Working and studying (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Nikolerak
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Hahaha I meant for a casual job!?
I did around 5-10 hours of work per week in my first year and am currently on a 6/7 GPA (5.875 cumulative).
If a GPA/WAM like this is good by your standards then I'd recommend approx 10 hours. I think that more than 10 hours may not be good especially if your degree is demanding.
If a GPA/WAM like this is good by your standards then I'd recommend approx 10 hours. I think that more than 10 hours may not be good especially if your degree is demanding.
Thanks! I still don't know much about GPA/WAM...is yours average or above average?
I'm on a Distinction average for most of my units (also one HD and 2 Credits) so I'd say above average.
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Where you work pal?
Still considering different options hence the question...
haha whoops
Depends how demanding the degree is outside of your time on campus I guess, and how much money you need. Online lectures aren't a big deal if they are recorded, then you can watch them whenever you want, but if they're live then that will be inconvenient. If you don't need to do a huge amount of work outside of your on-campus time, then work more. If you have a very demanding degree in terms of self-directed study and time-consuming assessments, work less during semester and more during breaks.
Simplified: WAM (Weighted Average Mark) is the average of your marks, GPA (Grade Point Average) is the average of your grades as allocated a numerical value. Different universities use one or the other, so find out which your uni will be using.
Generally (majority of universities, so clarify for your uni, but I'll use this for my example):
Pass: 50 - 64 (4)
Credit: 65 - 74 (5)
Distinction: 75 - 84 (6)
High Distinction: 85 - 100 (7)
So if you scored 68, 75, 83, 86 for your semester one subjects, and 75, 80, 84, 88 for your semester two subjects, your WAM would be 79.88 (if your uni is nice, this would be rounded up), and your GPA would be 6.125.
It has the potential to get more complicated at some universities in some degrees, where they introduce weighting to later years, or use a degree WAM and a major WAM. For most people, in most professions, WAM/GPA are not particularly important unless you want to do postgrad where you will be competing and some courses have minimum entry requirements.
I reckon 10 hours a week is the limit before your marks take a hit.
I was volunteering in the lab from 9-5 once a week and my marks took a bit of a downturn, not sure if it's because they were harder or if I losing a day to the lab.
Honestly, you're at uni to study, so unless you need to work a lot to pay the bills, just work enough to make a small amount each week. You have your whole life ahead to earn money, this should be the time to double down and ace those classes so hopefully you get a good job offer by the end.
Depending on what degree you're in and what you want to do after, marks matter to a differing extent, but you should be getting at least a credit average to be considered by large firms for graduate programs (ideally D-HD)
I was volunteering in the lab from 9-5 once a week and my marks took a bit of a downturn, not sure if it's because they were harder or if I losing a day to the lab.
Honestly, you're at uni to study, so unless you need to work a lot to pay the bills, just work enough to make a small amount each week. You have your whole life ahead to earn money, this should be the time to double down and ace those classes so hopefully you get a good job offer by the end.
Depending on what degree you're in and what you want to do after, marks matter to a differing extent, but you should be getting at least a credit average to be considered by large firms for graduate programs (ideally D-HD)
I worked like 20-25 hours at one point (doing a research internship, tutoring and making tutoring materials) each week, while topping most of my courses that year. It's possible to do more than 10 hours without it taking a hit to your marks but it will for sure take a hit to your social life and stress levels, as at that time I was busy almost every day so had minimal time to hang out with friends and it can impact your sleep in times that you become more busy. So if you want to still maintain like a decent social life I would agree with the above that 10 hours max is probably the way to go. If you feel able to manage the 10 hours then you could increase it a little more. Also, if you're not aware you can get jobs at some places just during the holidays like I worked australia post for a few months during the long christmas to feb break where if you want to make money you can work full time during that time when you aren't studying.
One thing to bear in mind here... marks at University are quite different from marks at school. HDs are rare. Some who regularly scored 75-80 at school could be in for a rude shock.
For a start, the most common grade in a university course is PASS - a mark between 50 and 64 (inclusive).
HDs are generally no more than 2-3% of the passing grades awarded. Further, this is across multiple levels... for example, first-year chemistry might have an advanced stream, a regular stream, and a fundamentals course for those without an HSC background. There will be perhaps 2-3% of HDs across the three streams, with the bulk in the advanced stream.
Students wanting D / HD averages will be working hard for them.