Anyone finding uni disengaging and boring?

[thedutchman92]

I am in my first year of uni and I love the social life (living on residence) but hate the essays with passion and the course doesn't feel progressive or like its going anywhere. permanent works seems much more appealing at the moment.

[stikas]

My daughter felt the same way. She applied for a uni exchange and ended up in Canada and loved every minute of it, on & off campus. She now has her degree and I feel is a better person for doing it. The exchange was for 12 months and unisa paid for her airfares only.

[Barnaby]

What vocation?

[Jack960]

Depends what you are doing mate. I'm in 2nd year of mechanical engineering and its only just starting to interest me. The first year of any course will be pretty general and hence be boring. Hang in there

[thedutchman92]

Originally Posted by Jack960

Depends what you are doing mate. I'm in 2nd year of mechanical engineering and its only just starting to interest me. The first year of any course will be pretty general and hence be boring. Hang in there

Lucky you, I would have loved to do mechanical engineering but didn't have the right secondary school mathmatics. I am doing politics with a mix of philosophy and economics. It comprises of all essays and I am hating it, hence why I only just passed my 4 subjects in semester 1. Acedemic readings send my to facebook or ford forums because they are less engaging as watching paint dry...and don't get me started on doublespeak.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

Lucky you, I would have loved to do mechanical engineering but didn't have the right secondary school mathmatics. I am doing politics with a mix of philosophy and economics. It comprises of all essays and I am hating it, hence why I only just passed my 4 subjects in semester 1. Acedemic readings send my to facebook or ford forums because they are less engaging as watching paint dry...and don't get me started on doublespeak.

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA lol . i see your dilemma , its like trying to get a straight answer , or a simple yes or no , out of a politician . hahahahah

[thedutchman92]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA lol . i see your dilemma , its like trying to get a straight answer , or a simple yes or no , out of a politician . hahahahah

Precisely, the only reason I would want to be one would be to shut the useless one's up, get this country fixed up and not BS around everyhting just to get a second term. no wonder they turn out the way they do after 3 years of uni....try 3 years of community service and we might get better polies

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

Lucky you, I would have loved to do mechanical engineering but didn't have the right secondary school mathmatics. I am doing politics with a mix of philosophy and economics. It comprises of all essays and I am hating it, hence why I only just passed my 4 subjects in semester 1. Acedemic readings send my to facebook or ford forums because they are less engaging as watching paint dry...and don't get me started on doublespeak.

You do realise if you do well in the first year of a degree, its much easier to transfer to another degree yeah? Look around at other degrees you'd like to do, like Mech engineering for example, look at what you lack to complete the degree such as the maths skills. Spend the next few months bringing your maths understanding up, keep your grades above credit average for the current degree, and try to transfer to another degree, like Mech Engineering next year.

People often dont realise that once in uni, its a back door to degrees you couldnt get in in the first place. With the politics, its not about who is right etc, although Im sure there lots of that being discussed but thats just a means to an end, its about understanding the process and the why of **** that happens. Dont worry about it making sense, just get your head around the notions or general concepts, ie: dont have an opinion about it, just learn it and youlld keep your grades high. Alternatively, look at your opinion and how it fits, and then make sure youre justifying them with the concepts taught at each lecture. You dont have to be right, you just need to demonstrate you get what they are teaching and can apply it.

Chin up, dont see tomorrow, see the future.


Oh, NEVER PUT OFF STARTING ASSIGNMENTS AND READINGS ETC, NEVER FALL BEHIND. If you have, dont keep doing it, its hard if not impossible to catch up, but at least dont fall further behind. Dont forgo the semester, at least give it a good shot from here on.

Accounting, lol. I started in that, ended with a double degree in law and accounting. You'll love Company accounting, allocating costs one department of an organisation imposes on other departments. It seems to defy all the rules and techniques of the previous learning on accounting. I struggled to get my head around it.

[fangq]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

Lucky you, I would have loved to do mechanical engineering but didn't have the right secondary school mathmatics. I am doing politics with a mix of philosophy and economics. It comprises of all essays and I am hating it, hence why I only just passed my 4 subjects in semester 1. Acedemic readings send my to facebook or ford forums because they are less engaging as watching paint dry...and don't get me started on doublespeak.

AHHH.grasshopper. Try these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589795814
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589795806. Subjective uni or school subjects ( aka English, creative basket weaving etc ) leave you at the mercy of the lecturer. Analyse THEM, then plan your strategy.
Steve

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

Lucky you, I would have loved to do mechanical engineering but didn't have the right secondary school mathmatics. I am doing politics with a mix of philosophy and economics. It comprises of all essays and I am hating it, hence why I only just passed my 4 subjects in semester 1. Acedemic readings send my to facebook or ford forums because they are less engaging as watching paint dry...and don't get me started on doublespeak.

Dunno if it's been mentioned already, but, try moving across streams, once you're IN uni, it becomes exponentially easier to move into a degree you're interested in. (Hence why a lot of students will tell you to put something really crap and easy to get into on your application). If you show the right dedication you should be right.
Or you could do what I did, and go back to high school to do the right maths (I already did it, but was missing physics and wanted to do a pre-ap in auto studies as well).

First year is essentially, VCE/HSC all over again (at least semester one), if you're doing similar subject, I was bored outta my nut in first semester, in fact I only just passed, even though I knew EVERYTHING!!! Just couldn't be arsed, this carried into second semester, and I failed two subjects, but once I did these over summer, I realised I was learning new stuff and started to get interested. Now in fourth year, I'm disinterested because I work as a student engineer, and I can see how little of my degree I'm going to use.

In a round about way, I'm trying to say (from personal experience) figure out what you want to do, try a few things, a mate of mine has started three degrees, and is sticking this one out. If you're really interested in something a little less essay driven, go for it. Essays suck!

[GTP owner]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

I am in my first year of uni and I love the social life (living on residence) but hate the essays with passion and the course doesn't feel progressive or like its going anywhere. permanent works seems much more appealing at the moment.

The term to use is "delayed gratification". Yes there are some boring bits, but you need to get through the difficult and tedious bits to get to a worthwhile end. It also depends on the course and how interested you are in working in the field when finished.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

I am in my first year of uni and I love the social life (living on residence) but hate the essays with passion and the course doesn't feel progressive or like its going anywhere. permanent works seems much more appealing at the moment.

doesnt sound right to me mate . i would get this sorted quickly if i was you , as its a career choice , not a social experience , you need to be going for the right reasons , and interest and expectation outcomes and direction at the end of the course
good luck but make sure you know why your going ,m if its boring and unprogressive it's either not for you , or its a claytons course heading no where . good luck and getted sorted so you know if your wasting your time or not .

[SEZ213]

I was...until I changed my degree...since that point, smooth sailing.

Assignments are part of uni life - the further you get, the harder they get, the worse they get and the more mundane they seem - and then you get your degree...

The key is to make sure you're intrinsically motivated from the outset of your units (as opposed to extrinsically)...it will make life a whole lot easier knowing you're doing it because you WANT to, and not because you HAVE to...

Just what I've found anyway

[thedutchman92]

I do need to switch course, too bad its 4 weeks in to semester 2, so my hecs debt will likely have about $10,000 worth of waste on it.

[SEZ213]

Not if you utilise what you've already studied, there'll be some kind of cross-over somewhere (depending on what you decide to switch to), you may be able to get RPL's...what uni are you studying with anyway?

[thedutchman92]

La Trobe uni in Bundoora, think I want to switch to accounting

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by thedutchman92

La Trobe uni in Bundoora, think I want to switch to accounting

You mean your current course is less interesting than Accounting?! Well, there's your problem.

Way back when, I wasted time in Uni. IT degree, first year was full of crap that I had no interest in doing and was very general. Had to do Law, Accounting, Maths as it was a general stream of a Business degree. It wasn't until the 2nd year that you actually got to choose your fate and the classes that actually interested you.

Eventually dumped the degree for a full time job (this was more than 20 years ago, mind you) as the lecturers were useless and our choices were things like COBOL.

Uni has beneficial courses (like Accounting) and largely useless courses (IMO, like IT) and if Accounting is the way you want to go, apply for a transfer. If some of the courses you're doing now are also included in the Accounting degree, stick them out.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Yep sounds like you need to re-evaluate your course selection. If you are finding the subject matter boring you're not going to enjoy the occupation it ends up putting you in.

Sezzy is right, and has swallowed a dictionary, you need to know where your hard work is taking you and where you can apply it.

I got my mech engineering degree almost 10 years ago now (geez I'm getting old!) and luckily part of my course involved 12 months work experience in the middle, so that when I came back I was reinvigorated and motivated knowing where the results of my hard work will take me. Up until then I was failing subjects routinely and had a barely passable average grade. For the last 3 semesters after I came back from work experience I had a high credit / distinction level average. Unfortunately I had such crappy grades from my first 5 semesters I only ended up with a pass average but I still got my degree and am working in the field I wanted to.

Anyway my point is try to visualise how you can use what you are learning, it helps to put thing into perspective. And if you dont like what you see (in your visualisation) then it's not the course for you.

[vztrt]

I found Uni wasn't interesting till 3rd/4th year. But I still felt that it was more a degree factory then anything. I guess I would have preferred a system were I could have worked for a company part time as well as going to uni. Probably would have made it better.

[charles_wif_xf]

Originally Posted by vztrt

I found Uni wasn't interesting till 3rd/4th year. But I still felt that it was more a degree factory then anything. I guess I would have preferred a system were I could have worked for a company part time as well as going to uni. Probably would have made it better.

This is a very accurate statement. The problem with university 'education' is that it is a drone factory, creating the next generation of plebs and corporate wannabes. They (uni administrators, lecturers, faculty heads) don't teach the students to think and to seek out and learn on their own, away from the syllabus. What they do instead is they create a class of exam regurgitators. It's why I haven't gone back to academia (that and the fact that money talks like never before).

[raised by monkeys]

Originally Posted by charles_wif_xf

This is a very accurate statement. The problem with university 'education' is that it is a drone factory, creating the next generation of plebs and corporate wannabes. They (uni administrators, lecturers, faculty heads) don't teach the students to think and to seek out and learn on their own, away from the syllabus. What they do instead is they create a class of exam regurgitators. It's why I haven't gone back to academia (that and the fact that money talks like never before).

I agree but adisagree too. Im currently doing social work, and although much of the education is blurted out information - and i guess social sciences is different to something such as accounting) based on historical events, research of others and analysis of research data, they do encourage you to develop your own sense of self. I work in the human services industry also for a non-government agency, and although we have a basic format for what criteria needs to be met regarding clientel and what organisational processes need to be met, its pretty much up to your imagination (within the basic social work model of empowerment and client determination, and of course restricted within organisational policies) on how we assist individuals/groups/communities etc.

However, this is not to say that UniSA is awesome at engaging students who do not commit to full time study and on campus education (i work full time and study part time in my own time... and a little at work)

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by charles_wif_xf

This is a very accurate statement. The problem with university 'education' is that it is a drone factory, creating the next generation of plebs and corporate wannabes. They (uni administrators, lecturers, faculty heads) don't teach the students to think and to seek out and learn on their own, away from the syllabus. What they do instead is they create a class of exam regurgitators. It's why I haven't gone back to academia (that and the fact that money talks like never before).

I don't know what you studied, but I'm doing bachelor of psychology, and they very much try to encourage students to think outside the box and think independently, most of our assignments this year have been structured that way. Yes we have to follow the syllabus but it's definitely not just a case of regurgitating exams.

[Zero_PSI]

I'm at tafe with a fulltime work load. I find the hardest thing for me is getting the motivation to do something. I'm in IT and we don't actually get lectures. Our lecturer just sits and waits for our questions. I'd give anything to have a lecturer instructing the way through each topic rather than watching crappy video's and reading 50 pages of text word by word, incase you miss something.

I'm falling behind and really need to knuckle down as I finish up in december.

[Ford_The_Win]

Sounds like you need to change courses mate, if you want to stay at uni and you really don't think it's for you, make an appointment to go and see a course adviser and work out what your options are. Don't let your grades slip in the meantime.

I'm a 3rd year and have always found the course I'm doing at least a little bit interesting and engaging, even in first year, although I've always struggled with readings. I'm reasonably confident that it's the right degree for me and am getting excited for honours. Hopefully once you slot into a degree you like, you'll feel the same way.

[DBourne]

I did IT @ uni and it was an absolute waste of time.

Sure it's nice to have a degree, no one can ever take that from me, but no one will ever ask me to write an essay on why a server has gone down, they'll just want it fixed, ASAP!

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by SgtBourne

but no one will ever ask me to write an essay on why a server has gone down, they'll just want it fixed, ASAP!

Lol, my everyday situation.

I'm looking at doing online Uni studying an IT degree just so I can further myself in my current job but not committed to starting yet as there are too many things in my life that are up in the air so I can concentrate on the job at hand.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Rapid_Axe

Lol, my everyday situation.

I'm looking at doing online Uni studying an IT degree just so I can further myself in my current job but not committed to starting yet as there are too many things in my life that are up in the air so I can concentrate on the job at hand.

I did a (work paid) semester of Open Universities (IIRC) a couple of years ago. If work didn't pay for it, I wouldn't have bothered. It was pretty simple if you did the work but I just had too much of my own work to do to dedicate to this.

I think I did Java Programming and something about servers - can't remember. Aced the lot with 100% on every prac with little to no effort at all. There was no schooling from the lecturer, it was all self taught and if you got stuck with something you were working on, you could post questions into an open forum at certain times and wait for a response. Ended up having to go to the States for a couple of weeks through work and couldn't sit the finals - hence a fail.

If it's a requirement through work in order to further your career (or getting into management) and you're willing to put the time in, it's not difficult if you're disciplined. If it's not a work requirement and you want to remain technical, then I'd suggest going the certification route. You'd spend less time and certain certifications are highly regarded.

[Dr Jekkyl]

Not sure how old you are mate but maybe a year off would be right for you?

A common problem is that first year uni coincides with first year of relative independence (being 18 and all).

I took a year off between high school and uni........certainly made me appreciate the value of tertiary education!

I now have 9 years of uni under my belt, sure I took the long way around but I am exactly where I need/want to be with VERY good prospects for the future.

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by Rodp

If it's a requirement through work in order to further your career (or getting into management) and you're willing to put the time in, it's not difficult if you're disciplined. If it's not a work requirement and you want to remain technical, then I'd suggest going the certification route. You'd spend less time and certain certifications are highly regarded.

Just coming back to this post, it would be in my own interest because I know my company won't pay for it. So I would be able to secure a spot in another company if the opportunity arose.

I did think of the certification route, but then thought I should get a diploma cause it may open more doors, and then thought about the degree cause it may open even more doors.

Like Jerry Seinfeld says in the Greater ads: "Why have silver when you can have gold?"

[XR6_661]

1st year sucks. 2nd year sucks.

3rd and 4th are alright.

Basically….if you want to degree in that particular field, get it done. If not, switch now.