The view from in here: University Myth Busters

Showing posts with label University Myth Busters. Show all posts

Getting into University

I have a degree. It’s still in the envelope they sent it in, tucked away in one of my many ‘important document’ drawers and there it shall stay until my living arrangements become more permanent.

The reason I say I have a degree is because this was not always the case. Once, not too long ago, I was in the same position as some of you are in. The grades I’d received were not nearly as good as the ones I had wanted and my future looked quite bleak. I didn’t think I would get in to any University and that I would be stuck working in some job I would hate for the rest of my life.

That’s when my Dad dropped another piece of his, not always but sometimes, excellent advice. Talk to someone at the University. I scoffed at this because I felt that the people at the University probably heard hundreds of cases like mine and were probably used to turning them down. This is just one more example of me being wrong and being happy to admit it.

After some persuasion I sent an email to Murdoch and within a day (bear in mind I was in Zimbabwe at the time) I had a response. The email was very kind in tone and it outlined all my options about the various courses that were open to me, including a few that I had thought I wouldn’t be able to get into. Within 48 hours of receiving my results I had made my application to Murdoch, something I would not have thought possible when I had initially opened the results letter.

So the three important lessons that I learnt were: 1. Your results are never quite as bad as you initially think they are 2. Sometimes your Dad will know what he is talking about and 3. People at Universities (particularly Murdoch) are people. People that will happily help you if you ask.

If you’ve just got your results and are feeling like all the opportunities have gone up in smoke, simply ask for help. In three or four years time you could have a fancy envelope with a degree in it showing up to your house too.

posted under exams, International Students, Jonathan Gurney, Murdoch Blogger, Murdoch University, Murdoch University Entrance, murdochuni, Results, Student Help, University Myth Busters, Zimbabwe | 1 Comments

Murdoch Open Day 2010 - Review

It can sometimes be hard to write this blog. As I've mentioned in previous posts and I have clearly outlined, or at least I hope I have, in the disclaimer Murdoch does officially endorse the blog and compensate me for certain posts. This doesn't mean that I am going to necessarily always be positive about them and Murdoch have stressed to me that they will not attempt to censor me. With that said I will now discuss my opinions on the Murdoch Open Day on August 22^nd.

When I was 17, all those years ago, I was given the day off College to attend the Sussex University Open Day. It was pretty cool being given a day off to wander around a campus for a couple of hours and I had made plans to meet some friends in Brighton afterwards. I hadn't given any thought to University at that stage so I was thoroughly unprepared for what to expect. I had no idea what major I wanted to pursue and next to no clue if I was even going to be living in England for University. As you can imagine this made the whole open day experience less than pointless as all I did was walk around with a group of friends and complain, if I remember correctly, about how boring the whole process was. In short I was immature, annoying and completely unprepared to even think about University.

Murdoch's open day, compared to the rather subdued Sussex one, was more like attending a carnival or festival. There were tea-cup rides, face-painting, competitions and a fairly impressive band line-up. If anything it seemed like there was so much to see and do that the prospective students didn't really have a reason to engage with the lecturers which is the whole point of an Open Day. Luckily the people attending this event seemed to be a bit more mature than I was on my first Open Day and I saw a lot of lecturers being asked questions and a lot of information being given out. All in all Murdoch gets points for being very informative and that's really what these days are about.

The razor in the candy-floss though is that all the attractions kind of distort what a typical day on campus is actually like. There aren't always tea-cup rides and petting zoos on campus, we seldom get bands performing live on Bush Court and you'll be lucky to get churros on any day other than the Open Day. I know the attractions are fun and only meant to be a diversion and I am not saying Murdoch put them on for any other reason, but if Sussex had a similar show I'd likely have tried harder to get a place there and perhaps regretted it as I would have missed out on my Australian experience.

The reality of campus life is that most of the time you won't be able to simply lounge around on Bush Court and enjoy the sun. You have work to do, often a lot of work, and when you're out on Bush Court its likely that it will be to read something for an upcoming tutorial or to do a last-minute bit of studying. Sometimes the Guild will put on an anti-stress day and it can be fun to visit the petting zoo or get a free drumming lesson but like I have said, these days are few and far between.

So in my own roundabout way I am telling you that you shouldn't base your decision solely off the Open Day. Universities will use them to put on their best face, and who can blame them? If you choose Murdoch simply because 'it had the best attractions' or 'was the most fun' then all I can do is caution you to re-think. If you came to the conclusion that Murdoch is the University for you through research and backed that up by attending the Open Day and talking to the relevant Unit and Degree Co-ordinators then I think you've got the point and are a very different person to me when I attended my first open day.

posted under International Students, Jonathan Gurney, Murdoch Blogger, Murdoch University, murdochuni, Public Relations, Semester 2 2010, University Myth Busters | 4 Comments

University Myth busters part 3

It’s come to the stage of the year when Murdoch starts accepting the mid-year enrolments. A lot of students who take a break after high school find this to be the best time to get into student life. However it can still be a pretty intimidating time and you probably have a lot of worries and doubts. With that in mind Murdoch asked me to write three articles tackling the most common worries you guys face. If you have any questions about enrollment I advise you to check out Ask Murdoch.

“I haven’t studied in a while and I’m lacking confidence.”

I’m told that 60% of Murdoch students are over 19 when they enrol. Maybe this statement could apply to you? Maybe you took some time off between finishing school and enrolling to travel or earn some money. Perhaps University didn’t seem like your first choice when you wrote your last exams but now it seems like a pretty attractive option. But you’ve been away from studying for a while now and you’re not sure if you could write an assignment or research a paper. I was in the same place when I first started at Murdoch, although admittedly my exile from the books had only been for 8 months. Thankfully there were a few things that helped.

Foundation Units

When you enrol you are required to take a foundation unit in your first semester. These are usually aimed at teaching you to write critically about a myriad of different subjects. My foundation unit was FDN130 or “Age of Information” and was basically about how different communication technologies had influenced our development. It sounds pretty full-on but in reality these units are really there to make sure you develop the research and writing skills you need to succeed at Uni. Provided you go to your tutorials and you do the readings you shouldn’t have any major problems getting back into the swing of things.

Workshops

Throughout every semester there are always a lot of voluntary workshops run to help students deal with issues such as stress, essay writing and research tips. These workshops usually don’t last longer than an hour and they cover a wide range of topics. If you’re having trouble with something the chances are there is a workshop that can help. More importantly these can help refresh skills you’ve already learnt and that can give you a bit more confidence in your assignment writing.

Other Students

When all else fails it can be really useful to talk to the others doing your unit. These guys will probably be going through exactly the same stress with the material that you are and a problem shared is a problem halved. It’s easy to feel alone when everyone else is going on about how easy an assignment is going to be but most of that is just posturing. The person that boasts about how quickly they wrote 5000 words is either lying or just super smart. Talk to others and their support will see you through.

Student Learning Centre

I mentioned in the last post that Murdoch has an entire department to help people succeed. The Student Learning Centre has people on staff that will help you. It’s also a great place to find out about the workshops I mentioned and get one-to-one sessions to help you out. These are the kind of resources that you can really find useful when you reach the end of your tether but they are best used throughout the semester. A stitch in time saves nine and all that.

Overall

It’s really easy to feel like you’re an idiot the first time you sit in a lecture and that’s not a feeling that goes away quickly. The turning point comes however when you realise that everyone else feels like an idiot, whether they’re willing to admit it or not. So however long you’ve been away from study it’s very likely that there are at least 20 people in your class or on your course that are in the same boat. Studying is like riding a bicycle, to dust off that old chestnut, and though you might be a bit wobbly at first it will all come back to you.

posted under BA in Security Terrorism and Counterterrorism studies, Books, exams, Murdoch Blogger, Murdoch University, murdochuni, Public Relations, University Myth Busters | 0 Comments

University Myth busters part 2

“I don’t know if I can balance work and study”

Earning money is fun isn’t it? Sure you maybe have to give up a couple of days in the week to get that money but once it’s sitting in your bank account the possibilities seem infinite. Working can also be quite fun because of the simplicity of the equation. More work = More money. I know a few people that used to go out to the mines, work solidly for two weeks and come home utterly exhausted but $2000 richer. Money also makes life easier to live because you don’t need to worry so much about how you are going to afford your next meal and an impulse buy won’t bring angry debt-collectors to the door. So when you’ve accrued enough money and have decided to give tertiary education a shot it can come as a nasty surprise when study time is replacing all the free time you used to have for work. You find yourself cutting your shifts because you need time to write the lengthy assignments and re-write the hastily scribbled lecture notes. So what’s the solution?

Balance

In the ideal world you’d work enough to pay your bills with a bit extra, have time to finish your assignments and still be able to go the pub every night with your friends. Realistically though you need to work hard to achieve this sort of life-style. Balance doesn’t mean getting everything done at the last minute but actually being able to create, and work in, specific blocks of time for each activity. So how can you do this?

Prioritise

I know it sounds like I’m channelling the inner Dr Phil but you need to sit down and work out what is important in your life. Your part-time job may seem really important and fulfilling but working 35 hours a week while your books gather dust is a dumb idea. The purpose of going to University, for me certainly is to get a strong qualification that will open doors for employment. This means that getting my degree is right at the top of my list of priorities. That being said I still find the time to work; I just need to be smart about which shifts I can and cannot do. Prioritising can be the toughest part of this process. Sometimes you need to cut certain things out of your life, maybe you won’t have time to play cricket with your club every night and that can be sad. But University isn’t forever so don’t look at some short-term sacrifices as the end of the world.

Plan

Proper Preparation and Planning Prevent Piss-Poor Performance. From week one you will have a detailed list of what assignments are expected from you and when they are due. If you know that there is a 2500 word assignment due in week 14 maybe you should approach your boss in week one to secure time off so that you have that buffer to work in. If your boss isn’t sympathetic then at least you know that you’ll need to start work on the assignment earlier than you may otherwise have thought. Likewise if you know that you have no assignments for a couple of weeks then you can temporarily take on some more shifts or use that time in some other manner. The worst thing in the world can be getting some free time and having absolutely nothing constructive to do in it.

Rest & Relaxation

Balance is a two way street. If you spend the whole semester buried in books your health will suffer and that is not fun. If you have a good timetable for your assignments worked out and you are confident that you don’t need to work on anything then you should go out and enjoy the company of friends. This can be the best part of University, kicking back between assignments, because it allows for some much needed breathing room.

Overall

All the fancy words will come as little comfort when you’re up at 4 a.m desperately writing an essay before your class at 8. Sometimes you can’t balance work with study or sometimes things go wrong. A seemingly simple assignment suddenly morphs into a 5000 word catastrophe and you feel very alone and a little bit frightened by the deadline. That’s why it can be a great comfort to know that there are safety nets in place for you. Tutors will grant extensions if you show them that you have worked all semester and you should never be afraid to ask for help. In fact Murdoch has an entire section of the library specifically aimed at helping people complete their assignments and do the best they can. But learning balance rests on your shoulders and it is certainly a skill I have learnt while studying at Murdoch.

posted under BA in Security Terrorism and Counterterrorism studies, Health and Counselling, Lectures, Minor in Journalism, Murdoch Blogger, Murdoch University, murdochuni, Student Health, University Myth Busters | 1 Comments

Mid-Year Enrolments Part One A.K.A University Myth busters

Note: This was meant to go up yesterday but due to internet problems did not. This means the one scheduled for today will also go up today and the third article will go up tomorrow as planned.

“I’m not sure I can survive on a student budget”
If you want to survive at University and, by survive, I quite literally mean ‘not die’ then you need to have at least a vague idea of where you are spending money and why. While it can be fun to wake up in a tree in the middle of the Village with no recollection of the previous night and a completely tapped wallet it can also lead to problems when you cannot afford bus fare to get to work. I am hardly qualified to give budgeting advice but I can at least tell you the mistakes I have made and how you can avoid them or at least make new ones.

Creating a budget

It’s boring and time-consuming but it can be great to keep a record of how much money you have and where you plan on spending it. I’ve seen students use spreadsheets, complex pie charts and iPhone apps to keep track of their finances and these methods are great. A student can track exactly how much money they have and adjust the budgets to new circumstances. I usually scrawl my budget on a napkin from work but you don’t have to follow my example. Creating a budget is as easy as working out your income and then planning out how you need to spend it. So what kind of expenses are you looking at?

Books

University textbooks can be really expensive and there is no getting past that. If you are extremely lucky there will be a second-hand copy available of your book available in the guild shop for a fraction of the book-shop price. Murdoch University Book-Shop is many things but cheap is not one of them so you might find it helpful to buy books online for cheaper prices. If all else fails and you feel you can’t afford to purchase your books then there is always a chance the library will have a copy on reserve. This is less than ideal as you can’t take these books out but if you are desperate it can be a life-saver. Also, because this is very important, just because a book is listed as “Essential” doesn’t mean it is. Take the time to ask your tutor or lecturer if the text-book really is vital to passing the unit before you buy it. This can save you shelling out $100 on an expensive paper-weight.

Food

We all need to eat. Some of us, especially me, actually quite enjoy eating and want to do it every day. Thus a student budget can come as a nasty shock when we suddenly discover that we cannot afford the frozen pizza and wads of cookie dough that form an essential part of our food pyramid. It’s rather a bucket of cold water when you realise that all the health food is about the same price as the junk food but will only last about half the time in the fridge. I spend roughly 3 hours a month trying to work out what the lump at the back of the fridge shelf is and whether it is still safe to eat. However there have only been a few times where I have gone hungry. Everyone eats a different amount but it can still be a lot easier to make shared meals that everyone can eat and share the cost around. This way you can also have fancier meals than a solo budget might allow for.

Entertainment

All work and no play turns you into a pretty successful person academically but you tend to lose your sanity. So there should definitely be space on your budget for entertainment. The occasional night out with friends or new DVD won’t utterly ruin your budget provided you keep these in moderation. Drinking in Perth isn’t cheap and a good night out can set you back anywhere from $50 - $200. Back in the UK I was paying around £3 – 4 for a pint whereas in Perth it’s closer to $9 – 12 depending on which club or pub you pick. Pre-drinking is a good way to get around this as you can get about 4 litres of cask wine for roughly $12. You do need to budget additional health-care money if you go the cask-wine route.

Overall

Student budgets are tough. You scrimp, you save and often you suffer but it’s still possible to survive. Budgeting can also give you a wake-up call when you realise how much money you are spending on stuff you don’ t need. You also learn to do more with less. When you realise you can feed 6 people on half what it would cost to order fast-food then you are on the right track. If you really believe that you can’t afford University on your own dollar then perhaps you can look at some of the funding options available or see if you qualify for student loans. As always you can email me any questions you have or leave comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

posted under Cooking and Food, Health and Counselling, Murdoch University, murdochuni, Public Relations, Student Health, University Myth Busters | 4 Comments