We Chatted To A Bunch Of People About Why They Fast-Tracked Their Degrees
CHOOSE FROM HUNDREDS OF DEGREES AND 1600 SINGLE SUBJECTS, AND STUDY ONLINE WITH LEADING AUSTRALIAN UNIS.
Thinking about pressing fast-forward on your studies? You’re not the only one.
Whether you’re keen to enter the job market before your peers or simply need to catch up because you’ve missed a few subjects, fast-tracking your degree can help you reach that post-uni life ASAP.
Here are just a few of the benefits to accelerating your studies, according to three students who’ve lived it and loved it.
You Get To Make The Most Of Your Spare Time
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When Dwani, 23, was in her final year of her Bachelor of Science at University of Queensland, she decided to fast-track her degree by taking on two subjects from leading Australian unis through Open Universities Australia (OUA) during the summer holidays. “At the time, UQ didn’t have all the subjects I was looking for, and I really wanted something that was convenient and flexible,” she explained to Junkee. “I wanted variety in my electives, so I looked up a few subjects through OUA and I found two that I thought were interesting.”
Dwani completed these subjects online, meaning she was able to study while still enjoying her summer holidays. “I had an assignment due and I was out camping, but I could do it all because I could take my laptop with me anywhere.”
You Can Play Catch Up Without Wasting Time
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Nikhar, 25, was in his first year at Swinburne University when a family emergency prevented him from completing his desired number of subjects that semester. “I only studied one subject because of a family crisis, and I was running three subjects behind in my whole course,” Nikhar explained to Junkee. “In second year, one of my professors suggested I study Media Law with Griffith University online through OUA and it really helped.”
While Nikhar passed his Media Law courses successfully, he was still behind on some of his subjects and wanted to complete his degree in three years, as initially planned. “I chose to do one subject during my break and then also did one extra subject on campus,” he said. This allowed Nikhar to complete a whopping six units in one semester, with five on campus and one online. “It was a bit hectic, but I finally did it.”
You Get The Upper Hand On The Job Market
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Because Dwani was able to graduate in February instead of June, she had a number of months to look for her first post-uni job without much competition. “It was great, because I got that time to look for work, find a permanent position, and settle in while other people were still finishing up their courses,” she said. “When I entered the job market, people from my batch were still completing their degree.”
Dwani found her current role at Suncorp just one month after finishing her degree and has already risen in the ranks since joining the company. “I think that’s the key thing for me, graduating early really sets you up compared to everyone else.”
You Can Take Things At Your Own Pace
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Although Dwani had never studied online before, she found the experience of studying subjects from Curtin and Swinburne Universities online through OUA to be much less stressful than anticipated. “There was really good support, and everything went smoothly,” she said. “I was a bit scared because I was used to standard classroom-style learning, but the mentors and the support [from the universities] were great.”
Best of all, receiving her grades was simple and straightforward. “[Swinburne and Curtin] gave me the results and then I just put it in the system at my university and it was added to my course list.”
Nikhar experienced a similar situation when trying to catch-up on his degree. “It was great not having to go on campus and being able to study from home, or anywhere, really,” he said. “Griffith’s lecturers and tutors were really helpful whenever I had any kind of questions and I really liked being able to manage things on my own time.”
You Can Diversify Your Study
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There’s nothing quite like having a variety of uni subjects to keep you interested, which is why Darren, 20, was excited to hear that enrolling through OUA could broaden his degree.
After chatting to his careers counsellor at Curtin University, Darren decided to enrol in extra subjects online, which could be credited to the Bachelor of Arts and Commerce double degree he was studying on-campus. Through OUA, Darren added subjects from Griffith, Swinburne and Macquarie University to his degree.
“Last semester, I did eight subjects instead of four, the semester before that I did six subjects, and then during summer and winter, I did two on average”, he explained in a blog post for OUA. Not only did this expand Darren’s study, it allowed him to graduate a year earlier than planned.
Darren then completed a business internship while studying and later obtained a full-time position – all before he graduated. “It was a great opportunity to get my foot in the door, and to get started right away.
This article originally appeared on Junkee.
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Press fast-forward on your degree and get a head start on your career. Through Open Universities Australia, you can study subjects online with leading Australian universities and get credit on-campus. Find out more at open.edu.au or call a friendly student advisor on 13 OPEN.
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(Lead image: You X Ventures / Unsplash)