EG all through high school :lol:

You wouldnt have wanted to mingle with all those bolsheviks now wouldnt you? =;

On a more serious note, private schooling is white and will keep getting whiter, when private schoolers go to uni (a college) the best case scenario for them is to avoid the masses of the cosmopolitans :shock:

There are clear exceptions though.

Grammar and High in Sydney. Kings to some extent also.

Edited by JP: 25/8/2015 11:04:14 PM

In Melbourne a lot of the private schools, especially the CofE/Presbyterian ones, have loads of kids with Asian heritage.

I went to a Catholic high school. There were a reasonable number of kids with Asian backgrounds but a heck of lot of of people from Greek or Italian backgrounds.

How's everybody doing with school/uni this semester?

Particularly interested in hearing from those studying abroad.

I'm taking it easy, only doing two subjects (as it won't affect when I finish my degree) and planning on working two jobs, if possible, to try and get some money for once in a while.

Edited by quickflick: 2/9/2015 12:20:22 AM

Graduating in <2 weeks. :cool:

Looking at VU or Deakin?

Edited by The Maco: 2/9/2015 10:11:38 AM

It ain't that bad, you only have to avoid getting stabbed in the car park if you're there for an 8am class 8-[

"Ghetto" ahaha :lol:

My school is 85% non-English speaking background yet no one cares about that.




Shit's getting hectic. Need to get a 98+ ATAR to get into my course so yeah gonna be a busy few months leading up to exams.

How do I achieve H1?

Yeah fair call, exactly the reason I didn't push to get into deakin
Do remember them having a fantastic gym fully equipped with sensors and pressure plates nearly everywhere you can think, but IMO VU and deakin are fairly equal in terms of having the top sport science facilities

Certainly not in Sydney...

Private schools around where i live (there are twice as many private schools as public in my area) there is a far higher intake of Indian and Chinese students each year.

Good luck. What course are you trying to get into?

Probably can't help much but may I ask what you're studying?

Congratulations. Must be like being on top of the world.

Dentistry at LaTrobe

Nice. Got a few mates who do (or did) sports science at Deakin. Sounds like an interesting course. Good for teaching PE but also probably quite a bit of other stuff in this day and age.

Ah sweet. One of my mates did that. Do you have to sit the UMAT?

Burn through those past exams, that's my best advice. I didn't do enough and I regretted it (well I also didn't keep up with the homework for certain subjects, so it just got too much).

I'm majoring in English at uni. May I ask what texts you're doing for English?

Edited by quickflick: 2/9/2015 11:12:10 PM

Same situation in Melbourne.

Is 666 from rich liberal small country town in outback australia because Asians have come in and owned the private sector.

Tbf i dont think catholic private schools could survive without internationals.

Debt more like it. Do you have a job lined up and if so can i lick your boots.

Apparently I've got a distant relative (I've never met her) who went to uni in Aus, amassed HECS debt then went off to the States or something, got hitched, stayed over there and never paid back her HECS. That may be crap as I only heard that from another relative, but if it's true. My lord

Nah, no UMAT.

Yeah I plan to do atleast 20+ per subject.

Any tips to be able to write ridiculously fast without my hand starting to hurt like a bitch?



- All About Eve (1950 movie)
- Life of Galileo (Bertold Brecht play)
- The Lieutenant (Kate Grenville)
- Medea (Euripedes play)

Some, perhaps. The one I went to didn't have many internationals at all, just a handful of African kids. There were a few Asians (nowhere near as many Greeks and Italians, however) and I reckon a lot of them were still born in Aus.

Not really, just keep telling yourself that pain is temporary. Perhaps find a type of pen that is really comfortable to write with. I hate writing with the really horrible cheapo biros. Gel pens seem to work better, I reckon.



In this respect, I can possibly give some useful advice. A lot (but not all) Yr 12 English writing is seriously crap compared to uni quality. I daresay it's the same for every subject, but I really noticed it in terms of English.

For instance, we weren't instructed to read peer-reviewed journals on our set texts. We just copied down notes on what the teacher said, learnt quotes and practised making arguments accordingly. We had good teachers but still...

At uni, you're reading peer-reviewed articles on these books. Although you're presenting your own opinion, it must be informed by this secondary reading (certainly for any longer sort of essay). Basically, you'll use the opinion of academics and build your own opinion by agreeing/disagreeing with it in relation to the text.

So my first thought, when I walked into the uni library, and saw all the books full of peer-reviewed articles on these famous novels was why the hell didn't I think of having a look at this when I was in Yr12.

Now, for all I know, it might be a really bad idea to dabble too much in secondary sources for English in high school. Lots (but not all) of the people who correct English exams aren't too bright. They might mark you down if you get too enthusiastic about it. But I reckon it would be safe if you had one or two quotes saying '... this idea is supported by the theory of X, professor of English at Cambridge University, who argues y'. Ask your English teacher.

But even if you don't actually quote these secondary sources. You could probably just use their arguments. And, since they're from the best academics in the world, they're fairly solid. The worst case scenario is that you have a better understanding of the text.

The biggest drama you might face is that you haven't time to go traipsing around libraries looking up books. I had a squint online and there's a Norton edition of Medea. Norton editions are the best thing ever (at least for the books, I've studied) because they have all these peer-reviewed essays by the best in the business. I'm not absolutely sure that the one on Medea has all those peer-reviewed essays, it might just be the play, for all I know. But if it does have all those essays, it would be very wise to buy a copy of it. You won't have to go searching for secondary reading, it will all be in one book.

Edited by quickflick: 3/9/2015 12:14:19 AM

Hey 433,

One thing my English teacher got us to do, was to start taping batteries to your pens and building up strength in your hand muscles. She had us doing this over two years, but if you just start with 3 or 4 batteries now, and cram it in, I'm sure it'll help. I found it made a big difference.

Science at Melbourne. I try to dedicate 3 hours of study a day and then go all out on the weekend but I don't think that I use that time very effectively.

For those who are out of Uni and in to the real world, just how much does the 'prestige' of the university you attend affect your job prospects afterwards.
Also, this may be hard to answer, but I really want to undertake an International relations type course at Uni. I'm looking at either the Bachelor of International Studies at Deakin or the Bachelor of Arts majoring in Int studies at Monash. Although the Monash course is an Arts course (I've heard mixed things about Arts Courses), should I still aim for the Monash course over the Deakin one purely because Monash is a more 'prestigious' institution (whatever that means).
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not quite in the real world. But lots of my friends and family are. Firstly I reckon you should aim for the one which is harder to get into. The one you go with is another matter.

Do companies, etc., favour graduates from prestigious universities? It can depend on the industry. I don't think there's a general rule, as it varies.

The first thing is that once you're into your second or so job, it doesn't matter which uni you went to.

The second thing is that in most cases it's probably better to have terrific marks from a less prestigious university than lousy marks from a more prestigious one.

Now this is harder to answer. Based on what people I know say, for things like law, finance, etc., there often is a bit of favouritism for graduates from the "prestigious" universities. However you still get people at big companies in graduate jobs who went to less prestigious universities. I've heard of any number of such examples.

But don't knock arts degrees. Mate, I think you're buying into the false perceptions of arts degrees that many in this country have. It's absolute nonsense. Historically, lots of the brightest people did arts degrees. It's still the case today. This is hard to explain but arts degrees teach you critical, analytical and communicative skills that few other degrees. Studying things like Latin and Greek were (and to an extent are) considered the highest standard of learning. Philosophy, history and literature too.

Have a look at the profiles of the top barristers in the state. They are from all backgrounds, including science and commerce. But overwhelmingly they did a Bachelor of Arts. Often this is because arts degrees are such good prep for law.

There were, I think, three blokes in the year below me who got perfect scores in Year 12. Guess what two of them studied? Not law or medicine for undergrad. They did arts. Then two of my brother's mates also got 99.95 and did undergrad arts degrees.

I went for an interview for a part-time finance job. I didn't get the job. In the interview I mentioned that I was studying arts not commerce and the guy interviewing me said it wasn't a problem. He had studied arts at university. His area was philosophy. He had done a masters of it. He then moved directly into investment banking and had a great career there in London.

Don't forget that people like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, etc. did arts degrees before they did law or whatever.

May I ask if you have any idea where you want to take your career? It's fine if you don't. But if you're interested in diplomacy I advise you go to the DFAT website and have a look at the profiles of the Australian ambassadors, high commissioners and consular staff. There are heaps but it should give you an idea about degrees and career paths. Heaps, maybe even most, did an arts degree. Also some went to Deakin.

I gather one of the most common pathways is to do a Bachelor of Arts, and maybe a law degree too. Often from Monash. Then in many cases they've done postgrad study in international relations or diplomacy at places like Deakin, Monash, etc.

I reckon it would be a really good idea to learn another language. It does make a huge difference. Chinese is the most useful these days. But even French is really useful and great fun. You could go to Monash, study a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in international politics (or similar) or history as one of your majors and in a foreign language as another major.

That would be really good grounding, imo. Then postgrad you start to specialise a bit more. Post grad is difficult to avoid these days.

Cheers for the reply mate, really useful points made. I don't really have a specific career in mind but the area of International relations, and politics to an extent, really interests me so I figure I will have no trouble finding an interesting career if I go down that path course wise. Yeah, okay, interesting stuff about Arts. It's just that as a VCE student I'm surrounded by mates who are heavily opinionated on the topic of Universities and courses even though their credibility on the topic is probably very questionable, so it's hard to really know what to believe. Thanks again

All good. There's any number of people in Australian society who stigmatise Arts degrees. Current students, academics/professionals in other fields and people who haven't received tertiary education who regard study as only valuable if they can draw a direct line between it and a particular career.

Not everyone is like that. I know people who study science, etc. who can see the merit in doing an arts degree. But so many people have tunnel vision, it's not funny.

This is a really bad way of thinking.

One of the biggest problems with Australian society is that people are incredibly prescriptive, they've got absolutely no imagination. If you suggest something which sounds a bit unusual they're like what the fuck are you doing that for.

One thing you basically have to accept is that it's highly likely you're going to have to do postgrad study these days. Lots of the unis are pushing towards making the specialist degrees postgrad. This is the case for people who want regular careers, not just people who want to become academics. Happy or not, that's the way it is. There are some jobs you can get into with just undergrad, but it's a bit different to years gone by. With that in mind, there's absolutely no risk to do an arts degree for undergrad, as long as you think you'll enjoy it. I mean you can just do an arts degree, and then post grad do either a masters (in international relations), or postgrad law or finance or something and you're every bit as employable. Time-wise, it can work out to be about the same because very few people do undergrad law on its own, or undergrad engineering on its own.

Although, I do know of people who have just done a Bachelor of Arts, no postgrad studies, and had very successful careers in international relations/diplomacy, civil service, finance, journalism, politics, etc. So even then, it's not unfeasible.

But yeah, you'll get lots of people telling you not to do an arts degree, not to do this or that. Don't pay too much attention to them. It's simply a case of them not knowing all that much about it, imo. As you've pointed out.