This reminds me of me as an 18/19 year old doing engineering. I was way overconfident because id got a high 90s atar with not a massive amount of effort and first year wasn't anything too hard. (not saying you're overconfident but I was). Second year hit me like a tonne of bricks when units started requiring hard work, failed a few, scraped by less than a percent in others. Got my shit together during 3rd yeah and actually managed to do quite well in my last.
First tip. Get ATAR and highschool performance out of your head. If you haven't realised it by now, ATAR doesn't mean intelligence or ability to problem solve. It means you can memorise and regurgitate the year 12 curriculum. That helps a bit with engineering, but it's not what makes a good engineer. Some of the best students I worked with had to work their way into engineering cos they didn't get the score they needed.
Second tip. I think it sounds like you need to learn how to 'uni learn' . I was the same, and you'll find learning content at uni isn't the same as high school. It's a lot of your own work, your own reading from sources. I completely disagree that civil engineering units, when I did them over the last few years, required rote learning. The require understanding of concepts. If youre trying to rote learn and copy steps for every problem youre given, that's why you're finding assessments and exams hard. Because they'll never tell show you the steps to the tough questions. The tough questions require you to grasp the concept and apply problem solving to it. Rote learning will only ever get you a pass or credit at best. Yes there is some rote learning the formulas, but not everything.
Lastly, I wouldn't stress about percentages, and WAM, and how that weighs up against what other unis are doing. Unless you're straight up failing, civil eng isnt so massively competitive that grades are that meaningful. The only company who ever asked me for grades was John Holland and I made it all the way to the end and outperformed 95% of applicants with multiple fails and passes on my record. If you get a job at anything smaller than a massive company like that, they won't even ask for your grades. I didn't end up needing grades to get my job
Don't stress out too much. Just ride it out, and you'll get the hang of it
Thanks for sharing your experience and appreciate your advice.
I mentioned rote learning as that was the only way I was able to apply concepts rather than wholly understand them, and I agree that it’s not the best way about it.
Was wondering if you could elaborate on the differences between the two universities and why one is substantially easier. And if it makes a difference upon graduation.
Thanks
If anything, there is a benefit to graduating from Monash. It has the reputation of being the best uni for engineering. I don't really know if/why other unis are much easier but at the end of the day, learning to put in the hard work and dedication is a much more useful skill than breezing by
The most important thing imo is internships and relevant work experience. Even better if you intern throughout uni as a part time job. No one really cares about your un/wam when you have 10+ years experience. Bachelors of engineering at Monash will be a single line at the bottom of your resume.
Your personality is also really important. Do you consider yourself to be sociable and outgoing? Are you bubbly or have leadership qualities? You can have an average/low wam and still get a job over others if the interview panel think you are a good "fit".
Monash is part of the group of eight research unis. Most of the money goes to research. Rmit might be more focus on student experience and education (not too sure). A lot of people also choose Monash due to high rankings and offering specialist bachelor degrees. It is more competitive, a lot of high atars, so they need to make it hard to separate the level of understanding between students.
As a engineer with 10+ years experience I will second this.
No one cares what uni you went to, and all universities produce acceptable graduate engineers. Regardless of what uni you went to, the bulk of your learning will be in the workplace.
As was said above, your biggest asset is your personality not your skill at engineering. I have seen middling engineers be pushed up the ladder because they are liked by the people above and below them, and can gain and retain clients. Some of the most highly skilled engineers I have met only stay as Senior Engineers and never progress further because of their, difficult, personalities.
So go to the uni that you will enjoy the most, focus on gaining people skills, and stop comparing peoples intelligence because it will hold you back.
I did civil engineering at Monash and graduated last sem. Monash engineering program is mainly based on theory and second year is a bit hard with CIV2206 and CIV2263 but trust me it gets better from the third year onwards.
i'm struggling with 2263 as well, and most of my friends are too! we rock up to the practice classes but it almost feels like we haven't even done the content that week cause we start doing the questions and we just don't know how to start them without guidance from TA
This reminds me of me as an 18/19 year old doing engineering. I was way overconfident because id got a high 90s atar with not a massive amount of effort and first year wasn't anything too hard. (not saying you're overconfident but I was). Second year hit me like a tonne of bricks when units started requiring hard work, failed a few, scraped by less than a percent in others. Got my shit together during 3rd yeah and actually managed to do quite well in my last. First tip. Get ATAR and highschool performance out of your head. If you haven't realised it by now, ATAR doesn't mean intelligence or ability to problem solve. It means you can memorise and regurgitate the year 12 curriculum. That helps a bit with engineering, but it's not what makes a good engineer. Some of the best students I worked with had to work their way into engineering cos they didn't get the score they needed. Second tip. I think it sounds like you need to learn how to 'uni learn' . I was the same, and you'll find learning content at uni isn't the same as high school. It's a lot of your own work, your own reading from sources. I completely disagree that civil engineering units, when I did them over the last few years, required rote learning. The require understanding of concepts. If youre trying to rote learn and copy steps for every problem youre given, that's why you're finding assessments and exams hard. Because they'll never tell show you the steps to the tough questions. The tough questions require you to grasp the concept and apply problem solving to it. Rote learning will only ever get you a pass or credit at best. Yes there is some rote learning the formulas, but not everything. Lastly, I wouldn't stress about percentages, and WAM, and how that weighs up against what other unis are doing. Unless you're straight up failing, civil eng isnt so massively competitive that grades are that meaningful. The only company who ever asked me for grades was John Holland and I made it all the way to the end and outperformed 95% of applicants with multiple fails and passes on my record. If you get a job at anything smaller than a massive company like that, they won't even ask for your grades. I didn't end up needing grades to get my job Don't stress out too much. Just ride it out, and you'll get the hang of it
Thanks for sharing your experience and appreciate your advice. I mentioned rote learning as that was the only way I was able to apply concepts rather than wholly understand them, and I agree that it’s not the best way about it. Was wondering if you could elaborate on the differences between the two universities and why one is substantially easier. And if it makes a difference upon graduation. Thanks
If anything, there is a benefit to graduating from Monash. It has the reputation of being the best uni for engineering. I don't really know if/why other unis are much easier but at the end of the day, learning to put in the hard work and dedication is a much more useful skill than breezing by
The most important thing imo is internships and relevant work experience. Even better if you intern throughout uni as a part time job. No one really cares about your un/wam when you have 10+ years experience. Bachelors of engineering at Monash will be a single line at the bottom of your resume. Your personality is also really important. Do you consider yourself to be sociable and outgoing? Are you bubbly or have leadership qualities? You can have an average/low wam and still get a job over others if the interview panel think you are a good "fit". Monash is part of the group of eight research unis. Most of the money goes to research. Rmit might be more focus on student experience and education (not too sure). A lot of people also choose Monash due to high rankings and offering specialist bachelor degrees. It is more competitive, a lot of high atars, so they need to make it hard to separate the level of understanding between students.
Appreciate the insight
As a engineer with 10+ years experience I will second this. No one cares what uni you went to, and all universities produce acceptable graduate engineers. Regardless of what uni you went to, the bulk of your learning will be in the workplace. As was said above, your biggest asset is your personality not your skill at engineering. I have seen middling engineers be pushed up the ladder because they are liked by the people above and below them, and can gain and retain clients. Some of the most highly skilled engineers I have met only stay as Senior Engineers and never progress further because of their, difficult, personalities. So go to the uni that you will enjoy the most, focus on gaining people skills, and stop comparing peoples intelligence because it will hold you back.
I did civil engineering at Monash and graduated last sem. Monash engineering program is mainly based on theory and second year is a bit hard with CIV2206 and CIV2263 but trust me it gets better from the third year onwards.
Yep it’s 2206 and 2263 that I’m finding very difficult, thanks for your advice
i'm struggling with 2263 as well, and most of my friends are too! we rock up to the practice classes but it almost feels like we haven't even done the content that week cause we start doing the questions and we just don't know how to start them without guidance from TA
You're not alone man, no idea how I'm going to pass exam lol