Help chosing B.Arts: Lecturer Bias and difficulty. (1 Viewer)

[Wooz]

I'm thinking of doing a BA at Usyd, UNSW or MQ next year. Im worried that if i go to UNSW it will be hard to transfer because most subjects are worth 8 credit pt's compared to 6 mat MQ and Usyd.

Im mainly tossing up between Usyd and UNSW i know Usyd if the more presitigious in humanities and the arts but i don't find the social atmosphere to be that well at usyd compared to UNSW, any advice?

Also is there alot of bias especially if you hold strong political views or religions beliefs im thinking about maj in either History, Politics and international relations or Philosophy of Science(part Relig and medicine) because i want to do post-grad med and i need D's-HD's is it difficult to maintain a D-HD avg throughout the course? Do some lecturers hold very 'narrow minded' views?

 

[lovethehsc]

I'm thinking of doing a BA at Usyd, UNSW or MQ next year. Im worried that if i go to UNSW it will be hard to transfer because most subjects are worth 8 credit pt's compared to 6 mat MQ and Usyd.

Im mainly tossing up between Usyd and UNSW i know Usyd if the more presitigious in humanities and the arts but i don't find the social atmosphere to be that well at usyd compared to UNSW, any advice?

Also is there alot of bias especially if you hold strong political views or religions beliefs im thinking about maj in either History, Politics and international relations or Philosophy of Science(part Relig and medicine) because i want to do post-grad med and i need D's-HD's is it difficult to maintain a D-HD avg throughout the course? Do some lecturers hold very 'narrow minded' views?

You have not attended uni previously, so apologies in advance for some of my harsher judgements.

However, it should be clear to you (if you are indeed a history major aspirant) that everyone and by extension lecturers, will be biased to an extent. To be a successful historian - at least in the postmodern era - one needs to account for this subjectivity. I have not undertaken a BA at both USYD and UNSW (maybe Triangulum could help you for usyd and Bobness could help for unsw?) however - to the best of my knowledge - usyd is normally more traditional and conservative and will have a preconceived idea of what they expect from your history essays. That is not to say unsw is dissimilar as some will argue Prof Gascoigne fits the above.

Also unsw counts history (and all its Arts and Social Sciences subjects) as 6 units of credit, confirm here http://hist-phil.arts.unsw.edu.au/currentstudents/ugc2008_hist1016.php. Macquarie is actually the uni which differs from both USYD and UNSW since they count history as 3 units of credit, confirm here http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/undergrad02.htm.

Finally, scoring D-HDs in history is possible however the percentage of those who maintain it throughout their degree would be strictly those in the top 5% as reflected in how first class honours is allocated. Judging by your gross oversights i'd say that'd be a challenge, but go for gold son.

 

[Wooz]

I meant that you would get the occasional lecturer that is rigid and one sided eg. a staunch post-modernsit. Imagine getting a lecturer like Keith Windschuttle.

You have not attended uni previously, so apologies in advance for some of my harsher judgements.

However, it should be clear to you (if you are indeed a history major aspirant) that everyone and by extension lecturers, will be biased to an extent. To be a successful historian - at least in the postmodern era - one needs to account for this subjectivity. I have not undertaken a BA at both USYD and UNSW (maybe Triangulum could help you for usyd and Bobness could help for unsw?) however - to the best of my knowledge - usyd is normally more traditional and conservative and will have a preconceived idea of what they expect from your history essays. That is not to say unsw is dissimilar as some will argue Prof Gascoigne fits the above.

Also unsw counts history (and all its Arts and Social Sciences subjects) as 6 units of credit, confirm here http://hist-phil.arts.unsw.edu.au/currentstudents/ugc2008_hist1016.php. Macquarie is actually the uni which differs from both USYD and UNSW since they count history as 3 units of credit, confirm here http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/undergrad02.htm.

Finally, scoring D-HDs in history is possible however the percentage of those who maintain it throughout their degree would be strictly those in the top 5% as reflected in how first class honours is allocated. Judging by your gross oversights i'd say that'd be a challenge, but go for gold son.

 

[Bobness]

I meant that you would get the occasional lecturer that is rigid and one sided eg. a staunch post-modernsit. Imagine getting a lecturer like Keith Windschuttle.

I have studied history at UNSW and to the best of my knowledge (haven't met each and every single lecturer or professor yet) they all have their particular research strengths but would not be a polarising Irving, Windschuttle et al personality.

However, normally those who write in a style or concerning topics that the lecturer already has a vested interest in would obviously have an advantage over one who does not (i predict i'll score a D this sem although i judge myself to be better than this hehe - because i wrote it my way). Then again there are those who can eloquently and articulate some very contentious points well and score HDs despite apparent controversy or political incorrectness (i know a person who argued against feminism which is meant to be a no-no).

Anywho uni history is really what you make of it. For now i'll just quote those who discuss law degrees: if you enjoy the content then the course will be a breeze but if you're only there for the marks and fast tracking your career, your performance may be undermined by this lack of (real) passion. Actually i kind of made that up just then

 

[Wooz]

I need good marks for post grad med it's just hard deciding between arts and humanities and rational sciences which are more science/medicine related.

 

[Josie]

If you need the good marks to get into post-grad, then go for whichever you are going to enjoy more and hence do well at- that will net you the better marks.
As for biased lecturers etc, even with their inherent bias, the most biased of them will recognise and acknowledge an argument they disagree with AS LONG as you have constructed it logically and have a solid basis (evidence) for your argument. I've successfully taken devil's advocate and argued against things like feminism with femi-nazi tutors and received HD's, only because it is a well written and well researched essay.
As for the uni- I'm currently at UOW but I did a semester of Arts at UNSW and I really enjoyed the atmosphere, and of course I prefer the uni overall to Usyd as well, but I'm biased and I can admit that

 

[AsyLum]

History at UNSW? *spits*

 

[Josie]

Mike, halp, my uni is shit and has no ancient history books

 

[Bobness]

Wooz, I scored 77 in Emergence of Modern Europe with little to no effort. I'm sure you could better my effort if you, like me, had a solid base of modern history and extension (our final exam was actually based around EH Carr's What is history) from the hsc.

Haha despite the work i did, I still expected higher

 

[Josie]

The "marks for little to no effort" thing in history is so lovely
One of the worst essays I've ever written netted me a 90 earlier in the year.

 

[Bobness]

The "marks for little to no effort" thing in history is so lovely
One of the worst essays I've ever written netted me a 90 earlier in the year.

Despite your apparent jibe against me, i'm going to congratulate you on that 90 :wave:

If you read my earlier post, then you'd understand my comment in terms of the context, i think.

 

[Josie]

Yeah, I wasn't having a go at you. In fact, well done