Hi and welcome to Flinders University, my
name is Rebecca Mason, I'm an Access Project Officer. It's my
role to talk to potential students and young people
about what they would like to do after school.
So we are going to be talking about moving to
Flinders University and moving to Adelaide and that's a really momentous
decision to be making so well done for thinking about it. I
myself am from a regional area in New South Wales and I moved about
five hours away from home to go to university
and I'm actually pretty new to Adelaide myself so rest assured that when you're
thinking about moving to university there are lots of
staff and students who have been through that exact same experience.
Moving to university is a really exciting time in your life but there
will be a lot of things that you will be thinking about,
where you're going to live, what it's like to make new friends,
is it a different experience to school or if you're coming from a workplace,
how are you going to meet people and feeling homesick is really normal,
how to manage your money, is university expensive these are all important things
that we're going to talk about. So one thing to mention is that some of
our courses here at Flinders University have a subquota for regional and
remote students so there are some courses that
hold certain places for students that are coming from rural or regional or
remote areas. Some of those courses include medicine,
exercise science, midwifery, physiotherapy and there are a
few others. You don't need to remember any of these
because if you're applying for one of these courses
through SATAC you'll be invited to submit a statutory declaration to
support your application. So one really important consideration is
where you are going to live, we have some wonderful options for living on campus
so Flinders Living is here on our Bedford Park campus
and it is a short walk to your classes. You have a couple of good options, you
can live in the University Hall, which caters your meals during the week,
which is great. You can also live in the Village, which
is self-catered apartment accommodation style. Both of
those are really good options it does depend a bit on exactly what you're
looking for there's no right or wrong answer do you prefer to live
more with other people, a bit more of a social environment, or do you prefer a
bit of a quieter environment for study, these are really important things to
think about check out both of those options and then you can make the best
decision that's right for you. Applications will open soon after Open
Day so have a look on the Flinders Living website and see if that's going
to be the place for you. Studying at university is not just about
the classes and the lectures, there is plenty of opportunities to meet other
students. You can join clubs and societies, we have
around 200 different clubs here at Flinders University, you can join
rock climbing groups or social clubs, French students clubs,
there's sporting groups, there are so many different things that you can join
to meet like-minded people. There are also lots of societies around the
different study areas so you can meet up with other students who are studying
politics or sport or law, there's lots of different ways to meet people.
There are also lots of opportunities for work placements
and internships study abroad and other opportunities that also can
help you not only to meet other people but to build networks and build your
employability skills for when you've finished university.
When you're coming to study at university thinking about money is
really important, particularly for those of you that are going to be moving out
of home. Remember that if you're an eligible
student you can apply for a HECS HELP loan which means that you don't have to
pay for the cost of your university course
up front, you accumulate a loan and then you start to pay it back when you're
earning over a certain threshold. There are also lots of ways that
university students are able to manage their money.
So getting a part-time or casual job, accessing any government financial
assistance that you're eligible for, applying for lots of scholarships,
accessing any good student discounts or freebies that you can
and learning how to manage on a budget, these are really important skills for
when you're at university. But rest assured that lots of students manage
their money and manage on a budget, it is really doable.
So there are lots and lots of scholarships available here at Flinders
University and they are not all just for high
academic achievement, they are awarded on a range
of considerations including financial disadvantage, or
merit for sporting, or for different study areas.
So make sure that you have a look at the Flinders website and apply for all of
the scholarships that you are eligible for.
Also take some time and do some research and look at other
sources of scholarships so professional associations,
the country education foundation, any state or national government
scholarship programs as well. They take a little bit of time to research and to
apply for but there is a lot of money available if
you take that time to apply for them. And remember that at university you are
not alone. We have a really broad range of student
support services here, including a careers team, we have
first-year mentoring programs, the Flinders Support Network,
we have support for students who have a health condition or a disability,
we have doctors and psychologists here on campus,
there is a really broad range of support that you can receive including
academic learning skills support as well so you're never on your own.
Remember to ask for help early, it's okay to be feeling a little bit overwhelmed
or that you've changed your mind about what
you would like to study so make sure you get in touch with us
nice and early and we can help you with whatever you need.
So thinking about moving to university and moving to Flinders is a really
exciting time in your life and I encourage you to do all your
research and look at all the opportunities that there are,
there are so many wonderful things that you can see and do here, wonderful staff
and students and I look forward to seeing you on campus soon.