r/unimelb

Since the end of subject surveys are anonymous, do yall think there's people just straight up cussing out the lecturers just because they did poorly in the subject?

Hi,
I’ve recently been told about the winter and summer intensives so I’ve been researching, going to Stop 1, redoing my course planner etc.

I did it myself and Stop 1 told me too that like if you do want to do those subjects, it would at best take one semester off. Otherwise the workload would be too high and I didn’t even bother trying to move all my required subjects for my major into the 2nd year because it looked like such a pain and lowk impossible to do.

And the main thing is I want to try for post grad med which is why I want to try and shorten my degree but obviously I get that there are heavy drawbacks.

I was just wondering if there’s any point of reducing the length by 1 semester or if it just isn’t worth it.

Has anyone else trying or tried for post grad med reduced their course length like this?

Honestly, I would also appreciate some tips and tricks to get into post grad med too ngl

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone. I am an international student from Saudi Arabia, and I have a few concerns I was hoping to get your honest thoughts on.

Firstly, I am quite anxious about socialising and how approachable Australians are when it comes to making friends. Secondly, I wanted to ask respectfully if there is any general negative sentiment or stigma towards Arabs in Australia. I just want to know what to expect realistically. Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated

Has anyone ever gotten AEA exams despite never applying for it? Do they just not have enough space in the royal exhibition building?

hi everyone, i just wanted some help on what i think was an unfair exam setting that happened this morning.

we had a 20% quiz on lockdown browser that was supposed to start at 10.10am, but because of the uni wifi issues it got pushed back to 11am while lecturers printed hardcopy versions for students. when they came back around 10.50, the wifi miraculously started working again, so we were told the quiz would proceed on lockdown browser instead. however, one of the lecturers then said that anyone who wanted a hardcopy could raise their hand, as long as they only attempted one version. around half the class raised their hands and received hardcopies.

later on, the main lecturer then clarified that hardcopies were supposedly only for students with wifi issues, which confused me because many students had already been given paper copies after the earlier announcement, the issue is that the lockdown browser quiz was set up so that once you moved on from an MCQ question, you could not go back to previous questions. meanwhile, students doing the hardcopy version could freely move between questions, change answers, and draw diagrams to help visualise questions.

during the quiz, i realised from a later question that i had answered an earlier one incorrectly, but i wasn’t able to go back and change it because of the lockdown settings. after that, i honestly felt so stressed and frustrated because i knew i could have fixed the mistake if i had been doing the hardcopy version. it threw me off for the rest of the quiz and made it hard to focus properly afterwards. i feel like students doing the online version were put at a disadvantage compared to those doing the hardcopy version.

i’m not trying to blame the lecturers because the wifi situation was obviously unexpected and they were trying to manage it as best as they could. i just wanted to ask whether this sounds like a legitimate procedural fairness concern, and whether it’s something worth formally raising or if i’m overreacting. thank you.

Lost connection a few minutes ago (9:35). Currently at kwong lee dow

Am I unjustified in being irritated when I see people smoking (or vaping) on campus? Like not on the boundaries like on Royal Parade but like near old arts and on the hill in front of the Baillieu (where there is literally a no smoking sign).

I understand smokers and vapers’ perspectives that it helps relieve tension and stress, and there’s plenty of that at uni. But if it’s a smoke and vape free campus, then you can’t do that. I actually don’t want to inhale cigarette smoke or vapour when going between classes.

Today, I was in the spot student lounge and I saw heaps of litter anywhere. Some guy even left a whole woolworths shopping bag over here. Like how animalistic do you have to be to leave your shit for the workers who only make $30-40/hr, it is a disgrace.

What I propose is that we make littering punishable for a fine of $100 and on top, mandatory 1 hour picking up of rubbish across campus. If the student does not do the designated task a sanction should apply to their account for general misconduct until the matter is resolved.

Of course, we have to prove the student was littering but I'm sure the CCTV could catch anyone doing so if requested.

TL;DR: An international student dumping some thoughts on universities and AI use, and curious about what others think.

Edit: I've compacted my arguments so that it more reflects what I really wanted to express

So last year in a Biology lecture, I heard the lecturer said: “ChatGPT gives wrong answers because it hallucinates.” He then showed a pretty specific biology question pasted into Chatgpt to prove the point. Today, in another biology workshop, I heard almost the exact same argument again from a tutor. However I feel like this understanding of AI is still stuck in 2024.

LLMs are fundamentally probabilistic prediction machines. “Hallucination” is real, but so is “garbage in, garbage out.” If you give bad prompts, no context, and don’t verify anything, obviously the output will be unreliable. The problem is that universities often respond with blanket restrictions instead of teaching students how to use these systems properly. So students either: 1) panic and pay random “AI humanizer” websites, 2) or become ashamed of using AI at all, while their understanding of AI never moves beyond “getting ChatGPT to write an essay.” But AI isn't just about chatbots. There are entire systems around it now: agentic workflows, tool use, context engineering etc. research pipelines are also being seriously discussed in academia. This creates a strange gap between the ivory tower and the outside world.

Another thing I find surprising is that there are still almost no undergrad subjects seriously engaging with AI itself outside traditional CS pathways. Meanwhile Stanford already has subjects like CS146S. For a conservative university, maybe you could still say “it’s too early.” But if universities still have no meaningful engagement with these topics by 2027 or 2028, I honestly think that's a problem.

As an international student, this feels frustrating. Sometimes it feels like we're paying enormous tuition fees while studying inside a system that is slowly becoming disconnected from the industries. I especially feel this in some education/humanities breadth subjects where grading criteria can become extremely subjective and difficult to justify transparently. I’m not a software engineering student, so maybe some of my concerns are incomplete or wrong. But I do think that if students don’t actively explore these technologies themselves, universities are unlikely to reform proactively. And honestly I suspect the next 5 years are going to change higher education much more dramatically than many institutions expect.

Just some of my random thoughts. And I'm curious what others might think.

got the mst back with 31.5/40. ik its not that bad but I wasnt expecting to lose as many marks as I did. really aiming for H1. before mst would’ve thought getting a H1 shouldn’t be too bad considering I still don’t know what I could’ve done wrong in this mst. so any advice?

Please answer.

1600 word hps essay due 7 days from now. procrastinated it till yesterday when i said i'd fr start today wednesday. woke up this morning with a cold and horrible sore throat. some fucking timing man

though at least i actually got work done today, if it came at the expense of my physical wellbeing. it's so cold. save me

how's everyone else doing end of sem? tell me all the good and bad. let us celebrate and mourn together. cuz god knows what else i can do rn

how important are the readings for the subject, and can you +90% without them?

Thats all folks, I like muffins

Did anyone else see a man get arrested today on the corner of Pelham and Elizabeth St (near the Spot)/know what happened? Had to get to lecture but there were lots of police and I’m pretty sure I saw a white handgun.

30/100 for 25% MST. im so stressed out, do you think its recoverable?

I got 2 offers from university but can’t decide which one because i haven’t really choose my future career. I just applied wanted to go to university idk. Which major is better or which uni is better ? First one is at Griffith university bachelor’s in aviation management, Second one is QUT bachelor’s in marketing. Which one is better ??

https://preview.redd.it/1f57mdvtt12h1.png?width=648&format=png&auto=webp&s=81932517622f4cde272f2fb2083e4159ab3860ad

Are you joking. I sent in everything they needed. This is actually diabolical to reject this kinda of request. This death had me sulking and unmotivated academically for days and they declined it. Melbourne university you actually suck balls