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[fantasticbeasts3]

Degree: Bachelor of International Studies/Bachelor of Media (PR & Advertising)
Institution: UNSW Sydney
Length of degree: 5 years, full time
Your current year, or year of graduation: 1st year
Why you chose your degree:
I've always wanted to study at UNSW and I started with wanting to study Commerce/Actuarial (who was I kidding then lol) but after realising I didn't want to have anything to do with numbers, I had to look for something else. As a humanities-loving student I thought it would probably be a better idea to look at humanities-related degrees. I looked through the UNSW Arts and Social Sciences degrees, and saw International Studies! It sounded so cool because I would learn more about politics and the world (there's definitely more than that though!) and the idea of going on exchange and learning another language sounded awesome. My parents were the ones to suggest I add something onto International Studies to have more career options, so after a few weeks of looking at various universities, I decided I wanted to do Media.

Contact hours:
A lot less than other degrees! Every subject is 3 hours, except for language which has 5 - so 14 hours a week. This semester I was in for 4 days because I was a second-round offer person and didn't get the best time slots (everything had huge gaps in between; my shortest break was 1.5 hours). It really depends on how fast you get in with timetabling, because next semester I'm only in for 2.5 days!

Workload:
The workload so far has been manageable. For each subject there's ~2 readings a week (except for language, which has none) and they're roughly 20 pages each although on a good week you can get 2 readings that are less than 10 pages each. Other than that, I did do a subject this semester that had 10 tutorial prep tasks (like homework) staggered throughout the semester each worth 2% of your final grade. They're not that hard but they are a bit inconvenient and annoying to do. Besides that, there are assessments but they really vary - some of super time consuming where you have to do a ton of research but others are just short in-class tests you have to study for. For language, it's also really important to revise regularly - daily if you can.

Content:
I'm liking the content so far! International Studies has been the most interesting so far which really relates to current issues and covers the whole world - really love it! Learning a language has been a bit of a challenge, which was expected but it's the most enjoyable subject for me. As for Media, it's been a bit dry because it's mostly foundation stuff, but I'm really looking forward to 2nd year when it gets a lot more practical!

Assessment:
Assessments vary across my subjects. For this semester's International Studies core subject, we have group tasks every tutorial that we're assessed on which are worth 25% of our final grade, then there's an essay worth 25% and a final exam worth 50%. For language, it depends on which language you choose because there's no set course outline for each language. For Media, one of my subjects has tutorial prep tasks worth a total of 20%, then a multiple choice quiz worth 20% and two writing tasks (article and media release) worth 30% each. The other Media subject had 2 shorter written tasks worth 20%, a longer one worth 30% and a final exam worth 30%. Typically, Media subjects don't have a final exam (just assignments throughout the term) and I don't have a final exam for German this semester but that might change later on.

General thoughts:
I'm really loving my degree so far. It was worth it waiting for that second-round offer because I'd received an offer to an amazing institution for pretty much the same course, but UNSW's International Studies course was something I'd wanted to do for ages.

I think something I want to emphasise is International Studies isn't just about politics or current issues even though we do learn a lot about it! There are still theorists involved, we look at other fields - economics, geography, history, anthropology, sociology, etc. - to get a grasp on what's happening in the world. When choosing an International Studies minor, there is such a wide variety of minors to choose from that aren't all about politics/international relations.

[Glasses]

Happy for you to use my real name Nick!
Degree: Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Criminology & Psychology)
Institution: Monash University, Melbourne (Clayton Campus)
Length of degree: 5 years, full-time (but equivalent to 5.25 years)
Your current year, or year of graduation: 2nd year
Why you chose your degree:
In addition to the fact that I've wanted to be a lawyer since I was about 11 years old, I've always been very passionate about, and interested in the law - so for me, completing a Law degree after Year 12 seemed quite logical. I chose to complete a double degree, and specifically the LLB(Hons)/BA because Arts is really flexible and has allowed me to pursue another strong interest of mine - Psychology. I also felt that Psych would complement Law quite well, and would be a good Plan B if I woke up one day and decided that Law wasn't for me (although I now think this is very unlikely). Furthermore, I initially planned on minoring in Criminology, but then decided that I'd complete Criminology as a double major. Admittedly, I didn't love my introductory Criminology units and was a bit unsure as to whether I'd continue studying Criminology; but eventually (and fortunately), I decided to stick with Criminology and have come to find it a lot more interesting and enjoyable than I did initially.

Contact hours:
My contact hours in any given week tend to vary, as some of my classes run on a fortnightly basis and some don't commence until mid-way through the Semester. Nevertheless, as an example, in Semester 2 I have around 12-14 contact hours each week. That being said, different units have different contact hours - so any given Law/Arts student's contact hours are going to depend on what majors/minors they're completing, whether they're a first year/second year/third year/fourth year/etc., and many other factors.

Workload:
The course workload (especially for Law) can be very intense, especially when you have work/volunteering/social commitments. That being said, the workload is manageable if you stay organised and on top of your readings, assignments, exam revision, etc. (and if you don't mind the occasional all-nighter). I've also found it really important to prioritise some readings and tasks over others - because frankly, even though they're all prescribed, some readings/tasks are much more useful than others.

Content:
The content in my course is definitely one my favourite things about it. Whilst challenging, the law content has been extremely interesting. I've even found myself thoroughly enjoying units which I initially expected to be quite dry. Each law unit focuses on a different area of law (e.g. criminal law, torts, property law, contract law, etc.) - meaning that you get a lot of breadth, as well as depth. Furthermore, I've found the content for Psychology and Criminology generally really enjoyable. At times, I found my first year Psych and Crim units (which had lots of breadth, but lacked depth) quite repetitive and dry; however, my 2nd year units were much more interesting, in-depth and enjoyable.

Assessment:
So far, all of my Law exams have been open-book and problem scenario-based. For these, you're given a long scenario and need to discuss how the law applies, counterarguments, defences, etc. Some of the law exams have also had an essay/policy question. For Psychology, all of my exams have been closed-book and multiple choice; and for Criminology, all have been closed-book and had an essay requirement, and sometimes extended response questions.
Other assessments I’ve had for Law include tests, group assignments, tutorial participation, case notes, library research quizzes, essays and oral presentations. For Psychology, assessments have included lab reports, literature reviews, online quizzes, data analysis tasks, oral presentations and research proposals. Additionally, for Criminology I’ve had to complete essays, law reform submissions, blog posts, online quizzes and essay plans.

General thoughts:
Whilst I love and really enjoy my course, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. There’s a tendency for students to study Law because they don’t know what they want to do, have the marks for it or feel pressured to study Law by parents/teachers/etc. In my opinion, these are pretty bad reasons to study Law (and most other courses, in fact). You should study what interests you – regardless of what other people want you to study and your ATAR.

[Zainbow]

Do you still need more entries or am I too late 

[Joseph41]

Do you still need more entries or am I too late 

Hey! The book is alllllmost done, but there's still time if you're quick.