Misconceptions (and truths) about uni life

[Joseph41]

A thread for:

1//. Those currently in high school to clarify things about uni. "Is it true that basically everybody lives on two minute noodles?"
2//. Current uni students to debunk (or confirm) certain things about university life, based on their own experiences.

For example, it's certainly not necessarily the case that your university years will comprise drinking, partying and little sleep. It may be the case for some people but like, based on the people I know, uni was pretty chill. And nobody really gives a fuck if you choose to go out or not, at least anecdotally.

Over to y'all!

[strawberries]

ooh I got some
- nobody really cares what you wear
- "omg you're an arts student hahaha you suck"
Idk about other unis, but this does not happen at my uni at all.

EDIT:
also just to add: people aren't judgemental if you took gap years, are a mature-aged student, are part-time, taking less units, "failed" some courses or are not 'up to speed' with what your age group should be (I thought they would be)

however, one misconception is that although there are lots of people at uni, it's very difficult to make friends. a misconception I had was that it wouldn't be too hard.

[K888]

it's certainly not necessarily the case that your university years will comprise drinking, partying and little sleep

Well, I mean, you're definitely right about the first two, but the last one...I'm not so sure lol.

Just came here to confirm:
- You'll never have to ask to go to the bathroom again
- Group work can be great, but can also be a massive flop. It's usually the latter.
- Some days, they give out free alcohol on campus. Usually in o-week. There are also a fair few people who use recreational drugs (haven't seen it overtly on campus, though).
- A lot of textbooks are expensive and unnecessary, so wait until you're a few weeks into semester to see whether you actually need to buy the textbook.
- You're completely accountable for yourself, and I'd say the standard of work required is a lot higher than anything required in HS.
- Referencing is a pain and you'll probably have to use different styles for different subjects. APA 6th is easily the worst.
- You will likely stay up into the very wee hours of the morning at least once finishing an assignment. You'll tell yourself "never again", but deep down, you'll know that you're gonna rinse and repeat come next assignment.
- There's not actually judgement for the course you study, only a bit of banter.

In uni, people just don't give a fuck. It's cool.
You're also generally with people who are like minded, because they're studying the same course or subjects as you - I'm finding this to be really cool in physio, not sure what it's like in generalist degrees

[EEEEEEP]

A thread for:

1//. Those currently in high school to clarify things about uni. "Is it true that basically everybody lives on two minute noodles?"
2//. Current uni students to debunk (or confirm) certain things about university life, based on their own experiences.

For example, it's certainly not necessarily the case that your university years will comprise drinking, partying and little sleep. It may be the case for some people but like, based on the people I know, uni was pretty chill. And nobody really gives a fuck if you choose to go out or not, at least anecdotally.

Over to y'all!

1. is it true that everyone lives on 2 minute noodles? Definitely not

2. Is it true that you have to buy everything before you arrive? No. You can buy everything after the semester starts and they will tell you! (It's all in the subject outline)

3 Uni will be really stressful and I won't get much sleep!... It can be, but it depends on how packed your schedule is. THe more packed it is, the more stressful it will be.

4. P's get degrees ?? P's do get degrees, but it's not a great way of looking at this, you should be looking to get a C or above.

5. You'll make all your friends during week 1. Not true. You can make friends throughout uni life. You have a few years to do it.

6. Clubbing is an essential part of student life. Not necessarily, there are plenty of people who don't go clubbing and/or drink (esp the religious)

7. Once you enrol in your degree, you cannot change your mind - You can definitely change your degree. Even after 1st year.

8. I don't have any friends from my HS, it'll be lonely. IT won't =), you'll make friends.

9.You cannot ask for any help with assignments from tutors.  False, yes you can, but as with HS, they cannot write it for you.

10. I did great in HS, that means I'll do good in uni - NO, it does not mean that and you may need to work even harder. Do not have too high of an ego, because it may bite you in the back.

[Aaron]

Background: I have done 5 years of university study, two degrees (1 bachelor, 1 master) at two different unis (La Trobe and Monash) in IT and Education/Teaching. I have been on both sides of the uni teaching/learning - as a student, and as a tutor/teacher/demonstrator.

10. I did great in HS, that means I'll do good in uni

God, this. SO MUCH.

I was a tutor for a first year programming subject and the amount of cocky 1st year students who thought because they got awards/dux/etc that they'd be automatically amazing. Mmm.. two different universes. Cockiness usually results in downfall somewhere, so get as many friends as possible and use/abuse your tutors/teaching staff. Don't try and object to what the tutor/lecturer is saying (if you disagree there are ways to go about it) and definitely don't give off the "i know more than you" vibe.. never ends well.

You essentially start from scratch when you move from HS to uni. No one cares if you received a 40 ATAR or a 99.95 ATAR.

5. You'll make all your friends during week 1.

It took me until the 2nd last week of the first semester to start connecting with people. IT was a very.. unsociable discipline where people kept to themselves (that's quite interesting because the industry is the complete opposite). Anyway, it went on from there.

8. I don't have any friends from my HS, it'll be lonely.

I did my course without knowing anyone (in fact, I don't think anyone I knew went to uni from HS). You need to put yourself out there. People will come up and talk to you or engage in short conversation. Be receptive. Don't be a snob. If you don't engage with other students even during tutorials/labs/pracs etc, it won't happen. You have to be willing to make the effort.

6. Clubbing is an essential part of student life.

False. Went the entire 5 years without clubbing/going to any of those wild events. Wasn't really my thing.

- Group work can be great, but can also be a massive flop. It's usually the latter.

Most of the time. Every experience i've had over my uni life has been terrible. Try avoid them if you can.

- A lot of textbooks are expensive and unnecessary, so wait until you're a few weeks into semester to see whether you actually need to buy the textbook.

This. Majority of lecture slides/notes are written from the prescribed text.. so ensure that is is absolutely necessary before you go forking out $$$ which you could be using for something more useful.. like.. subway daily.



A few of my own now:

"All tutors are voluntarily here and want to help me succeed"
False. Quite a number of them are there because they are doing a PhD with the subject/unit coordinator. Some do it just for the money (teaching associates/tutors get paid very nicely.. so make sure you use and abuse). Some of them are really good and genuinely give a shit, but majority don't.

"Lecturers primary role is to lecture"
False in majority of cases. Lecturers primary role is to contribute to research efforts. For many, lecturing students like yourself is a secondary gig.

"All tutors/lab demonstrators are PhD/master candidates"
False again. I was a tutor/lab demonstrator in computer science as a 3rd year undergraduate. It's hit and miss - some are good, some are absolutely terrible. You'll know very quickly what one they are.

"I am going to drive to uni, there will be plenty of car parks"
Don't. Unless you intend on arriving at 7am. Forget it if you plan on attending later. Use public transport - save yourself the hassle, time and petrol money.

"The uni cares about me, i'm not just a number"
Faaaaalse. You are actually a number. In some units, there are 700+ students enrolled in it. Do you really think they try and individualise programs for you? It's a pre-defined sequence of lessons.

Voluntary programs/assistance
If a unit/person offers a voluntary program (e.g. a maths assistance program) and you feel like it would benefit you, go to it. As stated, you are essentially on your own and there is absolutely no hand holding. When I did my undergrad, the uni offered a maths support program which assisted those who needed that extra bit of help with their math on a weekly basis for 1 hour. Not many turned up, but I thought it was an amazing program.

"I won't hand in weekly tasks/assessments on time, i'll just get given an extension like in high school"
It is nothing like high school. If you don't hand something in and don't have a bloody good reason for it, you'll get zero for it. They won't hold your hand and tell you everything is going to be ok. If you need an extension, you are required to request it before the due date and have a good reason.

Pass rates
In majority of units at uni, the pass mark is 50 overall. However, if you get something like 46-47, it is very unlikely that they will bump it up to a 50. It's really important that you put effort into each and every unit you do at university. Depending on the unit, failure usually means that you have to a) repeat it and b) pay the financial cost again. The other issue here is that with units, they are usually pre-requisites for future units as well. I'm sure you can guess what happens here... fail the prereq means you won't be able to do the future unit, which means that you'll be behind even more.

Transfers
While it is common to transfer from one degree to another, you need to be aware of the fact that transferring to another course has its disadvantages. If it's a completely different discipline, you may have to start again (and of course, this means more of a financial burden). Before you transfer or change your course, make sure that you can claim as much advanced standing/credit as possible (and be aware of it before you transfer).

All I can think of.

[sweetiepi]

- Already mentioned but APA 6th referencing really does sucks, trust me on this one.
- Depending on food options available, it can start getting expensive (for me it's $6.20 for a small tub of fried rice. Yikes.)

[EEEEEEP]

Totally forgot this one.. OBLIGATORY MYTH

People will care about my ATAR... no one gives a stuff about your atar, you can get into UNi via many ways and pathways sooo .

[Joseph41]

- Already mentioned but APA 6th referencing really does sucks, trust me on this one.
- Depending on food options available, it can start getting expensive (for me it's $6.20 for a small tub of fried rice. Yikes.)

I used (a variation of) APA 6th for my thesis. I thought I was going to hate it, but actually found it okay in the end.

[Shadowxo]

Some more things:

Most people in your course will have the same passions and talents as you. If your course / subject has high requirements, just because you were great in high school / top of your class doesn't mean you will be here, a lot of people will be just like you. Even if the requirements aren't as high, everyone there will be doing it because they like it, and are good at it. There won't be as many people doing it as a bludge or to satisfy prerequisites irrelevant to them. In order to do well, you're going to have to work hard. Natural talent won't get you as far as it did in HS.

In saying that, having people with the same interests as you in your class does make it easier to make friends. However, it does take more effort as subjects and timetables are different for almost everyone so you will need put in more of an effort, and expect to have different friends / acquaintances for different classes and different semesters.

[zofromuxo]

So many to list... it is actually unbelievable how many myths there are.
Anyway, onto my list of things that isn’t already on this thread so far.

1. People care what university you go to.
No most people don't care and ones don't do are people you don't want to converse with. I mean general ribbing/teasing/bantering/joking about it is fine, but if someone is like demeaning you for going to say RMIT like me, then they aren't a very "reasonable" person.

2. Mature aged students are "scary" and are "unapproachable".
They are in fact the most dedicated out of the cohort and in some cases know the content and merely getting accredited for it. I can say for certain, I love hanging around mature aged students, learning about their stories & life experiences as well as learning from them about certain technical skills in the industry. 

3. I can only talk to lecturers/tutors/professor about content, program and/or course issues.
No no no. Absolutely false, your lecturers and even your tutors are always learning about new things in the industry. They most likely know what is currently trending in the industry, so get their opinion on it. I engaged frequently with my tutors on issues and events that could affect the industry. For example, the announcement of the Australian Space Agency will generate a mass amount of question for my industry on technologies like GPS for Australia. They include: Does it mean we build our own satellites to source our own data used for metrology and research? Are we going to stick to buying data from other countries like the U.S.? So yeah, one of the best things to learn early is not just talking to your professors about question you have about the course, but asking about their opinions on related industry trends or even sending them something cool you find about the subject.

4. I don’t need to read my university emails, I’ll learn about events and changes from word of mouth. Nor do I need to use it.
Yeah no, you need to read your university email .  All if not most of the changes to your course in particular is done by email. Making appointments is done by email.
Of course, if you go to other “smaller” universities like RMIT, you can knock and ask your consultation, but it varies. So use your university student email a lot .

5. Borrowing books at the library is for loser.
This is what of the greatest invention for university student. Are you a poor student like me?
Check the library for textbooks you using, if they have it borrow it .
Much money was saved by borrowing textbooks for course and bonus if your course is niche enough.
You can have it for the whole semester, if not year [Check the borrowing policy of your library first though].


There are a lot more on this list as I’m only in my first-year in university, but for anyone going into university next year or even a few years from now. This thread will be useful to you, but also just trying out new things and putting yourself out there will break down a lot of misconception you have .

[sweetiepi]

2. Mature aged students are "scary" and are "unapproachable".
They are in fact the most dedicated out of the cohort and in some cases know the content and merely getting accredited for it. I can say for certain, I love hanging around mature aged students, learning about their stories & life experiences as well as learning from them about certain technical skills in the industry. 

I can definitely vouch for this. One of my closest uni friends happens to be 'mature-aged' (not super old- about ~6-7 years older than me), and she is one of the most understanding people around- turns out she has had a similar experience to me (in our personal lives), and lives around the same area as I do. I have the belief that you can learn something from everyone, not matter of who they are.

[captkirk]

Oh my, this thread is making me so hyped for university
Anyone else feeling the same?

[Bri MT]

Oh my, this thread is making me so hyped for university
Anyone else feeling the same?

I've always been hyped for uni!! 
Before primary school I asked mum if I could go to uni (she was studying at that time) instead of daycare; I got to sit in on lectures and tutorials, which I thought was the best (I would try to understand but fail and draw instead)

It's incredible to think that next year I'll finally get to actually be a university student!


Misconception or not: do many people change classes just before census?

[zofromuxo]

I've always been hyped for uni!! 
Before primary school I asked mum if I could go to uni (she was studying at that time) instead of daycare; I got to sit in on lectures and tutorials, which I thought was the best (I would try to understand but fail and draw instead)

It's incredible to think that next year I'll finally get to actually be a university student!


Misconception or not: do many people change classes just before census?

Not a misconception at all, many people do in fact changes programs/degrees before census due to the fact if you do it before the census. You get no financial penalty as well as academic penalty applied to you. So it is kinda of like those "Return in 30 days and we will refund the cost for free" schemes, I mean brenden will know this better then anyone.