FAQ: Read before asking (1 Viewer)

poloktim

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Thanks babydoll_ for the template. :D

- What’s a UoW?
UoW stands for the University of Wollongong.

- I know what a university is. What’s so special about UoW?
If you want to know the full details, you can have a look at the official UoW website, http://www.uow.edu.au . But I’ll sum it up for you, from my point of view:
- One main campuses – Wollongong, others in Shoalhaven, Bega, Bateman's Bay, Moss Vale, Loftus, Sydney (business school), and Dubai (in the United Arab Emirates).
- Extensive diversity of students
- Wide variety of programs offered to students
- Great social and recreational activities (clubs, societies, sport) offered to students

- Well, you’ve sold me. How do I become a student there?
If you’re reading this, you’re probably just finished the HSC, so hopefully you’ve already listed UoW as your number 1 preference! If you haven’t, or if you haven’t done the HSC this year, see http://www.uac.edu.au for more details on how you can apply. It's fast coming to the late round, so if you want in, change your prefrences if you're not in. :)

- What’s the difference between a faculty and a school?
I guess you could define a faculty as a department. Within the faculty, it is split up into different schools which specialise in a certain area. So for example, the Faculty of Arts, which basically covers the humanities, is split into the School of English Literatures, Philosophy and Languages, School of History and Politics… etc.

- What are the faculties at UoW?
The faculties are as listed below. For more info, visit their websites.
Faculty of Arts - http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/
Faculty of Commece - http://www.uow.edu.au/commerce/
Faculty of Engineering - http://www.uow.edu.au/eng/
Faculty of Law - http://www.uow.edu.au/law/
Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - http://www.uow.edu.au/health/
Faculty of Science - http://www.uow.edu.au/
Faculty of the Creative Arts - http://www.uow.edu.au/crearts/
Faculty of Education - http://www.uow.edu.au/educ/
Faculty of Informatics - http://www.informatics.uow.edu.au/
Library - http://www-library.uow.edu.au

Transport

- I heard UoW is in the middle of nowhere.
I guess if you consider Australia as just Sydney, then you're right. However if you're aware of how vast this country is, then you're wrong. It's only one and a half hours south of Central/Sydney Terminal, in Wollongong. Moss Vale is also accessible by train from Central/Campbelltown. The other campuses are for students who live in those areas.
If you're planning on giving up any alcohol you might like at uni, Dubai is accessible by aeroplane, but you'd have to stay there.

- How would I get there?
If you live in Campbelltown you have two choices. Take a train to Central and then from Central to Wollongong (which seems like a waste), or take a Busways bus to Wollongong. The former is about two and a bit hours, and the latter is only one and a half hours. You also get to see beautiful Picton and Appin. If you live elsewhere in Sydney and wish to access UoW by public transport, you could travel to Campbelltown and take a Busways bus, or take a train to Central (they're normally on the Intercity platforms, platform 4-15), and get a train from Central to North Wollongong station (it also says on a large board "Welcome to the University of Wollongong Station, North Wollongong"). From North Wollongong you can wait for a shuttle bus which costs sixty-cents, or walk. If you live on the Illawarra line, you might like to take the next train to Hurstville or Sutherland (and on occasion Waterfall), whichever is closer for you.
If you're a Wollongong person, and live near a train station, you can take a train to North Wollongong and walk/bus the rest of the way, or take a bus directly to uni/Wollongong. Premier Illawarra only gives student concessions to those holding a valid University of Wollongong student card. If you're lucky enough to live on the Lakelink line, then bus numbers 57 and 37 operate between Shellharbour Square and the uni.
If you're from the west, there's a Cityrail coach from Moss Vale to Wollongong four times daily (leaving Moss Vale at 4:35 am, 6:50am, 2:40pm and 5:55pm), and a roadcoach back to Moss Vale from Wollongong thrice daily (leaving Wollongong at 7:20am, 11:25am, and 5:20pm). These are accessible using a normal Cityrail ticket (say Moss Vale->Wollongong or North Wollongong if you wish to change to a train when you arrive). However this is hardly practical unless you know you've got classes durig the day only and can make these buses.

- I don't do public transport!
The uni offers lots of parking, however unless you're disabled (and have a mobility access scheme card), you have to pay for it on campus. These go on sale on the 7th of February, I think. First come best dressed policy. They're available to be booked via SOLS ( https://www.uow.edu.au/student ). There's also plenty of off street parking, and some angle parking on Northfields Drive.
Getting to the uni is easy enough. From the south, just get onto the F6, and get off when it tells you to get off for University and Institute of Technology. From the north, there's an offramp that leads to an adjacent road.

- And how would I get back home?
Try the way you came. There's shuttle buses back to North Wollongong which cost 60c or, you can walk there. At night time, the shuttlebus will pick everyone up who waves to it. If you have to catch a bus alone at night, you can ask security to escort you and wait with you. Trains to Central normally stop at Thirroul, Helensburgh, Sutherland, Hustville and Central. Sometime you'll get one that's all stations to Thirroul, or all stations to Helensburgh. Sit back and enjoy the ride. It's very beautiful after Thirroul. So much greenery. Central trains arrive on Intercity platforms, that is platforms 4-15.
If you're going lakelink, remember that to the uni, the 57 goes via Dapto, Unanderra and Figtree, and the 37 goes via Mount Warrigal, Warilla and Cringilla. Heading away from the uni, you catch the opposite number you caught there. That is if you caught the 57 to uni, you catch the 37 home, if you caught the 37 to uni, you catch the 57 home.

- Slow down! I don’t know where these places are.
Oh yeah, heh. Well, have a look at a map of UoW here - http://www.uow.edu.au/about/maps.html . A faculty office is in a building, however that isn't necessarily saying you will spend all the time in the one building. The uni has two very large lecture theatres 67.107 and 40.HOPE (the Hope Theatre).

- OK back to transport. What’s the costs involved with transport?
- North Wollongong is out of range for a Travel Pass, but you can get weekly/monthly tickets if you want. I think they're cheaper than just buying a return everyday. A student return from Central to North Wollongong is about $8.80.
- Fares on buses are dependant on the companies. You'll find out on your first journey how much a trip is. Generally, drivers don't like twenty dollar notes. Some might not let you on if you try to pay with one. :)

Enrolment and other boring jazz

- I got offered a place at UoW. How do I enrol?
The letters UAC send you should be fairly self explanatory. Come in on enrollment day. Get given some usefull tidbits of information about your study. Then head to building 17 to enroll. I think that started today (25th January). You get your photos taken via webcam, and you fill out all your forms online. You choose your subjects via enrollment. But never fear, you can change them later.

- How many subjects do I have to enrol in?
Depending on your degree (single or double) and your workload (part-time or full-time), the amount of subjects you need to do in one semester will vary. But in general, full-time students should be enrolled in about three to five subjects worth 6 credit points each. 18 credit points is the bare minimum to be considered a full time student and get transport concessions and government allowances. Part-timers do one to two subjects a session.

- Credit points?
Credit points is how the university works out how much a subject is worth. Both in HECS fees and Estimated Full Time Study Loads (EFTSLs). Generally a subject will be either six credit points (or 0.125 EFTSLs), or eight credit points (or 0.167 EFTSLs). In order to be awarded a degree, you need to complete a certain number of credit points successfully. Generally 144 credit points for three year degrees, 192 credit points for four year degrees, 216 credit points for double degrees, although some degrees/doubles may be longer.

- I don’t know the difference between lectures, tutorials, practicals…
Lectures are where you are presented with new information. A lecturer will present the material which you are then presumed to go home and study until you understand. Most subjects have lectures. If you don’t show up, nobody will notice because they don’t call roll there. But it’s your loss.
Tutorials (“tutes” in short) are where you are arranged into smaller classes (ranging from 10 to 30 people) with a tutor (like a teacher at school). This is where you can get more information on stuff from the lecture, ask questions about stuff you don’t understand and discuss what you’ve learnt. There is usually homework for the tutorials which helps you with the lecture content. Attendance is often compulsory.
Practicals (mainly for Science and Engineering students; “pracs” in short) are where you apply your knowledge to practical situations. You will generally be assessed on your performance. Attendence is compulsory.
Labs are for students doing Computing and possible maths subjects. You spend a period of time (normally two hours) in a computer room and you work on computers to complete work. Sometimes science and engineering pracs are calls labs.

- How do I create a timetable?
- Open up a spreadsheet program.
- Log into SOLS.
- Choose Timetable.
- From there look at the subjects running in the current session.
- Look at the subject description in the database. See how many contact hours the subject has.
- Choose the amount of tutorials or labs or pracs based on the information in the subject database.

--- Example, a subject might have six contact hours, with 3L and 3T. That means there are six and only six contact hours for that subject. PASS sessions (you'll learn about them if and only if you need them), are extra on top of the contact hours. Your hours might be:
Tue 15:30-17:30 Lecture 67.107
Wed 18:30-19:30 Lecture 40.HOPE
Tue 17:30-19:30 Lecture/Repeat 20.1
Thur 18:30-19:30 Lecture/Repeat 20.1
Mon 8:30-10:30 Tutorial 15.128
Mon 10:30-12:30 Tutorial 15.128
Mon 12:30-14:30 Tutorial 15.128
Mon 12:30-14:30 Tutorial 19.1084
Mon 12:30-14:30 Tutorial 19.2100
Fri 13:30-14:30 Tutorial 67.104
Fri 13:30-14:30 Tutorial 20.5
Fri 15:30-16:30 Tutorial 15.128
Fri 17:30-18:30 Tutorial 19.2100
Fri 19:30-20:30 Tutorial 19.1004
Based on the contact hours for that subject. You must attend one of the two hour lectures, and one of the one hour lectures. Whichever doesn't matter. You must also choose only one of the two hour tutorials and only one of the one hour tutorials.
That is a far out example, but everything else is easier.
- Using the spreadsheet program, enter the data to make it look like a visual table.
- Use that as your timetable. :)
- Don't forget to register for your selected tutorials if they use a preferential method. If they don't, and a lot of subjects from the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics don't, then you'll be given your tutorial time, and will have to either adapt to it, or contact someone to change it. Contact details and details of how to change it will be included as information when you're given the tutorial.

- Why don’t tutorials and practicals show up on my timetable?
You need to enroll in them first. From a certain date, if the subject uses SMP (and most do), you log into SOLS and choose "Tutorial Enrollment." You choose the time you want. Some people (myself included) wait until whichever hour and enroll in the tutorial I want immediately when enrollment opens. That way my timetable won't be screwed about.

Textbooks and course material

- Are uni textbooks expensive?
They can be. Some textbooks are readers or other books created in the Printery at the uni. They'll sometime just go over $30. Mainly they stick below the $30 mark. I had a textbook for JAPA110 last year. The unishop had copies for $60 and the exact same book was available elsewhere in paperback edition for under $30. Soon the uni got a few copies in, but they went fast. Other textbooks can only be bought in bundles with another book and often are expensive. Like, well over $100. Remember you might need other materials. Lab coats, medical equipment, USB key (not really compulsory if you know how to use email effectively) etc.

- How do I find out what textbooks I need?
SOLS has a link entitled Textbook information. The information is released four weeks prior to the session beginning (so available now). Some subjects are very last minute, and don't have information until the first lecture. Normally it's advisable to wait until the first lecture anyway. Just to see if the lecturer explains how much of it is used.

- Where can I buy uni textbooks?
UniShop+IT. It's located at Wollongong UniCentre (it's next to the National Australia Bank). If they're not there, you'll have to wait for them to be ordered, which usually takes more time and trouble than it's worth, so try your luck with online bookshops, or other bookshops. :)
You could try the Second Hand Bookshop. If you're lucky they'll have what you want. Books there go fast.

- Do I HAVE to buy the textbooks?
That depends on the subject. You should buy readers (unless you've been told you can get the same material online, though reading on paper is far nicer than reading from something that generates light). However many subjects don't require textbooks, even though they say they do. If you get caught you could photocopy a few pages of the textbook in Reserve at the library (only up to 10% though, anything more is illegal).

Technology
- OK so what are the main things I should know about the computer network?
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=57073 <--- check this. :)

Food and recreation @ UoW

On Campus
- Fuel Silo - You can make your own sandwhiches there, cold pasta, noodles, tea and coffee. Anything that's cold can be warmed up in the microwave (of course noodles/tea/coffee can be warmed up with hot water.
- Orient Express - Spicy food. A large selection of Indian curries.
- Bamboo Fiction - Chinese food. At lunch $6 gets you steamed rice + two other food servings of your choice. $7.50 gets fried rice with the same deal. Tea time and the price jumps a dollar.
- Engine - A tribute to American fast food. The highlight is the bacon.
- Sal's Paradise - A nice little cafe that's open during the day for students who want to dine with more class.
- Picasso - A coffee cart. Rumours are that they have the best coffee/hot chocolate on campus. I can only say they have cans of Sprite and I've seen Irish Breakfast Tea (all should try Irish Breakfast Tea).
- Unibar - Chip Rolls/Schnitzel Rolls/Sandwiches/Nachos/Wedges/Chips/Lasagne/Salads, and of course alcohol. $3 gets you a schooner at UoW. From memory, they have Guinness, New, Old, VB, Hahn Premium Light and maybe something else on tap.
- Juice Box - The small juice bar which sells great drinks made from fruit of your choice. Normally they add beetroot to give it colour. A must try for everyone.
- Kiera Cafe - The McKinnon Building's answer to everything in Building 11. The highlight of this place is their Bacon Rolls before 10:30. The ladies basically pour the stuff on. So delicious.
- Food Re-Thought - A nice little coffee shop that sells food. It's a small Cafe on the first floor of the McKinnon building, opposite 67.107

Recreation
- URAC is University Recreation and Aquatic Centre. The building is number thirteen and it has a gym and pool and other goodies for you health nuts. URAC also runs the sports clubs.
- Sports clubs are clubs students join to keep fit. Such clubs are the Kendo club (highly recommended, and when possible I hope to return to it), Ultimate Frisbee, footy, etc.
- Social clubs are based on interest socially. Some clubs are the S3 (the SITACS Student Society), Toastmasters, UniLan, various clubs for religious beliefs, and for students of certain backgrounds.
- UniMovies is on a regular basis and plays the movies you might've just missed at the cinema. Also films you wouldn't see anywhere else (with the exception of Dendy's in Newtown or Circular Quay) are shown.
- Every Tuesday is trivia day at unibar. Raiks has mentioned this a few times. It's even in his sig, I think.
- Normally bands are playing at Unibar on Thursday evenings after eight o'clock. Sometimes we're "lucky" and get high ranking bands like Jet (I suddenly feel dirty), and other bands.
- There's plenty of greenery around the place. Make use of it. It's comfortable, and in some places very silent.
- If you've got access to transport, or don't mind the walk, head down to the beach during summer or on hot days. :)

Lectures
UoW has many lecture theatres. However the larger lectures are restricted to these main theatres:
- 40.HOPE (the Hope Theatre) - the largest theatre at the uni. Located in the Commerce building on the far western end of the uni.
- 67.107 - another large theatre, located in the McKinnon Building, so the Law building. Looks more recent than 40.HOPE, but I think 40.HOPE is much nicer.
- 25.107 - The large theatre located in the Creative Arts building.
- 25.128 - A U shaped lecture theatre in the Creative Arts building, can only hold a fraction of the people that 25.107 can hold.
- 14.1 - The only theatre in this building, the building is the theatre. It's opposite to the Unibar for easy access after those final afternoon lectures.
- Building 20 - Full of lecture theatres. 20.1 being the largest.

There is probably lots wrong with this, so people can correct it as they go along. But this should stop some of the more common questions. (Once again, thanks babydoll_ for the template).
 
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poloktim

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gmraso said:
You do realise that Dubai is in India and not Saudi Arabia fkface? :p
When I do searches for it, all the websites come up with .ae at the end (which is the Emirates), and I'm sure India isn't in the United Arab Emirates. :S
 
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poloktim

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gmraso said:
Yes it is and yes you do look like an idiot :) :cool:
We have a campus in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Not in India. :) But not in Saudi Arabia. Looks like we're both idiots. :D
 

poloktim

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gmraso said:
From the website
Dubai Campus
The Dubai Campus is an English speaking facility located in the United Arab Emirates (found between Saudi Arabia and Oman with a coastline along the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman). The campus was established in 1993 and provides a full range of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses as well as a pre-university diploma. Students receive the benefit of a western education with access to the considerable resources of the University of Wollongong.

Dubai is a small locale in India as well- my mistake. Funny they have UoW in an Arab country that's an English speaking campus. :confused: :confused:
I said Saudi Arabia because I must've remembered that it was near, instead of looking it up again. Plain laziness on my part. :)

There's a few universities all over the world that are English speaking (maybe not Western in the Eastern countries, but English speaking).
 

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At least you mentioned the ultimate frisbee. And you spelt fuel wrong. Food Re-thought isn't a little cafe, its UoW's answer to gourmet food, at gourmet prices, ie it is a "restaurant". You should have mentioned that the Arts building is the most gayestly designed building in the world. And I guess you could have mentioned campus accomodation, and security, and Big Red and the clan.
 

poloktim

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Ninga said:
At least you mentioned the ultimate frisbee. And you spelt fuel wrong. Food Re-thought isn't a little cafe, its UoW's answer to gourmet food, at gourmet prices, ie it is a "restaurant". You should have mentioned that the Arts building is the most gayestly designed building in the world. And I guess you could have mentioned campus accomodation, and security, and Big Red and the clan.
Don't need to now, do I? :p

I mentioned Ultimate Frisbee because I thought you would beat me if I didn't. :)
 

jm1234567890

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Ninga said:
At least you mentioned the ultimate frisbee. And you spelt fuel wrong. Food Re-thought isn't a little cafe, its UoW's answer to gourmet food, at gourmet prices, ie it is a "restaurant". You should have mentioned that the Arts building is the most gayestly designed building in the world. And I guess you could have mentioned campus accomodation, and security, and Big Red and the clan.
i reckon the creative arts building is worse. you get to know the arts building after a while.
 

jase_

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Great FAQ oaty! I should really get around to doing the UTS one, lol. I asked babydoll like a few months ago!
 

Raiks

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And you didn't mention the theiving ducks, overly sexual exhibitionist rabbits and violent peacocks.
 

poloktim

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jm1234567890 said:
i reckon the creative arts building is worse. you get to know the arts building after a while.
I don't know. I can find my away around building 25 more than I can around building 19, and cores for my Arts major are in building 19, all the time. At least the Creative Arts building has signs pointing to 25.107 and 25.128. :)

Raiks said:
And you didn't mention the theiving ducks, overly sexual exhibitionist rabbits and violent peacocks.
It's no fun warning them about that. It's something you have to see/get attacked by yourself.
 

Mark Darcy

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I really am very confused about creationg your timetable. How do you even check the subject descriptions in the database in the first place? And I have to enrol into a lab session for CHEM101, how do I know what appropriate time to choose.
I am very new to all of this, so apologies for being a tad thick.
 

jm1234567890

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Mark Darcy said:
I really am very confused about creationg your timetable. How do you even check the subject descriptions in the database in the first place? And I have to enrol into a lab session for CHEM101, how do I know what appropriate time to choose.
I am very new to all of this, so apologies for being a tad thick.
you prolly enrol in your labs on sols, there will be one lab.

you work out where you want to put that lab then.

to check your subject description click on the subject code in sols, in enrollment and variations.
 

poloktim

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Ensure that if you choose a lab, you can attend it all the time. If there's only one left since you might be a little late, enrol in it. Then let the lecturer know you can't attend it. This is really only useful when there's another lab that's full that you can attend.
 

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Yes, merely once. And that was cos I saw it on a poster. :p
 
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Tim, as per your FAQ, I attempted to warm my cold cup of tea with hot water. It all started when I was drinking my cup of tea, but became distracted in conversation with a fellow student. I had consumed very little of my tea, and talked for some time.

Upon concluding my conversation, I was somewhat distressed when I discovered that my cup of tea had gone cold. Thinking back and remembering your FAQ, I decided upon a cunning plan. First, being the MacGyver wannabe that I am, I craftily acquired an empty cup from a nearby coffee machine, using just a paperclip and my shoelaces. I then proceeded to fill this cup with water, acquired from a toilet bowl in a nearby building. Things were starting to come together.

Anyway, armed with both a cup of cold water, and my cold cup of tea, I proceeded to the microwaves where I could boil my water, so as to "warm my tea with hot water", as per your faq. As the microwave finished its operation, I removed the paper cup as required, narrowly avoiding burning my hands! It was a close call, but with victory in sight I pushed on. Carefully pouring the cup of heated water into my once-cold tea cup, you can only begin to imagine my suprise when suddenly, the cup overflowed! "What the hell!?" I said to myself, astounded that despite following your instructions perfectly, something had gone amiss. Cold cup of tea + cup of hot water = hot cup of tea, right? No, apparently not!

After much deliberation I have decided that the problem was that my tea cup was already full, and that it was in fact a very bad idea to try to add hot water. Instead, I have decided that it is far more appropriate to warm a cold cup of tea by microwaving it, instead of a different cup of hot water. I think your FAQ should be amended to make this distinction more clear, if only for the benefit of others who may too make the mistake of following your directives to the letter :(
 
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Jess_L

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HUH????????????

Am i the only one who doesnt have a clue what you're talking about???????
 

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