Two very good Uni services (sort of). ~Katie~
I am sitting in the National Library of Australia and am I little worried that I’ll get in trouble for typing too loudly. This place is intimidating.
On a more Victorian note – I discovered two wonderful things about the university last week.
1. Subject Coordinators are actually quite awesome.
This is based only on my experience with one particular lecturer, but it is definitely true of him. I was pretty sick last week and was beginning to get quite scared, as I got progressively more ill for no obvious reason (see point 2). Anyway, all this was made a lot worse by the fact that I had two essays due the day before the break. Oh God, was my general thinking. I had started them, but they weren’t what you’d call in the final stages. In a seriously marathon effort, I got one done. But not the other. So, on Wednesday, I emailed my lecturer, hoping to get an extra day or two.
He gave me a week. Was incredibly understanding and helpfully. Saved me from overpowering anxiety! So now, as I sit here, doing my essay, I think fondly of him. I’d suggest if anyone else gets into a similar situation, you let your subject coordinator in. They want to help.
2. The Medical Service actually cares.
Okay, in an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to wait for an hour and forty minutes at the clinic to see a doctor while in serious discomfort. But obviously, I survived. Once I was seen the doctor was helpful and friendly. Sent me off to the hospital for some tests and made sure I saw him again the same day to discuss the results. I actually got the feeling he was genuinely concerned, rather than trying to rush me out the door. And when you’re stressed and anxious, that’s a nice feeling to have. Thanks to nice the health service, I am fully recovered and know where to go next time I am unwell!
That’s my two suggestions for anyone with problems. People are helpful. Isn’t that cool? 🙂
point 1: it depends on the coordinators but some are very considerate. I discovered this on my first year in Uni too – a couple of my coordinators were quite concerned that I had to email them from the hospital, where I was confined for more than a week, just so I could beg them for extensions. One of them actually went so far as to ask me to keep her up-to-date with how I’m going with doing the subject assessment. On the other hand, I did have one who had a ‘no extensions’ rule so I didn’t even bother asking for special consideration as it would be more trouble than it’s worth.
point 2: yeah, it’s quite refreshing to go to a medical clinic where you only had to wait 10 minutes max, if at all, to get to see a doctor. The doctors even give realistic, student-friendly advise. The admin staff there even ask you if you would prefer a male or a female doctor when you book your appointment by phone – I was quite taken aback when they asked me that.
Thats great to hear you got an extention, and that you’re feeling better now. For a while there i was beginning to think that lecturers/teaching staff wanted as less physical contact with students as possible, and just left everything remotely academic/administrative up to the student portal and LMS.