Engineering Student; 19 WAM... Options? (1 Viewer)

[Weeber101]

Hey guys,

So i enrolled in engineering in semester 2 of 2012, long story short I have had some problems and ended up just cutting out Uni out of my life from week 7 or 8 (did not sit final exams). Out of the 3 subjects 2 were electives and 1 was Physics. Now I have a 19 WAM.

I plan on taking a semester off to sort things out and that but realistically speaking (please be as honest as you possibly can) would it be near impossible to get D avg WAM by graduation (hypothetically, but not 100 WAM for every course from now on. because I know I can do better than a 19 WAM)?

6 Months can really fuck my life up big time...

 

[4025808]

itll be way too hard to get D wam, but usually I'd think that employers look at your last 3-4 years of your marks. Priority goes to your more recent marks, so if at the end of your 4th year or 5th year, you're doing well, then they won't consider your 1st year wam.

 

[PiperCat]

Apply for special consideration to have the marks removed. You have to do it per subject and get each form filled out by the lecturer and then the course coordinator. The sooner you apply the better because after a certain amount of time has passed they don't really approve these applications. Do you have any reason that you could use? You will need documentation. For example if you have no medical reasons or deaths in the family, perhaps you could say you had some psychological issues like depression. I think that considering you did drop off the face off the earth for 6 months (as far as uni is concerned) then perhaps you were self sabotaging yourself and therefore might be able to have it taken off the record if you can show some documentation.

 

[Weeber101]

Well I know everyone has problems and in the end I can only blame myself but, I'll tell you my "excuse" (there is no medical certificate or documentation on my part)

I live with my older brother (also uni student, graduated this year) and mother but before my uni started the tendon's in my mum's legs had gotten so damaged over time that she had to fly to my home country (Korea), and pretty much had to live alone (with me doing everything around the house :S) through my studies, this got really stressful plus I think I have anxiety issues. At one point I just stopped caring...

I don't know if this is enough or if it's too late to apply.

 

[brent012]

If special consideration doesn't work out, have you considered trying to transfer to another uni using your ATAR or are you set on UNSW? If you transferred unis you'd be able to start fresh without the fails on your transcript. That being said, if you can try and get the WAM to a comfortable credit average it should be alright if you don't fail any more subjects. Be prepared to explain what happened in your first semester though.

 

[RishadM]

Yeah - transferring to a different university and doing engineering there will start you off fresh and you won't have your current WAM effecting you.
I know someone who went through this same situation more or less - he had a fail WAM. Don't know exactly what it was, but he applied through the UAC to another university to do engineering there and they took him even though he had done 48 uoc. From UNSW to UTS, so not that bad. From what you've said you have only done 18uoc, so I don't think universities even look at your WAM when you apply through the UAC. They only look at your ATAR because you have less than 48uoc. (This is what I have been told by student admin at UNSW and Macq, that they don't check WAM/GPA for <1 full year study)
If you don't want to go to another university, then special consideration is definitely the way to go. I'm not sure how strict or lenient UNSW is with special consideration cases but definitely worth a try.

 

[Weeber101]

Ideally I would love to continue study at UNSW and haven't really considered an external transfer. Thank you all for your suggestions and support but does anyone know how lenient UNSW is with special considerations? I'm not expecting a refund or anything but just starting fresh, as if I had taken a gap year or something.

 

[Omnipotence]

It's better to have a clean slate - transfer out of UNSW.

 

[Weeber101]

It's better to have a clean slate - transfer out of UNSW.

If I get special consideration wouldn't this be like starting on a clean slate?

 

[RishadM]

Ideally I would love to continue study at UNSW and haven't really considered an external transfer. Thank you all for your suggestions and support but does anyone know how lenient UNSW is with special considerations? I'm not expecting a refund or anything but just starting fresh, as if I had taken a gap year or something.

I was reading the UNSW special considerations and it seems pretty strict - they also have a 3 day policy where if you miss final exams, you have to launch the application within 3 days of that final exam. However they say the 3 day thing can be extended only in exceptional circumstances. From the gist of what I read, special considerations come from things like deaths in the family, accidents, court hearings. But then again, no one but you really knows the severity of how much your situation has impacted you and inhibited your study. It seems like a very long and difficult road if you want to go special consideration - you would probably need to have a counselor or psychologist evaluate any mental impact because special consideration is a very formal process.
I think the best thing might be just to go to a different university, other universities in NSW also offer just as good engineering degrees. Because UAC has already closed for sem1 2013 applications you could enroll into semester 2 2013 (not sure how that works, but you said you did it in 2012). That would give you time to mentally prepare yourself and think about things like your situation. Also taking the special consideration route would make you even more stressed then you are now, if you transfer to a different university you could really lift off a lot of that stress knowing you have a clean slate.

 

[PiperCat]

I would talk to someone as soon as possible. Go and make an appointment with the dean of your faculty or someone else high up and tell them the situation. You can get your mothers medical certificates and say that you had to be a carer and you didn't differ because you were stressed. At least try to get it removed so you can stay at UNSW. Also, your mother being sick is a decent reason for not making a proper attempt at your studies. Additionally, you said you are Asian and everybody knows (i'm not Asian) that culturally Asians take care of there parents more than westerns do. I'm not saying that westerners don't but that it is more engrained in Asian culture.

 

[Kingportable]

Well you obviously weren't thinking about your WAM when you didn't sit your final exam, why worry about it now? Just try to graduate. Or retake those classes next summer.

 

[horny unicorn]

Hey guys,

So i enrolled in engineering in semester 2 of 2012, long story short I have had some problems and ended up just cutting out Uni out of my life from week 7 or 8 (did not sit final exams). Out of the 3 subjects 2 were electives and 1 was Physics. Now I have a 19 WAM.

I plan on taking a semester off to sort things out and that but realistically speaking (please be as honest as you possibly can) would it be near impossible to get D avg WAM by graduation (hypothetically, but not 100 WAM for every course from now on. because I know I can do better than a 19 WAM)?

6 Months can really fuck my life up big time...

you're lucky you're an eng kid otherwise you'd be FUCKED
idk the specifics or if this is exactly how it works but afaik

you eng guys have a special WAM thing where like
1st year subs = 10%
2nd year 20%
3rd year 30%
4th year (honours) 40% of final WAM
thing going on so really just don't screw up your later years and you're sweet

(idk if this is just for eng faculty subjects though)

i think (idk)

 

[michaeljennings]

you're lucky you're an eng kid otherwise you'd be FUCKED
idk the specifics or if this is exactly how it works but afaik

you eng guys have a special WAM thing where like
1st year subs = 10%
2nd year 20%
3rd year 30%
4th year (honours) 40% of final WAM
thing going on so really just don't screw up your later years and you're sweet

(idk if this is just for eng faculty subjects though)

i think (idk)

Yea ive heard this as well, plus youve only done like 3 subjects so far thats hardly anything when you consider how many youll do over the course of your degree. If you dont get special consideration, jsut stick with it and try to gun the rest of uni

 

[D94]

you're lucky you're an eng kid otherwise you'd be FUCKED
idk the specifics or if this is exactly how it works but afaik

you eng guys have a special WAM thing where like
1st year subs = 10%
2nd year 20%
3rd year 30%
4th year (honours) 40% of final WAM
thing going on so really just don't screw up your later years and you're sweet

(idk if this is just for eng faculty subjects though)

i think (idk)

This is just to calculate which Honours class you'll be placed in (or not). A normal WAM is still calculated and is still recorded on our transcript.

 

[Weeber101]

Would the academic transcript still show my 3 Fs if say, I change uni,s and come back to UNSW for graduate course?