N = the least favourite grade

-By Jo

Results are usually a relief, they arrive, you got what you wanted, sometimes more and sometimes less, but it usually means you can tick those units off your course and sigh happily that you’re still on track.

That’s how it usually goes for me, until trimester one last year. Of the four units I had taken that trimester I had completed three of the optional assignments, but the fourth one remains on my hard drive to this day, approximately a day away from finished but totally useless to me. I went into the exam knowing a pass would be very hard to come by – but not turning up to the exam would have made me feel worse.

I chose to sign up to receive my results by SMS.

I paced the house from 4 pm.

I held my mobile in my hands from 5 pm.

I stopped pacing at 5.40pm when the message tone sounded.

Here’s where I would normally open the message as quickly as possible and announce my results to my family and then share by email with fellow students.

But I sat.

I starred at the message preview in the lock screen of my mobile phone.

I waited, but I wasn’t sure for what.
There is a certain last minute hope that is hard to give in to. After some time passed I concluded that the marks were there and as they weren’t going to change I had to be brave and look.

There were three credits that I was happy with and one dreaded ‘N’.

I sat and starred some more.

Perhaps I should have gone to my lecturers and told them about the intense semester I had endured and the house move, and my physical health problems, but I hadn’t, thinking I could never fail.

Then I went into denial. I sent an email to the unit chair, one to my lecturer to see if they had got it wrong (after all it was the only logical explanation).

Then I went into meltdown. 
This unit was a pre-requisite for a unit in trimester two, and for a unit the following year. I had effectively added another year onto my degree not to mention the extra fee for when I repeated the unit (back then I didn’t know the textbook would be updated by the following year so on a very tight budget I was going to need another textbook too).

All these thoughts kept leading me back to that assignment I’d missed. I kept comparing my results with that of my friends – how come they passed and I didn’t? Was I not as intelligent as them? Was it a cosmic sign that the powers that be felt I shouldn’t be in this course? Was it karma for lying to my mother in the 90s?

Then the tears and self-pity moved in and decided we should be roommates for the next week or so.

I didn’t access Student Advocacy (through DUSA) which is available free to all students, and which I should've accessed. I felt I deserved the ‘N’ like I’d deserved all my other marks. I had failed a unit and my pride and my ego were suffering from severe bruising! 


I found out that failed exam papers are looked at twice to make sure the grade is correct, that lecturers are usually willing to go over your paper with you and help you understand where you went wrong and most importantly the world doesn’t launch into an apocalyptic ending.

My failure highlights a few things for me – I’m human, life events do impact my study, it’s best to speak up as soon as this happens and maintaining a strict study time table is more important than it sounds.

‘The only failure is when you quit’ is now the first thing I write in my notebooks.

Me and my buddy - procrastination

-By Jo

Procrastination creeps up on me and watches over my shoulder.

I feel its breath on my neck and my concentration is swayed.

The pages of my textbook flutter and the words blur ever so slightly.

I shake my head and try to throw it off, but the damage is done.

I may be five minutes into a study session or an hour or...maybe I never got that far...

The kettle is boiling, another cup of coffee is what I need, but the caffeine takes time to work on me so I should feed some dragons in Dragonvale or see if the Angry Birds are up for a game...and...
I haven’t read today’s news, must catch up with that...A text? Might be important, best check it to be sure. 

Ah, Mother’s roses are in bloom...meh...that essay won’t write itself you know?

The voice of reason kicks in, but procrastination tells me there’s always tomorrow, the sun is shining and well, not to be rude, but all that sitting on your butt is leaving you kind of out of shape...Oh! When did I last go to the gym? Or for a walk even? Hey...I could walk around the shops, then, it wouldn’t seem like exercise...

See what procrastination did there? Yeah, now I’m procrastinating about the vehicle I was going to use to procrastinate my way out of study, it’s clever stuff, no doubt about it, but it doesn’t help me pass my degree. It just adds stress.

But the essay is due and the exams are getting closer and I’m way behind in my readings, my notes, how many lectures did I miss? 

Deep breath, deep breath, knots in the stomach, headache that’s dull and persistent, racing heart from panic or too much caffeine, bad moods, can’t sleep, can’t function, deadline looming, indigestion. 

HELP!

It’s time to implement the emergency plan (which should be my initial plan all the time).

Switching off social media devices (if I can’t be trusted and that means deactivating Facebook and Twitter, just for now).

Setting a time to check my emails.

Turning off my mobile phone – the world survived just fine without them for eons, I can survive a study block.

Getting out of the house, away from distractions – go to the library, a computer lab, a public park or a cafe.


Learn to say ‘NO’ and mean it. Others have to respect my choice to get this degree, and not interrupting is all the help I need them to give me.

Remembering that my body can’t survive on coffee, chocolate and toast for a whole trimester.

Most importantly I must always sleep – I find it very tempting to feel guilty over the number of study hours lost during a night’s sleep. Unfortunately they are necessary and come to terms with that for my sanity.

Finding Share Accommodation (when you’re just about to hit 30)

-By Chelsea

Having a mortgage and starting a Doctorate in a new city means three things.


1. I will have no money,
2. I will have no time; and
3. I will have no friends (although I have faith that this condition will improve)

I am fortunate enough to have a generous boyfriend and enough savings to ensure I am not living on the usual student poverty line. However my love for fine wine and dining will have to be put on hold for three years, which is ironic (or is it unfortunate?) as I am moving to a city which defines fine wine and dining in Australia. At least I don’t have to sacrifice coffee which is like steroids for a student.

In an effort to minimise the sacrifices incurred by my limited budget, I decided to investigate share accommodation. While I had generally had great experiences in share houses, I was far from excited about the thought. At least that was until I found a townhouse in Hawthorn with ‘two mature female professionals.’ I sent off a quick email with a ‘brief description about me’ and an hour later got an excited email back from Leslie* who had four fairly major things in common with me:

1. Was the same age as me,
2. Had moved from Brisbane to Melbourne for Uni,

3. Was attending Deakin, and  

4. Was doing a Doctorate in the same course!

As a good social science student I did the math and worked out that there was a 1 in bazillion chance that my first share house enquiry would go to someone like this. I could not conceive that it was anything less than fate. In one small email I had all my problems solved. The share house was cheap - so I would have more money. I could borrow Leslie’s study notes - so I had more time. Finally we were of course soul sisters - so I had a friend! All I needed to do was win over the flatmate and the place was mine…

Except I forgot to win over the flatmate. When I finally had my ‘phone interview,’ I was so intent on finding out more about my new best friend that I forgot to ask the other flatmate pretty much anything about herself. Ooops. I should have known better, I went to an all girls high school and lesson one of “getting in with the group” was to not make any other girl feel left out. So my last email from Leslie was an apology that her flatmate wanted to go with someone they had met in person, presumably someone who didn’t make her feel like the third wheel in their first conversation. So it turned out that fate was just a coincidence.

Applying for a share house and going to an interview feels like on-line dating and I guess the golden rule of dating applies. If you want someone to like you, make them feel like they are important and interesting. Well I did just make that rule up but it’s pretty hard to dislike a person that makes you feel that way! Happy share house hunting :)

*Leslie was obviously not her real name - no one under the age of 45 is called Leslie (surely?)

Run for that bus!!

-By Amanda

Hi all, since this is my first post here I’d just like to say welcome!

Hopefully your experience with Deakin so far has been good, although it may take some time to find your feet, or your bus. I know that it took me a while. Mainly because before I started Uni I had never taken any form of public transport on my own, and then suddenly I had to travel to Geelong!

I hate public transport.  I’m so grateful that it exists, because I don’t drive, but I still hate it. Getting from point A to point B is sooooo much easier if you can drive because you can take whichever route you want. If I were to drive to Waurn Ponds from where I live, it would take about 45 minutes. It once took me 4 hours to get from my house to Waurn Ponds. Four. Long. Hours.

How did that happen? I missed a bus. That then meant that I missed a train, which meant that I had to wait two hours for the next one, and that train happened to be running late and meant that I missed the shuttle bus from the Waterfront Campus and had to wait for the public bus from town. The icing on the cake? I had a meeting with some class mates to work on a group assignment, which I then ended up missing. Luckily my travels were not a complete waste since I did have a class later that day which I was nice and early for.

The moral of my story? Plan ahead, and plan for the worst. This little tool saved me quite a few times; it’s the VicLink Journey Planner and you can punch in where you are and where you want to go and it will tell you what bus/train/tram will get you there. Public transport is sometimes extremely unreliable, but there are good days. On one of those it only really takes me an hour and a bit to get to Waurn Ponds.

Alternatively I also suggest that you talk to the people in your course – you’d be amazed at how many people you might meet who live close to you and drive to Uni. I’m not saying you should stalk people who have their green P’s or a full license, but I definitely recommend carpooling. Deakin even has a service to help you out; TravelSmart.

Hopefully you don’t have too many dramas with travelling to Uni, although feel free to comment and share if you do, or if you have any more advice for new students. Travel safe!