Business As Usual

In my last post I mentioned that there are many opportunities at uni, and I am currently in the midst of reaching out for one of them – exchange!

One of the reasons I chose Monash was for its vast, and quite literally ‘wordly’, exchange program. As well as having over 150 partner universities globally (just meaning Monash does a lot of the hard work for you making the connections), they have campuses and study centres in Italy, South Africa and Malaysia (to mention a few).

As luck would have it, it so happens that I could line up a law unit at the Malaysia campus before heading to Bocconi University in Milan for a semester. But is it hard to apply, I hear you ask.

Although I am only really half way through the process (just waiting to hear back from the host university), it is relatively straight forward – especially for business students! After having a chat and receiving advice from students who have been on exchange, it was just a matter of choosing possible subjects and having them approved by my faculty. To top it all off, there are extensive grants and bursaries available. It’s a tough life studying at Monash, I’ll tell you that….

I remember sitting in my year 12 classes craving those ‘uni’ days of no work, no hassle and just pure freedom. Then, I started uni.

I’m not saying that there isn’t any flexibility that comes with uni life, but there is a lot going on. First, of course, is the workload – both at uni and then at home. And then you have to also consider everything else: work, extracurricular activities at uni, social occasions, and the list goes on!

So, can a uni student fit it all in? Absolutely! In fact, I struggle to think of one person who wouldn’t do at least one of all the things listed above. It is doing all of it that helps you to make the most out of your time at uni. And at the very least, you will graduate with excellent time management skills.

There have been weeks where I have been laden with study and assessments, have had netball finals, have had extracurricular uni commitments and on top of that, would have had to work. Although it may seem a lot, it is the organisation skills that you learnt (maybe without even realising!) in year 12 that will help you through times like this.

At the end of the day, almost everyone else will be in the same situation as you and you don’t want to be missing out on any of it; whether it be those top marks you’re aiming for, a friend’s birthday or a bit of extra cash to pay for it all! Of course, overloading your plate is not going to help anyone, but don’t be afraid to grab hold of the opportunities that open up as you leave year 12. You never know where they will take you!

Sitting in a classroom at high school and knowing which course is going to best for you is difficult, to say the least!

When I was in high school I did a wide range of subjects, but after doing legal studies in year 11, law became a really strong option. I attended careers festivals and checked out open days, and the more I looked into it, the more I liked the option. I especially liked the thought of being able to do it at Monash. Since the majority of my other VCE subjects were humanities based, Arts/Law was looking like a good option.

However, once January came around I suddenly realised that choosing Arts/Law would mean that I would be farewelling maths. Whilst I wouldn’t say maths and I were always the best of friends, I did enjoy it and I wasn’t too bad at it either. It was then that I first considered studying Commerce.

Changing my first preference to Commerce/Law was a daunting and scary option. I had only ever dabbled in business subjects in high school, and when I had done them in year 10, they were not my favourite. However based on the advice of others, my abilities and my gut instinct it just seemed like the right thing to do. And I have never looked back!

So yes choosing the right uni course is hard, and maybe I just got lucky, but what it did show me is that you have to go for something that you like, something that you are good at, whilst doing as much research as possible. I used to hate that spiel until I realised how important that advice is. More importantly perhaps, is to be brave, aim high and trust that gut instinct!

My name is Brittni Dienhoff and I am in my third year studying a double degree of Commerce and Law. Although I am not even half way through my degree yet, I am thoroughly enjoying both disciplines and am loving how they test and challenge me in different and interesting ways.

During my time at university so far I have been involved in a variety of activities including the Access Monash program, the BusEco PAL program as well as other faculty activities, including mooting. I am also currently in the middle of applying for exchange for semester 2!

Outside of university I have including playing and watching sport, cooking and of course, socialising.