queries on PhB in Science. (1 Viewer)

[who_loves_maths]

hi,

i'm a year 12 who's looking for some advice from those who know about or are current doing the Bachelor of Philosophy program in Science at ANU.

i'm intending to apply to this course for 2006 and one of the requirements is to submitt two referee reports; so i was just wondering who would be the most appropriate and 'influential' two people that i should ask to be my referees (eg. class teacher, year adviser, principal, careers adviser, etc...)? and would it be wise to pick two people of the same position?

my careers adviser has said to include the Principal as a definite referee. i can see why that is the case, however the Principal doesn't really "know" every student in his/her school, so i'm unsure as to whether or not to include someone who is indifferent to his student because he doesn't really know them, or, to choose someone (one of my class teachers) who has a closer relationship with his student and who takes real interest in his university studies and degree choices, the only problem being that a class teacher obviously does not have as much authority and influence as the Principal of a school.


Any help on this will be greatly appreciated, so Thanks in advance.

 

[MissSavage29]

i applied for the PhB for Arts last year and used my subject co-ordinator and 4unit english teacher as referee's - they were both able to talk about how i worked etc etc - which was better because they had seen how i work. whereas the principle had never had me as a student.

I woudl advise you to go with teachers that know how you work because they can write alot more about you as an academic student rather then your princples comments like yeah they are a nice kid - no real problems.

 

[who_loves_maths]

Originally Posted by MissSavage29
i applied for the PhB for Arts last year and used my subject co-ordinator and 4unit english teacher as referee's - they were both able to talk about how i worked etc etc - which was better because they had seen how i work. whereas the principle had never had me as a student.

I woudl advise you to go with teachers that know how you work because they can write alot more about you as an academic student rather then your princples comments like yeah they are a nice kid - no real problems.

my thoughts exactly. thanks very much for that

hey so you got in right? i heard that there's only like 10 places offered for the Arts? is that true? do you know how many places for Science?

 

[neo o]

my thoughts exactly. thanks very much for that

hey so you got in right? i heard that there's only like 10 places offered for the Arts? is that true? do you know how many places for Science?

More than 10. There are two phb arts and 4 phb sciences in my wing at college alone .

 

[MissSavage29]

my thoughts exactly. thanks very much for that

hey so you got in right? i heard that there's only like 10 places offered for the Arts? is that true? do you know how many places for Science?

thats okay -
i didn't end up doing the PhB - missed out by 0.8 in the uai
they dont offer that may places per year - i spoke to them a bit about this and it depends on the amount of staff that are taking the phb students - so it will alter each year - and then you also take into account that your competing against first and second year students.

 

[noneother]

What might PhB be? What's different about this course compared to a straight b science or arts?

A girl from high school got in with 97 however she had to attend an interview and write an essay.

 

[who_loves_maths]

Originally Posted by MissSavage29
thats okay -
i didn't end up doing the PhB - missed out by 0.8 in the uai
they dont offer that may places per year - i spoke to them a bit about this and it depends on the amount of staff that are taking the phb students - so it will alter each year - and then you also take into account that your competing against first and second year students.

it's a shame how you only missed out by 0.8 . so they actually take into account of the UAI before the referee reports? cause in your case, if your referees made really good comments about you and you only missed out by 0.8, then i think they should have given you a chance.
but then again, all referee make generally good comments right? so i suppose the UAI is the deciding factor?

so, what about the accomodation at ANU? which is the best college/hall to go to in your opinion?

 

[budj]

Yeah man im curently enroled in the PhB science and for me my 2 referee reports were from my principal and from the science head teacher. It was alrite becase i knew them both really really well. Um yeah for science UAI is not as important as it is for arts. Like u still need to be kick ass, but ppl can still get in by just gettin something like 96 so long as uve done shit like olympiads.

Good luck to yeah mate, its a good degree, but trust me, there is a lot of work load involved, and if u r a lucky enough mofo like myself to land in the best corridor of bruce hall, yeah thats rite go south fm. i hear u neo my brother from the southside...then the getting a HD average is a bit controversial

 

[neo o]

Haha, are you back in Canberra bud?

 

[velox]

Hmm im looking into this course aswell. Sounds interesting.

 

[alphatango]

Wow, it's been a while since I checked BoS. Some comments from a second-year science PhB student:

Essentially, what they'll be looking for in your referee reports is evidence that you are interested and capable enough to direct your own learning. The PhB is definitely a research-oriented degree, and you're going to have to be willing to put in the work.

For example, the projects (ASCs) that you're expected to complete are projects you organise yourself -- you find a topic that you're interested in, you talk to people in the faculty or in the research school, you narrow down your options, and you find someone who's willing to supervise a project for you. There's plenty of help if you want it -- you'll be assigned a mentor whom you can talk to as much or as little as you like. (I see mine about once or twice a semester, usually when I'm waving paperwork at him so I can get his signature. ) The point, though, is that *you* have to go out and find things you're interested in.

From that point of view, your referee reports should basically be from people who can testify to this kind of stuff. Your science teacher is usually a good idea, your year advisor/mentor/whatever could be another, depending on how much he/she knows about you.

The HD average isn't a horribly tough requirement, especially since HDs are 80+. As I understand it, this is assessed over each year of study, not each semester, which is even better. I don't think anyone's really been anywhere near the borderline (although rumour has it that there were a couple of students who decided partying was better than studying for exams, with predictable consequences). I'm not aware of any controversy or plans to change this requirement -- tell me more, bud! :spaceshp:

The number of places offered has varied from year to year -- I don't have the figures at my fingertips, but it's generally less than 30, I think (perhaps much less). Despite the small intake, one of the good things about the degree is that if you're doing some second-year courses in your first year (quite a few PhB students do, though by no means all), you'll generally find another first-year PhBer in those second-year lectures with you.

Feel free to post or msg me if you need more info.

EDIT: Or come visit! Open day is on Sat 27/08, and I should be free in the afternoon to meet anyone who wants to talk. See here. Note that there's a half-hour talk at 12:00 in the Manning Clark Lecture Theatres (#5, I think) about the PhB.

 

[who_loves_maths]

^ hey, thanks a lot for that, very informative i've decided that i'll go ahead and apply for the PhB, and i already have a referee in my maths teacher, and the other will probably be the year adviser.

btw, my aim of study for the PhB is in the areas of maths/phys (possibly), and judging by one of the posts you made in another thread, you sound like someone whose doing similar subjects there. so i was wondering if you could perhaps shed some more light on the nature of these disciplines at ANU? eg. level of interest, quality (and accessibility) of staff, and perhaps comparison to other unis, etc...?

thanks in advance.

 

[alphatango]

Yup, insane person doing maths/physics here. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Please come in, appreciate the decor (including random quotes from "Because I could not stop for Death", by Emily Dickinson, and a Declaration of Linear Independence), and do ignore the talking bunny rabbit. Oh, sorry, that's me, isn't it?

There's far too much to say about maths and physics at ANU to do any justice in a short post. A few things I should probably mention, though...

The ANU is, historically and practically speaking, not as student-focused as it could be. I'm not sure how it compares to other unis, but there's definitely room for improvement (isn't there always? ). Having said that, it's the best university (IMHO) for students who are heading towards a research career in their chosen field.

From that research point of view, the staff at ANU are wonderful. It's rare to find anyone who isn't willing to sit down for an hour with you and talk to you about their area of expertise. It's almost as rare to find someone in the maths or physics departments of the faculty who isn't willing to spend some time each week supervising you for a semester-long project, as long as you're interested. In fact, the same holds for the people in the research institutes; although they tend to be less in touch with what you're actually doing in your courses, they're usually quite happy to give you a project that ties in with whatever your interests are.

(A side note on terminology: At ANU, the teaching side is handled by the Faculty of Science, which includes the Department of Physics and the Department of Mathematics (DoM). The research side tends to be handled by the Institute of Advanced Studies, comprised of a number of Research Schools; for example, the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering (RSPhysSE, "Rizz-fizz"), which includes, say, the Department of Nuclear Physics. Mathematics has chosen to unify its operations across the whole university, so that the DoM is a part of the Mathematical Sciences Institute (MSI), which includes the Centre for Mathematics and its Applications (CMA), so that...well, the whole structure looks silly. See here and here for a better explanation. )

Anyway, back to the point. From a lecturing point of view, as with any uni, you'll find good lecturers and bad lecturers. You'll find some lecturers with whom you can build a rapport, and you'll find others who will leave you wondering what that lecture was all about. Overall, the *quality* of the lecturing seems to be quite good (although I can tell a couple of horror stories, of course ).

In terms of course interest, I suspect the first-year stuff is fairly simple (understandably) and presented in a not-so-fascinating way (also understandably). If you're in the PhB program, you'll have a lot of leeway to pick what you want to do, which definitely helps. Even if you're not, you'll have plenty of opportunities towards the later years to look at areas you're interested in. Even the standard physics degree allows for room in third year to do some one-semester research topics.

Third-year physics courses tend to be a bit biased towards quantum optics, since there's quite a large amount of research going on in that area among the people in the Department (that is, the teaching side). Even so, you find courses on solid state and statistical physics, astrophysics, fluid dynamics, and a lot more.

Mathematics courses allow for a bit more flexibility in second year, and they also run two separate streams (a standard and an honours). I should note that the honours stream is by no means scary. Third-year maths courses tend to be run as follows: a couple of core courses are run every semester, and people in the maths department offer to run courses in their areas of expertise. A meeting of students is held in the first couple of days of the semester, and courses then run on the basis of sufficient interest. Note that "sufficient" can often be about five or six, and sometimes less. Courses run on anything from data mining to cosmology to group theory to financial mathematics.

I'm not quite sure if that's what you were after, but it's a start. It's probably easier if you have some specific questions...

 

[who_loves_maths]

^ haha... i guess i don't really have any specific questions in mind, the best practice is for me to go there and experience it myself i suppose

but thankyou very much for your help, i really appreciate it :uhhuh:

its not hard to tell that you're clearly very passionate about the subjects and studies you're undertaking at ANU - it's good to know that i might be among the company of such fervent science enthusiasts next year

 

[alphatango]

This happens too often, but...

*cue evil laugh*