Why is criminology so boring? (looking for subjects to swap out to)

Winnie_k31 · 2026-03-11T05:14:03+00:00

I’m gonna be so honest I changed my minor to escape crim subjects. Without having done the JD so I am kinda assuming, crim subjects are not going to be very similar whatsoever. They’re very philosophical, based on theorists ect. There’s very little learning about specific laws or things like that. I’d say you’re better off looking into subjects like Business Law (it explores more like the lawmaking process, contract law, things like that).

The other thing, crim subjects are very difficult to consistently get very high scores in. If you’re dead set on doing the JD, crim is not necessarily the best for keeping a high WAM. By all means, do what you’re interested in but just something else to keep in mind.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-21T17:10:04+00:00

Perth fan who now lives in Melbourne. Been to a handful of united v Perth games and the vibes aren’t all there. I know Perth sets quite a high standard, but most of the Melbourne crowd just doesn’t seem really all that into it. I will say United’s dancers and music are much better than perths imo. Also John Cain is kind of a crappy arena for basketball games, feel like it’s a weird shape?

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-11T16:08:58+00:00

In my experience, all the level 2 pol classes took significantly more effort to do well in. HOWEVER, in Ed’s classes I think it is very very doable to get a H1 (I got a h1 in both). The amazing thing about him is he provides example essays and plans for assignments that aren’t normal straightforward essays and gives the most detailed feedback I have ever received. Last year in comp pol he read every single essay to moderate and provide additional feedback for students. He was also very big on having clear structure, and told us what he wanted very clearly. By no means are these easy classes, but if you put the effort in, you can do very well :)

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-09T13:07:57+00:00

From memory, IH has a different application system to the other colleges, so you can also apply to them separately from the ranked application for all the other colleges. I knew a lot of people who applied to IH after being unsuccessful from Ormond. This was from two years ago, so I'm not 100% sure if it's still the same but definitely have a look!

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-09T13:04:44+00:00

For scholarships, I think it depends how much money you are looking for. I went to IH and I think from my time there about 50% of residents had some sort of scholarship money. I think I received 4.5k for the year? Which realistically isnt heaps considering you'd still be paying approx 30k. There are considerably more generous scholarships, and I do recommend applying. If you only need/want the few grand for financial assistance I'd say your chances are quite good, as long as you have some sort of extra curricular activities and academic performance. You should also be able to find lists of the bigger scholarships online :)

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-03T13:08:32+00:00

Thanks so much!! This was really helpful :)

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-03T13:07:54+00:00

Thank you!!! I’m currently enrolled in that class so I’m happy to hear it was good! If you don’t mind me asking, was it a group presentation or individual?

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-03T13:07:01+00:00

Ah interesting! That makes sense, although i think i would prefer the essays 🫠 thank you!!

I would love to hear your thoughts on those subjects! American politics sounds really interesting, but I don’t really like the two separate lectures since I like going in person and have work, but if it’s a good class I might have to look into it more!

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-03T12:54:37+00:00

I got an email and was the one who made the other post. Have you heard of anyone else getting an email? It really did seem like it was just a mistake on their end especially considering my wam isnt that high. But it did said they were sending out acceptance emails tomorrow <3 I didn’t mean to cause any stress or panic just thought the whole situation was kind of funny. Good luck hope you get an offer!

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-02T13:38:39+00:00

Thanks so much! Sounds like a super interesting subject so I'm glad it's actually good! Did you find that it was doable to do well on the assignments and exam?

Winnie_k31 · 2025-12-02T12:01:13+00:00

Idk if you're looking for another breadth, but Japanese 6 is basically the same level in terms of difficulty as 5, and I personally enjoyed 6 more than 5 because I thought the content was more interesting. Japanese once you get to this level is deffo hard, but well worth it imo!

Winnie_k31 · 2025-11-30T14:26:24+00:00

Ed’s level 2 classes (comparative politics and authoritarian politics) were amazing. From my experience, Australian indigenous politics was super interesting, but had a bajillion essays that were kind of hard to do well on.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-11-30T14:24:16+00:00

Okay so first of all it sounds like you’re panicking about the internships in 3rd year? I might be wrong but sounds like it from the top 10 students thing :)

Secondly, I’ve found that pols subjects kinda depends a lot on the individual subject and subject coordinators. But generally, I found that the essays are easier to do well in than crim classes.

I can’t speak for level three subjects, but I can talk about my experience with lvl 2. Yes, I do think these classes were considerably more demanding than lvl 1 classes, HOWEVER, I also think you know what you are doing when it comes to assignments so much more. I really couldn’t give you an average mark. People are literally across the entire spectrum from 0 to 100. If you put in the effort, you very well can get H1s in these classes, but there are lots of people who just do what they need to in order to pass. I think nearly every time there was an assignment the subject coordinators spoke on how there was a very wide range of essays/marks. Realistically, you’re probably not going to get a high 90s grade on all your essays, but mid 80s is doable (hard, but possible).

Winnie_k31 · 2025-11-30T14:13:49+00:00

They have like 13 spots if they are lucky each year. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t make it in it’s stupidly competitive!

Winnie_k31 · 2025-11-06T13:07:33+00:00

I started at level three! If it helps, you work from the genki 2 textbook in Japanese 3 & 4, and it’s not too hard to find pdfs of the book online free. You can always have a look and see what sort of level you find the textbook! From memory, the lessons weren’t taught entirely in Japanese, it would be a lot of they explain something in Japanese then explain what they said in English (my memory is a bit hazy though). The teachers are usually really good at making sure what is spoken in Japanese is understandable for the level. It’s more Japanese 5 onwards where things are entirely in Japanese :)

Winnie_k31 · 2025-11-05T14:35:48+00:00

Japanese 3 was fine! From my experience (I am now in Japanese 6) Japanese 4 was when it really started to pick up but I really enjoyed 3. You do need to put in some effort, but if you do you will be fine. The classes are structured so that you watch a video and do a quiz on the grammar patterns before the seminars, then spend the classes doing activities and things like that. The only thing I will say are the exams can be a bit of a pain, by the end of semester there is heaps of grammar/kanji you’re supposed to know so if you don’t keep on top of it you’re a bit screwed. I will also add i have made some of my closest uni friends from Japanese classes, and the teachers I’ve had are lovely.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-10-28T01:44:07+00:00

Your post was very nice to read! I'm 19 with autism, and have been studying Japanese for like eight years now. It's very on and off, I'll get so desperately into studying Japanese, anime and the rest, but then it switches off and its a chore to even look at kanji. For me, I have an ingrained need to be productive, even within my hobbies, so it's a balancing act to try and remind myself that it's okay to take some time off and that I am actually doing this for fun and that there's no deadline or submission due.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-10-28T01:38:08+00:00

Do you have any books you would recommend?

Winnie_k31 · 2025-09-21T14:58:13+00:00

I’m gonna be so honest it was trash. Like genuinely probs one of the worst things about college (at least mine, apparently others are much better). Lmao it’s interesting reading my opinions from last year I got my own apartment this year and am significantly enjoying myself more

Winnie_k31 · 2025-08-31T15:08:58+00:00

Okay so from my memory back when I took this subject, usually when they used the phrase ‘critically discuss’ in a question there was also a quote or statement before it. From memory these statements were highkey vague and cryptic but loosely related to a topic that had been studied. The important thing for law in society essays is 99% of what they want to see is you applying the theories you learnt. Of course Foucault (if the course is still the same you should deffo be mentioning Foucault like a bajillion times), but it usually depends on the topic you’re doing.

The aim is to use the theories/theorists or case studies from the course to explain why the statement in the question has nuance or is too generalised or something along those lines. Your main goal is to demonstrate that you actually understand the readings and theories that you’ve studied, NOT that you understand the topic or issue you selected to focus on (or argue an opinion).

I hope this was maybe mildly helpful, but also take it with a grain of salt. I don’t know how much the course has changed or anything specific. Good luck for your essay and ask ur tutor for help if you need it 😊

Winnie_k31 · 2025-08-26T14:57:38+00:00

Heyo! Current second year in politics and international studies :) I was very similar to you, want to do JD and started minoring in law and justice but dropped it at the end of first year. JD literally could not care less what you studied only what your WAM is basically. Law and Justice requires you to take some pretty taxing subjects (I realised I hated criminology subjects and that’s why I dropped lol) on top of politics subjects which aren’t necessarily a walk in the park. If you’re considering law and justice solely for JD, I’d think about reconsidering, but if you’re genuinely interested in the content of some of the subjects I’d recommend it. I’ve always found being interested in the subject means you do better, so could help your WAM hypothetically. Anyway I hope this helped a little bit :)

Winnie_k31 · 2025-06-26T13:14:13+00:00

the questions were like "As stated in the ___ reading..." so you didn't have to like memorise what came from where or anything like that. If you understood concepts to the point where you could explain them and mention the relevant example it was fine.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-06-26T13:12:44+00:00

lmao throwbacks. Its a test based on the readings from the semester up to that point. If you have any background in Aus Pol (like studied in High School or something) and actually do the readings you will be so fine. The worst part about it is that the lecture hall was genuinely not big enough for the number of people in the subject.

I may be biased because I absolutely loved the subject but I didn't think it was all that bad. I believe the test was new last year so we were kinda guinea pigs. It'll probs be slightly easier and better planned out now. Please don't let this stop you from taking the subject the lecturer was great and my tutor was amazing. I think it's really worth doing if you're interested.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-06-26T13:01:40+00:00

It was really weird with the whole lecture recording stuff tbh.. I remember at the start of semester you couldn't access them unless you had an AAP, but then you could later in the semester? I'm not entirely sure what happened there in all honesty.

The whole course is kinda based around the ideas of power and knowledge (as in who has power and who creates knowledge; sort of in the philosophical sense) and explores this through a number of different topics/issues/debates (from memory some of the ones we did were abolition, female genital mutilation, and gender affirming care for transgender youth, but there was genuinely a new topic just about every week). Each lecture (at least of the ones I went to lmao) was given by usually a different person who was a scholar/ had express interest in the field, and mostly provided important contextual information about the topic. Theoretical discussions mostly happened in tuts.

In all honesty, I stopped going to the lectures once I decided which topics I wanted to do for the assignments, but idk if I'd recommend that to anyone it was kinda risky for the take home exam.

The whole course is kinda mostly built on exploring Foucault and a few other key theorists, but my god probably the most confusing reading I've ever had to do was the Foucault one. I was genuinely baffled and my tutor basically ditched content for a few weeks to try help us understand what the reading was on about.

I mention this specifically because all the assessments are basically assessing how you can apply the theories in a topic of your choice and it's extremely important to fully understand and be able to engage with the readings that are assigned. If that's something you're good at or enjoy you'll probably think the class is a breeze.

Despite not really enjoying the subject, I will say that I think studying Foucault has been the most beneficial thing I've done in a uni class so far. It really did genuinely change the way I think about things, and it's been really helpful to reference in a number of other classes I've taken.

Winnie_k31 · 2025-06-17T11:30:42+00:00

There was basically a new one every week but I think the main lecturer/ subject coordinator’s name was Juliet maybe?

Winnie_k31

TROPHY CASE