Any mature age uni students here?

[moonlyte]

I got accepted into uni, starting in Semester 2(July). Would love to discuss all things uni, including where to take a nap without being disturbed, between classes. 😄 My uni actually records the lectures, and makes puts them online for viewing and download. Makes me wonder why people would bother showing up for lectures. I'll be going to all the lectures and tutorials though.

[lurker172602]

I phoned my son the other day and he was most upset because I woke him up. He was in the library lol

[*crikey*mate*]

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@moonlightbooksandgifts wrote:

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@*crikey*mate* wrote:

What're you studying?

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Engineering. 🙂

Are you a current uni student?

Yeah, I am thinking of forming study groups for each of my units. And being able to ask questions during/after lectures is why I'll be attending the lectures. So is the ability to pop into their offices if I need help.

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law/criminolgy/commerce

Big Crikey is doing Engineering though - mechatronics -

MC is there for 2 subjects a semester (still finishing school) - Engineering - Civil, so far he has done the same subjects as big fella did even though they have dif specialties - first year subjects seem to be pretty standard

[*crikey*mate*]

gawd, the only quiet place in one of our libraries is the Law library - the main library even has a nintedo lounge set up in the centre! Other library is as quiet as though

[moonlyte]

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@amber-eyed-girl wrote:

Congratulations, and good luck 🙂

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Thanks. 🙂

crikey: "so far he has done the same subjects as big fella did even though they have dif specialties - first year subjects seem to be pretty standard"

Yeah, same thing at my uni - all the engineering branches(civil, chemical, mechanical, electronics/electrical, environmental) are all the same for the first 2 years. Then the units start becoming more specialised.

[*crikey*mate*]

I was actually thinking last night after I had logged out.

at uni here, my course is structured with each course having 3 hours contact time.

Most are 2 hour lectures and 1 hour tutes, but some are 1 hour lectures and 2 hour tutes (well less 10 minutes cos every class starts on the hour and finishes 10 minutes before the hour to give students time to get to the next class.)

and on the business commerce side, there is a LOT of flexibility and class options, so we can generally plan our timetables to pack out a day and leave others free (lots of kids try to cram everything ionto tues to thurs so they get a 4 day weekend LOL

But my son who is full time engineering, they structure their classes completely differently. I'd have to ask my boy, but their course is structured in a way that they have about 7 contact hours a week - all sorts of computer labs etc that they do on campus - especially his MATLAB subject - on top of his tutes and lectures - they call them workshops

So he is at uni for like 1o hour days Mon to Thur, and then he has one lab on a friday afternoon,

He is at the mercy of when they book his classes.

But then he doesn't seem to have to do much study at home

I have only had one class that had an additional workshop so far Legal Theory 1 - had a lecture 2 hours, a tutorial every second week and the workshop was watching a movie for 3 hours (well and it was interspersed with comments from the lecturer) sort of like trying to show us examples of a particular theory in action.

and this semester - I only have one class where I HAVE to be on campus, the rest have all been able to be done online - next semester is different though by the looks - I think I am going to have to turn up for 3 subjects, but it looks like 2 don't require that, but one of those I will already be on campus anyway, so....... might as well attend

But for research (I am on the legal research team too, so do more research than what is required in my general studies), I have it set up so that i can do that from home - no need to go in to use their equipment iykwim. I have enough power in my machine to run the programs I need and to operate as many different sources and browsers as i need to - have 4 screens set up, so can easily operate 3 different browsers (just like eBay, some search engines and legal resourse sites operate better with different browsers) , one on each screen and still have one for word documents and PDFs etc

When I just had my laptop, working from home was a nightmare (was actually impiossible) as it is not unusual to have 40 or 50 tabs opened at a time. Between legislation, caselaw and all the other sources we have to look to cross check and cross reference just to get through one thing, I was just spending too much time finding the one tab I wanted to look at, so was easier to go to uni and use their equipment.

But now I can work from home, have one monitor devoted to caselaw, another to legislation, another to general search and search engines and still have one for word documents etc.I can have up to 16 different documents all on diplay at once without having to minimmize and have to continually search for so I can cross reference.

Not too sure on what Big fella needs for engineering - at home he just uses a second hand laptop that was refurbished for him, despite having a bursary which will let him buy whatever kind of computer/programs  he wants - it's for either 6 or 8 thousand? can't remember. But I asked him why he didn't buy a "decent computer" and he said his laptop works just fine for now. (He studies on his bed - doesn't even sit at his desk! - but hey, he's getting Ds and HDs - so whatever works for him, I'm not gonna object LOL)

[moonlyte]

Crickey, I am impressed that you are studying law and your two sons are studying engineering. 🙂

Do you or your sons have to do a "broadening unit", where you have to study a unit that is outside your field of expertise? Basically these units are aimed to make the student more cultural to engage more with the world. Each semester I have to do 3 engineering units + 1 broadening unit, so 4 units in total. I'd rather do 4 engineering units(so I can finish my degree quicker), but the BU is compulsory. So I will study a language - maybe chinese, japanese or french. 🙂

As for napping, I don't mean sleeping at the library, I mean full sleep with a small pillow and thin blanket. I can pack them into my backpack. I am prertty sure I can get full sleep somewhere in the bowels of the engineering building without being disturbed. 

[*crikey*mate*]

meh, a law degree is no different to any other degree - I actually found some of my commerce subjects a lot harder. Legal subjects are pretty easy really, most of it makes sense when you know about it, but it is the sheer volume of reading that makes it a hard subject.

Only one son is full time, the other is only part time with some partnership between the school and the university - ie if he has finished the school Math Curriculum, he can go on and start the one at uni. He just plans to go into engineering, so it is that progarm whos courses he is taking.

I am doing a double degree, so I don't have to do any broadening units that I know of - though there may be some in the list of electives? I have very few electives die to the structure of my program, whereas the single degree has 12, I think? Not sure, but as my degree crosses three different schools, I don't have much room for extra subjects - they seem to be just the ones that the law requires you to do ie the core framework - for example to practise law and be admitted to the bar there are 22 subjects which every person must study, the other 10 are for extras for those who may like to see what areas they like to specialize in iykwim - for example one unit of International law is compulsory but Transnational law isnt. Or legal research and legal writing are not compulsory units for the bar, (you generally kind of learn that as you go along) but one uni here has those two subjects as compulsory part of their degree. The research taught basic research skills and introduced us to some of the different data bases and how to use them (it was brilliant - all the exams were on line - did the exams from home logged into the school intranet - they just open the exam up for a 24 HOUR PERIOD AND YOU HAVE TO DO IT SOMETIME IN there - only half our exams) and legal writing, they just taught different ways of writing different documents from a letter to a case brief etc, to legal referencing (its different to all other subjects)

so not compulsory for the bar, but compulsory as part of the degree at that uni.

For napping, one of our unis has onsite accomodation. Since there are two of us full time, we rent one of those, mainly to make it easier for big fella or for when we have large breaks between classes and it wasn't worth coming home. so we don't live there, but we use it iykwim. Big fella is still on his L plates, so he is reliant on me for transport, so if he is working late at uni and has an early start the next morning he will sometimes stay over. I only really use it if I have long breaks between classes or if we want to have a study group and can't find somewhere or for group assignments if we didn't book a private study room

Costs are a bit expensive though, but BC gets discount in one of his bursaries, so it is pretty inexpensive for us - but generally about $200 a week I think

I've never been into the Engineering school, so not sure what their nap facilities are LOL, but def no room in the business or law buildings LOL or the general libraries, not through the day anyway - I guess I have seen some kids in the corner really late in the study centres or in the very early hours of the morning - but from 8am it is all pretty packed

we do have subjects we can take though where we might go overseas and get awardeed full credit and the uni even pays $5000 in costs and we are encouraged to do those, but not forced to.

I just asked big fella, he says no for his degree but his is a bit different to others as well as he is doing two majors and one of his majors is at a diofferent uni (nanotechnology), so I would say the effective double degree consomes any electives he may have had otherwise.

[moonlyte]

Are those onsite accomdation one-bedroom units? For my uni, there are plenty of student accomodation on the outskirts, but they are taken up by international students who pay a ton of money.

I still have an opportunity to add a second major, but I don't think I will. It just adds to the workload, and takes my focus off engineering. If I change my mind, commerce will probably be the one  - as long as the second major can be completed within the timeframe of the engineering degree. Meh..

Seeing as all your family were already at uni before the budget, you all don't have to worry about the deregulation of uni fees. Lucky. 🙂

[*crikey*mate*]

well, they are kind of onsite - across a little bridge in the student village - yes one bedroom - ours are in 4 attached to a central lounge area - I would say each are different at dif unis

yep packed with international students, but domestic students can use them too - fair few domestic students

there are different types, they get more expensive - we just use the cheapest one as we don't actually live there.

At the other uni they are definitely onsite - but I havent seen in them. I think they would be a higher standard as it is a private uni (4 times the price!)

For those in the honours program and part of the mentor program, we get our own private study centre - just for 52 of us (only 36 on the program atm) so, private cubicles each with a work statuion, computer - but can link up laptops for more screens and link a few monitors with other workstaions, bathrooms, showers and 6 bunk beds, tea coffee, basic cooking stuff, a lounge area complete with TV and nintendo, attached to the law library so we get 24/7 access to that part - couldn't live there, but good for all nighters etc

dif unis have dif majors under dif titles - example My brother studied economics under a Business degree, whereas I do it under a commerce degree

usually for double degrees it adds an extra year to the course and an extra subject per semester

so here a double degree example law/commerce is 5 years, 5 subjects a semester and a single degree is 4 years 4 subjects a semester (if you are full time)

I've still got one more to go LOL - she is only in grade 9 and I don't think she is on the path for early entry - she is studying grade level subjects, not advanced in any, so she will probably finish inline with her regular cohort.
She MIGHT be eligible for the GUEST program where students can study one subject at uni in their senior year - but I doubt she will. In her words, when she resigned from the advanced program at school, she "doesn't want to work that hard"

I haven't looked into the effects of the deregulation, what does that mean?

[*crikey*mate*]

and little fella is hoping to transfer to UNSW so he can apply for the defence force, so he would be affected by the new structure, but as the government picks up the tab, won't worry him, I don't think/

He has worked out that if he does his engineering degree through the defence force, they not only pay for it, but pay him a wage whilst he studies and is then given a job at the end of it all.

but we will see, he is only in grade 11 - a lot can happen in the next year, and he won't go to UNSW if he doesn't get accepted by the defence force