Options for further Study?

[Mawled]

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Hey there guys.

I have come to the conclusion that i most probably wont get into the course i wish to do at University. (put in MINIMAL effort thus far - i know thats my fault but i had a somewhat POOR subject selection).

Now im quite a capeable young person, with a good working brain and i can apply myself and study hard when theres passion or enthusiasm present.

Im very interested in the whole IT scene, ive built dozens and dozens of computers, know A LOT there is to know about hardware and how it functions as an entity to perform tasks etc.

So my question is, if i get a poor ATAR, what options do i have. i HATE the whole tafe website and its impossible to find any information about the course dates and where the course is held, little information about transferring from Tafe to University after the tafe course is completed.

And finally i would LOVE to know, if i could go for an interview for a course and show that i have the skillset and dedication to complete the particular course.

If any assistance could provided on the matter, i would be very grateful,

Thanks alot!

Mawled.

[Ben1220]

Originally Posted by Mawled

Hey there guys.

I have come to the conclusion that i most probably wont get into the course i wish to do at University. (put in MINIMAL effort thus far - i know thats my fault but i had a somewhat POOR subject selection).

Now im quite a capeable young person, with a good working brain and i can apply myself and study hard when theres passion or enthusiasm present.

Im very interested in the whole IT scene, ive built dozens and dozens of computers, know A LOT there is to know about hardware and how it functions as an entity to perform tasks etc.

So my question is, if i get a poor ATAR, what options do i have. i HATE the whole tafe website and its impossible to find any information about the course dates and where the course is held, little information about transferring from Tafe to University after the tafe course is completed.

And finally i would LOVE to know, if i could go for an interview for a course and show that i have the skillset and dedication to complete the particular course.

If any assistance could provided on the matter, i would be very grateful,

Thanks alot!

Mawled.

First of all, It's only September. Don't seal your fate already, theres enough time if you work hard. Exams are more important then your marks so far anyway. Second of all, yes it is true that you can probably learn about IT hardware and general computing stuff at tafe. I don't know much about it though. I do know someone who is studying a TAFE course in IT(systems administration). So yes it can be done, but realise that there are very big differences between this kind of vocational training course and a proper computer science degree. Computer science would actually be more similar to maths then IT at TAFE. It all depends on your interests as to what would be best for you.

[Mawled]

Maths is not my forte' and really do not want to do a computer science degree.
as stated, im already quite proficient when it comes to the hardware side of things, so im more interested in doing a course somewhere along those lines. (get my skills on paper, and then from there on i can get a job in industry etc etc).

Aswell as my first question would anyone suggest possible courses available at uni, tafe etc (which they may or may not think i could do with my current understanding of hardware).

Once again,

Thanks ALOT

Mawled.

[Studentleader]

Originally Posted by Mawled

Maths is not my forte' and really do not want to do a computer science degree.
as stated, im already quite proficient when it comes to the hardware side of things, so im more interested in doing a course somewhere along those lines. (get my skills on paper, and then from there on i can get a job in industry etc etc).

Aswell as my first question would anyone suggest possible courses available at uni, tafe etc (which they may or may not think i could do with my current understanding of hardware).

Once again,

Thanks ALOT

Mawled.

Hardware is generally the electrical engineering side of things.

[LordPc]

well there is comp eng or elec eng, which involve hardware, but they also involve math

and then there is computer science which involves less math, virtually no hardware, but you dont want to do that one

(there is software eng, which has about the same math as comp sci, but no hardware either)

also dont be too quick to judge your ATAR, it could be better than you think. and also consider that there are a good portion of people in these computing degrees that got well below the ATAR cutoff (and are doing very well too), so dont give up hope.

[chucknthem]

From the sounds of it, maybe uni isn't for you. I can't think of any degrees that actually teach computer hardware without teaching circuits, physics and a lot of maths which is all useless if you don't want to be designing the hardware and rather be using it. If you have a hard time with math, you might not enjoy uni very much.

That said, I find that computing people are notorious under achievers in highschool because all they want to do is program or do something with a computer. Some of them get to uni and love it and they end up having D/HD averages.

[Mawled]

Well i did maths up till Year 10 and i mean i wasnt too bad, im good with numbers like basic addition subtraction, like very quick, however formulas algorithms bnlah blah, arent my strengths.

If it were for a course i think i would like it may not be a bad idea to do a bridging course or something along those lines.

Computer science... i always thought that was more of a programming thing, were LOTS of math was needed, hell id be interested in that if it wasnt all formulas n equations.

once again if any more reccomendations could be made i would appreciate it very much.

thanks ALOT

Mawled.

[Ben1220]

It might not be a bad idea to do a general IT course or TAFE in computing, and then if you decide you want to learn more you can transfer. As I said before, you can gain knowledge of the stuff you are talking about at TAFE probably. Just have a look around on the internet if you want to get an idea of what is avaliable. Computer Science is definently not for everyone. One of the problems is that the name is abused to mean just programming or IT sometimes, which is not what it is. It is basically the chemistry of information, but its more like physics I guess because it uses alot of advanced maths. Especially Discrete maths and combinatorics, but enough about that... Some heavily applied areas of computer science might have more on stuff like operating systems or distributed systems, but you would have to learn alot of stuff you aren't interested in just to get there.

If you actually just want to learn about computers you would probably be better off with an IT or general computing course somewhere, or a technical tafe course in computing, then transfering to something a bit more advanced if you want to learn more. A certification from TAFE would be more than enough to work at a computer shop putting together custom machines for example, but if you wanted to actually design the electrical componants themselves, like the cpu and the motherboards, you would want to do electrical engineering. I would probably recommend a general IT course somewhere for you, and if you can't get into that just transfer out of a tafe course in IT, or you might find that the TAFE course is enough for you.

[Mawled]

Thanks so much Ben all of that information was absouletley awesome.

So your saying i should look around, but more so at something like an independant IT course, but if i cannot get into it, do a tafe course and then transfer to the IT course.

And then possible transfer to a university course such as Computer Engineering, which i am indeeed interested in

JUST incase i do not get the ATAR i want / need, once again what options are there for getting into a course like Computer Engineering EVEN AT UWS.

Thanks so much guys for all of your valuable input i sinceirly appreciate it

Mawled.

[Mawled]

im studying hard, but just incase it doesnt happen...

BUMP

[LatK7]

Originally Posted by Mawled

Thanks so much Ben all of that information was absouletley awesome.

So your saying i should look around, but more so at something like an independant IT course, but if i cannot get into it, do a tafe course and then transfer to the IT course.

And then possible transfer to a university course such as Computer Engineering, which i am indeeed interested in

JUST incase i do not get the ATAR i want / need, once again what options are there for getting into a course like Computer Engineering EVEN AT UWS.

Thanks so much guys for all of your valuable input i sinceirly appreciate it

Mawled.

Last time i checked, UWS had quite a high cutoff for Computer Science and related courses, in comparison to a lot of the other Unis. When i got in, UWS had a cutoff of 81.25 i believe, while USyd was only 76. So yeah, don't just think you can stroll into any course at UWS or any other Uni.

Just a friendly warning.