My uni experience: Arts at Monash

This blog is the first in a series detailing the experience of current university students, with aims of giving current high-school students an insight into what might be their future.

Like most high-school students heading into university, I had a plan.

Finish my degree in record time – maybe even early, get a job, work hard, save money, maybe even earn a bit on the side with second jobs and land my first house by 25.

Like most university students, I learned pretty quickly that plans are made to be broken. I realised in the first week of university that my first preference was the wrong choice and moved into a second degree before my second semester of university.

It was about two weeks before my exams in second semester that I realised I should probably transfer again. I started off in a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education (Secondary), before transferring to a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science. Right after that I transferred my way into a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws.

After a semester and a half of Law, I realised that it probably wasn’t for me. Finally, I did what I should have done from the first place and dropped myself into a single Bachelor of Arts at Monash with a major in Philosophy – a choice I’ve managed to (finally) stick with.

Looking at my track record, it might be easy to suggest that I’ve had a pretty bad time at uni; however, I think quite differently. Despite the somewhat tumultuous nature of my course transfers, my three years at Monash have easily been the best three years of my life.

To this day, I so vividly remember my first time on the gargantuan Clayton campus that I would grow to fall in love with. I was walking through Campus Centre – what would later become a second home for me – when I turned around and saw the yellow and black diamond logo of the Commonwealth Bank. Are you kidding me?, I thought.  My next exclamation was laden with expletives, but essentially consisted of the sentiment, “They have a bank?! How big is this place?!“

Coming from the outer suburbs, which could sometimes feel quite small and isolated, I feel in love with the hub of culture that the Clayton campus became for me. From the 1970s brick architecture to the modern angles of our current decade, I loved every part of it, and defended it to the death when students from unnamed universities labelled it an ‘eyesore’.

In terms of education, my major in Philosophy was a revelation. A lot of students say they struggle with the learning curve of first-year university, but  I thrived. My first lecturer was Toby Handfield, who happens to be the Head of the Monash Philosophy Department. Quite easily, he’s the most effective and inspiring educator I’ve had the privilege to witness, and he instilled in me a love of philosophy, learning, and tertiary education that  I will forever cherish. I’ve been equally impressed with the rest of the Monash Philosophy course, and it’s something I couldn’t recommend enough.

I’ll think about my job prospects later, thank you very much.

Hopping around a series of double degrees was also interestingly fantastic. The flexibility of Monash undergrad allowed me to change my mind no less than three times and experience life as a prospective teacher, a Science student, and a student of the Law, and I never even lost time off my degree. For someone as obviously indecisive as myself, the options were fantastic.

Overall, I think my university experience is one defined by freedom. Freedom to change my mind, freedom to study when I want, freedom to choose any space in campus I like and set my books down. If there’s one ray of hope I’d like to give to current high-school students, it’s that you have a lot of freedom to look forward to.

However, it’s an impossible feat to sum up my university experience in the space of one blog. I’ve mentioned a few basic standout things that might be relevant to current students, but really, it would be impossible to completely convey the last three years of my life… The friends I’ve made, gorgeous hot chocolates I’ve shared, assignments I’ve cried about and later worked through with classmates, things I’ve learned, moments of genius that reinforced my already sizeable ego, or the fluid yet categorical developments in my character that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Safe to say, coming up to my final set of exams (finally!), my university experience has been fantastic. Honestly, I think yours will be too. Wrap up your Year 12, stick it out until exams and do the best you can. You’ve got a lot to look forward to.

If you’ve got any questions about Monash University, be sure to check out the Ask Monash thread on the ATAR Notes Forums!