 45). This doesn't mean extracurricular activities, volunteering etc. etc. etc. should be eschewed from a person's life, but (like charmanderp said) balance is everything, and what exactly is the most optimal balance will depend on what you plan to do in the future and the individual jobs you apply for.

[90+FTW]

I feel as though there isn't as much pressure to do well in (first and second year) uni as much as there was in year 12.

I'm aiming for a Commonwealth Supported Place for the Juris Doctor (Law) and one of the prerequisite requires me to get H2As and H1s throughout my 3 years of undergrad. I have to rely on this, incase I completely flop out on the LSAT (hope that doesn't happen!)

Also, with undergrad, many people are trying to get into a postgrad degree for which having a great GPA is imperative.

Simpak gets it.


It's official, this is my new desktop background. Ya know, just in case.




 

[Shenz0r]

Wow, you jaffys are so keen. And here I am wondering if I can be bothered even attending my 3 lectures tomorrow.

[Hancock]

Don't burn out first years, good grades don't come from studying 24/7, they come from studying smart.

[90+FTW]

^ what if you're studying smart 24/7? Or at least, for the majority of your time.

[vox nihili]

9am start for Spanish tomorrow morning. No gracias (Y)