Bachelor of Arts (1 Viewer)

[rubylotus11]

As someone preparing for Uni next year at USYD, I was wondering if I could bother you all and ask how you are finding it, and also ask how some of your individual subjects are going? I am trying to decide on what subjects I want to do and have only narrowed it so far to ;
philosophy
anthropology
psychology
government and international relations
studies in religion
sociology

So as you can see any advice or information on how some of these subjects are actually like would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Generator]

Anthropology... It was OK. From what I can remember, the first semester was a general introduction to a number of fields, and then the second semester concentrated on Central Australia and the Notion of Country and Buddhism in Thailand. The structure could (and already has) change(d), though.

It was interesting, yet boring, if that makes any sense.

 

[gloria*]

Psychology is REALLY GOOD. I love it. You have three different strands of subjects each week (ie, social psych on tuesdays, psychobiology on thursdays, and subject matter etc on fridays) and each of those goes for around about 7-8 weeks and then you get more. It's the ONLY course of mine where I try to get to all the lectures because it really is fantastically interesting. The tutorials are a bit gross--- two hours and mine is boring as hell; and it's also true what they say about psych1001 kids being, for the most part, a bit arrogant and like they know the history of the whole fucking world, but I guess you get that with everyone.

The methodology and history of psych (the one on fridays) I thought would be really boring but I actually love it. And also, the lecturers were telling us how many people expect to like, Jump Right In and do weird abnormal studies as soon as they begin as 1st-year students, and that it wasn't going to be like that at all, but you know... they use examples like serial-killers and we've done some kind of in-depth stuff on the effect of drugs on the brain etc, which actually kind of shocked me, so soon in the course. So my point is that it's not like you're doing anything basic just because you're in first year. It's really involved.

It's not HARD, the reading is sometimes lengthy but nothing compared to stuff like english and philo (I'm told, I don't actually do philo) and aside from tutorial tests, the only exam in 1st semester is like multiple choice. It's fun. The lecturers are way nice and kind of inspiring, too. Thumbs up dude.

 

[rubylotus11]

Well I wasn't sure if I wanted to do psych, but after reading your post I am absolutely going to. I didn't do any HSC science, so will that be a disadvantage, and how hard are the assessments and assignments you have to do? I love that the only exam is multiple choice. Multiple choice tests are my friends. Thanks for replying. It's really helpful to hear from someone who is doing the subject.

 

[cayte]

Psych is good, but it's a bit of a populist sort of subject. And yes, it is plagued by a whole lot of arrogance (from industry professionals and the teaching faculty too, not just the students). Not having done any science is probably an advantage to you: very little of it is based on so called 'real' science, and many science students find a fair bit of it a little hard to take. It is (as the name suggests and gloria alluded to) an introduction to psychology and so you study some things that will not appeal in the slightest, but each year you are able to narrow your focus of study. I would not say I enjoyed it on the whole, but it is definitely a worthwhile choice and gets better as you get more narrowly focused.

Sociology on the other hand...

If I have one goal in life it is to warn future lost minds from straying into the barren academic depths that is the sociology department.

DON'T DO IT. EVER. DON'T EVEN LOOK AT THAT PAGE IN THE COURSE HANDBOOK!!!

Sociology is poison. It f***s you up.

 

[cayte]

In sem 1 you have to do an essay worth about 30%, two mult choice tut quizzes worth about 10% each and the final is worth 50%. Semester 2 is much the same but you do a lab report (which they pretty much hold your hand through) instead of an essay. It's not hard to get Ds in psych and I would say close on impossible to fail. You do have to attend the lectures though - don't learn that the hard way!

 

[gloria*]

rubylotus11 I didn't do any science for the hsc and I'm fine with it. In fact I thought the most sciency stuff so far (brain chemicals etc) was the most interesting.

and cayte, haha, I almost chose sociology lucky I didn't.

 

[cayte]

Yeah, particularly in the libstu degree - two of your junior arts subjects are used by your language, one by the engl, then if you screwed yourself into attending 2 sems of sclg you potentially only have one junior arts subject left, meaning major options for that part of the degree become veeerrrrry limited.

 

[rubylotus11]

Okay, so I'll stay clear of sociology. I've had a couple of people say sociology is bad and one say they love it. What in your opinion makes it really bad? Are there any other subjects you wouldn't recommend doing? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[veg]

OMG... SOCIOLOGY SUCKS.

the lecturer is like a kindergarten teacher and the tutors are WORSE.

I WISH I NEVER EVER DID IT.

i'm doing LibStud as well... are you a first year cayte?

 

[gloria*]

she's second year I think... and the evidence for that being she hasn't said anything really inane and childish yet

 

[cayte]

Thanks gloria, I appreciate that. Give me time though, it's early days yet. Yes I'm second year. And sociology is shit because (wow, this is practically an essay topic) it is a vague course consisting of vague concepts taught by vague people who don't themselves seem to understand exactly what it is they're supposed to be trying to convey. A concept is presented in lectures, there are set readings (long, boring, irrelevant) for tute prep and you're supposed to discuss the readings in tutes. Since no one does the readings most tutes are conducted in near silence. So in a way it's what you are prepared to make of it, but when everything thrown at you is either commonsense or nonsense it's a little hard to develop a passion for the subject.

I read in the SMH last year, when uni offers were doing the rounds, an article which stated something like:

"Every university course has its own merit, with the exception of engineering and sociology: the former extends only the capacity for beer and sausages, the latter, verbosity."

 

[gloria*]

hahahah yaayy engineering

 

[rubylotus11]

Thanks for responding. Well I am glad I side-stepped sociology. It was on the bottom of my list but I had been considering it. What other subjects are you guys doing as part of your courses? Do you know anything about philosophy or anthropolgy? I am really thankful for any advice or info.

 

[gloria*]

my friend is doing anthro and she LOVES IT. that's all I know.

 

[malayz_angel]

I'm doing philosophy! My advice to you would be to do philosophy in second semester instead of first. I think Reality, Ethics and Beauty deals with more interesting aspects of philosophy than Society, Knowledge and Reason...although I suppose I shouldn't really judge since this is only my first semester

Basically the society part deals with Aristotle, Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau and talks about their conceptions of the state of nature (boring subject for me and the lecturer for this section was really boring too!) The assessment for this section is two essays (1250 words each.)

The reason part gets better because the lecturer is really nice...the actual topic is quite interesting too, albeit confusing at times...basically, it teaches you about different types of fallacies one can find in argument.

The knowledge section is the one we've just started...so far we've been studying Descartes, Russell, Locke and Berkeley, I think this falls in between the first and second sections in terms of interest and lecturers...it deals with epistemology and how you can't really know anything without having experienced it first...etc...it's quite interesting too...

Reason and Knowledge are assessed with an exam. But unless you're really interested in what I just described, be warned: the Society section may turn you off Philosophy! It already has me questioning whether I want to keep it next semester

As far as readings go, the society ones are about 20 pages, the reason ones are just tute exercises and the knowledge ones are bios and descriptions of the philosophers in question. I have a great tutor but apparently a lot of the other ones are bad...

 

[classics_chic]

First semester philosophy is absolutely awful... I dropped second semester even though people said it's much better (because I couldn't bear the thought of any more philosophy!).

Also, if English comes into your selection choices (it's not there now, but it's worth warning you anyway) DO NOT do ENGL1005! It is the worst garbage you have ever seen (unless you LIKE alternative grammatical forms and going over them again and again *shudders*). Ancient History is a lot of fun, though.