Hi everyone! It's been too long (over a year) since I updated my uni journal
(I'm currently in my 3rd year of Bachelor of Psychology at Monash!)
I feel more exposed posting this here on the new forums because this one post will make up a larger proportion of the current posts here than the tiny proportion it would be of the old forum
Quote from lm21074 from old forums
Hey Owlbird! How are things going? 🙂
Thank you for the reminder to update my journal!!
I feel like uni is going well! I finally changed my mind about what goal to aim for (in some of my previous updates my thoughts about deviating from the psychology/psychologist pathway were just temporary ideas, but I’ve finally permanently decided that psychology is not what I want to pursue).
My reasons are:
-One of the main reasons is that I enjoyed the physiology subjects I took (in my elective spaces) significantly more than the psychology subjects, I feel like I spent a lot more time studying for these units too just because of how the content felt satisfying to learn and understand.
-Another reason is that I spent a year on an anxiety helpline (which I learnt a lot from and recommend to people wanting to pursue psychology further), but it made me realise I don’t think I would cope or be the best person suited to helping people with mental health issues as a career.
(-Honours sounds hard if not super passionate/committed to psych (maybe other things are all hard but when I realised that not wanting to do psych masters meant I didn’t have to do honours I felt so relieved))
My parents introduced the idea of physio as a possibly career to me in high school when I was indecisive but then they said maybe my hands were too small (I don’t think this affected my decision). I put Bachelor of Physiotherapy as my top preference for about one day last minute when I thought I’d decided in year 12 for VTAC preferences and then also last minute changed to psychology. I don’t think I regret picking to study psychology for 3 years, I think I’d have doubts about any pathway I picked out of high school and all learning seems useful (maybe my HECS disagrees). What if I end up going to uni forever and don’t choose a career? but also I want to not be living at my parents house my whole life.
I’ve applied for the Doctor of Physiotherapy course at UniMelb so am waiting to hear back to see if I get an interview offer (which are meant to come out in August)! Until then I need to study for the interview aaa. I also haven’t completed the prerequisites of anatomy/physiology units so far or have space to left in psychology so I’m doing an online 8-week Human Biology short course through Monash to fulfil them. I wanted to apply for physio at Monash too but they required more prerequisites and there seemed to be no possible option to complete them (based on too many (like 3) inquiries I sent them to check different pathways of fulfilling the prerequisites). I also registered to do the gamsat this September because the idea of studying gynecology/female reproduction/pregnancy (and physiology more in depth) became really appealing to me after doing the unit PHY3181 – “Hormones and Reproduction” this year, feel like the content is just so cool. I feel like at first picking PHY3181 was mainly because it was one of the only physiology units I could do in my last semester of elective spaces, but it made me realise it’s the area of science/biology/physiology I’ve found I enjoy learning about the most. If I don’t get into physiotherapy next year I think maybe I’ll study a tafe course in allied health or something similar because I’m worried I’ll loose momentum if I stop studying for a year.
I’ve been feeling this semester like it’s easier to study. I feel like I can concentrate and be productive for longer time periods than I have for the last two years. Also, since exams were on campus for the first time in my uni time I actually learnt the content properly instead of half relying on the open-bookness of them. It’s the first swotvac I felt like I did really useful studying. I made flashcards for the first time (on quizlet) before exams because a friend I was revising with sent me some they made and so I felt like I should make some to send back, and then I realised how making them actually made me remember the content so much better. I always labelled myself as “not really a flashcard person” BUT I AM! Exciting thing to learn (thanks closed book tests?). My method of learning during the semester has consistently stayed handwritten notes, but now I’m thinking about whether I should just make flashcards from the beginning, but I don’t have time to do notes and flashcards, will notes have to go, or should flashcards just stay as a revision thing I don’t know.
I have one deferred exam in week 3 sometime as I missed it due to having to isolate during the exam period. I need to remember to put in effort to revise instead of being caught up in my new subjects. I was a bit annoyed that Monash couldn’t just let me do the exam from home at the normal time as it was remotely invigilated anyway.
I FINALLY ACHIEVED MY 80WAM GOAL! (just) and I hope I can maintain it. My last sem of my degree has no elective spaces so it’s the first time I’m doing 4 psych subjects together, which I’m less keen on because my elective space non-psych subject is normally my fun/wam-carrying subject. Out of all my psych subjects I've only ever gotten one HD (and that was an 80 in first year), so I'm not sure how realistic it is to hope my WAM won't decrease after next sem.
This sem feels a bit daunting to me (at least the start part), because I have the online module, deferred exam, gamsat and interview that I need to be studying for as well as my normal units, so I'm feeling like I'll end up neglecting something. Its probably better that these things are just for the first part and i'll have the last half of the semester to focus on the units fully.
Have a good week!
